New garden space and pathways serve as an expansion of the existing area known as Spruce Knoll. Extensive grading was required to create landforms that blend into the landscape. Weathered granite boulders were sourced from an old quarry site on Boston’s North Shore. Large excavators carefully loaded the boulders onto trailers for transport to the site in Cambridge. Great care was needed to move the boulders from the quarry to their positions in the new garden without breaking or scaring the boulders, which were then positioned to create a natural feel of rock outcrops and allow for seating in some areas. The project required new paths, a regrading of the entire site, and extensive specimen trees, shrubs and perennial plantings. All of the work occurred within a active cemetery site, with numerous historic monuments; sensitivity to site, existing trees and historic monuments was critical.

Designer: Julie Moir Messervy Design Studio / Photography: Justine Hand

Natural watercourses inspired this intensively inward-oriented and evocative landscape. A ribbon of water wove through a series of spaces that mirror the stages of a child’s recovery from trauma – a cave-like ravine for the security of home, a woodland for exploration, a mount for climbing, an island and pond for discovery, steep and shallow slopes for challenge, and a large glade for running and playing.

We graded the site to make the landforms for children’s play, then sodded and stabilized with tall grass mixes. The site was planted extensively throughout. Custom elements included a runnel and a granite fountain installed on the terrace. Weathered boulders were chosen to create a stepping stone bridge across the water. A new pond was created and wet site-tolerant plantings established around it.

Unfortunately, this clinic and garden were demolished in 2006 to make way for a new residential development.

Designer: Reed Hilderbrand LLC Landscape Architecture / Photography: Steve Dunwell

Birch Gardens, Mount Auburn Cemetery

Birch Gardens reclaims a narrow, underutilized space along the east perimeter of this historic cemetery. A 450-linear foot Canadian Mahogany granite wall, spaced with wrought iron panels, replaced a perimeter chain link fence to enclose the area and provide additional burial sites within a park setting. Within the lush tree and shrub plantings of the new garden, freestanding granite benches overlook a granite inscription wall and black granite reflecting pool. The new wrought iron fence was fabricated using a custom-made casting to match the historic, Egyptian revival gates at the cemetery’s entrance.

The project required close work with designers and horticultural staff to ensure that the newly created gardens flourished in this very visible, public setting. Extensive tree and site protection measures were implemented to ensure that valuable trees were not impacted during construction. Custom-blended planting soils were produced on site and utilities rerouted or rebuilt to accommodate the project and ensure long-term reliability of the site infrastructure.

Designer: Halvorson Design Inc. / Photography: Justine Hand

Halcyon/Maple Avenue, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge

Over time, plantings near the Mary Baker Eddy memorial and Halcyon Lake had altered the site’s original rural character and the pond’s health had deteriorated. Extensive rehabilitation efforts improved water quality and habitat diversity while reinforcing visual and spatial connections between the lake and its surroundings. The project included extensive tree and shrub plantings, as well as the fabrication of custom granite site walls and custom granite and Ipe wood benches. We also installed new granite monuments, removed existing roadway and regraded the entire site. A critical component of the work was the protection of existing historic specimen trees, including one of the earliest trees planted on the grounds, during grading and construction activities.

Designer: Reed Hilderbrand LLC Landscape Architecture / Photography: Justine Hand

Bergstrom Garden, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

A new park was created to bring life to an underused space on campus, manage stormwater and showcase a large Picasso sculpture. A lawn sloping down to bioswales overgrown with weedy vegetation served as the starting point.

The park features a dry stream bed using locally sourced boulders of sufficient size and scale to work in a large-scale, public setting with adjacent campus buildings. The site was regraded to not only allow the creation of the dry stream bed, but also to accentuate the contrast between the paths, stream and bioswales, adding interest and visual complexity to the relatively small park. The dry stream bed creates a visual connection to the bioswales, with the basins reading as a terminus to the “stream.” An intricate planting mixture of trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs was used throughout the park to ensure year-round interest, color and seasonal change. Large boulders positioned throughout the site help to tie together the garden’s different areas: stream bed, bioswales, perimeter plant beds and lawn paths.

Our team worked closely with MIT planning and facilities staff to ensure that design and construction methods complied with their campus-wide standards. Functional requirements for stormwater management were preserved while greatly enhancing the appearance of the bioswales, thereby integrating these basins into the larger courtyard landscape.

Designer: Robert Hanss Inc. / Photography: Matt Mattus