This fall, we are restoring the 12,000 sq ft rain garden at Reciprocity Community Food Forest, supported by the Healing the Planet 2026 Grant from GIANT, MARTIN’S, and Keep PA Beautiful. Over 300 Pennsylvania native plants go in the ground in October, rebuilding stormwater function, pollinator habitat, and public food access on one of Altoona’s most productive community sites.
About This Project
Reciprocity Community Food Forest sits on a 1.4-acre floodplain in Altoona, reclaimed from condemned housing and formally adopted from the City of Altoona by our chapter. Its rain garden, designed to absorb and filter stormwater from the surrounding neighborhood, was set back when conventional contractors mowed and herbicided the site, removing native plants and allowing invasive species to take over.
Wild Ones PA Ridge & Valley is restoring the rain garden in a single fall planting, removing invasive mugwort, garlic mustard, non-native grasses, and honeysuckle before installing over 300 native plants selected specifically for rain garden hydrology and Pennsylvania provenance.
Planting Plan
The rain garden runs from a ponding zone at its center to a drier outer rim, and every plant was chosen for its place in that gradient. At the wet core, Blue Flag Iris and Swamp Rose Mallow anchor the deepest zones alongside Buttonbush, a native shrub whose globe-shaped flowers draw pollinators through midsummer and whose roots handle standing water without complaint. Just above them, Turtlehead and Swamp Rose Milkweed take over the deep-wet transition. Turtlehead is the host plant for the Baltimore Checkerspot, a butterfly of conservation concern in Pennsylvania. Swamp Rose Milkweed is one of the few milkweed species that monarchs can use in wetland conditions, filling a gap in their regional habitat that most milkweed cannot.
In the mid-zones, Cardinal Flower and Great Blue Lobelia create a hummingbird corridor through the site. Joe Pye Weed and New England Aster carry the bloom calendar into late summer and fall, when migrating butterflies and native bees need nectar most. Cutleaf Coneflower adds height and structure, reaching five to nine feet in wet-to-moist ground. Swamp Rose and Elderberry anchor the mid-zone shrub layer; Elderberry is one of the most productive native shrubs for birds and pollinators in our region.
At the outer edge, Mountain Mint handles the transition to drier soil. On a sunny summer day, a stand of Mountain Mint in bloom draws more native bee species than almost any other plant in the landscape. Aronia Berry and American Highbush Cranberry step up to the outer rim, both adaptable and long-lived. Three Pawpaw trees connect this restoration to the food forest’s existing plantings and to the chapter’s broader Pawpaw Pathways corridor project. Blue Vervain threads the gaps between zones.
Every tree and shrub in this planting is edible. Every plant is native to Pennsylvania. In total, over 300 plants going in October 2026: Cardinal Flower (30), Joe Pye Weed (30), Mountain Mint (30), Great Blue Lobelia (25), New England Aster (25), Cutleaf Coneflower (25), Turtlehead (25), Swamp Rose Milkweed (25), Swamp Rose Mallow (25), Blue Flag Iris (25), Blue Vervain (20), Buttonbush (5), Swamp Rose (5), Elderberry (5), Aronia Berry (5), American Highbush Cranberry (3), Pawpaw (3).
Partners
- City of Altoona: landowner; site formally adopted through the City
- Ecotopian Earthcare: invasive removal, site preparation, and planting support
- Blair Conservation District: watershed management expertise and planting design input
Support Our Work
The plants for this restoration are fully funded by the Healing the Planet 2026 Grant Program from GIANT, MARTIN’S, and Keep PA Beautiful. If you’d like to support the chapter’s broader work across central Pennsylvania, contributions to our General Fund go directly toward tools, materials, and new projects.
This project is supported by the Healing the Planet 2026 Grant Program, funded by GIANT and MARTIN’S and administered by Keep PA Beautiful.