Boston Flora

Tag: Patsy Boyce

  • From the Archives: Hands-On Gardening

    In April, 1977, then-President Patsy Boyce called on members for a variety of tasks. Tickets for an upcoming neighborhood garden tour were sent out to be sold (you know the drill: sell them or buy them yourself), and a sign up sheet for hostessing during a tour shift was circulated. Everyone was to contribute 60 cookies (up from 50 the previous year) and a Library Courtyard planting was scheduled.  In addition, members were asked to contribute ten plants to the Garden Club table at the Neighborhood Street Fair  in June.  While these requests seem modest, we all know how difficult corralling volunteers can be. Currently, we have a brigade of “Dirty Girls” willing to step to the plate for hands-on projects in the neighborhood, from cleaning out window boxes at Hale House to planting around a statue on the Mall. Below is a picture of the Sarmiento statue, with our plants circling the base.  If you are not already on the Dirty Girls email distribution list but would like to be added, contact us at info@bostonflora.com. You don’t even have to be a Garden Club member, just a willing volunteer with access to a trowel or clippers (although even these can be provided.)

  • From the Archives: Window Boxes

    From the Archives: Window Boxes

    In May, 1973, as part of a planting project on Beacon Street which we will describe in a future “From the Archives” post, the Garden Club of the Back Bay sold window boxes to neighbors. Then-President Patsy Boyce admitted the idea was borrowed from the Beacon Hill Garden Club, and the boxes themselves were made by the North American Rockwell Corporation of Linesville, Pennsylvania, the same company BHGC used.  Included with each box was an eight page brochure on installing window boxes, and what to grow in them, including maintenance hints.

    Below is a shot of former Club members Ethel Dunlop and Ruth Eder selling one of 100 available window boxes to the Kilpatricks.

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  • Saturday, October 1, 10:00 am – Memorial Service for Past President Patsy Boyce

    Patsy Boyce, former President of The Garden Club of the Back Bay, age 77, passed away in August in Sun City West, Arizona.  She is survived by her husband Joseph Sidlovsky and her son James Boyce.  Among her many neighborhood accomplishments, Patsy designed the courtyard of The Boston Public Library prior to its latest incarnation, and the four magnificent Japanese maple trees she acquired were removed and replanted at Mt. Auburn Cemetery.  She was also a flight attendant, and secretary to President Lyndon B. Johnson.  There will be a memorial service for Patsy at Trinity Church at Copley Square on Saturday, October 1 beginning at 10 am.   We anticipate that many Garden Club members will wish to attend and pay their last respects to one of our most cherished members.  James Boyce plans to establish a fund with The Garden Club of the Back Bay in his mother’s memory, providing horticultural assistance to Boston neighborhoods with fewer resources than ours, details of which will be announced soon.  Contributions in lieu of flowers may be sent to The Garden Club of the Back Bay, c/o Elisabeth Lay, 239 Marlborough Street, Boston, MA 02116.