The Chimborazo Native Food Project, founded in 2020, was established to provide an accessible community orchard of native fruit trees and shrubs and introduce the importance of native plant communities to residents of Richmond’s East End. In the spring of 2021, with permission from the City of Richmond’s Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Development, volunteers began work removing a large infestation of non-native kudzu (Pueraria montana) on an acre of land at the southern corner of Chimborazo Park, the designated plot for the orchard. Removing this tangle of dense, leafy vine opened up much of the area to a native grassland habitat and provided tillable soil to begin planting for the orchard.  

Work removing the invasive kudzu continued in the first half of 2022, and was successful enough for volunteers to plant 55 native fruit trees and shrubs, including 16 American hazelnut shrubs, seven Chickasaw plum trees, five downy serviceberry trees, and 27 black chokeberry shrubs. The success of volunteers’ kudzu management allowed for seeds for myriad native species – long dormant under the heavy mat of kudzu vines – to germinate, and the orchard saw a profusion of deer tongue grass, passion fruit vines, common evening primrose, and elderberry shrubs.