Motorists coming into Penn Hills from I-376 are now greeted by garden beds where a vacant gas station once stood, one of many recent efforts to beautify Rodi Road.
Located between Maple Lane and Rodi Plaza, the garden includes one bed of annuals and three with native perennials for pollinators, and five trees soon to come.
Besides supporting native bees and butterflies, Penn Hills Shade Tree Commission president Kathy Raborn hopes these landscaping efforts will drive spending at nearby businesses and attract new ones. Research suggests that robust tree canopies encourage consumers to visit shopping centers more frequently and for longer.
Mayor Pauline Calabrese said she has prioritized improvements to the municipality’s entryways since taking office in 2019.
“Rodi Road is the entrance to our business district,” Calabrese said. “If our front door doesn’t look good, why would you ever want to come into our house?”
Local volunteers and government officials joined the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy on June 3 and June 24 to plant the beds.
The conservancy oversees 130 publicly accessible flower gardens through its Community Greening program, including 90 in Allegheny County. Marah Fielden, who manages the program, said the conservancy provides the plants and design, but it’s “engaged folks in a community” who really bring the gardens together.
Fielden said more than 40 residents showed up to the first planting, and four have signed on to become volunteer garden stewards. Some gardens, Fielden noted, only have one person to handle watering, weeding and pruning.
“All the individuals in the Penn Hills community really care and this all happened because of them,” Fielden said.
The stewards are responsible for day-to-day maintenance, but the conservancy will help close the garden in the fall and reopen it in the spring with new annuals and mulching.
Local Roots Landscaping, based in Penn Hills, also lent their time and equipment to install the beds. So far, nearby law firm Thomson, Rhodes and Cowie is the only financial sponsor, but the conservancy expects more to follow.
Regardless of the number of sponsors, Penn Hills won’t be at risk of losing its garden, Fielden said. Donations go to a general fund, rather than a specific garden. The conservancy aims for two to three sponsors per garden, with an average annual contribution between $500 and $2,500.
Penn Hills also pitched in by hiring a plumber to install a yard hydrant at the garden.
The municipality has a $1 million federal grant on the way to fix up sidewalks on Rodi Road, and recently had Duquesne Light install brighter LEDs in 12 street lights.
Raborn said the current administration has been “very supportive” of her organization’s efforts to plants trees along Rodi Road.
The commission planted 13 trees on parts of Rodi Road near Frankstown Road, and plans to add 21 more in the lower section, including five behind the garden. Penn Hills department of public works has agreed to maintain all of them.
Steel Goat Marketplace is donating one tree, with the rest coming through TreeVitalize, a joint project among several environmental groups in the county.
Residents or business who want to support the garden have numerous ways to do so.
“If folks want to get involved, there’s always a financial sponsorship to the garden, or they can also volunteer with us and become a garden steward,” Fielden said.
