The overgrown lot at 5308 Parrish St. in the Haddington neighborhood of West Philadelphia is getting back to its roots. After sitting abandoned, accumulating trash, construction debris and dumped car parts for over a decade, a new project is in progress to restore the space to a new iteration of its past life as a neat, blooming garden.
Nathan McWilliams, however, who has been pruning back invasive species like mulberry and tree of heaven since September, believes it is already an oasis.
“It has so much potential. And I just want to bring that garden back to its glory,” says McWilliams, owner and lead consultant at Tree In Me, LLC.
His presence has already drawn community members to the site — McWilliams says neighborhood youth have seen him at work and joined in, helping make way for rose bushes and serviceberries. Some return week after week. With support from volunteers like these, who will have ample opportunities to lend a hand at restoration days throughout the year, McWilliams hopes to open the garden to the public by summer and offer plots where neighbors can begin growing their own food.
A 39-year resident of West Philly, McWilliams opened Tree In Me in August 2025 after working for more than two decades in land stewardship for area nonprofit organizations such as Riverfront North Partnership and Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership. But with his consulting firm, his focus is hyperlocal: on West Philly’s green spaces.
McWilliams hopes Tree In Me can serve as a training hub where he can give his community the tools, the skills and the space to connect with nature, whether that’s as gardeners, hikers, naturalists, conservationists or simply more environmentally aware residents. When he’s not restoring the Parrish St. garden, McWilliams also offers land care management services and educational programming such as gardening demonstrations, native plant workshops and career consultations for Philadelphians interested in the green job sector.
Above all, he stresses that he is not just a landscaper, but rather a conservationist and land steward. Whereas a landscaper may prioritize aesthetics, McWilliams says he guides his clients in creating sustainable, functional green spaces and teaches them about long-term garden maintenance.
“Then they also have a mentor, someone they can work with who will keep continuously teaching them about their own backyard,” McWilliams says.
Education is central to McWilliams’ mission — Tree In Me’s logo features the image of a tree sprouting from an open book. His philosophy: give a man a garden and he eats for a season, but teach a man to garden and he eats for a lifetime.
That goal of empowering his community with knowledge doesn’t end at his clients’ yards. Another way McWilliams helps residents connect with West Philly’s untapped green spaces is on his weekly guided nature tours. Resuming for the 2026 season in mid-March, he will lead participants on the roughly three-mile Haddington Woods Trail, guiding them through plant and animal identification games using the Seek by iNaturalist app and teaching them about the history and ecology of the wooded area adjacent to Cobbs Creek.
With his array of land conservation services and program offerings, McWilliams hopes Tree In Me will not only support the tree canopy, native greenery and biodiversity of West Philadelphia, but also grow a new generation of green leaders.
Like germinating and growing plants from seed, mentorship is not an overnight project, and he is working to partner with more organizations to reach community members who are ready to get their hands dirty.
“Conservation is not always beautiful,” says McWilliams. “It’s all about the long game.”
