Grantee Profile: Haylene Green the Garden Queen of West End Community Garden

Haylene Green is a nurse by passion, printer by trade, and a farmer by DNA. Born in Port Antonio, Jamaica, she’s a descendant of the Maroon culture and has strong family ties to farming, spanning over three generations with an array of knowledge on both wild and planted fruits and vegetables. When she moved to New York, she used pots and planters to grow food sustainably, but nothing could compare to picking fresh fruit from a tree.

When Ms. Haylene visited Atlanta for a family reunion, she fell in love with the trees and relocated to the South. However, Green was disappointment to discover they were not fruit bearing trees, so she transformed her garden, the W.E. Urban Garden, into a community-based tropical wonderland of ginger, hibiscus,banana,turmeric, tropical pumpkins and more. The Garden Queen is known best for her Pumpkin Soup, Hibiscus Tea (also known as Sorrel), and for growing unusual fruits and veggies that you can’t usually find in Atlanta.

In 2016, Ms. Haylene received a Local Food Grant to build out a greenhouse at her farm to extend the growing season for the diverse plants she uses in her locally grown, healthy offerings. The grant supported her with supplies and access to a certified kitchen so that she can ramp up production of her famous hibiscus tea.  Haylene is also a Food Innovation Fellow, allowing her to further refine the services she provides and the farm business that she operates.

Ms. Haylene has a passion for healing and educating others through healthy food and maintaining her goal of teaching people how to identify, grow and prepare healthy food, especially in at risk communities. By doing so, people will be able to tackle conditions, deficiencies, and ailments that cause diseases.  She also wishes to spread her knowledge of  container gardening, raised beds gardening, hanging baskets, and other methods of growing in limited spaces.

You can purchase Haylene’s products at various markets around town - most notably the West End Farmers Market, West End Fresh MARTA, the Avondale Farmers Market, Truly Living Well’s Friday market at Collegetown Farm, or by visiting and volunteering at the W.E. Urban Garden.