
The following news release announces a $50,000 grant from the Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America to The Boston Harbor Association for a new horticultural display along the Old Northern Avenue Bridge. The award was made at this week’s annual meeting of the Boston Committee, the 1100 member, 14 club consortium.
Also announced at the meeting was a $10,000 grant to the Friends of Christopher Columbus Park for the irrigation and horticulture of the northeast “Circle” in the park. More information will be forthcoming on the FOCCP grant and “Circle” project.
Both grants are discussed in Boston.com’s Gardening column, “Boston’s New Bridge of Flowers” by Carol Stocker.
GATEWAY TO BOSTON’S SEAPORT DISTRICT TO BE BEAUTIFIED
At its Annual Meeting today, the Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America presented The Boston Harbor Association with a $50,000 grant for installation of a horticultural display along the historic Old Northern Avenue Bridge linking the Rose Kennedy Greenway with the developing Seaport District. The “Harbor-Link Gardens” proposal will transform the bridge, a treasured connection owned by the City of Boston’s Public Works Department, with lush, hardy seaside garden plants, horticultural signs, and colored pavement surfacing.
Vivien Li, President of The Boston Harbor Association, thanked the Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America saying, “The Old Northern Avenue Bridge is a vital link between two important areas of our city, and this generous support will help to set a standard for future plantings and sustainable design along the waterfront.”
“Beautifying this bridge will attract more visitors to the popular Harborwalk and act as a fitting gateway to our rapidly growing Innovation District,” Mayor Thomas M. Menino said. “Improving the Northern Avenue Bridge will also create a visual link to the Rose Kennedy Greenway, and I commend the partnership of public, private, and non-profit sectors to help get the job done.”
Boston award-winning landscape architect, Warner Larson, will provide pro bono services for the design and oversight of the installation. Nearby luxury hotel developer Eric Sachsse of Norwich Partners voiced support for the plan, saying, “As an abutter and major investor in Boston’s new waterfront, we are very supportive of this modest but exceptionally impactful vision.”
Funding from the Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America is raised from a membership of 1100 women from fourteen Garden Clubs in the greater Boston area and southern New Hampshire. Boston Committee Chair Michele Hanss said, “The mission of our consortium is to support horticultural initiatives in Boston that can have an impact on a greater number of people than similar projects each of our member clubs undertake in our individual communities. Making horticulture and open space a priority in Boston will have a ripple effect throughout the region.”
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