Putting Swampscott to Bed For Winter

On Wednesday a DPW crew on Monument Avenue wrapped the town boxwoods that spell Swampscott. It's a fall ritual, one of several the town carries out before winter.

A silt fence shrouds the town boxwoods. The wooden floats that creaked and bobbed at the end of the town pier now sit in the Fisherman's Beach parking lot. Soon DPW crews will flush water from irrigation pipes at Lower Jackson field. They'll hitch heavy yellow plows to trucks. Winter is around the corner. The fence, float removals and line flushing prepare for the cold season, protecting the shrubs, landings and fields for next year. On Wednesday, Dave Gustavsen raised a 5-pound sledge. Tree warden Gene Gardiner held the fence and a wooden stake. The crew moved counterclockwise. They unfurled silt fence and pounded stakes to shelter the boxwoods from cold salty air, snow and ice. The shrubs are pruned to spell S-W-A-M-P-S-C-O-T-T. For the …

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