Conservancy’s horticulture team and rangers hard at work

By Rachel Lake

Summer has arrived on The Greenway, the contemporary public park in the heart of Boston. Stretching 1.5 miles from Chinatown to the North End; The Greenway welcomes millions of visitors annually to gather, play, unwind, and explore. The Greenway Conservancy is the non-profit responsible for the management and care of The Greenway. While many Conservancy staff continue to work remotely, our Horticulture and Maintenance teams are hard at work in the park, as well as our two Greenway Rangers.

During these warm summer days; The Greenway is in full bloom in Chinatown. Rosa Virginiana, commonly known as Virginia Rose, is a deciduous shrub native to New England. It blooms fragrant pink flowers in June followed by showy rose hips that mature in August. These flowers and fruit attract bees and other native pollinators to The Greenway as part of the Conservancy’s Pollinator Ribbon. Despite the delicate flowers of this rose, it is sharp and guarded with thorns throughout the long branches.

In addition to this native species, there are hybrid landscape roses seen blooming throughout Chinatown on The Greenway. These include Scarlet Carpet Rose and Home Run Rose, a wonderful clear single red rose.

Along the Serpentine Path, the Conservancy’s bamboo renovation project has been completed and the transplanting and new plantings will be completed next week with the help of volunteers. These projects will improve sightlines for safety but also add more visual interest to the gardens.

Conservancy Zone Gardening Volunteers returned to the park on June 1 and Group Volunteer Projects began on June 17. In addition to their work along the Serpentine Path, Conservancy volunteers are working on burying new irrigation drip lines in Chinatown. During what have been high temperatures in Boston, these drip lines, as well as regular weeding and watering, keep our organic gardens happy and healthy.

In Chin Park, the Greenway PlayCubes are open for children with a supervising adult and Greenway Fountains across the park have been turned on, including the Chinatown Stream along the Serpentine Path. We have delayed the return of most of the movable tables and chairs to the park in an effort to stem the spread of Covid-19.

Nearby on Dewey Square, our Greenway Food Truck Program is on a limited schedule and the Boston Public Market at Dewey Square has returned for the season, once again bringing locally-sourced food to those who live or work downtown from local farmers and small businesses. Farmers market vendors are proud to accept SNAP/EBT and HIP for all eligible products.

Further along The Greenway, our Greenway Open Market returned on June 20 and will take place every Saturday and first and third Sundays of the month from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Greenway Carousel at the Tiffany & Co. Foundation Grove reopened on June 26 on a limited weekend schedule and will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. All Greenway programming features enhanced cleaning and physical distancing procedures to promote safety for our park visitors.

Rachel Lake is the Marketing and Community Affairs Manager at the Greenway Conservancy.

Have questions? Check out our website at rosekennedygreenway.org or email info@rosekennedygreenway.org. Stay tuned for our next column highlighting public art in Auntie Kay & Uncle Frank Chin Park and Mary Soo Hoo Park on The Greenway!

Photos Credit: Photos can be credited “Courtesy of the Greenway Conservancy”.