By Nance Ebert, Contributing Writer
Wellesley – At the age of three, Marisa McCoy was already tending to nasturtiums and peonies in her garden with her mom at her home in Brookline. Flowers and plants have played an important role in her life and have fulfilled her soul in ways she never imagined.
McCoy is a nationally accredited Master Flower Judge, overseer of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, frequent exhibitor in Art in Bloom and the Boston Garden and Flower Show, Senior Associate of the Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Floral Design Course Educator, floral designer, exhibitor at the Tower Hill Botanical Garden’s Flora in Winter, member of garden clubs and more.
She retired from almost 30 years of teaching English and Humanities from Wellesley High School in 1995. She fondly recalls a course that she taught there on “Seminar Day” in which students got to select an elective.
“The first year that I offered one workshop called, ‘Flower Arranging.’ It was so well attended that after that year, I offered two sessions instead of one. When Wellesley High School held their dedication of the new building, I was asked to do the flowers for the stage, cafeteria and lobby. I have created arrangements for so many organizations and former students over the years. The creativity and artistic side is so appealing and rewarding to me,” she noted.
In the past, she has taught workshop connected to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, “Preparing to Exhibit In A Flower Show and Enjoying It.”
“The purpose of this course is for anyone signing up to participate in the annual Boston Garden and Flower Show to take away the intimidation,” said McCoy.
She has also participated for the past 25 years in the Art In Bloom exhibit held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
(Both events were cancelled this year due to the pandemic).
McCoy has taken her gardening at home to a major scale and cannot walk by any flower without fully noticing them, she said. She reads catalogues in late winter and, as a flower show judge, she has learned a lot about botany.
As a member of Trinity Church in Boston she has won state, regional and national awards for maintaining a church garden (Cloister Garden).
Her passion with flowers and plants stems from being creative. She loves using her imagination, working within the guidelines of each project and delivering something above and beyond what is expected.
McCoy added that she has met so many others that share the same passion for flowers and plants. Many that she has come in contact with have now become lifelong friends.
“I love what I do and although I have had to take a step back a bit, I am still very involved in creating arrangements, teaching and more. Most of my best friends have been made through my love of flowers and I have been blessed,” she said.
Photos/submitted
