Boston Flora

Category: Volunteer Opportunity

  • Monday, August 1 – City of Boston Curbside Food Waste Collection Begins

    Starting in August 2022, the City of Boston is launching a free, curbside food waste collection service for residents. To participate, residents must live in buildings with 6 units or fewer. Enrollment is limited, so sign up today.

    This program will begin on August 1st and is available to the first 10,000 households who sign up. Composting ‘starter kits’ (instructions, a roll of liners, a kitchen bin and a collection bin to put on the curb on collection days) will be delivered to enrolled households in July. 

    For more about the program (and to register) go to: https://www.bostoncomposts.com

  • Sunday, July 17, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm – Watergoat Launch

    The Muddy Water Initiative invites you to join them on Sunday, July 17 from 11 – 12:30 for live music, food trucks, a live cleanup, and of course, live goats! Gather at 50 Charlesgate East on the Ipswich River Bridge, 75 yards past the Fenway Studios Building. Come to watch, or participate.  RSVP: https://bit.ly/3OGIVIq to sign up.

  • Tuesday, June 28, 9:30 am – 11:30 am (Rain Date June 29, 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm) – Charlesgate Alliance Tree Dedication

    Representatives from the Charlesgate Alliance, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, Department of Conservation and Recreation, Landing Studio, elected officials, as well as our partner organizations the Esplanade Association and Friends of the Public Garden will be on hand to join the celebration. 

    Tuesday, June 28th, from 9:30-11:30am

    Rain date:
    Wednesday, June 29th, from 1:30-3:30pm

    This achievement, more than a year in the making, and stewarded from start to finish by Garden Club of the Back Bay Past President Margaret Pokorny in conjunction with Dan and Marie Law Adams of Landing Studio, has given the Charlesgate area its first new trees in many years.

    The dedication will take place in The Grove area of Charlesgate Park, where 14 of the 15 new trees were planted. You can reach the area at the terminus of Marlborough Street and Charlesgate East, bounded on the north by Beacon Street.

    With the addition of the new trees, recently refurbished DCR lighting, and red chair seasonal seating, the Grove is starting to look like the park it was always meant to be.

  • Tree Sponsorship Opportunity in The Grove

    The Charlesgate Alliance is planting fifteen new trees this spring. After clearing the Boston Conservation Commission hearing on April 6th, they are now working with the Department of Conservation and Recreation and Cambridge Landscape to plant 15 new trees, mainly in The Grove area of the park where they will not be disturbed by construction in the coming years. These trees were chosen by Landing Studio with an eye both toward the location near the river as well as our larger plan for the park, where we hope to plant roughly 150 more. This will be a significant improvement: the first new trees planted in Charlesgate in many years. The Alliance in conjunction with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy will maintain the trees in perpetuity. So far we have 9 trees sponsored at $3,000 a tree. You can therefore sponsor a tree for $3,000 or just make a contribution toward the tree project. Only 6 trees are left for funding, although a contribution can be allocated to the next planting cycle if response is overwhelming. If you would like to help with this exciting program, click here and note that it is for the tree planting. You can also mail a check to Charlesgate Alliance c/o Emerald Necklace Conservancy, 350 Jamaicaway, Boston, MA 02130

  • Thursday, April 21, 9:30 am – 11:30 am – The Border Brigade Season Four Kick-Off

    Under the guidance of Eric DiTommaso, Parks Care Specialist on the staff of the Public Garden, we tend the borders of the Garden, mainly weeding and light pruning. Often Eric surprises us with a special project such as planting a mass of Hostas or heavily pruning some rose bushes.

    We meet the third Thursday of each month from 9:30 -11:30, usually at the Boylston Street entrance to the Garden.

    Small gardening tools are helpful and gloves highly recommended. Our first meeting this year will be on Thursday, April 21. If you are interested in joining us, or want more information, please send an email to Sherley Smith by clicking HERE.

  • Honoring Julia Donahue, Welcoming Alexander Leventhal

    The Friends of the Boston Park Rangers Mounted Unit bids farewell to founding President Julia H. Donahue, who since 2009 has steered the not for profit group and with her Board and Partners has ensured that the Mounted Unit has remained actively on patrol. In Julia’s letter to her supporters, she says “Thanks to our combined efforts and sheer persistence over the years Mystic, Baron, Remington, Otis, Frederick, Winston and Liberty remain in our Parks every day. Accompanied by their trusted Mounted Park Rangers, these horses and the Unit have not missed one day of work in the parks during the Covid-19 pandemic.” The Garden Club of the Back Bay has worked with Julia over the years and congratulates her on a job well done.

    Incoming President Alexander Leventhal took over the role as President on February 23. We urge you all to support the Friends of the Boston Park Rangers Mounted Unit. For information on how you can help, contact them at info@friendsofthebprmountedunit.org, or visit their website https://friendsofthebprmountedunit.org/

  • Save Crane Ledge Woods

    For decades, a 24-acre forest, known locally as Crane Ledge Woods (CLW) and designated as an urban wild, has been inaccessible and mostly unknown to the surrounding neighborhoods of southwest Boston – Hyde Park, Roslindale and Mattapan. Now a multinational property company intends to construct 10 buildings containing 270 rental units, 415 parking spaces and several roads on this land. From a beautiful green space of crucial wildlife habitats – shady forest, flower-filled meadows, rocky alcoves and vernal pools – the proposed project would turn Crane Ledge Woods into an immense urban heat island of impervious asphalt and concrete. This ecological devastation would rob our local wildlife of their homes.

    Crane Ledge Woods gets its name from Crane Ledge – a rock cliff offering a stunning view looking southwest across Hyde Park and the Stony Brook Valley far below. A forest of mature native trees and diverse plant life surround the towering granite cliff, preserving an inspiring sense of wilderness and keeping the area cool on hot days.

    The view across the valley gives visitors a rare sense of Hyde Park as it existed more than a century ago, when Crane Ledge was a site for weekend picnics known as Pine Garden. BPDA has defined CLW as one of Boston’s “Urban Wilds & Natural Areas”. Although the property is not under the protection of Parks & Recreation Department, the city has identified this land as a key opportunity to make progress on its own climate resilience, environmental justice and open space equity goals. Crane Ledge Woods is more than half the size of Chinatown – one of Boston’s hottest neighborhoods in the summer due to tree loss and over-development. There is not enough plantable space in the entire neighborhood to replace the trees that would be lost due to the project proposed for Crane Ledge Woods, and none of those trees would reach maturity in most of our lifetimes.

    For complete details of the proposed project, and information on The Crane Ledge Woods Coalition, visit https://www.savecraneledgewoods.org/

  • New England Garden Clubs Photography Group

    New England Garden Clubs is thrilled to announce its new Photography Group. The NEGC Photography Group will offer photography opportunities to learn and to take part in online Zoom programs, as well as workshops and other activities that will help develop (pun intended) photography skills.

    All members of New England’s federated garden clubs (that includes the Garden Club of the Back Bay) are welcome to participate. The Photography Group will showcase the work of garden club photographers, in furtherance of the mission and programs of National Garden Clubs. The new members will have access to online and in-person workshops with noted photographers, through the Photography Group’s membership in NECCC – New England Council of Camera Clubs, a membber of the Photography Society of America. There will be opportunities for dialogue and discussion, image critique and evaluation of members’ images, information about photography exhibiting opportunities, and information about photography judging,

    Sign up for the NEGC Photography Group Newsletter HERE.

    Cathy Ahrens, Bow NH Garden Club – Allium After the Storm

  • Thursday, February 10, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm – Becoming a Guide at the Boston Public Garden Information Session, Online

    Interested in telling the “Untold Stories” of the nation’s first public botanical garden? The Friends of the Public Garden currently seeks guides for the summer season of Untold Stories of the Public Garden tours.

    Our next virtual information session will take place on Thursday, February 10 from 12:00pm – 1:00pm.Please email jan@friendsofthepublicgarden.org to register or for more information.

  • Saturday, December 18 – Christmas Bird Count, Live and Online

    Join the Christmas Bird Count on December 18, the longest continuously running bird data event in the area. Contact Dave Small for additional information and to participate in this nationwide annual event: 978-413-1772 or Dave@atholbirdclub.org  Covid-19 rules are in effect National Audubon has issued guidelines which ABNC will use.  Then, enjoy the Christmas Bird Count Wrap-up and Party, online. Join us as we find out the preliminary results of the Annual Christmas Bird Count. An informal group discussion and meeting. Find out what unusual birds were seen during the days’ count. 

    You are invited to a Zoom meeting. When: Dec 18, 2021 05:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
    Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkd-iorj8sE9wnkJnlGODdr5O6n1tsjP-D  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

    up party