Best Boston Hidden Gardens & Green Spaces

This map of Boston's quieter green pockets is for anyone who needs a bench, some flowers and ten minutes of calm in the middle of the city. The spots spread across the Fenway and Back Bay Fens, the North End, the Financial District and Beacon Hill.

Fenway Victory Gardens began as WWII victory gardens and still has 500 plots worked by locals across 7.5 acres of the Fens. Nearby, the hedge-enclosed James P. Kelleher Rose Garden blooms from late May until frost, peaking in June. Tenshin-en, a Japanese stone and gravel garden designed by Kinsaku Nakane, sits beside the Museum of Fine Arts. In the North End, Paul Revere Mall offers linden-shaded benches below Cyrus Dallin's statue of Revere on horseback. Ramler Park, Christian Science Plaza and Phillips Street Park fill out the list. Tenshin-en opens only in the warmer months, so check MFA hours first.