FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Spring 2006
Contact: Lucia Droby
E-mail: info@cogdesign.org
Phone: 781-642-6662

COGdesign Wins at New England Spring Flower Show

Boston, March 2006 – The Community Outreach Group for Landscape Design (COGdesign) was the recipient of a Bronze Medal and the Roger Dane Trophy at this year’s New England Spring Flower Show. Judges acknowledged COGdesign’s impact on underserved clients, the organization’s professionalism, and its outstanding volunteers. A “tremendous volunteer base demonstrates the effort to bring professional expertise into underserved spaces,” they wrote. “The scope and level of details of these presentations show the dedication to enhancing our public environment.” The Flower Show, hosted by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society (MHS), is the preeminent late winter event in the Boston area for gardeners, homeowners, and New Englanders tired of gray, chill, and drab.

At the invitation of MHS director Thomas Herrera-Mischler, COGdesign showcased 14 community-based landscape design projects, most completed during the last year. Designers prepared ‘storyboards,’ telling the tale of their landscape design project through graphics, photos, and narrative. 

According to Herrera-Mischler, the educational display brought “heart and soul” to the flowery spectacle. “COGdesign provides a vital link between the professional design community and reviving neighborhoods and institutions that serve some of our most at-risk neighbors and communities. COG is a vital resource in a resource starved urban environment, bringing the skills and training of creative and caring individuals into situations in which they can make a real difference to people in need,” said Herrera-Mischler. 

COGdesign board member and landscape designer Ellen Forrester coordinated COGdesign’s educational exhibit; journalist April Austin wrote the press release (available on www.cogdesign.org); graphic designers Margery Stegman and Anna Ozols provided graphic design services; landscape designers Mickie Rice, Susan Opton, and volunteer Jon Burns helped to set up the exhibit; landscape design student Elizabeth Westling created models for display; and designers Louise Forrest, Gabrielle Whitcombe, and Lelia Weinstein provided maintenance support during the show. 

In addition, Circle Furniture provided comfortable seating for viewers; Reads Bubbling Brook and Landscape Supply donated plant material; and Sacks Exhibits contributed display tables for the exhibit. 

The community clients who used COG’s design services as the means to achieving their goals of enriching lives, strengthening their communities, and positively impacting the environment, and the project designers who created the beautiful display boards which were featured in the exhibit are: 

CHILDREN

  • Bennett School, Leominster / Anna Ozols, Elizabeth Westling
  • Children’s Museum in Easton / Kath Holland, Ginnie Norman, Beth Ranahan, Margery Stegman, Gabrielle Whitcombe
  • Mitchell School, Needham / Alice Evans

HOUSING & HELPING

  • Espousal Center, Waltham / Patricia McGinnis
  • Fran Hintsa Memorial Garden, Newton / Sarah Kish, Janice Reilly
  • House of Hope, Lowell / Viola Augustin, Nia Rodgers
  • NOAH, East Boston / Susan Balleza, Christian Schaller
  • Triangle, Inc., Malden / Frank Re

MUNICIPAL

  • Harvard Public Library / Peggy Coyle-Nestler, Polly Reeve
  • Stow Town Building / Sally Naish, JoAnn Robinson

PARKS & COMMUNITY GARDENS

  • Blessing of the Bay Boathouse, Somerville / Monica Fairbairn, Judy Kokesh, Margery Stegman
  • Columbia Point Community Garden, Dorchester / Lelia Weinstein
  • Margaret Wright Memorial Community Garden, Roxbury / Louise Forrest
  • Robbins Farm Park, Arlington / Margaret-Ann Rice

The Community Outreach Group for Landscape Design (COGdesign) is a non-profit service organization of professional and student landscape designers, landscape architects, architects, and greenspace advocates dedicated to bringing quality landscape design services to under-funded community organizations and neighborhood groups. COG designers work pro bono in exchange for the experience and satisfaction of contributing to the community landscape; the community client is an active participant during the planning and design process.For more information, please call 781-642-6662, or visit www.cogdesign.org.

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