Nearly 1,000 native plants went into the ground on a Highland Avenue median in Birmingham's Highland Park neighborhood, the latest stretch of roadway to get a pollinator-friendly makeover. Local volunteers tilled the soil, planted the greenery, and spread mulch at the site across from Snable Law Firm and the Two Sisters homes.
More than 25 volunteers turned out for the project, according to Bham Now, which reported that the City of Birmingham grew the native plants used at the new median. Friends of Highland Park adopted the median and underwrote the costs of dirt, mulch and plants, and the group says it will help maintain the planting going forward.
The effort traces back to Homegrown Habitat, also known as the Birmingham Area Native Plant Club, which formed to raise awareness and share tips for growing native plants locally, according to an earlier Bham Now report. That group has led the native-plant median movement and has converted seven medians since the project began in 2023.
A Years-Long Push Along Highland Avenue
The native-plant median project now extends from near Rojo to Independent Presbyterian Church. Back in 2023, the same Bham Now reporting described the City of Birmingham preparing the soil in those medians for planting, laying the groundwork for what has become a multi-year undertaking.
Friends of Highland Park, in its own account of the partnership, says it worked with Homegrown Habitat to plant only native species in all of Highland Avenue's medians, and that the group raised funds to supplement the materials and labor the city provided, according to Friends of Highland Park. The same organization reports that medians running from Rojo to Independent Presbyterian Church are now complete, with continued weeding maintenance underway, while the next two medians planned for work run along Rhodes Park near Park Towers.
Why Native Plants, and Why It Matters Beyond One Street
The newly installed plants on the Highland Avenue median are intended to attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators. Homegrown Habitat and its allies have encouraged Birmingham residents to join Homegrown National Park and log their own native-plant efforts.
That national campaign aims to plant 20 million acres of native species across the United States by 2030, a goal its organizers have said represents roughly half of the green lawn area on U.S. private property, according to Homegrown National Park. Estimates of how much lawn Americans actually maintain vary by source — one account cited by KAXE put U.S. lawn coverage at more than 40 million acres, while a separate estimate from Conservation Catalyst put the figure at roughly 63 million acres. The October 10, 2023, KAXE report cited more than 35,000 contributors and roughly 112,000 acres planted for Homegrown National Park.
The Highland Park Community Garden was created in 2019 at Rushton Park as a space for residents to grow food, and Ruffner Mountain maintains a pollinator garden designed to let native plants interact with native insects, according to Bham Now's rundown of the area's pocket gardens.
For now, the Highland Avenue project remains a neighborhood-driven effort, with Friends of Highland Park and Homegrown Habitat continuing to expand the stretch of medians transformed since the native plant movement in Highland Park began in 2023.
