Kimberly Roberts’ roof garden earned the East Boston resident first place honors for Porch, Balcony, Deck, or Window Box Garden
in Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s 2013 Garden Contest. Other Eastie winners included Lyle, Kara, and Lily Bradley, David Connolly and the Friends of the East Boston Greenway.
East Boston resident Kimberly Roberts’ spectacular roof garden earned her first place honors for Porch, Balcony, Deck, or Window Box Garden in Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s 2013 Garden Contest.
But Roberts wasn’t the only one receiving honors for having one of the best green thumbs in the city.
Lyle, Kara, and Lily Bradley of Eastie earned 1st Place in the Small Yard Garden category while David Connolly of Eastie earned second place in the Medium Yard category during the citywide contest.
Also for the first time this year, the Friends of East Boston Greenway will receive an honor for their beautifications efforts along the Greenway.
Roberts and the Bradleys will receive the coveted “Golden Trowel” award from Menino and prize packages from the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, Comcast, Mahoney’s Garden Centers, Design New England Magazine, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and other partners at an awards ceremony August 13 in the Public Garden. A rain location is being provided by Suffolk University.
All the Eastie finalists in this year’s Garden Contest will also be entered into a drawing for a JetBlue Grand Prize consisting of roundtrip flights for four to any of the airline’s nonstop destinations from Boston.
Launched 17 years ago as part of Menino’s citywide beautification initiative, the contest recognizes gardeners who have landscaped, planted flowers, trees, and shrubs, and, in the process, helped beautify Boston’s neighborhoods.
A team of distinguished judges viewed the finalists’ gardens over a two-day period. Judges included members of the Boston Department Garden Contest Hall of Fame, AARP Massachusetts State Director Mike Festa, Boston Elderly Affairs Commissioner Emily Shea, Boston Parks and Recreation Department staff, and members of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.
In addition to the category winners, for the first time in the history of the contest the Boston Parks Commissioner will present a special Community Beautification Service Award.
This year’s recipient is The Friends of East Boston Greenway. The group is being recognized for its far-reaching gardening efforts in Eastie including the planting of 75 trees along the Greenway, 10,000 day lilies, and 1,500 tulips and daffodils.