Along the northwestern base of Hemlock Hill at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, a broad sweep of mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) grows where the woodland slopes down to meet the historic carriage road. Each June, in the filtered light beneath the hemlocks, these massed plantings offer one of the Arboretum’s most spectacular seasonal spectacles. A 22-acre woodland shaped by storm, succession, and scientific study, Hemlock Hill offers a rich diversity of shade-loving plants along…
Posts published in “Nature”
There are a lot of beautiful gardens in Jamaica Plain, and this weekend you’ll have the opportunity to visit 12 neighborhood home gardens as part of a self-guided garden tour. Organized by the Loring Greenough House—each garden is unique and visitors are invited to wander through each property, talk with the homeowner, and enjoy some light snacks. The gardens will be open from noon to 3 pm. The tour begins at the Loring Greenough House…
If you enjoy bicycling and gardening, the Tour de Green of Jamaica Plain is an event you don’t want to miss on May 21. Organized by the Boston Cyclists Union and The Trustees Boston Community Gardens—the ride will tour different community gardens in Jamaica Plain—particularly The Trustees and Department of Conservation & Recreation gardens. The tour will take place from 5:30 to 7 pm, and will loop around the Southwest Corridor near Stony Brook and…
Get your hands dirty later this month for the annual Earth Day Clean Up at the Bussey Brook Meadow in the Arnold Arboretum. The focus will be on removing invasive plants within the woodland areas adjacent to the Blackwell Footpath and South Street to improve the ecology of those areas and build previous volunteer efforts. Volunteers will also pick up litter between Bussey Brook and the train tracks, as well as along the South Street…
We’ve got some good tree news and some bad tree news. The good news, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy with city and state personnel, recently completed an inventory of 3,500 previously evaluated and undocumented trees along Jamaica Pond, Francis Parkman Memorial, and the Jamaicaway. That includes 2,400 newly inventoried trees, which significantly provides a better understanding of the current tree canopy. That will help with long-term planning and management of the more than 13,500 trees throughout…
Everyone has heard of the “bee’s knees.” But what about the “tree’s knees?” Yes, just like bees, some trees have knees. The bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, native to the southeastern United States, can have spectacular knees. Like the golden larch (Pseudolarix amabilis), dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), all larch species (Larix spp.), and the Chinese swamp cypress (Glyptostroboides pensilis), the bald cypress, as the common name would suggest, is a deciduous conifer, with magnificent copper to bronze colors…
Are you wondering about the city’s master plan for Franklin Park? Well, city staff are hosting an event on March 19 to discuss the Park’s Circuit Drive traffic calming study, tennis court expansion, dog facilities, White Stadium, and more. This is an in-person event that will include a brief presentation, followed by tabling sessions for residents to talk with the city’s Parks & Recreation and Planning Departments, and the Urban Wilds Crew. There will be…
Last week’s winter storm offered a vivid reminder of New England’s climate in motion: nearly 18 inches of snow fell at the Arnold Arboretum between January 25 and 26—more than Boston received in each of the past two winters in their entirety. For the Arnold Arboretum, storms like this are more than remarkable weather events; they are data points in a long continuum of observation that extends nearly a century. Weather has long been one…
