Recently some friends and I took a walk down the Greenway. We were curious about how it was faring.

Our grade: a B+. It’s still a roadway median, but so is the lovely Commonwealth Avenue mall. We came away impressed with the Greenway itself, but even more with the promise of its edges and the role it plays in connecting the city to itself.

We started at Causeway Street, which is not part of the Greenway, and observed the parcels planted with grass that are destined—soon, we hope—for residential and supermarket development.

It was a good start to our investigation. The new buildings will visually bookend the Greenway’s northern reaches, making the jumble of ramps leading to the airport and other directions less apparent.

The Greenway begins at New Sudbury Street. Roses bloomed against the ramp wall and a blue garden of iris, catmint and salvia stretched before us. We crossed to the North End side where less traffic and the soothing splash of water attracted many people to the chairs and benches. They sunned themselves or sat comfortably beneath the pergola. We wished for wisteria for shade beneath the pergola. It would compliment the blue garden.

We soon began to see how good edges benefit the Greenway. Restaurants’ outdoor terraces at Caffe Graffiti and Goody Glover’s and farther down at Mother Anna’s, Panera, The Times Irish Pub, Tia’s and Sel de la Terre were lively and attractive. The Greenway needs more of them, and their owners need to invest in heaters to extend the season.

Some edges were blights: a surface parking lot in the North End; Don Chiofaro’s parking garage that he and the mayor are fighting over. (Mayor Menino, start talking with Chiofaro and come to some agreement for the good of the city.) The blank walls on either side of the entry to Quincy Market were also unpleasant.

The best edges were supplied by the tallest buildings. You might expect that opinion from me, since you may know I don’t share the typical Boston objection to high rise. But my friends, who don’t always agree with me, felt that International Place and 125 High Street provided a sense of enclosure that enhanced the Greenway compared to the sections bordered by shorter buildings. Still, the towers’ street level frontage needs to be more open and active to be completely complimentary.

The Greenway provides a bonus in the physical and visual connections it offers. One good view toward the city takes in the Blackstone Block, city hall and the towers beyond—a satisfying jumble of history and architecture. The Harbor Walk is enhanced by the proximity of the Greenway because you can go back and forth between the two. The connections are the paths, some at angles, leading toward the city and the sea. The connections invite activity and offer beauty.

The best connection is the Boston Harbor Hotel’s iconic rotunda. Dozens of young Latin American sailors milled about on the Greenway. We spied the rigging of their ship, the Gloria, tied up at the dock alongside other large boats, beckoning us through the rotunda onto the Harbor Walk. It was a lovely sunny day, and we saw sailboats and commuter boats in the harbor and planes taking off from the airport. People were dining at the hotel’s outdoor café. People were just walking around. It was blissful.

The Greenway’s landscaping in front of the hotel was the most successful we encountered. Well-tended trees, grass and perennials on berms hid the ramps that we eventually realized were there.

Other connections need help. The North End’s Public Alley 101 needs a better name and tender loving care from the city and the neighbors. It’s an embarrassment when it could be a delight.

Pearl Street, which crosses the Greenway and whose sidewalk extends toward the Harbor Walk, is a lost opportunity. On one edge are the Intercontinental Hotel’s parking garage vents. On the other is Boston Properties’ new tower sitting on old facades at Russia Wharf, now dubbed Atlantic Wharf. It’s a pleasing structure, but the developer has chosen to place along this path a boring back side of the building.

It’s especially regrettable because this pathway enjoys a dramatic perspective, ending at the Fort Point Channel and a vibrant Harbor Walk with outdoor restaurants and an information kiosk that contains toilets, which the Greenway doesn’t have.

This path could have had a coffee shop, a use we couldn’t find anywhere, or plantings to hide the vents. We hope these owners will rectify the situation, which could be turned to their advantage.

We saw good things on the Greenway—tables and chairs with attractive umbrellas; food trucks, fountains, sculptures, lush grass seemingly free of dog and goose poop; the carrousel; many trash barrels and “rats love litter” warning signs. The Harbor Islands kiosk contained a map of the islands etched into the granite, a decorative basin that catches the rain from the roof, and an engaging park ranger who knew her stuff.

We’re eager to get some things up and running. We hope the Armenian Heritage Park’s maze will be worth the bafflement of why Armenians made it to the Greenway while other groups of wronged people didn’t. We are eagerly anticipating the Boston Public Market and the Boston Museum, which are, we hope, will soon occupy edges.

A big disappointment are the gardens. Many perennials, like the peonies in Chinatown, looked good, but we saw too many bare spots and weeds. No annuals had been planted. The edible garden looked scrawnier than my own vegetable garden, which isn’t exactly a showpiece.

All in all, though, the Greenway has promise.