The Court: A Garden Within Reach, which opened in 2016, is a universally accessible space for for finding peace, beauty, and education through horticulture. Each spring staff and volunteers come together to plant flowers, herbs, and vegetables in the space’s planters that represent solutions for mobility-challenged gardeners.
The garden, which furthers New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill’s goal of bringing all people closer to nature, wouldn’t be what it is today without the thoughtful generosity our many foundation and individual donors, including Robert Courtmanche. We are also grateful for the guidance and financial support of the Massachusetts Cultural Council for making this garden a reality.
New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill hopes visitors are inspired by what they find in the Garden Within Reach. Perhaps they’ll try to recreate a particularly interesting item at their own homes. One such element is the vertical garden in the Garden Within Reach. Here’s how we put it together each spring.
- We use modules that hold ten plants that we can attach to a support system.
2. We collect leafy vegetables, herbs, and flowers. (At New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, we use 680 plants to create our living wall which is placed in the Garden Within Reach.)
3. We gather with members of the community to help insert the plants into the modules, using potting soil to fill in spaces and gardening shears to prune excess roots.
Seven Hills Foundation volunteers
MathWorks volunteers
New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill volunteers
4) We then place the plants on the support system and water deeply at least one-inch of water per week with a drip irrigation system.
We install the modules.
4) Final step: Enjoy!
