There are many ways to enhance local community. Of course, you can be a one man show and help a neighbor on your own, but it is far more effective when you get together with a group of like minded individuals – working as a team 
you can accomplish something wonderful.
In my local area I work with the greater community accomplishing lots of fantastic conservation education and enhancement activities by teaming up through a program called “America In Bloom” (www.americainbloom.org). In the photo to the left you see a group of children working to enhance the local elementary school gardens.
Since 2001, the America in Bloom (AIB) organization has helped over 130 communities from across the United States improve the quality of life for residents and visitors. AIB is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting nationwide beautification programs. Some of these programs are quite extensive, including conservation, sustainability, recycling and more. Most general programs require both personal and community involvement through 
the use of flowers, plants, trees and other environmental and lifestyle enhancements.
Rather than winning the National Contest, the real on-going goal for the local community is to bring the community together and create a beautiful city for the residents. My local AIB team has recently created native plantings at all eight entry-to-the-city-signs with a feature on our city flower; the Rudbeckia or “Black-Eyed Susan”.
As a team, we have built many native gardens and are working with the city’s environmental advisory commission to educate more homeowners about the benefits of using drought tolerant plantings, rain barrels and rain gardens to educate on water conservation and other greening and environmental concerns. As you can see in the above photo, we are also working to beautify the city with gorgeous flower pots and flower gardens.
Dorothy Deer is the head of our local group and has dedicated her time with the community to making a difference – a truly beautiful accomplishment and so beneficial for the thousands of people who live here in my city. Dorothy has worked with the group of AIB members diligently over the years to host multiple garden walks, an art show, a native plant sale, local garden contests, built a hanging pot floral display for the city, built native plant gardens, and so much more. We all work together yearly to enhance and expand the eight categories of AIB evaluation criteria:
- Floral Displays
- Environmental Awareness
- Landscaped Areas
- Tidiness
- Urban Forestry
- Heritage Preservation
- Turf and Groundcovers
- Community Involvement
This photo shows a few of the local members for the Warrenville America In Bloom at one of the national America In Bloom Symposiums - including "yours truly." Meeting other like-minded communities is a great benefit of the AIB National Symposium!
Belonging to the America In Bloom organization can make a big difference for your community and offers you an opportunity to get involved and help many in your neighborhood with gardening – the America In Bloom effort truly brings communities together.
Make a difference today!
This blog is an adaptation of an original post from my gardening blog – http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com – I hope you’ll take a look at ways you can green your world and share it with the community! Happy Greening (and gardening)!
Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com
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