Scotts Miracle-Gro cultivates 1,000 community gardens

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has a new nationwide initiative to sponsor the creation of 1,000 community gardens and “green spaces” by 2018, the company said Thursday.

And the roots of the plan stretch back 60 years to the philanthropy and business sense of a Sands Point family, the Hagedorns, who created the Miracle-Gro plant food brand. As their company flourished the family became one of Long Island's major sources of charitable giving.

Sands Point native Jim Hagedorn, the son of Miracle-Gro founder Horace Hagedorn, is now as chief executive of the combined Scotts Miracle-Gro. 

The company, headquartered in Ohio, calls the community gardens idea a multi-year community outreach initiative. Its corporate label for the plan is GRO1000.

"There are benefits that only a garden can provide, and we're honored to help bring some of these benefits to neighborhoods, schools and communities," Jim Hagedorn said in a news release.

Scotts is working with several partner groups: Keep America Beautiful, the Garden Writers Association, Plant A Row for the Hungry, the National Gardening Association and the Franklin Park Conservatory. 

The announcement was made at the United States Botanic Garden, in Washington, D.C.