Tree Care & Pollinator Garden Site Prep
2025-04-19 10:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | Johnsontown Park, 100 Viaduct Ave, Downingtown, PA, 19335, United States
Tree care & pollinator garden site prep in Johnsontown Park
We’re not quite done yet with site prep for the pollinator garden. Please keep saving that plain brown cardboard!
Pollinator garden site prep: Sheet mulching with cardboard and leaf mulch to smother grass near the River Station bridge. This hands-on, family friendly community event will be a great way to learn how to create a pollinator garden, step by step. This event is all about site preparation, and you’ll be able to take what you learn back to your own home, to create a native garden of your very own.
Tree care: We’ll be checking on the tree saplings that we planted last fall. Some need a little pick-me-up due to soggy site conditions, and we’ll be gently lifting and backfilling with additional soil.
Remove invasives: We’ll be removing the invasive Japanese pachysandra under the bridge and replacing it with native Packera aurea.
What to bring:

Garden rake, pitchfork, or trowel
Plain brown cardboard – the plainer, the better! No wax coating, and as little ink as possible. (No Chewy boxes, please, because they have too much ink, but most Amazon boxes will be ok. If you’ve recently purchased a large item like a fridge or other household appliance, that carboard would be very helpful.)

Please RSVP to let us know you’re coming.

Special thank you to our partners for making this project possible:
PA Native Plant Society for grant funding
Xerces Society for the native pollinator plant kit
MSE Landscape Associates, Mark Eberhardt; Principal Landscape Designer in partnership with ROR & the Downingtown Shade Tree Commission
Downingtown Borough & Public Works for boulders, leaf mulch, cardboard storage and for all the support
All of our community volunteers

Community Pollinator Garden Planting Day 1: Johnsontown Park
2025-05-17 09:00 - 12:00 | Johsontown Park, Downingtown
Join the Restore Our Roots group as we plant the first layer of the new community garden at Johnsontown Park! No prior experience needed, and all ages welcome.
Please RSVP so we can contact you in case we need to move to the rain date. More details are below!
Date: Saturday, May 17th (Rain Date: May 18th)
PS. We also have a second event to plant on May 31st (same RSVP as above)
Time: 9am-noon (may go longer depending on amount of people power; come for as little or long as you’d like)
Where: Johnsontown Park in Downingtown (Viaduct Avenue; by the bridge that crosses over E. Branch Brandywine Creek)
What to bring: work gloves, shovel, trowel (we will also have some of these available), water bottle/snacks.
What to wear: Dress for bending and planting in the soil! Sunscreen, hat, etc.
Questions? email us at Restoreourroots@gmail.com
Special thank you to our partners for making this project possible:
PA Native Plant Society for grant funding
MSE Landscape Associates, Mark Eberhardt; Principal Landscape Designer in partnership with ROR & the Downingtown Shade Tree Commission
Downingtown Borough & Public Works for boulders, leaf mulch, cardboard storage and for all the support
All of our community volunteers

Community Pollinator Garden Planting & Mini Workshop: Johnsontown Park
2025-05-31 10:00 - 12:00 | Johsontown Park, Downingtown
Join the Restore Our Roots group as we go over the A,B,Cs of how to plant a pollinator garden at Johnsontown Park! This will be a more in depth experience going over how to plan and create your very own pollinator garden at home, neighborhoor, school, or place of workship. No prior experience needed, and all ages welcome.
Please RSVP so we can contact you in case we need to move to the rain date. More details are below!
Date: Saturday, May 31st (Rain Date: June 1st)
Time: 10am-noon
Where: Johnsontown Park in Downingtown (Viaduct Avenue; by the bridge that crosses over E. Branch Brandywine Creek)
What to bring: work gloves, shovel, trowel (we will also have some of these available), water bottle/snacks.
What to wear: Dress for bending and planting in the soil! Sunscreen, hat, etc.
Questions? email us at Restoreourroots@gmail.com
Special thank you to our partners for making this project possible:
Xerces Society for the native pollinator plant kit
MSE Landscape Associates, Mark Eberhardt; Principal Landscape Designer in partnership with ROR & the Downingtown Shade Tree Commission
Downingtown Borough & Public Works for boulders, leaf mulch, cardboard storage and for all the support
All of our community volunteers

Pollinator Garden Care Night: Johnsontown Park
2025-08-07 17:30 - 18:30
Calling all weed warriors! We sure could use help getting the new pollinator gardens established out at Johnsontown park!
Enjoy time with the Restore Our Roots crew and give the garden some care and see the pollinators (butterflies, bees, birds, turtles!)
We’ll be out there around 5:30pm and stay as long as you’d like. If interested in being notified of our garden care nights, feel free to let us know via this form and we’ll keep you posted on future weeding nights: https://forms.gle/YUhoQ7hvPMKGZTuS6
What to bring: hand trowel, gardening gloves, small bucket for weeds, knee pad (optional), sense of humor and water!
questions? email us at restoreourroots@gmail.com
Thanks in advance and we’ll see you out there (at the bridge that crosses over the river).

Garden Tour!
2025-08-23 16:00 - 18:00
Come join Downingtown’s local native plant group, Restore Our Roots, in partnership with MSE Landscape Associates and Dressler Estates, in this community garden fundraiser! You’ll learn about the home landscape and how simple changes can be more pollinator-friendly. Stroll with us through a Downingtown neighborhood (near Marinelli Park) where we’ll highlight majestic street trees and visit with homeowners and their yards for fun and creative ideas you take back to your neck of the woods. that make not only your yard more enjoyable, but will also benefit water and wildlife. We’ll also review the easy-peasy ways you can get your own yard certified as wildlife-friendly through the National Wildlife Federation’s program.
Cost: A donation of any amount supports our efforts to restore wildlife habitat within the Borough and our initiative to become a National Wildlife Federation Community Habitat. Donations will be collected at the event.
Registration is maxed at 24 participants so register now! The last day to register is August 22nd (5pm ET). Rain date is Sunday August 24th (same time)
To register:

Complete this registration form
Closer to the date you will receive an email with more info!

Questions? Email us at RestoreOurRoots@gmail.com (Please note: we are a volunteer organization and will reply as soon as we can. Thanks for your patience!)

Paw Paw Festival
2025-09-27 11:00 - 14:00 | Bondsville Mille Park, 1647 Bondsville Rd, Downingtown, PA 19335, 1647 Bondsville Rd, Downingtown, PA, 19335, United States

Friends Fall Fest Downingtown + Native Plant Sale!
2025-10-11 09:00 - 16:00
Come see the ROR crew at our table with native plants for sale including paw paws! We’ll have some other fun things for sale too + we’re happy to chat about anything native plant! We’ll also do a few Hershey Tree tours (time still TBD).

Volunteer Event: Tree Care Morning at Beaver Creek Elementary
2025-11-01 09:00 - 12:00 | Beaver Creek Elementary: 601 W Pennsylvania Ave, Downingtown, PA 19335, United States, 601 W Pennsylvania Ave, Downingtown, PA, 19335, United States
Join the Restore Our Roots team to check on the 100s of trees planted in 2022 and get them ready for winter! We’ll check on the tree tubes, remove any vines and straighten stakes. We will also remove invasive plants from that back forest edge and move some of the outdoor learning spaces to another area of the school. Learn more about the history of this site by visiting this page.
Family-friendly event; come for any part of the timeframe that suits you. Lunch provide by BCE PTO!
RSVP here to let us know you’re interested and we will email you closer to the date with more details.
Bring/wear: work gloves, water, clippers to remove vines, string trimmer if you have one, boots (some spots are muddy and they help your feet stay protected from prickly vines), we’ll provide the rest.
Questions? email Tara at restoreourroots@gmail.com

Volunteer Event: Tuck in the pollinator plants for the winter!
2025-12-13 10:00 - 12:00 | 122 viaduct ave, Downingtown, PA 19335
Join the ROR team for one more garden event, tucking in the plants at the new Johnsontown Park community native plant garden!
We’ll be adding another layer of leaf-litter mulch to create a good buffer against winter chill and to provide habitat for wildlife.
RSVP here to let us know you’re coming (and if we need to reach you to cancel)
Bring (if you have it):

Wheelbarrow
Pitch Fork
Rake
Garden gloves
Dress in layers!

We’ll bring the Hot Chocolate!
Meet at Johnsontown Park, out at the garden, which is at the bridge going over the river.
Questions? Email us at Restoreourroots@gmail.com
Weather Plan: if things shift to bitter weather and we need to cancel we will reach out by the prior Friday
