Jeffries Point resident Dominique Hurley took home first prize for the for Small Yard garden category in Mayor Martin Walsh’s 2019 Garden Contest. This was the first time she was recognized in this self-described “citywide celebration of urban gardening.”
Hurley was the only garden to win in any category from Eastie.
While congratulating this year’s winners, Mayor Walsh described the Contest Awards Ceremony as “honestly, my favorite event of the year,” adding that it has inspired him to take up gardening at home.
“Many of you put your hearts and souls into your gardens, and that’s something I want to recognize,” said Walsh.
Walsh pointed out that a public park is at most a 10-minute walk from anywhere in the city – a feat he credits to the hard work of the Boston Parks Department.
Walsh described green-spaces, “as the key to our resiliency,” and in outlining Resilient Boston Harbor he said vegetation could be used to cover preventative sea-walls.
Walsh’s Resilient Boston Harbor uses the City’s Climate Ready Boston 2070 flood maps and coastal resilience neighborhood studies to focus on Boston’s most vulnerable flood pathways.
The strategies laid out in the plan in Eastie include elevated landscapes, enhanced waterfront parks, flood resilient buildings, and revitalized and increased connections and access to the waterfront.
Besides JetBlue, which provided the grand-prize pro bono, Mahoney’s Garden Centers, Boston Flower & Garden Show, Polar Beverages, ICA Boston and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture also donated prize packages for this year’s competition.
“We’re really impressed with how you’re making Boston beautiful, one garden at a time,” said Chief of Environment, Energy and Open Space Chris Cook. “These spaces you’ve created provide a respite for nature because nature takes care of us.”
Other first-place winners in their respective categories included Miguel Rosales of Beacon Hill for the Shade garden category; Megan Fox of Jamaica Plain for Medium Yard garden; Daryl Johnson and Rick Smith of Dorchester for Large Yard garden; Michele Topor of the North End for Porch, Balcony or Container garden; Kristen Mobilia of the Fenway for Vegetable or Herb garden; Cheryl Crawford of Roslindale for Senior Yard garden; Recreo Coffee & Roasterie of West Roxbury for Storefront, Organization or Main Street District garden; and John Ruiz of the Fenway for Community garden.