From the Community

First Emerald Necklace Parkfest Spanning Parks on Sept. 24

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The first-ever Emerald Necklace Parkfest will be the year’s biggest event for Olmsted Now, which is Greater Boston’s Olmsted Bicentennial. This free event will on Sept. 24 will span across parks of the Emerald Necklace, and will include free performances, kids' activities, art, games, dancing, and more. There will be picnic zones, parade decorating, data "community listening boards", and Necklace-wide scavenger hunts to prompt exploring the parks. Community groups and organizations will also be showcasing the ways they make the Greater Boston a great place for parks and public spaces.

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Arnold Arboretum

A Solar Pollinator Meadow Takes Root at Weld Hill in Arnold Arboretum

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Last year, the horticulture staff at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University planted a new pollinator meadow at the Arboretum’s Weld Hill Research and Administration Building. Wild-collected seeds of native perennials were sown beneath, between, and around an array of 1,152 solar panels, envisioned as an ecological and technological experiment. As these plants come into their own this season, the Weld Hill landscape champions two of the Arboretum’s key sustainability initiatives—increasing the capture and use of renewable energy and enhancing habitat for urban pollinators and other wildlife. Now in its second growing season, the solar meadow at Weld Hill teems with more than 30 species of native, wild-collected flowers and grasses. This number will increase through additional plantings over the coming years.

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Arnold Arboretum

A Changing Climate Inspires ‘Restoration’ at Arnold Arboretum

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Artist Ethan Murrow grew up on a farm in Vermont, working the land and experiencing both the natural world and the impact humans have on it. Collaborating with the Arnold Arboretum through the climate advocacy group ActionPact Boston, Murrow brings his passion and concern for the environment to an art installation in our landscape that evokes our relationship with ecology both here and, more broadly, around the world. Action Pact Boston invited six local artists to create temporary artworks that reflect their own interpretation of climate change. Murrow’s Restoration sprawls across a gentle slope on the south side of Peters Hill, just within the entrance at Mendum Street Gate. Assisted by the Arboretum’s horticulture crew, ActionPact Boston’s Jim Olson and Annie Lundsten, and assistant Nick Papa, Murrow assembled a new tree from mismatched parts—logs and limbs from trees that have been pruned or removed from the world-renowned collections at the Arboretum.

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Environment

Arnold Arboretum Trees for English High School

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While students from Boston Public Schools visit the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University for field trips to learn about trees, this Arbor Day the Arboretum brought trees to Boston students. In honor of the Arboretum’s 150th anniversary, three trees from the Arboretum’s nurseries were planted with students and teachers at two Boston Public high schools. Organized to teach students about trees and tree care and to beautify their school campuses, the tree plantings also offered an opportunity to foster collaboration between the Arboretum and local schools and introduce students to plant-related careers. At Jamaica Plain's English High School, an 11th grade class taught by Thomas Hayes helped Arboretum staff plant a Judd cherry tree (Prunus × juddii), an ornamental cultivar introduced by the Arboretum and named for an early propagator. As the tree was planted in a sunny corner of the school’s track and field—where it will shade spectators and fatigued runners—students expressed their excitement to care for the tree in its crucial first year and leave their mark on their alma mater.

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Arnold Arboretum

Lilac Sunday Returning to Arnold Arboretum After Two-Year Hiatus

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The Arnold Arboretum came into existence on March 29, 1872, and is marking 150 years of preserving biodiversity and connecting plants and people. As part of the anniversary celebrations, the Arnold Arboretum welcomes everyone to the first public-observance of its traditional Lilac Sunday event since 2019. In addition, Arnold Arboretum Director William (Ned) Friedman announces a slate of both virtual and in-person talks on sesquicentennial themes entitled The Magic and Meaning of a Garden of Trees. The spring season kicks off on May 1 with the reopening of the Arnold Arboretum Visitor Center in the Hunnewell Building, and accelerates with the approach of Lilac Sunday on May 8. A beloved tradition in Boston for well over a century, Lilac Sunday will return on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 8, after a two-year pause during the pandemic.

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