Fresh growth

Curious about what some of the public gardens and arboretums in the Philadelphia region are planning for 2012?

Here's a preview:

Awbury Arboretum in Germantown has a new community apiary - three hives outside and a demonstration hive inside the Francis Cope House. A 10-session beekeeping course is under way and a 4-H beekeeping club is planned, as are honey sales.

Beekeeper Anaiis Salles suggested the apiary because "Awbury has underutilized green space, plenty of room for hives, it's easy to get to, and has a really nontoxic environment. It's never been sprayed."

And with so many urban farms in Northwest Philadelphia, including one run by Weavers Way Co-op at Awbury, "this will be a good neighborhood for bees," says Salles, executive director of Green Sanctuary Earth Institute of Pennsylvania, who also runs a community-supported agriculture network.

Awbury Arboretum, 1 Awbury Rd., 215-849-285, www.awbury.org. Open.

Bartram's Garden in Southwest Philadelphia is looking to shift from "a 'show and tell' site to a place where people can get their hands dirty," says Stephanie Phillips, assistant director.

In 2011, a 11/2-acre organic farm replaced unused tennis courts and a baseball field at the southern end of the property. Plans call for the farm's acreage to double.

Meanwhile, 10 community garden plots will be planted this spring, and while those are spoken for, 14 more will be added eventually.

Bartram's has 37 new fruit trees, including apple, pawpaw, almond, Northern pecan, cherry, persimmon, fig, peach, plum, apricot, and pear. No fruit is expected for three to five years, and there are no picnic tables yet, but visitors are invited to bring lunch and a blanket.

Bartram's also is channeling its namesake, the influential 18th-century botanist John, with a new plant nursery. Nothing huge, maybe just two or three hoop houses to start, but it will be the first nursery here since the 1850s.

The focus will be native plants, Bartram discoveries, such as pawpaw, summersweet, and foamflower, and possibly plants that the garden's Kingsessing neighbors might like to grow.

Adds Phillips: "What if every visitor to Bartram's Garden went home with a plant?"

Bartram's Garden, 54th St. & Lindbergh Blvd., 215-729-5281, www.bartramsgarden.org. Open.