Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden (Cincinnati, Ohio) Shares Their Expertise

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is home to an award-winning horticulture department, which, in addition to maintaining the Zoo’s expansive botanical garden, also serves neighboring communities by revitalizing parks and playgrounds with landscaping and pollinator gardens. Their Plant for Pollinators program shares this expertise with community members while encouraging them to create their own pollinator habitats, with over 2,400 gardens registered since 2019. The grant project has made the installation of a sustainable pollinator garden in the Avondale community possible through a series of six pocket parks. The project not only adds and improves pollinator habitat in the urban Cincinnati area, but also adds gardens in areas lacking greenspace.

As of June 2023, the Cincinnati team has installed the first of six pollinator gardens at Irving Playground and is in the process of installing the second at Northern Larona Park. These gardens are the result of a year in permitting and extensive community engagement. With the help of the grant, the community was able to organize science and engagement events as well as two large-scale volunteer events with Avondale neighbors and Toyota’s employees. These events are key for increasing public awareness and support for pollinators. Plans are now being made for additional volunteer events in the future plus a BioBlitz, an event that focuses on finding and identifying as many species as possible in the area. 

The Cincinnati team exhibits impressive dedication to true community engagement and participation with these pollinator garden projects. By honoring the Avondale Quality of Life Plan, they are “supporting the community’s vision for safe, natural spaces with our botanic and landscaping expertise—which, in simultaneously achieving the grant’s goals, will prioritize pollinator habitat.”