Waltham lies a few miles due west of Boston. Once a gritty industrial city, its factories have long since been replaced by sleek, high-tech research facilities, or luxury rental apartments. Yet reminders of the industrial past remain in the densely settled working-class neighborhoods.
Surprisingly, it is in those very neighborhoods that I found some of the most beautiful spring flower displays. The pansies and tulips were planted around City Hall. The grape hyacinth caught my eye in the neighboring town of Weston, Massachusetts.