Team Friends of the Public Garden Readies for the Boston Marathon

The four athletes are trying to raise $25,500 to support the Boston Common, the Public Garden and the Commonwealth Avenue Mall.

The Friends of the Public Garden is proud to announce the first-ever Team Friends of the Public Garden, a team of athletes who will be running in the Boston Marathon on Patriots Day, Monday, April 15, 2013. Team Friends members include Allison Byrne, Laura Jennings, Brian Ladley and Lori Shoemaker. The Friends of the Public Garden is part of the John Hancock 2013 Non-Profit Marathon Program and was granted four marathon entries to use for fundraising purposes. These four athletes have committed to raising a total of $25,500 to support the mission of the Friends to preserve, protect and enhance the Boston Common, the Public Garden and the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, in partnership with the City of Boston. “We are so pleased to have the …

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Parks Department OKs Off-Leash Dog Areas on Boston Common

No date has been set for the opening of the first off-leash area.

The city's Parks Department approved a plan Monday to designate parts of the Boston Common for off-leash dog recreation areas, but a date hasn't been set for when the program will begin. The plan, put forth by the the Friends of the Public Garden and Common Canine, calls for the unfenced off-leash areas to be rotated, with dog owners and the Friends to reseed each area after rotation. Before the first rotation starts, the groups will need to restore the pilot off-leash area, near the Joy Street stairs, which has been used for many years.  According to a Parks Department press release, the major elements of plan approved Monday include:  The City of Boston Dog Recreation Ordinance of 2004 allows for an open, community-based process whereby …

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Friends of the Public Garden Installs Tree Labels in the Public Garden

More than 500 trees to get new labels.

The following is an edited submission by the Friends of the Public Garden: The Friends of the Public Garden has begun installing new tree labels on the more than 500 trees in the Public Garden. This project is being funded through a generous grant from the Putnam Foundation. Over the past month, 100 labels have been installed with a goal of completing the remaining trees by the end of 2013. These labels can be found on some of the main walking paths with a focus on the paths that were resurfaced this past fall by the city. The Public Garden is the first public botanical garden in the United States, established in 1837. As such, the educational and informational experience of its users is a vital component of moving through the Garden. …

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Anne Brooke New President of the Friends of the Public Garden

Brooke takes the position held by the club's founder, Henry Lee.

The following was sent in by the Friends of the Public Garden: The board of directors of the Friends of the Public Garden has elected Anne Brooke as president. Brooke has been on the Friends board for more than six years, serving as co-chair of the Development and Membership Committees and as a member of the Executive Committee. She and her husband, Peter, live in the Back Bay. The Friends of the Public Garden, founded in 1970, works with the City of Bostonto protect and enhance Boston’s first public parks–-the Boston Common, Public Garden, and Commonwealth Avenue Mall. Brooke is only its second president, succeeding founder Henry Lee. President Emeritus Henry Lee said, “The Friends is enormously fortunate to have someone of the …

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Repaving in the Public Garden, Boston Common and Comm Ave. Mall

The Friends of the Public Garden said the Public Garden project could be finished by mid-November.

The entrance to the Public Garden at Beacon and Charles streets will be under construction until the middle of this month as the city repaves and completes some drainage work.  The city is conducting pathway improvements and site drainage work in the northeast quadrant of the Public Garden. They should be done by mid-November but depending on the weather part of the work may have to be finished in the spring. The ducklings are covered for their protection.   The Public Garden project is part of a wider plan to repave or spot treat parts of downtown parks walkways, including those on the Common and Commonwealth Avenue Mall, so that tripping hazards and puddling issues will be reduced.   "As it is a paving project we hope that it will be a …

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Friends of the Public Garden Reception Oct. 10

Party will feature a talk by David Dearinger on 19th century American sculpture.

Members of the Friends of the Public Garden are invited to a free reception Oct. 10 on Beacon Hill but time is running out to make reservations.  The Members Reception, at 6 p.m. at the Union Club, 8 Park St., will feature guest speaker David Dearinger, a member of the Friends Sculpture Committee and the Susan Morse Hilles Curator of Paintings & Sculpture at the Boston Athenaeum.  His talk,“Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: Boston’s Public Sculpture on the Move,” will be about 19th century American sculpture, of which he is a specialist. Refreshments will follow.  Anyone wishing to become a member of the Friends can do so on their new website. Interested individuals may also join at the event. Space is limited so RSVPs are required. Contact info@…

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Public Garden Ducklings Have 25th Birthday Party Saturday

Sponsored by the Friends of the Public Garden, the party will feature magic, juggling and more.

Not to be confused with May's Duckling Day Parade, this Saturday the Friends of the Public Garden is throwing a birthday party for one of Boston's most beloved statues. The Make Way for Ducklings statue turns 25 and to celebrate its quarter-century mark, the Friends will be offering free games and activities for families and people of all ages, including music, magic and juggling from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. Children will also be able to make birthday cards for the ducks.  The statue, conceived by Nancy Shön in 1985 and installed two years later, was inspired by the Robert McCloskey classic book Make Way for Ducklings, which will also be read Saturday.  Oh, and if you see a bunch of running bridesmaids, don't be alarmed. Boston.com's Running with…

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PHOTOS: Puppets on the Boston Common

More than 350 people turned out to the Parkman Bandstand Thursday to see this year's Puppets on the Common, directed by puppeteer Charlotte Dore and featuring her Rosalita's Puppets. The performance was in collaboration with the Stiletto Singers.

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Another Tall Tree in the Public Garden Falls to Dutch Elm Disease

The disease travels underground, spreading to nearby trees.

A century-old elm tree was taken down in the Public Garden Wednesday because of infection.  The Belgian elm was discovered to have Dutch elm disease, likely infected by nearby trees that had had the disease. Dutch elm disease travels underground through root graft, and since it was it was discovered in some Public Garden trees last year the Friends of the Public Garden have been looking carefully at the Belgian elms, Executive Director Liz Vizza told Patch. "We have a program of regular inspection and injection of the elms in all three of our parks to protect against Dutch elm disease ... We had to remove one at the beginning of the summer, and it is sad but not surprising to find this tree infected as well," she said. The trees are about …

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Friends Restore Shaw Memorial to Former Glory

The cleanup cost $7,800.

The Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, which honors the the African-American 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, has been restored to its former glory. The monument, at the corner of Beacon and Park streets, was attacked on July 30 by a woman who threw a can of yellow paint on it. Police arrested and charged Rosemine Occean, 38, of Quincy with the vandalism. Occean has pleaded innocent to the charge and has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.  She allegedly stated after throwing the paint that the sculpture was an “improper depiction of history," according to Jake Wark, the spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Conley.  The Friends of the Public Garden sent out a conservationist who carefully cleaned off the paint. It …

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