Only in Boston by Duncan J.D. Smith

149 Back Bay & Fenway–Kenmore The most famous feature of the Public Garden is the Swan Boats, which carry people around the lagoon between mid-April and mid- September. They made their debut on the lagoon in 1877 and were built by Robert Paget, an English immigrant shipbuilder, who was in- spired by Wagner’s opera Lohengrin . Although the originals have long since been replaced, the Paget family are still in charge. Since then many more monuments and memorials have been added to the garden. They include Bagheera , a fountain depicting the panther from Kipling’s Jungle Book , a 16th century Japanese lantern from a garden in Kyoto, and a statue of Tadeusz Ko´sciuszko, a Polish military engineer, who fought in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). Particularly popular are the eight bronze ducklings and their mother installed in 1987 at the north end of the lagoon. They are a tribute to Robert McCloskey’s popular children’s book Make Way for Ducklings (1941), which tells the story of a pair of mallards raising their family on the island in the lagoon. Statues aside, one shouldn’t forget that the Public Garden is pri- marily a botanical garden, and the plantings here are well curated. The beds flanking the central path are replanted each season, with other areas occupied by roses, bulbs, and flowering shrubs. There are also plenty of trees, notably willows around the lagoon and elms along the pathways. Look out for the solitary California redwood. Other locations nearby: 46, 70 The famous Swan Boats moored in the Public Garden