Come to the opening of the Rotch-Jones-Duff House & Garden Museum Holiday Exhibit and Wreath Silent Auction on Friday, December 4, from 6 – 8 pm. Enjoy fabulous hors d’oeuvre and yuletide spirits in the festively decorated rooms of the Museum. Take home a beautiful wreath, custom designed by volunteers. $40 members, $45 non-members. For tickets, directions and more information, log on to www.rjdmuseum.org.
Tag: Holiday Wreath
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Friday, December 4, 6:00 – 8:00 pm – Gala Preview Party & Wreath Silent Auction
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Garden Club of the Back Bay Holiday Wreaths – Saving the Elms
One mission of The Garden Club of the Back Bay is to beautify the neighborhood, and one historic aspect of the neighborhood is its majestic elms. As we know, the elm tree population has been decimated by Dutch elm disease, a fungal disease spread by the elm bark beetle. For many years, the Garden Club has helped fund the inoculation of elm trees, through grants to The Friends of the Public Garden. This is not inexpensive. A single application cost between $200 – $300 in the 1980’s. Thirty years of inflation, naturally, has taken the price, depending on the size of the tree, to the $1,000 range. In 2009, we gave $4,000 to inoculate trees between Massachusetts Avenue and Charlesgate East.
Without our fund raising efforts, including the Holiday Wreath project, this financial assistance would not be available. Please remember the elms as you decide to purchase one of our exquisite wreaths or our full, extra large poinsettia plants. To order, click here.
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Garden Club of the Back Bay Holiday Wreaths – More Reasons to Buy
We are often asked “What does the Garden Club do?” Throughout this web site, you will find much information about our mission and our projects, but essentially we are all about the trees. Previously we explored our pruning project, and today we’d like to introduce you to the magic of mulch, and why we do it.
When we plant a new street tree on the sidewalks of the Back Bay (and we plant, on average, ten new trees a year in empty tree pits), we install a PVC pipe perforated with holes and topped with a removable cap to facilitate deep watering. We contact abutting neighbors and find a good citizen willing to provide auxiliary water to the newly planted tree for a period of two years, and then we mulch. The mulch moderates the temperature of the soil surrounding the tree and lessens evaporation, very important on hot summer days. A young tree undergoes the same transplant shock that flats of flowers do, but while a small pansy plant can recover rapidly with a quart of water, the tree needs far more moisture to thrive.
Needless to say, mulch isn’t free. We purchase bales and bales of mulch and volunteer members clean out the tree pits (cigarette butts are but one of many unmentionable bits of garbage we find discarded next to our beloved trees) and add a few inches of mulch, carefully keeping the mulch away from the bark so we don’t promote rot. That mulch money comes, in part, from your support of our Holiday Wreath sale, and we hope that, when you decide to purchase one of our gorgeous wreaths, you’ll think of how grateful the young trees will be when they are tucked in to bed with their blankets of mulch. Click here to order.
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Holiday Wreaths from The Garden Club of the Back Bay
We wish to highlight reasons why supporting The Garden Club of the Back Bay through our 2009 Holiday Wreath Sale is so important to the Back Bay, the City of Boston, and the Greater Boston Area, so from now through the end of November, we’ll feature posts which focus on different projects funded by our loyal and generous customer base.
Today, let us consider the rather prosaic but important task of tree pruning. It’s not glamorous – no one ever swoons over the thought of lopped off tree limbs. Without periodic pruning, however, tree branches fall in storms, tearing off bark and allowing pathogens to enter the trees, weakening and often ultimately killing them. Tree limbs which are not pruned back hit pedestrians in the face, interfere with traffic, obscure traffic signals, and create misshapen and often ugly silhouettes. Building shadows force trees to lean toward the light, so growth is lopsided. Pruning can give such trees a more graceful appearance. The City of Boston naturally believes in pruning, but budgetary restrictions only allow pruning when a tree is in danger of toppling over and crushing personal property.
The Garden Club of the Back Bay came to the rescue a number of years ago, allocating a portion of our yearly budget to the task of pruning. We hire an excellent licensed arborist, Bob Lorie, to prune existing trees during street cleaning days when cars have been cleared from the streets. There are approximately 600 sidewalk trees in the Back Bay and most trees have been pruned at least once. We continue regular pruning of the smaller trees to get them above the height of traffic and to give them a good shape as they mature. We also offer pruning services for front yard trees at a group rate. We hope you will consider purchasing one of our lovely wreaths. Proceeds support our pruning efforts. To order, and for more information, click here.
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On Line Wreath Store Now Open
Your holiday wreath order is just a few clicks away. View pictures of a sampling of wreaths and bows from years past, print additional order forms, and actually order on line through PayPal, simply by clicking on the On Line Wreath Store link on the top of the page. We still prefer the good old fashioned check (we do pay a small fee on each transaction to PayPal) but recognize that for many the convenience of ordering securely on line is a benefit. Remember that if you live in the suburbs, you’ll have to pick up your order on December 9 or 10 at The First Lutheran Church of Boston, 299 Berkeley Street (on the corner of Marlborough and Berkeley) in the Back Bay. If you have any questions about the wreaths or delivery and pick up, email info@bostonflora.com and we’ll get back to you.
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Saturday, October 3, 10:00 am – Back Bay Street Sale Rescheduled
The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay’s Street Sale, rained out on September 12, has been rescheduled for Saturday, October 3, beginning at 10:00 am, on the Dartmouth Street Mall (Dartmouth Street between Newbury and Commonwealth). The Garden Club of the Back Bay will be there. Here is your opportunity to pick up a membership brochure, buy a tote bag or apron, order a holiday wreath or one of our beautiful tree fences, and learn about all the good works we do for the neighborhood and beyond. We hope to see you there. For more information on the event, log on to www.nabbonline.com.
