Mill Street & North Water Street, Greenwich, CT, USA

Owned/designed: Owned by local businesses and installed by the Pollinator Pathway members and volunteers.

Environmental Settings: Streets and window boxes along the busy section of Byram’s downtown.

Highlights: This is a temporary display of edible landscapes. Planted with vegetables and edible-flower displays it offers a new approach to the use of neglected areas. Affected by COVID-19, Byram needed a face lift. Two local restaurants: Famous Green Kitchen and Rosina’s are included in this program.

Vegetables and edible flowers allow us to live the principles of sustainability in the here and now. By planting food gardens, we leave things better than we found them. These plants improve water quality, build soil health, and create habitat for native birds, beneficial insects, and many more.

Food plants are not only important food sources for humans. The nectar and pollen of their flowers are a food supply for bees and many other pollinators. And as pollinators collect pollen they also transfer it from flower to flower stimulating the formation of many of the seeds and fruits that we eat. This intriguing display of edible flowers and vegetable offers a landscape with more substantial values than pleasing aesthetics and aromas.