Grave Gardeners program reconnects the Woodlands and Penn | Penn Current

Up until 1936, when 38th Street was constructed, Penn’s James G. Kaskey Memorial Park was connected to the Woodlandsby a ravine, a grove of trees, and greenery. Both plots of land had once been part of the estate of William Hamilton, an influential botanist and plant collector for whom Hamilton Walk is named.

Today, staff from Kaskey Park, well known as the BioPond, and the Woodlands, a 54-acre park and cemetery just across University Avenue, are again connecting the two sites with plants—albeit on a smaller scale.

On a chilly, sunny day last week, staff from the Woodlands visited Penn’s greenhouse in Lynch Labs for a tour and to start seeds of Victorian-era heirloom plants. In a few short months, these seeds will swell into blooms of snapdragons, sweet peas, pansies, foxgloves, and more, gracing the cemetery’s 19th-century grave sites.