This Saturday, help start a new pollinator garden and visit local EU-member embassies

Kathy Sykes (far left) has been leading volunteers in planting spring blooms and bulbs along Connecticut Avenue.

For the last several weekends, volunteers from the neighborhood have beautified our area by planting native, pollinator-friendly plants and flowers along Connecticut Avenue in front of businesses, offices and the Montessori school between Van Ness Street Street and Nebraska Avenue.

The effort will continue for the next two Saturdays, May 14th and 21st, from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m., this time in front of Forest Hills of DC Inclusive Senior Living (4901 Connecticut). And volunteers are once again welcome. The home’s residents – and the butterflies, birds and bees – will appreciate your help.

Tools and gloves will be provided. All ages are welcome. Children under 12 should be accompanied by at least one adult. For more information, contact Kathy Sykes at sykeskathy@yahoo.com.

Invasive species be gone: A few blocks to the east, another group of volunteers will be working from 10 a.m. to noon to take a non-native plant out. The location is the daylighted Broad Branch stream. Their target: invasive garlic mustard. Find details and register here.

(This event has been canceled due to the daylong forecast of rain. They’ll try again sometime in June.) Shop handmade and local: From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., nearly 40 area artists and makers will be setting up shop at Van Ness Main Street’s spring pop-up market (4340 Connecticut). Check out the list of vendors here.

Embassy tours: And from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., European embassies will welcome visitors for EU Open House 2022

The participating embassies include five in our neighborhood: Slovakia, Austria, The Netherlands, Hungary and Czech Republic.