LYNN — While driving through Central Square or down Boston Street, the vibrant birds of paradise and petunias that complement the traffic islands stand out. Behind the city’s many public flower beds are Jason Hill and Matt Kennedy from the Department of Public Works, who work almost year-round to maintain them. Perched up on a hill in Pine Grove Cemetery is a greenhouse where Kennedy and Hill take care of more than 1,300 plants.
Kennedy, who has been working for the DPW for 25 years, said he started his career as a construction worker in a lightbulb plant. His physical work in construction prepared him for the demands of planting for the DPW, he said. Hill, on the other hand, has been with the Department of Public Works doing various jobs since he was 16, but has planted for four years.
Now, he commutes from Maine every day to work. He added that a week’s worth of work can add up to 66 hours. “It’s a career,” Hill said.
Hill said there is no typical day for him and Kennedy. On any given day, they could be weeding a traffic island, watering plants in or outside of the greenhouse, planting, or responding to a resident’s call that an area should be mowed. “You always have a job to do.
You’re not just sitting back, relaxing,” he said. Hill added that each day starts out with watering the flowers, but by lunchtime on a 90-degree day, they will do a second round of watering. The flowers are purchased from Griffin’s Floral Design, Hill said.
All of the designs .