Danielle Boyle and her crew planting flowers on Broad Street in May 2023.
By BRIAN DONOHUE
In curbside planting beds across downtown Red Bank, the daffodils and tulips of early spring are giving way to peonies and hydrangeas that will bloom through summer. And as Red Bankers pause to enjoy the flowers, they’re also being asked to stop and remember the woman whose green thumb brought the downtown to life over the past few years.
Danielle Boyle, the gardener who turned downtown Red Bank’s sidewalk planters into remarkable displays of color and greenery has died, according to officials with the town’s special improvement district program. She was 54.
A tribute to Boyle photo posted to the Red Bank RiverCenter’s Facebook page.
“Her tireless work in RiverCenter’s horticulture program adorned our downtown with beautiful plantings that came to be known as “Magic Gardens” reads a Facebook post by Red Bank Rivercenter.
“Danielle’s contribution to downtown Red Bank cannot be overstated,” it continues. “We are eternally grateful. They say life may pass you by if you don’t stop every so often to smell the flowers. The next time you do so, please think of Danielle.”
Boyle, the longtime gardener at The Grove in Shrewsbury was contracted by RiverCenter in spring 2023.
She had retired retired in January 2023 after years of managing gardens for large retail properties owned by Metrovation, including the Grove and the Anderson building in Red Bank. New planters created by a sidewalk reconstruction project in 2022 had been left with less-than-spectacular, view blocking shrubbery.
A Broad Street flower bed Monday morning. (photo by Brian Donohue)
Ingeborg Perndorfer, owner of the Language School and a volunteer with the Navesink Garden Club, which maintains 65 planters throughout town, saw an opportunity for RiverCenter to benefit from Boyle’s skills. She persuaded then-RiverCenter executive director Bob Zuckerman to meet with Boyle.
“She’s an artist who paints with perennials,” Perndorfer told redbankgreen in a story about her hiring in 2023. Her gardens, she said, are “lush, gorgeous, flowering artwork.”
“I like to play with color a lot,” Boyle told us for the same article. “It’s like an orchestra – it’s not just one note. My job is just to guide and establish things, and basically, the plants do all the work.”
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
