At this Philadelphia school, elementary students learn among butterflies and bees.

Mt. Airy resident Patrick Hauck, with the help of neighbors and various grants, has grown about 6,000 square feet of pollinator gardens around the premises of Henry H. Houston Elementary School, a public school built on a former water reservoir. As of this month, native plants tower over the border walls made of local Wissahickon schist from the front steps to the playground in the back. The navy school sign is just barely visible among the flowering shrubs.

The bustling ecosystem has been Hauck’s passion project since 2020, when walls around the historic building were overrun with vines and weeds. The 70-year-old lives in one of the 19th century Victorian houses across the street from the school, where he has an extensive native garden of his own.

The school grounds “got mowed [by the district], but it didn’t get love because there wasn’t enough time and not enough resources,” he said.

Former STEM teacher Christine Bush was spearheading the effort to build an outdoor classroom. She and Hauck, who had recently retired, were in a spinning class together and decided to team up.

Neighbors donated plants and volunteered to assist Hauck with growing. Weavers Way Co-op members volunteer on a weekly basis. Families for Houston — a nonprofit of parents who conduct volunteer work for the school — helped Hauck fundraise, design and maintain the garden. Over time, they received plants from the Xerces Society, a habitat conservation nonprofit, and Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, as well as financial grants through the Hardy Plant Society and Weavers Way. People donated $4,500 across three GoFundMe campaigns, Hauck said. Mt. Airy Tree Tenders provided street trees.

“One of my friends said, ‘Patrick, I’m retired now. Is there anything I can build for the school?’ And I said, ‘Come on down. I want to get boxes built around the base of the trees,’” Hauck said.

There are more than 50 species on the school grounds, most of which are native, Hauck said. That includes goldenrod, milkweed, black-eyed Susan, purple coneflower and mountain mint. It also depends on what species community members donate, he said.

Various forms of wildlife flock to the maturing gardens. Birds come and drop seeds of other native species. Throughout the interview, Hauck pointed out a hummingbird, Eastern swallowtail and honeybees feeding on the flowers’ nectar.

This year, he and other volunteers beautified the area facing Rural Lane by the basketball courts and playgrounds. The shrubs will be protected by a fence between the hillside and courts.

The whole project has been a learning curve for Hauck, who became especially interested in gardening while taking a training course for Philadelphia master gardeners. He tends to the grounds every day in the spring and a few days a week in the summer.

Hauck sees the help from neighbors and opportunity to grow a pollinator garden of this scale as a gift and adores beauty that has formed out of a chaotic collection of species.

“You’re kind of part of something, but it’s bigger than you. It’s a lovely way to just be out and see what happens and see what community does and how it responds,” he said.

And the kids enjoy it, he said. Teachers bring students to the outdoor classroom and teach them about the various insects.

LeRoy Hall, Jr., principal of Houston, said the kids have been generally respectful of the gardens. There have been no reports of vandalism nor bee stings. The gardens send “an immediate message” to Houston Elementary community members that people like Hauck care about Houston and the students,” Hall said.

“They feel like they’re at a place that loves them,” he said. The school gave Hauck an award for his community service at its 2021 graduation and invited him to speak at the ceremony.

Jane de Lartigue, former president of Families for Houston, said the garden fosters “a sense of pride for the school to feel like we have something beautiful that we can share with the community.”

Hauck and the organization planted a tree to the right of the front steps to commemorate the late Families for Houston president Lauren Wiley, who died in 2025. A prominent volunteer and journalist, Wiley served as the director for the Philadelphia Public School Notebook during its transition to Chalkbeat Philadelphia in 2020.

“She loved the garden,” she said. “I thought that was a nice way to honor her memory … with something that would be present at Houston for a long time.”

Hall said students have helped tend to the gardens in the past and he’s interested in having more student involvement in the future.

Hauck wants to build a broader network of experienced volunteers to help with the ongoing care and maintenance of the garden.

“I would love to have this place be known as the Garden School,” he said. “Because I think if a neighborhood like Mt. Airy can’t have a place known for that, how else is it going to happen?”

Steve Kendall, president of West Mt. Airy Neighbors, said the garden “coincides with one of our high priority areas, which is stewardship of the natural environment. We’re just so enthusiastic about it, and applaud Patrick, and hope that it can continue to be a beautiful place for the children and the neighbors.”

Hauck hopes the garden outlives him. From what he’s seen from local residents, he’s optimistic.

“You don’t plant a garden without hope, you know,” he said.