Cliveden Park in Mt. Airy sits a few blocks from the site where the Battle of Germantown occurred during the Revolutionary War. A rich walking trail, a 200 year-old tree known locally as the "Tree of Life," and newer features like a bridge and jungle gym make up the city block-sized recreation area that is fervently supported by local residents, including the Friends of Cliveden Park.

Cliveden's significance has been recognized by the William Penn Foundation, which provided grant funding for a transformative project to remove invasive plants on the hillside. Tomorrow (Sat., Nov. 13), volunteers will beautify entrance beds and collect leaves for composting there as part of LOVE Your Park, a fall cleaning and greening of parks and recreation sites across Philadelphia. Hundreds of volunteers are expected to participate at 44 locations, where they'll mulch, prune trees, plant shrubs and perennials, remove trash and generally spruce up parks before the winter sets in.

LOVE Your Park is a partnership of the City of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and the city's Parks and Recreation department. City officials and organization leaders will be at Cliveden at 9:30 a.m. Saturday near the intersection of Musgrave and Johnson Streets to help plant a tree where an old oak was recently struck down by lightning.

Large groups are expected at Royal Gardens (68th and Lebanon Ave.), Morris Park (66th and Sherwood), Girard Estates Park (21st and Porter), and Schuylkill River Park (25th and Spruce). Click here for a full list of participating parks.

Source:Alan Jaffe, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Writer: Joe Petrucci