Boston Flora

Tag: City Of Boston

  • Tuesday, September 27, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Urban Tree Stewardship

    Street trees in the Back Bay live a perilous life. Pollution, soil compaction, water stress, tall trucks, plastic wrapped signs, unleashed pets, invasive insects and general vandalism all take a toll. Hear what The Garden Club of the Back Bay is doing to keep our neighborhood leafy, and learn how we all can assist the City of Boston’s Department of Parks and Recreation in this important challenge. Past President Margaret Pokorny will be joined by Greg Mosman, Chief Arborist for the City of Boston, and Bob Lorie, Senior Arborist and Manager of Boston Tree Company, at our opening meeting of the 2011/2012 season on Tuesday, September 27 beginning at 7 pm.  This meeting will be open to the public, and we have departed from our usual routine and will host this panel discussion in the evening at The College Club, 44 Commonwealth Avenue.  Free, but reservations are required.  Garden Club members will receive written notice in the mail, and others may email info@bostonflora.com to hold a spot.  Space is limited, so please respond early.  A coffee and dessert reception will follow the panel discussion.

  • Saturday, August 6, 10:30 am – Nightingale Community Garden Grand Opening

    As the interest in community gardens continues to grow rapidly nationwide and around the Boston area, Boston Natural Areas Network (BNAN) will celebrate the grand opening of Nightingale Community Garden — the largest community garden to open in Dorchester — on Saturday, August 6, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon at 512 Park Street in Dorchester. Mayor Thomas M. Menino will join gardeners, neighbors, partners, and supporters to celebrate the first planting season of this remarkable new 1.5-acre garden in the heart of the city’s largest neighborhood. All are invited to come learn more about this new community treasure and enjoy music and refreshments. The event is free and open to the public.

    Once the site of the former Boston Public Florence Nightingale School, and long gardened by a small group of local residents, Nightingale Garden was acquired by BNAN in 2006 as a permanent community garden. BNAN is a Boston-based nonprofit that works to preserve, expand, and enhance urban open space, including community gardens, greenways, and urban wilds throughout the City of Boston. After years of advocacy efforts and a thorough community planning and design process, renovations to Nightingale Garden began in earnest in late 2010 and were completed in June.

    BNAN has significantly expanded Nightingale Community Garden from 30 to 132 plots and raised beds under cultivation by more than 150 resident gardeners who represent a wide array of cultures and generations. The new garden features healthy, nutrient-rich soil, fully accessible paths, a complete irrigation system, benches and picnic tables, a tool shed, bulletin board, and a common gathering area with gazebo sun shelter that also captures rain water in barrels. The gardeners began planting on July 1, and even with the late start due to construction constraints, Nightingale Garden is already demonstrating its bountiful potential. Blueberry bushes were saved from the old garden and fruit trees will be planted in the fall. Nightingale is quickly becoming the hub of community gardening and urban agriculture in Dorchester, hosting programs focused on cultivating fresh healthy food, including gardening, cooking, and fitness workshops, as well as concerts throughout the summer. All programs and events are free and open to all gardeners and the public to enjoy.

    “Nightingale Garden is a real community success story,” says Valerie Burns, president of Boston Natural Areas Network. “The project represents years of steadfast efforts by residents, the city, BNAN, and many donors and partners to create a permanent garden where the community can gather and grow healthy food for years to come.”

    This garden renovation is part of a Dorchester-wide program called Boston Is Growing Gardens (BIGG), which BNAN founded in 2009 for the purpose of doubling the growing capacity of community gardens in the neighborhood and promoting the health and wellness of its residents. The BIGG program combines improved and expanded gardens with no-cost programs to build interest, participation and skill in growing fresh vegetables and inspire healthier eating and more active lifestyles. Through coordinated outreach and skill-building and mentoring programs, BIGG works to connect Dorchester residents to these new gardening programs and resources.

    “The opening of the Nightingale Community Garden in Dorchester signifies a big step forward in community-building, neighborhood renewal and preservation for the City of Boston,” Mayor Menino said. “Community gardens add many dimensions to our open urban space as they provide a viable source of inexpensive and healthy food and also promote regular physical activity and a rewarding personal experience.”

    Major funders for the project include the Boston Public Health Commission through its Community Putting Prevention to Work program, Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development Grassroots program, the Manton Foundation, the Claneil Foundation, the Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund, the Towards Sustainability Foundation, the American Heart Association, the Cabot Trust, and the Boston Foundation. Boston University School of Public Health provided in-kind services to insure healthy soil.

    If you would like to learn more about BIGG or how to get involved in community gardening in your Dorchester neighborhood, please contact BNAN at info@bostonnatural.org or call the BIGG Project Manager, Grantley Payne, at 617.542.7696 x21.

  • Mayor Menino’s Garden Contest 2011

    The July 15 entry deadline is almost upon us – enter Mayor Menino’s Garden Contest 2011, a citywide celebration of urban gardening, generously sponsored by Comcast and the Boston Herald.  All Boston residents, businesses, or organizational gardens are eligible, as long as the gardener is an amateur.  Gardens will be judged on the basis of general appeal (natural or formal), use of color, definition, neatness, the variety and quality of plant material, and garden hardware, furnishings, and art.  Submit photo of the nominated garden to Mayor Menino’s Garden Contest, Boston Parks and Recreation Department, 1010 Massachusetts Avenue, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02118, along with your name, address, telephone number and email address, or apply online at www.cityofboston,gov/parks/gardencontest.  Categories:  Porch, Balcony, Deck or Window Box Garden; Shade Garden; Small Yard Garden (250 square feet or less); Medium Yard Garden (250 square feet – 500 square feet); Large Yard Garden (larger than 500 square feet); Community Garden; Vegetable or Herb Garden; Storefront, Business or Organization Garden.  Photographs or images submitted to the Boston Parks & Recreation Department become City of Boston property and may be used for press or marketing purposes.  Gardeners may only win one category per year.  For more information, call 617-961-3051.  Chitose Suzuki’s photo of South End garden below courtesy of www.townhousecenter.org.

  • Thursday, June 2, 11:00 am – Boston Harbor Islands Pavilion Opening

    Join the Boston Harbor Alliance for an opening celebration on Thursday, June 2 at 11 am.  Governor Deval Patrick, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Ms. Victoria Reggie Kennedy, and other dignitaries will join Boston Harbor Island Alliance and National Park Service staff on the Rose F. Kennedy Greenway to open the new $5,000,000, 2,500 square foot Boston Harbor Islands Pavilion.  This pavilion is the first structure to be built on the Rose Kennedy Greenway and will be a new gateway for residents and tourists to the Boston Harbor Islands National Park area.  The structure is located in the Wharf District Parks (between State Street and Atlantic Avenue.) We have to admire the contractor who got away with charging the government $2,000 per square foot.  Come view our tax dollars at work.

  • Christmas Tree Recycling in Boston (and Beyond)

    The City of Boston Department of Public Works will collect and recycle Christmas trees during the first two weeks of January.  You should put your tree out on your regular trash and recycling collection day (in most of Back Bay, that’s Monday and Thursday).  If your building puts trash in a dumpster, trees should be placed next to the dumpster for collection.  If you miss these recycling times, call 617-635-4959 for possible additional date or dates in January.

    Remove all ornaments, tinsel, lights, and other non-organic decorative materials.  Flocked trees will often need to be chopped and disposed with regular solid waste.  For more information on tree recycling for other areas of Massachusetts, and indeed nationwide, log on to www.pickyourownchristmastree.org/disposing.php.

    Dying christmas tree by amathad.

  • Tuesday, January 25, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm – 1st Annual Boston Firehouse Chili Cook-Off

    On Tuesday, January 25, from 6 – 9, The Greater Boston Food Bank will be the beneficiary of a heated showdown between the City of Boston’s firehouses when the Boston Firehouse Chili Cook-Off pits firefighter chefs against one another for the title of “Boston Firehouse Chili Champion 2011.”  Join the  host, Four Seasons Executive Chef Brooke Vosika, and two celebrity guest judges to cast your vote for the best firehouse chili in the city, all for a great cause.  The event will take place at The Four Seasons Hotel on Boylston Street. Tickets are $95 per person, and tickets may be purchased on line at www.gbfb.org.  Call Gail Favreau at 617-427-5200 for more information.  Image from www.freerepublic.com, but we can’t guarantee that these particular firefighters will be the cooks. A girl can dream.

  • Thursday, December 2, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Boston Common Tree Lighting Ceremony

    The City of Boston’s Official Tree Lighting hosted by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, title sponsor the Province of Nova Scotia, and media sponsors WCVB-TV Channel 5 and MAGIC 106.7 FM comes to Boston Common on Thursday, December 2, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. This will be the 69th annual Tree Lighting on Boston Common. Chronicle’s Anthony Everett and NewsCenter Five’s JC Monahan will host Channel 5’s live broadcast of the event beginning at 7 p.m. The celebration will feature the Radio City Rockettes, 2006 American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee, Grammy-winning R&B singer Patti Austin and the Boston Pops Gospel Choir, among many others.

    Boston Common Christmas Tree

  • Tuesday, July 13, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Pics in the Parks Photography Workshop

    Capture Boston’s picturesque parks during this inaugural outdoor summer amateur photography workshop series, beginning Tuesday, July 13. The location is the Copps Hill Burying Ground in the North End (44 Hull Street, Boston.) Be the first to learn the tricks of taking a perfect photograph. The free evening 6:00 p.m. workshops are geared toward adult photographers. Bring your own digital or film camera and pre-registration is encouraged. Selected participants’ shots may be viewed on the City of Boston Parks Department’s fan page on Facebook and will be featured at an exhibit at Boston City Hall. For more information, call (617) 635-4505 (ext. 3051).

    http://www.boston-tourism-made-easy.com/images/Copps_Hill_Burying_Ground.jpg

  • Tuesday, March 2, and Wednesday, March 10 4:30 pm – 8:30 pm – City of Boston Community Workshop on Climate Action

    The City of Boston will hold two Community Workshops on Climate Action, the first on Tuesday, March 2, from 4:30 – 8:30 pm, at Old South Church, 645 Boylston Street, in the Mary Norton Hall on the Second Floor, and the second on Wednesday, March 10, from 4:40 – 8:30 pm, at the Metcalf Ballroom, George Sherman Union, Boston University, 775 Commonwealth Avenue.  Target neighborhoods under discussion in the March 2 session will be East Boston, Charlestown, South Boston, and in the Downtown area, Chinatown, North Leather District, and the West End. Neighborhoods under discussion on March 10 include Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Kenmore, South End, Allston, Brighton, and the Fenway. Interpretation available on request in American Sign Language, Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish.  You must register in order to ensure a space at this workshop.  You may register online at www.cityofboston.gov/calendar/#/?i=2.

  • Christmas Tree Recycling in Boston (and Beyond)

    The City of Boston Department of Public Works will collect and recycle Christmas trees during the first two weeks of January.  You should put your tree out on your regular trash and recycling collection day (in most of Back Bay, that’s Monday and Thursday).  If your building puts trash in a dumpster, trees should be placed next to the dumpster for collection.  If you miss these recycling times, call 617-635-4959 for possible additional date or dates in January.

    Remove all ornaments, tinsel, lights, and other non-organic decorative materials.  Flocked trees will often need to be chopped and disposed with regular solid waste.  For more information on tree recycling for other areas of Massachusetts, and indeed nationwide, log on to www.pickyourownchristmastree.org/disposing.php.