In North Philly, two neighborhoods bloomed with connection

The streets of North Philadelphia may not usually be known for their natural beauty. But over the past couple of years, in the neighborhoods of Nicetown and Tioga, certain blocks have become a wonderland of colorful flowers, exotic plants, newly-planted trees, and cheerful gardens of every kind. 

It wasn’t always that way. Ms. Jackie, who has lived in her home on Ruffner Street for 45 years, had seen the neighborhood changed in unwelcome ways — abandoned homes, trash-strewn vacant lots, unkempt front yards. “I don’t want to come out and sit on my porch and see the block in disarray,” Ms. Jackie says. So, she took matters into her own hands. 

“I started out just mowing people’s lawns,” she says. “Some neighbors thought I was crazy, but it’s our neighborhood! You have to do those things. So I did it.” When new neighbors moved in, she would welcome them with plants.  Eventually, other people started mowing their lawns and planting flowers, too — even some of the renters. 

In the past two years, Ms. Jackie’s determination to maintain and brighten up her block has gotten a big boost from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS), a local institution best known for the annual Philadelphia Flower Show.

In 2023, PHS launched a community-led greening program in the North Philly neighborhoods of Nicetown and Tioga that invited residents to beautify the fronts of their homes, plant trees, clean up vacant lots, and make their blocks bloom with gorgeous gardens, all while building stronger relationships with their neighbors.

One of their initiatives is the Curb Appeal Challenge, where neighbors are given a gardening kit that includes a 25-gallon planter, a variety of flower and herb starter plants, potting soil, fertilizer, a spade and a watering can to beautify their front yard or porch. They also host a workshop on how best to use the kits. 

For Ms. Jackie, the Curb Appeal Challenge was a perfect fit. She persuaded her next door neighbor, Jamillah, to take part and then set about encouraging others on the block to join in. She organized car caravans to pick up and haul PHS supplies to folks on the block. She gave out starter plants and cuttings. She placed large planters provided by PHS on the porches of abandoned properties, and if a neighbor was willing to water, she planted flowers in them. If not, she filled them with artificial flowers.  

Ms. Jackie and Jamillah shared first prize in the 2025 Curb Appeal Challenge. Even better, Ms. Jackie got 10 more homes on the block to participate. “It’s not about winning,” Ms. Jackie says. “It’s about getting people out, meeting each other, keeping the block clean and beautiful. That’s how you build community.”

Pearl Fletcher, a resident of another local block, fully embraced the challenge as a way to meet all of her neighbors and get them to feel like a group. “Pearl felt that the block had lost a sense of social connection,” says Matt Rader, PHS’s President. “So she grabbed onto the Curb Appeal Challenge with the goal that literally everybody on the block was going to do something related to it.” 

In the end, Fletcher got 100 percent of the homes on her block to participate in some way. She won third place — and she was just fine with that. “My main goal was not about winning,” Fletcher says. “It was about getting people involved. That’s the dream.”

The Curb Appeal Challenge has grown from 30 participants in 2023 to 130 in 2025, with more wanting to join. The LandCare program, another PHS initiative in these two North Philly neighborhoods, invited neighbors to clean and green over 640 vacant lots. Neighborhood “Tree Tenders” have also planted over 400 trees since 2022. 

“You’ve got to love where you live,” Ms. Jackie says. “This was always a safe block, but people went to work, came home and didn’t talk to each other. Now we sit outside and talk. That’s what it’s all about.”