After 15 Years, Bloom and Groom Program Still Beautifying Milwaukee
This year 15 neighborhood groups are participating in city's program.
People check out the Bloom and Groom plant sale at Sherman Park Community Association’s Earth Day in May event on May 17 in Sherman Park. (Photo by Meredith Melland)
Thousands of begonias, marigolds and other colorful flowers pop up in Milwaukee’s neighborhoods each spring through the city’s annual Bloom and Groom initiative.
“This is not just a fundraiser or selling plants, it is an event where community can really connect with each other,” said Brittney Taylor, resource and development organizer for Metcalfe Park Community Bridges.
The 2026 series of neighborhood flower and plant sales wrapped up in early June with 15 neighborhood groups participating, according to Angela Mitchell Reid, community outreach projects liaison with the city’s Neighborhood Improvement Development Corp. As many as 22 groups have participated over the years.
The Neighborhood Improvement Development Corp. is affiliated with the Milwaukee Department of City Development and provides housing resources and facilitates community programs like the Healing Spaces Initiative.
How did Bloom and Groom start?
Created by Mayor Tom Barrett’s administration 15 years ago, the Bloom and Groom initiative uses plants to improve curb appeal and foster community pride, and also to encourage neighbors to spend time outside and go beyond waving at each other, Reid said.
“It’s an opportunity for them to engage and communicate where you actually learn someone’s name,” she said.
The annual city budget allots funding for the development corporation’s Community Improvement Project. Usually, $12,000 to $18,000 of that funding is allocated for Bloom and Groom, according to Reid.
How does it work?
Every community group can purchase up to $3,000 in flowers, herbs, vegetable plants or seeds and apply to be reimbursed up to $1,500, according to Reid. They also receive $100 to cover delivery or trunk rental expenses.
Neighborhood groups can set their own prices, as long as they are less than the price they paid, and keep the profits as a fundraiser.
Metcalfe Park Community Bridges offered residents the chance to preorder flowers, vegetable plants like cucumbers and bell peppers, and herbs they purchased from Caan Floral & Greenhouses in Sheboygan and from a small local farmer.
“We learn from each Bloom and Groom what plants the community wants more of; like hostas are a huge hit,” said Taylor, who facilitated the group’s sale on June 6.
Though they haven’t usually seen a profit, the North Side organization nearly sold out and made over $900 this year that will go toward its community-led housing and Food Justice Collective initiatives.
Muskego Way Forward asked community members what they needed before purchasing $500 of vegetable plants, $250 of flowers and $250 of herbs from Webers Greenhouse, 4215 N. Green Bay Ave., according to Paola Rodriguez, initiative program assistant for the South Side neighborhood group.
She helped Sofia DelRefugio, community organizer with Muskego Way Forward, coordinate the sale.
“We got a lot of tomatoes, peppers, jalapeños, a lot of cilantro, oregano – herbs that we typically cook with almost every day,” Rodriguez said.
Both groups focused on keeping the prices accessible for residents, Taylor and Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said Muskego Way Forward sold plants for $2 to $4 and then reduced that by half after two hours during its sale on May 23.
Sofia DelRefugio, community organizer with Muskego Way Forward, right, and volunteers Renee and Marta load plants on May 22 ahead of Muskego Way Forward’s Bloom and Groom plant sale. (Photo courtesy of Paola Rodriguez)
Getting the flowers
The initiative works with nurseries and garden centers in the area that can offer a 10% to 15% discount to neighborhood groups that place preorders or shop for the sales, such as Lowe’s, Fruit of the Bloom Garden Center and Minor’s Garden Center.
The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District has provided the plant fertilizer Milorganite for the last six or seven years.
Neighborhood groups in action
Many neighborhood groups use the sales as an opportunity to distribute free housing, food or environmental resources to community members.
Metcalfe Park Community Bridges distributed bags from Northwestern Mutual with garbage pickers and other supplies to assist with cleaning up the neighborhood, Taylor said.
In addition to having a few organizations present to share resources, Muskego Way Forward handed out 50 free native plants it received as a donation to help with absorbing water and prevent flooding in the neighborhood.
“We’re really trying to understand what it is that (neighbors) need and just kind of give them a one-stop shop of resources,” Rodriguez said.
Meredith Melland is the neighborhoods reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.
This article first appeared on Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
