JP Gardeners Get First Place in Annual City Contest

Several garden and landscape lovers from Jamaica Plain placed in this year’s annual city garden contest. 

Robert Fettig, who won for best shade garden, and Myrna Balk, who finished in a tie for first place for best large garden, are the two highest ranking JP winners in the 2013 Mayor Thomas M. Menino Garden Contest.

From the city’s press statement on the contest:

Launched 17 years ago as part of Mayor 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.

First place winners will receive the coveted “Golden Trowel” award from Mayor 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.

All 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.  Terms, conditions, and blackout dates apply.

A team of distinguished judges viewed the finalists’ gardens over a two-day period.  Judges included members of the elite 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.

This year’s winners are:

Small Yard Garden

First Place - Lyle, Kara, and Lily Bradley, East Boston           

Second Place - Frank and Ann Garibaldi, Hyde Park           

Third Place - Elizabeth Mullaney, Dorchester           

Medium Yard Garden

First Place - Alex Galan, Dorchester           

Second Place - David Connolly, East Boston           

Third Place - William Ryan, Dorchester

Large Yard Garden

First Place (tie) - Marie Esposito, Roslindale; Myrna Balk, Jamaica Plain           

Second Place - Theresa Pope, Jamaica Plain           

Third Place - Sarah Salerno Thomas, Hyde Park           

Porch, Balcony, Deck or Window Box Garden

First Place - Kimberly Roberts, East Boston

Second Place - Debbie Lingos, Back Bay           

Third Place - Dale Malone and Mark Landin, Dorchester

Shade Garden

First Place - Robert Fettig, Jamaica Plain           

Second Place - Sheryl White, Roslindale           

Third Place - Melissa, Todd, and Joey Cartwright, Allston

Vegetable or Herb Garden

First Place - Joseph DeLuca, Hyde Park                       

Second Place - Doris Burford, Jamaica Plain           

Third Place - The Boston Home, Inc., Dorchester           

Senior Garden

First Place - Dorothy Derifield, Roslindale           

Second Place - Gerald            Brown, Dorchester           

Third Place - Adele Rothman, Hyde Park           

Storefront, Business or Organization Garden

First Place - Allan Ramdial, D Coal Pot, Hyde Park           

Second Place - Jeffrey Conrad, Fisher College, Back Bay           

Third Place - Evening Garden Club of West Roxbury           

Community Garden

First Place - Marie Fukuda and Tim Horn, Fenway Garden Society           

Second Place - John Marino and Tim Haynes, South End                       

Third Place (tie) - Michael Reynolds, Berkeley Community Garden, South End; Susan Prainger, Granada Park Garden, Jamaica Plain

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 East Boston including the planting of 75 trees along the Greenway, 10,000 day lilies, and 1,500 tulips and daffodils.