Boston Flora

Tag: Laura Dwight

  • Tuesday, April 1 – Sunday, June 1 – Magnolias of the Back Bay Self Guided Tour 2025

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay presents a self-guided Magnolia Tour. Learn interesting facts about the historical Magnolias of Back Bay. On this self-guided Magnolia Tour, you’ll walk a loop starting on the sunny side of Commonwealth Avenue at Arlington Street, up to Mass Ave, continuing onto Beacon Street back toward Arlington. Along the way you’ll learn some fascinating information about magnolia trees, their history, the history of some buildings where they are located, and what our Club has been working on as it relates to these and other beloved trees.

    When you register, you will receive a link in your email confirmation under “additional information” that will let you print the tour at home, or view it on your mobile device using the Google Docs app. The Eventbrite registration link is: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/copy-of-magnolias-of-the-back-bay-self-guided-tour-2025-tickets-1305755382499?aff=ebemoffollowpublishemail&ref=eemail&utm_campaign=following_published_event&utm_content=follow_notification&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eventbrite

    The tour is free, but as an all volunteer organization a recommended donation of $5 or more will enable the Garden Club to continue to care for Back Bay’s street trees, community gardens and updated tree walks. Thank you in advance for your support!

  • Twilight Garden Party 2020 – Caring for our City Trees

    Twilight Garden Party 2020 – Caring for our City Trees

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s annual fundraiser, the Twilight Garden Party – Caring for our City Trees, will be held this year on Tuesday May 19th, 6pm-8:30pm at the St. Botolph Club, 199 Commonwealth Avenue.

    Urban trees, particularly street trees, are under stress now like never before. A primary mission of our Club is to care for the trees of our city, particularly in the Back Bay. Your generous support will go toward sustaining and increasing the green canopy that cleans our air, filters our water, cools our temperatures and restores our souls. In addition, your gift will support our mission to promote civic beauty and educate the public.

    This year, through the support of friends like you, we have:

    • Evaluated the health of hundreds of trees
    • Pruned over 100 street trees, which is vital for tree health and limits storm damage
    • Fertilized 40 of the newly planted street trees, giving them vital nutrients 
    • Coordinated the purchase and installation of 13 new tree fences
    • Had member volunteers water new trees on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall this past summer 
    • Inventoried every front garden tree (in addition to alley trees) in the Back Bay and have made that information available free to the public at backbaytrees.org.
    • With the support of a grant given to us by the children of the Learning Project Elementary School, we are coordinating with the city to have a new tree planted this spring, and are installing a fence, plantings and a plaque near the school.
    • Revitalizing an old side garden at the First Lutheran Church at the corner of Marlborough and Beacon Streets

    This and so much more cannot be done without your continued financial support.

    When the Founder of our Club, Laura Dwight, pulled together friends, neighbors, businesses, college students and landlords to help revitalize a declining Back Bay in the 1960’s by organizing and planting most of the Magnolia and Dogwood trees that you see on Commonwealth Avenue today, our mission was clear: honor and care for the trees and greenspaces of Back Bay.

    Won’t you please help us support that mission by becoming a sponsor to the Twilight Garden Party?

    To learn about sponsorship categories, click here:
    https://bostonflora.com/twilight-garden-party/ where you can pay on line.  
    Or you can pay by check (made out to the Garden Club of the Back Bay) and send to:
    Susan Leathers
    283 Commonwealth Avenue, Apt 4
    Boston, MA 02115 
    NO LATER THAN March 9th, 2020. 
    Be sure to include your name as you would like it to appear on the invitation.

    Thank you for supporting the Garden Club of The Back Bay. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. Photo below courtesy of BostonZest.com


  • From the Archives – Garden Club of the Back Bay Decorates the International Institute

    Back in 1968, the Garden Club of the Back Bay was asked by Mrs. J. Philip Lane of the International Institute, then located at 287 Commonwealth Avenue, to decorate the handsome house for Christmas.  According to information found in the excellent website www.backbayhouses.org, “287 Commonwealth was designed by Rotch and Tilden, architects, and built in 1892-1893 by Connery & Wentworth and Ira Hersey, builders. It was built as the home of Herbert Mason Sears and his wife, Caroline B. (Bartlett) Sears.”  The International Institute acquired the property in 1964 and turned it into offices and meeting rooms. The committee trimming the home included Mrs. Edward Bowman, Mrs. Samuel Newman, Elisabeth Lay, Kathleen Nunn, and Laura Dwight.  The contemporary image below of one of the building’s condominium units is from www.lilibanani.com.

    The International Institute has, for nearly a century, assisted immigrants, refugees, and other vulnerable populations living in New England. The organization continues to provide safety to the victims of war and injustice. It fosters self-sufficiency in New American families struggling to make ends meet, and invests in the entrepreneurship of tomorrow’s business leaders. It now has three offices, including 1 Milk Street in Boston, and spaces in Lowell and in Manchester, New Hampshire.

    Our holiday decoration project now focuses on wreath making, but our commitment to the not for profit organizations located in our neighborhood continues.

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