West Chester brings pollinator garden to life

WEST CHESTER » Members of the West Chester Business Improvement District (BID) and the West Chester Green Team met recently behind the Chestnut Street Garage to begin planting a new pollinator garden. This garden will focus on native Pennsylvania plants and will help beautify one of West Chester’s alleyways while being environmentally sustainable.

A pollinator garden focuses on plants that are pollen producing and attract pollinating species such as bees, butterflies and birds. These gardens help increase the biodiversity of an area which benefits the wider ecosystem. Biodiversity is important because it both provides and regulates the ecosystem function. These functions include services that all life and quality of life, including yours and mine, depend. These services include clean water, clean air, and a stable atmosphere.

“Part of the BID’s five-year plan is to help beautify the alleyways in downtown West Chester and we thought what better way to do that then with additional greenery?” said John O’Brien, Executive Director of the West Chester Business Improvement District. “The garden behind the Chestnut Street garage is our first attempt at our beautification project, but by no means our last. The Chestnut Street Garage is one of the major areas where first-time visitors park and we want them to be blown away by West Chester the moment they exit their vehicle. I can’t thank the West Chester Green Team enough for their hard work and expertise in making this project come to life. West Chester is blessed to have so many citizens who are committed to making our borough beautiful and environmentally sustainable.”

This project is being financed by the West Chester Business Improvement District. To find out more about the West Chester BID’s five-year plan, please visit www.downtownwestchester.com.