Photo Credit: Photo by Joe Levack
Native Plants Celebrate 100 Years of AGC
In keeping with its history of philanthropic commitment, Akron Garden Club presented a 100th birthday gift to the community in the form of a pollinator garden in Akron’s Cascade Valley Metro Park. The garden beautifies the new Valley View Area of the park along the Cuyahoga River and underscores the importance of native plants in supporting ecosystems and creating enduring natural spaces. The grant from the club provided up to $100,000 for project design, development, materials, installation, and maintenance.
The garden features meadows filled with blooms, evoking a natural landscape and providing vivid bursts of color and intricate textures. There are swaths of grasses and drifts of perennials—6,000 plants in total, all native to the region.
Summit Metro Parks and Akron Garden Club share a commitment to biodiversity, which is why each plant is a Northeast Ohio native species. The club worked closely with the park district to determine plant selection, with more than
a third grown by club members. Other plants were grown by park staff or purchased from nurseries. During a three-day planting spree in 2024, club members led community volunteers in installing the garden.
help create a more beautiful Akron in a way that is sustainable and improves lives. The club hopes the garden encourages park visitors to incorporate eco-friendly gardening practices in their own yards.
