Plant for Your Future "Urbs in Horto"–City in a Garden–has been Chicago's motto for more than a century and half. Volunteers always have been an important part of preserving and expanding the city's natural beauty. With many years of recognition as a "Tree City USA," Chicago takes pride in its millions of trees on public and private lands. Nurture the Trees in our Urban Forest A neighborhood group worked with local merchants to plant new trees throughout shopping areas where traffic, road salt, and neglect had taken a toll on earlier plantings.

Adopt a Place in Your Neighborhood The city encourages block clubs and community groups to plant and care for trees and flower beds. The Department of Environment's GreenStreets program, 312-744-5714, helps coordinate public-private partnerships for tree planting projects around schools, vaulted sidewalks, and major thoroughfares, such as Lake Shore Drive and State and LaSalle Streets. The Bureau of Forestry, 312-744-4380, also runs "Adopt-a-Flowerbed" and "Adopt-a-Boulevard" to help community groups tend flowerbeds along streets and median strips. More than 300 community groups receive free seeds, plants, and bulbs four times a year through "Citywide Distributions Days," 312-744-8691. The Department of Streets and Sanitation also offers free parkway trees, 312-744-5000.

Make "Greening" a Year-Round Effort Many community groups have beautified their neighborhoods with the extensive help of the Community Greening Program, a joint effort of the city and the University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service. Every year volunteers rejuvenate nearly a hundred gardens or landscape areas.

Help from Many Corners Representatives of more than 100 community groups a year attend five Community Greening workshops to learn how to improve city landscapes or create new gardens, 312-744-8691. After the workshops, the groups get soil, plants, and tools to carry out their plans. With the help of labor from the Green Corps Program, 312-744-8691, community members work on building raised beds, planting, weeding and mulching. Other resources for neighborhood gardeners include: the Chicago Botanic Garden's Horticulture Department, which helps community groups with planting projects over a three-year period, 847-835-8254; the Urbs in Horto Fund, a special fund administered by the Chicago Community Trust that awards grants to block clubs and other groups for tree and plant projects, 312-372-3356; Treekeepers, a seven-week program to teach people about tree care, in which participants are expected to volunteer 36 hours to community tree care in Chicago, 312-427-4256; and the Chicago Park District conservatories in Lincoln and Garfield Parks, which offer free gardening classes, 312-638-1766.

Give Christmas in July in New Meaning The residents of one community did some on-the-spot recycling in mid-January. Bringing their Christmas trees--minus the lights, tinsel, and ornaments, of course--to Lincoln Park, they watched their trees get chipped into mulch for the shrub and flower beds that they enjoy all spring and summer in their neighborhood.

Holiday Mulch Some 22 parks are transformed into Christmas tree recycling sites on a mid-January Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call the city's GreenStreets program, 312-744-4611 (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf, 312-744-2971). You can take the fragrant mulch with you, or leave it for someone else.

Plant a Community Garden An enormous vegetable garden grew out of a former vacant lot, thanks to a community group that linked up with a neighborhood school. Individual families had plots, and the school created a hands-on learning "farm" for students. Volunteers from the neighborhood help schoolchildren with the farm, strengthening community ties all the way around. The students make a big harvest meal for volunteers in the fall.

Harvest the Community Pride You Sow A community garden can be a great source of pride for your neighborhood. Find a lot within walking distance of the homes of people who will participate. Make sure it's in a safe place, with six hours of sunlight and access to water. Most vacant lots can be leased for little or no money; check with the city about land ownership (312-744-7195). Set up a steering committee of interested neighbors to establish rules and guidelines for operations. Contact the Clean and Green program to see how the city can help, 312-744-5000 (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf, 312-744-8599). The Chicago Park District, 312-747-0545, also offers open space in parks for vegetable gardens tended by schoolchildren. Wherever your community garden is, perhaps you can use the produce you grow to help needy local residents.

Compost Your Organic Matter for Rich Soil One block group maintained a compost pile in its garden, using the rich soil it produced to fertilize vegetables and herbs as well as the flowerbeds planted to beautify the neighborhood. Try This Recipe Find a shady spot. Use grass clippings (above and beyond those you leave on your lawn to help it stay robust and green), spent but healthy garden plants, kitchen scraps (including egg shells and coffee grounds, but not meat, bones, oils, or dairy products), leaves, straw, hay, and sawdust from untreated wood. Avoid coals, charcoal, dog feces, cat litter, and pesticides. Mix them in a 6" layer, add a shovel full of soil or old compost, and sprinkle with water to moisten the mixture to the wetness of a squeezed-out sponge. Repeat the layers, aerating and watering as needed. Call the City of Chicago Department of Environment, 312-744-7606, for further tips. If you don't compost your organic matter, you need to put it in tall biodegradable paper bags, which you can buy at supermarkets, hardware, and drug stores, for pickup with your regular trash.

LITTER PREVENTION: Maintain Your Neighborhood Research shows that people litter for three main reasons. First, they feel no sense of ownership for a property, even a public park. Second, they think someone else will clean up after them. Third, they see litter already accumulated and think a little more won't matter. The message for community groups? Clean up the neighborhood and then maintain a litter-free environment with individual and group efforts and community education.

Educate Your Neighbors and Businesses A talk by a city official during the lunch break of a spring clean up helped educate a small group about the sources of litter and ways to prevent it. Two people went on to publish and distribute a flyer throughout their neighborhood that outlined what they had learned. Merchants were happy to post the flyer in store windows to show their support. A nearby car wash donated plastic litterbags that a local scout troop distributed to residents. At successive clean-up days, residents have had noticeably less litter to clean up.

Learn the Facts The seven primary sources of litter are: (1) household trash; (2) commercial refuse sources, such as dumpsters; (3) construction and demolition sites; (4) trucks with uncovered loads; (5) loading docks; (6) motorists; and (7) pedestrians. People can set examples for each other--especially children--by not dropping trash on the sidewalks or streets, carrying a litterbag in their cars, and making sure trash bin lids are securely fastened and dumpster doors are closed. Community leaders can go a step further, reminding local businesses to make sure trucks are covered and visiting local construction sites to let workers see that the neighborhood is committed to a litter-free environment.

Adopt a Site Many groups can adopt neighborhood sites to keep clean. In one area, the Boys Scouts, the Girl Scouts, a teachers' union, and several businesses each agreed to comb a street for litter. The number of adopted streets grew over time. This process created the sense of ownership necessary to keep an area clean. When kids walked down the street, they were more likely to pick up trash and put it in the proper receptacles than they were to add to the litter problem.

The Adoption Process Contact the city's Clean & Green program, 312-744-5000, and GreenStreets program, 312-744-5714, to get started. Usually the process begins with a clean up of litter, leaves, and any graffiti. The city can supply rakes, trash bags, and paint. You will need to find and organize the people to do the work, using flyers, posters, notices in local papers and on bulletin boards, and phone calls. Then add or replace the trees and plant flowers to beautify the area.