We Are the Seeds Indigenous Listening Garden celebrates Indigenous ecological knowledge, community-driven storytelling, and multimedia artwork. The Garden is a place for community to connect to the land and each other.
The site for Seeds Indigenous Listening Garden in the Mantua neighborhood of West Philadelphia.
We Are the Seeds Indigenous Listening Garden builds on years of Seeds' work to advance representation, support Native artists and Philadelphia’s communities, and increase opportunities for cultural exchange and record. Seeds Listening Garden responds to the urgent need for places that create acknowledgment, connection, dignity, and collective care in Philadelphia.
With 40,000 vacant lots in Philadelphia, there is massive need and opportunity to revitalize our relationship to land and nurture a place where plants, wildlife, and people can thrive. The foundation of our garden is native, culturally significant plants rematriated to the soil, such as berries, grasses, wildflowers, herbs, squashes, and beans. Particular focus will be given to plants that support our more-than-human family: milkweed and lupine for butterflies; joe-pye weed and coneflower for beneficial insects; switchgrass and clover for the soil biome. This is the setting for soundscapes and sculptural installations by Indigenous artists, storytelling and archiving with the Philadelphia community, and organizing for environmental and climate justice.
Prior to establishing the garden, Seeds has worked at the intersection of art, agriculture, and media through The Ashawaug Project (lead funding by NDN Collective), From Here, With a View podcast (lead funding by People's Media Fund, formerly Independent Public Media Foundation), Seeds Philly Powwow + Art Market (lead funding by The William Penn Foundation), and the Seeds Art Market.
Events
Seeds sourced from Ernst Seeds, Experimental Farm Network, Hayefield, Hudson Valley Seed Company, Prairie Moon Nursery, Seed Savers Exchange, and Truelove Seeds, donated by Leilehua Lanzilotti in partnership with the public, land-care engagements of the Moananuiākea project.
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May 30, 2026, 12PM - 2PM
Plant Baby Plant Bloom Event: Seed Planting & Take-Home at Bartram's Garden https://plantbabyplant.com/action-spotlight/the-well-tree-musical-and-a-bloom/ Details coming soon |
