It started with bees in order to promote sustainability at One Brigham Circle. The MHNHS board voted to add a couple of hives to the park in partnership with AEW/Lincoln Properties, under the care of the Best Bees company (bestbees.com). Pollinating insects are great for the health of many plants, and essential for most food crops; and bees and other pollinators struggle to survive in an urban setting. So we saw the bees as something that would be good for all the gardens on the hill. We had the added benefit of honey and harvested our first Puddingstone Park Honey in Fall of 2020.
 

With the bees in place we needed to add flowering plants, for a long season of nectar. We started small, adding native plants to the retention basin in the park. Not only did this provide a food source for the bees; it also created a small area that functioned a lot like a bioswale or a rain garden – a low-lying planted area that helps the ground absorb rainwater and prevent unwanted runoff. Here’s hoping that this can serve as a model to promote more bioswales on the hill.

To help with the planting, we got student volunteers from Northeastern University: we also got advice from Chuck Doughty, their head of landscaping. We learned that under his guidance, Northeastern’s campus had been certified as an arboretum; and Mr. Doughty thought we might want to do the same in Fitzgerald Park. That seemed like just the right project: it will add trees to the park, with labels to help visitors identify them, and help us promote the importance of trees and green space in the urban ecosystem.

From bees to an arboretum. Ideas grow just like plants do.