Sharon Malt, at left, president of the garden club for the past two years, handed over the gavel to incoming president Leslie Adam.
At its recent annual meeting, the Beacon Hill Garden Club elected Leslie Adam of Chestnut Street as its new president. She takes over from Sharon Malt of West Cedar Street, who has led the club for the past two years.
Members also voted to give away the $72,000 net profit they had made on their successful and sunny 2014 Tour of the Hidden Gardens of Beacon Hill to 38 environmental or horticultural organizations.
Such neighborhood organizations and efforts as the Esplanade Association, the friends of local playgrounds, the managers of the tree pits on Charles Street, and the caretakers of the Codman Island in the center of the intersection of Beacon and Charles streets are grant recipients. The city’s greenhouses will receive a donation that will help park officials install a heating system for starting seeds. The club singled out the Friends of the Public Garden for a special donation that will help restore the planting beds along the Public Garden’s Boylston Street side. Also receiving funds will be such local organizations as the Boston Nature Center, the Bromley Heath Learning Center, the William Carter School and the Old North Church. In all, 23 Boston-based organizations such as these will receive donations.
The New England Wildflower Society and the Charles River Watershed Association are among the ten regional organizations benefitting from the garden club’s funds.
Among the national groups that will receive donations are the National Association for Olmsted Parks and the National Resources Defense Council.
This year’s tour was one of the club’s most successful, attracting more than 2,300 visitors.