The 2025 Annual Meeting of the Brookline GreenSpace Alliance will be held on Wednesday, April 22, 5:30–7:30 PM, at Boston University’s Wightman House, at the corner of Monmouth Street and Hawes Street. BGSA members and the public are invited.
Carl Zimba, who has prepared a study of the Muddy River in partnership with the Muddy Water Initiative, will speak on “Low Water and High Hopes: Olmsted and the Mudflats in the Muddy River.”
Please email info@brooklinegreenspace.org to let us know if you plan to attend the Annual Meeting and whether you are a BGSA member. There will be light refreshments. Nonmembers may attend the meeting but may not vote. If you are not sure of your membership status, please email info@brooklinegreenspace.org to inquire.
Mayor Michelle Wu has announced the Annual Mayor’s Garden Contest highlighting the hard work of Boston’s urban gardeners. The competition provides the perfect opportunity to recognize the skills of all Boston residents who contribute to the beauty of the city’s landscape.
Boston’s green thumbs have until 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, July 9 to submit their gardens for award contention. The contest recognizes gardeners who have landscaped, planted flowers, trees, shrubs, and, in the process, helped beautify Boston’s neighborhoods.
Gardeners or those nominating their favorite gardeners may find printable and online nomination forms HERE. The preferred method of entry is to submit photos through the online application. Alternatively, contestants may request an application by emailing their name and address to gardencontest@boston.gov. Paper applications are also available in English and ten additional languages.
Judges will fan out across the city visiting finalists in late July. Once the votes are tallied, first place winners will receive the coveted “Golden Trowel” award from Mayor Wu while second and third place winners will be awarded certificates. The traditional awards ceremony is scheduled to take place in the Boston Public Garden in late August
Gardeners who have won three or more times in the last ten years will be automatically entered into the Hall of Fame. These distinguished Hall-of-Famers are not eligible to enter as contestants but are invited to return as judges.
First place winners are eligible for a drawing for a JetBlue Grand Prize consisting of round trip flights for two to any nonstop destination from Boston. Terms, conditions, and blackout dates apply. In addition, Mahoney’s Garden Centers will provide gardener’s gift bags to the top three winners in each category, as well as gift certificates for the 2025 Hall of Fame winners.
For details and to enter the contest, visit the website.
The Garden Club of the Back Bay will hold its November meeting on the first of November (time to be announced) at The Chilton Club, 152 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Speakers Amy Whitesides and Todd Mistor will present on the new City of Boston Urban Forest Plan. Amy, a Design Critic in Landscape Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design, works with Stoss Landscape Urbanism, the design firm that played a central role in developing the plan, and is currently the Resilience Advisor. Todd, a former priest turned urban forester, is the new Director of Boston Urban Forestry for the City of Boston. This is a members-only event, but to attend, all you need to do is join, at https://bostonflora.com/ You will receive sign up details and be set for the rest of the 2023/2024 program year, while supporting the not for profit organization, now entering its 56th year.
Comprised of 175 exhibitors, CraftBoston Holiday is a highly regarded, must-attend event for artists, collectors, and craft enthusiasts. Presented at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, CraftBoston Holiday is conveniently located in a fashionable, concentrated shopping district perfect for the holiday season. Come for the day to shop for unique, one-of-a-kind gifts, meet and support the makers, and learn about fine contemporary craft.
This year, SAC is pleased to announce that Nick Offerman will be speaking at CraftBoston on Friday, Dec. 11 at 1:30PM. In his talk, titled Sawdust and Mirth, Offerman will discuss the importance of handmade objects. Offerman, an American actor, writer, comedian, and carpenter, is widely known for his breakout role as Ron Swanson in the acclaimed NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. The show hours are Friday, December 11 from 10 – 6, Saturday, December 12 from 10 – 6, and Sunday, December 13 from 11 – 5. For more information visit http://www.societyofcrafts.org/cbholiday/holidayinfo.asp
The July 15 entry deadline is almost upon us – enter Mayor Menino’s Garden Contest 2011, a citywide celebration of urban gardening, generously sponsored by Comcast and the Boston Herald. All Boston residents, businesses, or organizational gardens are eligible, as long as the gardener is an amateur. Gardens will be judged on the basis of general appeal (natural or formal), use of color, definition, neatness, the variety and quality of plant material, and garden hardware, furnishings, and art. Submit photo of the nominated garden to Mayor Menino’s Garden Contest, Boston Parks and Recreation Department, 1010 Massachusetts Avenue, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02118, along with your name, address, telephone number and email address, or apply online at www.cityofboston,gov/parks/gardencontest. Categories: Porch, Balcony, Deck or Window Box Garden; Shade Garden; Small Yard Garden (250 square feet or less); Medium Yard Garden (250 square feet – 500 square feet); Large Yard Garden (larger than 500 square feet); Community Garden; Vegetable or Herb Garden; Storefront, Business or Organization Garden. Photographs or images submitted to the Boston Parks & Recreation Department become City of Boston property and may be used for press or marketing purposes. Gardeners may only win one category per year. For more information, call 617-961-3051. Chitose Suzuki’s photo of South End garden below courtesy of www.townhousecenter.org.
Join your neighbors and friends in lighting the Mall again this year. Funded entirely by donations, it is the neighborhood’s gift to the City. Donations are currently being solicited, large or small. Make checks payable to Committee to Light Commonwealth Avenue Mall, and mail them to the Back Bay Association, 234 Clarendon Street, Boston, MA 02116. Donations may also be made online at www.BackBayLights.com. The Committee to Light Commonwealth Avenue Mall works with the Commonwealth Avenue Mall Committee of The Friends of the Public Garden and with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department.
Join the Friends of Christopher Columbus Park on Friday, November 13, from 7 pm – 11 pm, at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf, 296 State Street, Boston, for a wonderful 6th annual Gala to raise money to support the Christopher Columbus Park. There will be a cocktail hour, dinner, dancing, & a silent auction. The ticket price is $150, and you may reserve by emailing info@foccp.org, or logging on to www.foccp.org/Gala.html.
The Friends of Christopher Columbus Park (FOCCP) is a non-profit organization made up of North End and Waterfront neighbors whose purpose is to further the restoration, protection, preservation, care, enhancement, improvement, and maintenance of the Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park. The FOCCP work closely with the City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department to keep the park clean and well maintained.
This all-volunteer neighborhood group provides funding for the Annual Trellis Lights, maintains the Rose Kennedy Rose Garden, and purchases new trees and plants for the Park.
The Friends of the Public Garden, in conjunction with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, invite you to a presentation on a proposal for the renovation of the Brewer Plaza on Boston Common. The meeting will take place Tuesday, September 15, from 7 – 9 pm, at Suffolk University, 120 Tremont St., 4th Floor. See and hear about plans to renovate the Plaza, making a greener, more inviting gateway into the Common and a destination within the park with a restored Brewer Fountain as its centerpiece. For questions, call the Friends of the Public Garden office at 617-723-8144.
