Staff and Volunteer Update
October 2003

New Growth

The inn celebrates garden opening at Beacon Street residence

At the garden opening, Community Outreach Group for Landscape Design Executive Director Lucia Droby (left) and Pine Street tenant Greta Primrose praised the transformation of the garden into an inviting space.

The backyard garden at 1043-45 Beacon Street, the inn’s first affordable housing residence, always had potential, but for many years it harbored weeds and crumbling bricks. In September, the house’s tenants, inn staff, friends, and landscape designers celebrated the garden’s transformation into a sanctuary replete with new plantings, detailed brickwork, seating areas, and a pergola.

The Community Outreach Group for Landscape Design (COG), a nonprofit that provides quality landscape design services to community-based groups through the pro bono work of design professionals and students, offered the project to its affiliates. Landscape designer Sally Muspratt was selected to design the garden. She not only designed the new green space, but oversaw the renovation as well.

The opening featured comments by COG Executive Director Lucia Droby, Muspratt, inn President Lyndia Downie, and Greta Primrose, a long-time resident of the house. Each spoke about the importance of the garden, which may serve both as a personal sanctuary and a communal gathering space.

“The national and local news of late has been bad,” said Muspratt. “So, things being the way they are, making a garden is a lot of fun.”

Many organizations and individuals contributed materials, talents, and financing to the creation of the garden, including Cambridge Mustard Seed Foundation, Beacon Hill Garden Club, Boston Interiors, and Weston Nurseries.