37 Years creating a swamp

I have spent my last 37 years creating an ecological restoration at Danehy Park in Cambridge Massachusetts. I had wandered onto the construction site where one of the first dumpsites was being transformed into a public park. I found myself standing beside John Kissida, the designer of the park from Camp Dresser and McKee engineering. We both looked at the 1.7-acre mudhole filled with this giant green blob of hair algae! It looked like something from a bad 1950 sci-fi movie, “The Creature that ate Cambridge”. The Lincoln reflecting pool had nothing on this creature!

 “I can fix this and make this beautiful” I said, John looked at me as I handed him my business card. Until then I was designing Zen Gardens, a Japanese landscape that alters the mind to create satori, the instant before enlightenment. Many of my gardens were water gardens, and I knew algae. I went to work adding plants and researching the site. I learned that this area was once known as the “Great Swamp” and when the swamp was drained a farmer discovered a pink waterlily in his field. He sent it to a famous horticulturalist named Claude Monet who placed it in his collection and painted it repeatedly. Some of those paintings are today at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. I was already lecturing for the New England Flower Show, about Ecological Design, the art and science of adapting our culture to nature and conducting “Swamp Stomps” to engage the park visitors. I still needed a better way to connect with the community.

 Then I started making art to engage the visitors. Pictured here is the 2024 “Marsh Dragon”, a filter weir to protect the outlet and prevent flooding. Mostly I have been making Pterodactyl Nests, a fun way to educate about climate change.  For the last 20 years or so we have been creating these because now that the planet is warming its not good for humans, but perfect for Pterodactyls! I will be back at it this September, learn more about the Pterodactyl Restoration Project at www.waterflowers.org