Garden club aims to help beautify Quincy
Adding its expertise and resources to scarce city funding, a group of passionate gardeners is giving a boost to city beautification efforts.
The Wollaston Garden Club bought and planted evergreen perennials, leafy heat-tolerant coral bells, and a range of bright summer annuals for seven stately planters at one of the city’s gateway intersections. Working with the city’s park department, club members recently placed varieties of cypress, spruce, and juniper to provide year-round green at Quincy Avenue and Southern Artery - the city’s busy Route 53 gateway into Quincy Center.
While the city buys and maintains flowers for more than 100 roadway planting boxes and numerous other planting sites each summer, the park department’s limited resources can’t stretch far enough to purchase the sturdy, attractive perennials that will hold up to urban conditions year after year and also provide what landscapers call “winter interest’’ after most plants lose their leaves.
“We’re limited by the budget,’’ said Kristen Powers, director of the city’s park, forestry, and cemetery departments. “It’s a major challenge.’’
The park department spends about $10,000 to $12,000 for the plants that provide bright summer color to the city’s roadways, Powers said, concentrating on gateways such as the office park strip along Newport Avenue, the northern approach to the city; the corner of Sea Street and Quincy Shore Drive, the entry to the popular Wollaston Beach area; and Granite Avenue off Burgin Parkway, near the busy Route 3 interchange.
Jo Costello of the Wollaston Garden Club said the club had researched plant varieties that could coexist with urban traffic and add year-round beauty to the “big, beautiful’’ stone planters at the Route 53 site. Raising money from its popular spring plant sale, the club spent $850 on evergreens such as Hinoki cypress, Alberta spruce, and grey owl juniper; flowering perennials such as heuchera (coral bells); plus annuals such as verbena, coleus, and licorice plant for color. The city will maintain the site, watering the plants to help them get established.
The park department and the club plan to take on more beautification projects, adding a new intersection each year. Costello said the club wants to see how well the plants chosen for this year’s planters hold up. The next city site hasn’t been chosen.
The city sends out its water truck to irrigate the planters, even along highly trafficked roads. This year, however, Powers said, “Nature’s been taking care of it.’’
Robert Knox can be reached at rc.knox2@gmail.com. 