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 are created by him and Kennedy. Sometimes, they are also able to re-grow flowers from old bulbs. He said a particular design he loved this year was one they did on the other side of the road from Union Cafe.
Seeing the flowers “bushed out and bloomed and beautiful” is very rewarding, Hill added. Hill said they begin preparing plants in the greenhouse in February, planting each flower by hand up until the last shipment in June, which is around 850 pots. “We try to fill up at least this whole house filled with all the empty pots, and then we water them for a day and a half,” Hill said.
Before that, they have to sterilize all of the parts of the planting materials and lay them on benches. Kennedy said they typically decide what flowers to plant based on how well they survive in the sun. This year, they also had help from a co-op from Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School, Ava Frallicciardi.
Hill described Frallicciardi as incredibly dedicated and hard-working. “So I say that kid’s gonna go someplace someday,” he said. During the non-planting months, Kennedy and Hill help the DPW with its other regular activities, such as snow removal, but they also spend the winter sterilizing benches and washing pots.
“We’re busy all winter,” Kennedy said..
