LYNN — The Lynn Woods Rose Garden officially opened on Friday for the first time after being out of commission for more than three decades.

The restoration, which has been in the works for more than five decades, started with a Girl Scout group’s field trip to the garden, where they spread rose seeds. Liz Gaeta, co-chair of the Friends of Lynn Woods Rose Garden Committee, was one of the Girl Scouts who found refuge in the rose garden, making it a second home. 

The city celebrated the occasion with a rope-cutting ceremony attended by Mayor Jared C. Nicholson and other city leaders.

The garden has a history that dates back to the 1920s when the then-Parks Superintendent, John Morrissey, created the original Rose Garden Club. That history sparked Gaeta’s passion to bring life back to what used to be. 

“During COVID, I, along with some people, found refuge in books, and I looked in the rose garden, and it wasn’t the image I had in my head,” Gaeta said. “It was all overgrown. It wasn’t roses.” 

The reason for the barren garden was the uptick in the deer population that took over Lynn Woods in the 1980s. The rose garden became a buffet for the deer. Petals, stems, and roots were devoured, leaving just the dirt and perennial flowers behind. 

To prevent the now-open garden from those past dangers, last January, Gaeta and Ranger Dan Smalls reintroduced the Rose Garden Club, where they came up with the idea of placing a fence around the area. The fence gained a lot of negative feedback from residents at first, but many were won over by the promise of roses. 

By reusing soil, wood, cobblestones, and even the mummified roots of invasive plants, the garden has been reborn with the help of more than 20 volunteers. 

Friends of Lynn Woods (FLW) board member Paul O’Leary shared that the volunteers try to repurpose and reuse the old structures after years of neglect, as much as they can. 

“It was just a matter of bringing back what was here before,” O’Leary said. “That made it easier.” 

Some structures, however, are brand new, like the irrigation system. O’Leary said that irrigation is normally under the rose beds, but because of consistent issues in the past, it lies exposed next to the flowers. 

In order to keep the garden as historically accurate as possible, the FLW plants organically with companion planting, rather than with fertilizers and pesticides. 

“Since we’re in a woodland area, there’s a tick issue,” said Rosarian Christine Fort. “We don’t spray, so we’re thinking about doing herbs that grow really well with roses, like alliums and chives.” 

Along with chives and alliums, Fort is propagating rosemary and thyme for ground cover to aid the roses in tick repellence and disease resistance. 

The rose variations came from all over the North Shore, said Fort. Donations and rose cuttings propagated in volunteers’ home gardens made the restoration process an act of love. 

The volunteer team became a family through the process of revitalizing the garden space, even making the organization of the garden beds an inside joke. 

“There’s kind of a British theme on that side, where we have a couple of English roses on the far side, Winchester Cathedral, and Mary Rose, which are David Austin English roses, and then here on the near side, the first rose we planted, actually, is the Queen Elizabeth,” said Fort. “We wanted her to be able to see the Winchester Cathedral.” 

Currently, the garden contains 62 rose bushes, but there’s hope for many more by the fall, said Gaeta. “It’s scheduled for 40 more rose plants because the original rose garden had over 100, and we’re going to go to 110,” she said. 

It’ll take up to three years for the Rose Garden to flourish at the level it once did, but that’s standard growth, Fort said. “The phrase is sleep, creep, and leap,” she said. “The first year, they are kind of quiet, then the next year, they might grow really well, and the third year, they explode.” 

The garden’s renewal represents the beauty underneath all the hard work that it’s taken to complete the project.

“When we think of the city, we think of the buildings and the hustle and bustle, but to me, a city is about a lot of people who make a home together and make their lives together,” Nicholson said.

People wander around the Lynn Woods Rose Garden Friday morning before the ribbon cutting to officially celebrate the opening.

A Quicksilver rose blooms in the Lynn Woods Rose Garden.

A bee pollenates a catmint plant in the Lynn Woods Rose Garden Friday morning.

A woman walks past a blooming rose in the Lynn Woods Rose Garden.

A rose blooms in the Lynn Woods Rose Garden Friday morning.

City of Lynn Personnel Director Drew Russo welcomes the crowd to the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Lynn Woods Rose Garden on Friday.

Lynn Mayor Jared C. Nicholson speaks during the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Lynn Woods Rose Garden on Friday.

Lynn Mayor Jared C. Nicholson speaks during the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Lynn Woods Rose Garden on Friday.

State Rep. Sean Reid speaks during the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Lynn Woods Rose Garden on Friday.

Liz Gaeta thanks everyone who was involved in the restoration of the Lynn Woods Rose Garden during a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday.

Former Lynn Woods Park Ranger Dan Small speaks about the efforts that went into restoring the Lynn Woods Rose Garden.

The ribbon is cut to celebrate the restoration of the Lynn Woods Rose Garden.

People wander around the Lynn Woods Rose Garden Friday morning before the ribbon cutting to officially celebrate the opening.

People wander around the Lynn Woods Rose Garden Friday morning before the ribbon cutting to officially celebrate the opening.

A Julia Child rose blooms in the Lynn Woods Rose Garden.

Friends of Lynn Woods member Kelly O’Leary, left, and her daughter, Caitlyn Moore, admire the hedgenettle growing in he Lynn Woods Rose Garden.

Cookies decorated with roses were handed out during the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Lynn Woods Rose Garden.

Enjoying the Lynn Woods Rose Garden after the ribbon cutting ceremony is, from left, Chris, Justina, Liz, Charlie, and Charlie Gaeta along with children Miami and Christian Gaeta. Liz Gaeta is a Friends of Lynn Woods board member and co-chair of the Lynn Woods Rose Garden Restoration Committee.