Ceremony Marks Completion of New 'Gateway Gardens'

Gardening requires lots of water — most of it in the form of perspiration. (Lou Erickson)

What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it. (Charles Dudley Warner, My Summer in a Garden, 1871)

No two gardens are the same. No two days are the same in one garden. (Hugh Johnson)

Motorists, cyclists and pedestrians now have something much prettier to look at when approaching the east end of the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Memorial Bridge, as they enter into Westport's historic downtown district, now that the "Gateway Gardens" on either side of Post Road have been completed.

The new gardens, which were commemorated during a brief ceremony on Sunday, have been completely refurbished with new plantings and  sculptural elements, thanks to the generosity of Wilton-based landscape architecture design/build and maintenance company LaurelRock, which donated $35,000 in plantings, design services and labor to create the new “Gateway Gardens.”

LaurelRock, which was originally founded in Westport in 1975 as Dickson DeMarche Landscape Architects (DDLA), made the donation as part of its 35th anniversary this year.

The project was organized by the Westport Beautification Commission and the Westport Downtown Merchants Association after it was ackowledged that the gardens were in dire need of refurbishment. The two groups will now take over with maintenance, with the Beautification Commission covering the cost of watering.

LaurelRock has designed, built and maintained many gardens in and around Westport – both public and private. For example the firm has completed projects at the Levitt Pavilion, The Westport Library, the Green at Downtown, and the Inn at Longshore, among many others.