The Historic Kenwood Garden Workshop is a casual group of serious & seriously fun people. All our efforts are completely voluntary and we welcome members from the immediate neighborhood and beyond. We help to nurture the neighborhood by undertaking philanthropic and landscaping projects, all the while enjoying each others company, food, stories and friendship. If you would like more information, click here to contact us.

Planting The Seeds

Neighborhood lore says that in the 1920s and 30s, a group informally known as the Kenwood Workers would pitch in and help each other with gardening and working in yards and fields. Of course, most of that was more agricultural than aesthetic. In the more recent past, the neighborhood has had various incarnations of Garden Clubs, some of whom enjoyed meeting and studying up on gardening (things like Florida-friendly planting and zone-appropriate landscape ideas); others preferring to spend time going to local plant shows. A couple of years ago, a group of neighbors got together and decided to incorporate the best of the old and new. The Historic Kenwood Garden Workshop became a monthly meeting of folks interested in gardening and improving the neighborhood by offering helping hands to neighbors wanting to improve their landscaping, raising plants to sell to raise funds for charitable works, and spreading the word about gardening as a community activity.

Watching Things Grow

Spring usually finds the Garden Workshop hard at work cutting, digging, dividing and potting up plants in preparation for our annual plant sale. Workshop members put their names in a pot - terra cotta, of course - for the chance to choose the next project. On the 3rd weekend in May, the Workshop gathers en mass in a local parking lot and takes donations for the frangipanis, hibiscus, fire spikes, angel trumpets, bromeliads, Mexican daisies, various succulents, orchids and whatever else it has successfully tended in the prior months. In a few short hours, a season’s worth of lovingly cared for plants have found homes throughout the county and we have raised money for local charities to help grow our community.

In the fall of 2006, the Workshop undertook a different type of cultivation to keep things moving. After a series of writing workshops, facilitated by professionals donating their time, the group produced Dig In: Stories and Servings from the Historic Kenwood Garden Workshop. This recipe/storybook, featuring photos, stories, poems and recipes provided by members, inspired an evening of tastings and readings to help spread the word about the Workshop’s efforts in the community. All the profits from this volunteer event were used to support area agencies in meeting holiday needs of their clients. And the book was named the 2006 Project of the Year by the city of St. Pete!

Reaping Rewards

By raising money from the sale of homegrown plants and the creation and sale of a recipe/storybook - all completely planned and executed by volunteers, the Historic Kenwood Garden Workshop helped grow the community over the past few years by providing:

We have partnered as volunteers with local agencies including: