Nina Hartman, Jean Supitkowski, and Richard O'Mara are shown outside the original Cedar Grove Gardens building, in 1980.

To the Editor:

In 1980, after graduation with an Associates Degree in Commercial Art, I moved from Wisconsin to Bucks Harbor, Maine, to live with my sister and her husband and two young boys. Realizing the limited employment opportunities in the commercial arts field in nearby Machias, I moved to Dorchester with hopes of landing a job in one of Boston's many publishing houses. My roommate had just gotten a job running a row of cemetery green houses which freed up the time of the former grower to start his own business, Cedar Grove Gardens

This young grower, Richard O'Mara, was in need of some signage for his new garden center. So he hired me. When I finished painting signs I became part of his landscaping crew, working on residential and commercial sites. He returned from the Boston Flower Exchange one morning with some cut flowers to sell along with his annuals, perennials, and shrubs enhancing the garden center to a flower shop & garden center. Shortly after that his old high school, Boston Latin, asked him to provide centerpieces for a fundraiser at the Kennedy Library.  With the enthusiasm, creativity, hard work and resilience that youth can bring to a new endeavor, and the trust of a handful of strategic customers, Richard's business took off and was flourishing. It was a pleasure to be a part of the team that was rising above the numerous established flower shops in the neighborhood.

However, one spring night in 1984 I was awakened at about 2 a.m. by fire engines urgently speeding past my home, sirens screaming, an occurrence city dwellers learn to sleep through. I had a clear and other sense that they were headed to Cedar Grove Gardens. I realized it was an irrational thought. I let it go, turned over and went back to sleep. So when I got a call at 4 a.m. from Richard crying, "It's gone! The whole place is gone," I already new what he was saying. Yes, Cedar Grove Gardens had burned to the ground. The store mascot, a little gray cat named Lily, had perished in the fire along with the whole structure.

I arrived at dawn to get a scope of the loss. More of the structure than I expected still stood but the charred walls were no longer sound. The roof was completely gone. I felt like I was in a time warp that slowed things down and gave details more importance than usual. Firemen were still working on smoldering embers. The smell was not sweet like a wood fire. It was acrid and choking. As we evaluated and documented what was gone, we came across the board of orders for flower arrangements due to go out for the week ahead. Someone's birthday, a funeral memorial, a retirement party later in the week, all waiting to be made and delivered.

Our focus shifted as we realized our obligations to our customers. We hooked up a phone line outside in the parking lot, painted a big sign saying "still in business! 617-825-8582" and headed for the Boston Flower Market to pick up what was necessary to fill the orders we had pulled out of the rubble. We put flower arrangements together on the top of Richard's parents' washer and dryer in their basement on Freeland Street, half a mile up the road, until his insurance company was able to set us up with an on site mobile home.

It was the hottest summer I can recall working out of that trailer while Cedar Grove Gardens got rebuilt. I'm not sure whether it was sympathy, curiosity, or loyalty, but our customers continued to stand by us as we continued to give them the product they had come to expect.

It was quickly determined that the fire was intentionally set.  There had been a rash of suspicious fires in Dorchester that spring, including St. Ambrose Church and some other businesses. With arson being a difficult crime to prove, no one was brought up on charges for any of those fires.

Soon I will be moving back to Maine, but  what  I will take from my experience at Cedar Grove Gardens is the sense of community shown by our trusting customers ready to believe in our ability to deliver. I also feel pride for the integrity of the people working at Cedar Grove Gardens to make it a viable, attractive and stable part of the neighborhood. Dorchester has a rough and tough reputation with troubled pockets that continue to challenge us all, but it has also proven to be an evolving and tolerant environment in which I have had the privilege to play a role.

- Nina Hartman