From the City of Lynn: It has been a long time coming and very much a work in progress, but the Lynn Woods Rose Garden is back in bloom, thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers.
Five years after Liz Gaeta first approached Dan Small, then the ranger, about restoring the rose garden, the city will cut the ribbon on the revitalized sanctuary on Friday at 11 a.m.
The rose garden – which at one point had no roses in it, thanks to a hungry deer population – needed some infrastructure improvements, including fencing (to keep the deer out), irrigation and soil. The Friends of Lynn Woods received city and state American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to support the work.
“We are very pleased to see the rose garden restored to its former beauty,” Mayor Jared C. Nicholson said, “and we appreciate the dedicated volunteers and City staff who have worked so hard to bring it back. Lynn Woods is one of our community’s greatest natural resources and the rose garden plays an important role in it.”
The second phase of the restoration project started in the spring of 2025 with the planting of roses, perennials and wildflowers. Gaeta credited Maria Connell and Christine Fort of the N.E. Rose Society with coordinating the planting of roses, which she said is far from a simple process.
“I thought I knew how to do it and I learned a lot from them,” said Gaeta, who joined the Friends of Lynn Woods in 2021 and has been a driving force behind the rose garden restoration project ever since.
The Friends of Lynn Woods provided the Rose Garden Committee with funding to purchase the plants, and more than 30 volunteers have worked to bring the garden back to its former glory, when it served as the backdrop for many a wedding and prom photo.
“There is always someone up there,” Gaeta said. “There are a million parts and each volunteer has their own niche. It works out well.”
Gaeta invoked renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead – who counts New York’s Central Park, as well as Lynn Woods, among his long list of accomplishments – as an inspiration.
“Thoughtful design and planning of parks and public spaces have powerful social, environmental, and health impacts,” Olmstead once said.
“Lynn Woods is an incredible resource enjoyed by our local community and visitors from across the Commonwealth, and the rose garden is a vital part of that experience,” said Senator Brendan Crighton. “I want to extend a huge thank you to the Friends of the Lynn Woods Rose Garden Committee, former ranger Dan Small, and all of the volunteers who dedicated their time and creative vision to restore this sanctuary.”
An active Lynn Woods Reservation and vibrant rose garden is “what he intended it to be,” Gaeta said.
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