This Library Shares Plants, Not Books

While miniature libraries are a common sight throughout Rogers Park and beyond, the structure protruding from the frozen ground in front of one West Ridge home is not quite the same.

Sitting on a post jutting out of the lawn, this box is designed to share plants, not books.

Software engineer Abraham Herrera’s pandemic project was creating what he’s dubbed the Plant Post — a little library but with the alternate goal of sharing plants, including leftover seeds, cuttings, propagations, ornamental and vegetable plants. Now, he’s trying to propagate his idea and the instructions for building it.

Herrera made the initial frame for what would eventually be the first model of the Plant Post in 2021. After moving to the area two years ago, he found he finally had an outdoor space where it would fit, and it was time to dust off the old project, finish construction and install it in front of the house.

He and Emily Spindler, Herrera’s partner of six years, said one of their favorite things to do together is go on walks down random streets, looking for gardens to admire. They have their own vegetable and herb gardens at home alongside fruit trees, which Herrera said they only discovered after purchasing the house.

“I don’t remember exactly how I first got the idea, but I captured it on graph paper, because I guess I’m old school like that,” Herrera said.

Herrera said the Plant Post’s motto “Take a plant, leave a plant,” has roots in Chicago’s motto “Urbs in Horto,” meaning “City in a Garden,” which appears on the City Seal.

The Plant Post had its “soft launch” last year at the Northtown Garden Society’s annual May plant sale in Warren Park, and Herrera said it was both satisfying and inspiring to witness people’s faces light up when they recognize what the Plant Post is.

Chairman of the Northtown Garden Society Eva Mannabeg said they will continue their relationship with Herrera and hope he will once again display the Plant Post at the next May plant sale. Mannaberg said the garden society goes beyond just gardening and addresses all things nature, and she believes the project is a positive means of communicating with the community.

Herrera said the goal of last year was to introduce the idea and test out the box among his neighbors. With some positive feedback from the plant sale under his belt, Herrera said he hopes this year the project will take off. To help get it further off the ground, Herrera created a 14-page step-by-step build guide so those interested can construct their own Plant Post.

“My whole intention behind this community project is just get people to build them themselves,” Herrera said. “Feel like, if you’ve ever built a birdhouse, you can probably do this. It’s a little bit harder than a bird house but it’s the same skill set.”

Spindler said the box has survived its first winter without sustaining any real damage, enduring snow, rain, ice and hail. Although the original Plant Post is currently empty for the winter, Herrera said the plants may return in April.

Several passersby have asked the pair when the box will open up again, and before the temperatures dropped, some would comment on how much they liked the idea, according to Spindler. One neighbor wrote the pair a note thanking them and taped it to their front door along with a packet of tomato seeds.

“Thank you for the black strawberry tomato plant,” the note read. “Wanted to share some of these seeds with you, they are Siberian tomato seeds. I’ve had the best luck growing these on my low light back porch. Enjoy!”

Ash Luciani volunteers with the Rogers Park Seed Library and is one of three worker-owners of Prairies Over Lawns. They first encountered the Plant Post at another garden society event last year. In an email to The Phoenix, Luciani said they always have seedlings and were interested in creating a place where they could funnel plants into their community.

While Luciani hasn’t begun building their own Plant Post yet, they’re communicating with Herrera, acquiring the necessary supplies and expecting to finish construction in either late spring or early summer. Once finished, it will be integrated into their parkway alongside native grasses, trees and a classic little library.

“Many folks in this neighborhood already donate their apples from trees, honey from their bees, and seeds from their plants,” Luciani wrote. “By installing a Plant Post in the parkway, I am hoping to join this tradition of neighbors coming together to provide for each other.” 

With the new year, Herrera said he has big ambitions for the Plant Post. He’s considering hosting workshops on how to build it, registering as a nonprofit, creating a portable demo version, creating a website to highlight approximate locations, developing a workbook that could be used in schools and possibly installing one outside of the Warren Park fieldhouse.

Beyond some individual requests for instructions or an assembled box, most of these plans are still preliminary. But with the onset of garden season, Herrera said he’s excited to see how the project grows.