If you are an Orioles fan, you have probably strolled by this unassuming garden behind the Veterans Memorial at Camden Yards, unaware of its special purpose. And that’s by design.

Installed almost 10 years ago at the Eutaw Street entrance, the garden, roughly the size of two basketball courts, seeks to attract the Baltimore oriole and other pollinators to allow native plants to flourish. It is one of the largest installations in a project by the National Wildlife Federation to bring more green spaces to the community.

“If you’re walking through Camden Yards and you don’t notice that the garden is there, that means we’ve done a good job across the city of creating pockets of green spaces,” said Hallie Carter, conservation project manager at the National Aquarium.

The garden replaced a lawn at the entrance to the ballpark. A couple benches line the winding brick walkways that cut through the trees and various plants.

Its location, situated far enough away from the bustling traffic, provides a perfect, natural getaway for the office spaces in the warehouse.

The focus of the garden is native gardening, said Grace Siu, conservation coordinator at the National Aquarium.

It features plants that provide benefits to local fauna, match oriole colors and are great for birds and insects. The Asclepias tuberosa, for example, blooms with orange flowers in the summer and is critical for the monarch butterfly and oriole nest building.

Tall trees in the garden make for an ideal perch for the iconic bird.

The National Aquarium and NWF host monthly maintenance events, where volunteers help weed and clean up the garden. Picking up the litter not only helps attract more native critters to the garden, but removing the weeds opens up more space for native plants to grow, explained Siu.

Last Friday, a group of around 10 volunteers showed up, ready to get their hands dirty. The partly cloudy skies hid the sweltering sun and a light breeze made it a perfect day for gardening.

After a quick briefing by Siu and Carter on which weeds needed picking, the volunteers grabbed gloves, shovels and garbage bags from bins and buckets brought by Siu.

The volunteers picked weeds from the edges of the garden and “dead heading” — trimming down a plant for it to grow better, like getting a haircut.

Mike McManus, 36, a volunteer at a recent monthly maintenance event, said he hadn’t noticed the garden before but that the event was the “best of both worlds,” combining his love for baseball and the outdoors.

“Next time I’m down here, I’m walking by and pulling some more weeds,” McManus said.

While Carter has not seen an oriole, other than a baseball player, in the garden, the garden is also a way to bring in other wildlife into the city.

“I’ve seen a lot of larvae and bugs and other types of birds that are in there,” Carter said. “While a lot of the species that were planted attract orioles and other things, it does benefit a lot of birds.”

The Baltimore oriole can be hard to spot, but according to Joe Corcoran, president of the Baltimore Bird Club, they are not as rare as some might think.

The bird tends to sit in high trees and blends into the foliage, but the best way to spot it is to listen for its distinct whistle.

“If you have some woods nearby or near your house, you can cut an orange in half and nail half of it to the tree, and sometimes that will attract multiple orioles,” said Corcoran, adding that they also like fruit jams.

Joshua Louis and his two daughters, Sophie and Katie, also volunteered at the recent maintenance event and said they had seen a couple orioles around South Baltimore.

“Look for birds with an orange chest and spots,” advised Sophie.

The Maryland Stadium Authority said the Oriole Garden is one way Camden Yards operates as sustainably as possible.

If you have time before the game, don’t forget to stop by and smell the flowers.