Public Garden Details Released In Report Include Pollinator Garden

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — A report detailing plans for the first public garden to be created in Howard County has been released and calls for the creation of herb and vegetable gardens, pollinator gardens, lawn alternative gardens, container gardens and conservation landscapes among other special features.

The land, which is the former site of the Longwood property in Glenwood, sits at the intersection of Route 97 (Roxbury Mills Road) and Burntwood’s Road. The land includes 29 acres of woods and 71 acres of fields including actively farmed hay ground, open meadows, a black walnut grove, a pine grove, wetlands, a pond, streams, springs and covered slopes.

“This premier destination public garden will be a place of cultivated beauty where residents and visitors of all ages and abilities can come together to embrace Mother Earth and improve their physical and mental well-being in a peaceful setting,” said Howard County Executive Calvin Ball. “In its beauty, we also recognize the significance of the Longwood property’s past as a place where human enslavement once occurred. With the support of our community, we hope to determine the most respectful and appropriate way in which we can display this history.”

Structures on the property include the historic house, a smoke house, a doctor's office and the cemetery, believed to be the original features of the farm from the early 1800s, as well as a cinderblock storage shed with a metal roof, a cinderblock horse stable, a cinderblock horse birthing barn, a cinderblock horse bathing barn, a cinder block basement post and a collapsed bean barn.

The report, A Public Garden for Howard County, Maryland, details the recommendations made by the focus group assigned with developing a preliminary concept plan.