Community Building

PHOTOS: PHS Pop-up Garden Transforms Rittenhouse Vacant Lot into a Repurposed Temporary Garden

By Shannon Collins, Photos by Neal Santos |
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A once vacant lot on Walnut Street has been transformed into an inviting garden (à la Alice in Wonderland’s tea party) complete with dozens of mismatched chairs that line a 64-foot-long cedar table.

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Pop-up Garden, located diagonally across from Rittenhouse Square on Walnut between 19th and 20th Streets, was one of nearly 300 suggestions made to PHS via email and Facebook.

The land originally housed the Eric Rittenhouse movie theatre which was destroyed by a fire in 1994 and has stood empty since. Last year, PHS turned the location of the old Penn Center Inn, which was torn down in 1990, into a sophisticated urban farm at 20th and Market Streets.

With a total budget of $19,600, PHS designers reused materials from their Flower Show displays, including reclaimed wood walls, window shutters, and raised beds. To continue the theme of repurposing, PHS asked the community through social media to donate unwanted wooden dining room chairs, which they then painted with vibrant colors.

In an effort to raise money from the project, supporters can make a $5 contribution along with a photo of themselves taken in the garden. The donor’s faces will appear on an “Interactive Tablecloth” during the closing day of the garden and will be showcased at the 2013 Flower Show. Proceeds from this campaign will benefit City Harvest, a PHS program that grows fresh produce through a network of community gardens and helps feed more than 1,000 local families every week.

PHS sponsored programs and events are planned to take place in the garden including: talks every Thursday evening, gardening workshops, cooking demonstrations from local chefs, and children’s programs from the Academy of Natural Sciences. True to its name, the Pop-up Garden is only temporary and will dismantle in October.

PHS Pop-up Garden
Where: 1905-15 Walnut Street
When: Through mid-October
Hours: Tuesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Thursdays 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.; second Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
More info: www.pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org
Cost: Free

Photos by Neal Santos

Update: Check out this video from PHS that gives a behind the scenes look at the construction of the garden.

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