An hour in a Wellesley garden: Boulder Brook Reservation meadows
We try never to let a summer pass by without a walk through Boulder Brook Reservation, Wellesley’s least known and most low-maintenance garden. By mid August the open field sections of the 31-acre parcel are full of pollinators moving from joe pye weed to goldenrod to asters, and more. Paths through the meadow are occasionally mowed by the DPW in spring, summer, and most of fall. In late autumn the meadows are mowed down to the ground to prevent reforestation of the area.
Parking is available at the Katharine Lee Bates Elementary School (except during school hours), located at 116 Elmwood Rd.
The access path to Boulder Brook Reservation is located near the Bates Elementary School playground.
A pollinator corridor of joe pye weed, interspersed with other late-summer flowering wildflowers. Boulder Brook Reservation, August 2023.
A patch of goldenrod at the edge of a meadow. The area was once part of Boulder Brook Farm, a working dairy farm in the 1900s. The property was purchased by the Town in 1966. Boulder Brook Reservation, August 2023.
Joe pye weed grows to about 8-ft., is native to New England, and loves plenty of sun, and damp conditions, if it can get that. But joe pye weed isn’t fussy, tolerating all by shady or arid conditions. Boulder Brook Reservation, August 2023.
Boulder Brook Reservation, July 2018
A mowed Boulder Brook Reservation meadow, February 2022
After a wander around the meadow, take the kids to the playground at the Katharine Lee Bates Elementary School.
