The Garden of Hope at Christopher Columbus Park, lovingly tended by the all-volunteer Horticulture Committee of the Friends of Christopher Columbus Park, is awash with riotous color and bursting with life, as birds, bees, and butterflies flit among the flowers.
What is more beautiful than a flower in full bloom? The answer: a flower attracting a butterfly. The combination elicits an ephemeral moment of awe and joy.
What started as an FOCCP project to create a lush garden of vibrant colored flowers to be cut and used as bouquets for local healthcare facilities and individuals needing a ray of hope has become a gift to the whole community.
Sharing this gift with an even wider audience led FOCCP Co-Chairs, Robyn Reed and Terese O’Connell, to enter the City of Boston’s, Mayor’s Garden Contest. They entered as an organization in the category of Storefront, Organization or Main Street District Garden. The judging is currently taking place across the city and the winners will be announced later in the summer.
Although everybody’s fingers are crossed for a win, the myriad volunteers who tend this garden and the many recipients of the bouquets, from health organizations to individuals needing a bit of TLC, already consider themselves winners.
Photo credits to: Robyn Reed, Terese O’Connell, Meredith Piscitelli and Lew Gaffen
Tending the Garden of Hope and all of the other many FOCCP projects are only possible because of member support. Please consider joining in our efforts and becoming a member (foccp.org/membership) or a sponsor (foccp.org/corporate-sponsorship). Together we are part of something bigger! Thank you and enjoy your Park!
