Garden Club of the Back Bay past President Margaret Pokorny will speak on the History of the Commonwealth Avenue Mall Thursday, December 13, beginning at 6 pm at the Boston Public Library main branch, Boylston Street, Boston.  The illustrated lecture is based on Margaret’s research during her years of graduate study, and most practically on her work as Chair of the Commonwealth Avenue Mall Committee (CAMC). Margaret explains the role of the committee in this way: “CAMC does all of the tree care: planting, pruning, and disease control. There are 600 trees on the Mall of about six different species of major shade trees. In the 1960’s when over half the trees on the Mall were lost to Dutch Elm Disease a memorial tree program to replant was begun by Stella Trafford, a founding member of the Garden Club. Over 200 new trees have been sponsored by neighbors and we are almost at the point of having a waiting list for new trees. There are five sponsorship opportunities($3,000) for this coming spring. For many years CAMC has conducted a Dutch Elm Disease program that injects the most vulnerable trees each year. This program on the Mall alone costs about $30,000 per year, but has resulted in the saving of many of the big old trees. As an auxiliary to this program, this year we did a specialized structural pruning program on all the remaining elms both for their health and for the safety of park users. This was in addition to our regular yearly pruning of other species for thinning, shaping, removal of dead wood, and crown reduction. This ongoing work has resulted in less tree damage due to storms than any other downtown park.”  The public is invited to this free program. Photo below shows the Mall in progress in 1872.