For more than 50 years, Friends have cared for the Boston Common, the Public Garden, and the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, ensuring these iconic greenspaces remain accessible and welcoming to all. Those Friends come from every neighborhood of Boston, 23 states, and 2 continents. YOU are the reason the Friends of the Public Garden can embrace an innovative, future-focused vision for these parks. Here’s a look at all you make possible:


Greenspace is vital to a healthy community. More than 60,000 Bostonians use the three parks as backyards and another 7 million visit the three parks each year. These parks serve a vital role for so many people, and your support helps make that happen.

  • 422 individuals, and families gave more than $5.1 million to close out our 50th Anniversay Campaign.
  • More than 1,000 children and families celebrated Duckling Day. 
  • We hosted the first ever Backyard Bash on Boston Common as part of the annual City Awake Fierce Urgency of Now! (F.U.N) Festival. The after work party featured yard games, mocktails, and 194 ice cream treats.

The Friends invests more than $2 million a year in a science-backed approach to parks care. Ongoing soil analysis allows us to adjust the nutrient balance to meet the varied needs of the parklands and we maintain a vigilant health maintenance program for our turf and 1,700 trees.

  • Our ongoing work with consulting arborist Norm Helie to mitigate the spread of Dutch Elm Disease (DED) reached a milestone last year, resulting in the loss of only one tree.
  • Soil analyis and organic applications raised the soil pH close to an ideal 6.0 across all lawn panels in the parks.  
  • We planted 14 new trees throughout the #threeparks.

Capital projects, like the restoration of the Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial and the illumination of statues along the Mall, preserve the history of our parks and ensure that they are welcoming and accessible to all. Thanks to you, work begins at the child fountains and the Arlington Street entrance in the Public Garden in the fall of 2023.

  • A multi-year collaboration with the City and Parks Department resulted in the 359-page Boston Common Master Plan.
  • We partnered with community leaders to add holiday lights to  197 trees on the Mall.
  • After a 4 year restoration of the internal structure and the powerful sculpture itself, we joined with our partners to rededicate the Shaw 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial in a national ceremony on Boston Common.

Your donation allows us to CARE for trees and turf, CONSERVE the city’s largest collection of public art, and INVITE generations of residents and visitors to explore these uniquely Boston greenspaces. #threeparks