Wellesley’s Climate Action Committee seeks a new member to be appointed by the Select Board for a term spanning July 1, 2024- June 30, 2027. Applicants should email a paragraph describing their interest and background to Sustainability Director Marybeth Martello at mmartello@wellesleyma.gov by Friday, March 15.
Candidates should be committed to the CAC’s mission of reducing town-wide greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. Responsibilities include attending CAC meetings one to two times per month (currently scheduled from 9am-10am on Fridays), taking an active role in CAC projects, and eventually coordinating one or more initiatives related to Wellesley’s Climate Action Plan. Projects often involve engagement with Town departments and boards, grassroots and non-profit groups, nearby communities, regional associations, and state and federal agencies. Candidates should possess:
• A strong interest in climate action;
• Excellent organizational and leadership skills;
• Experience with initiating and leading projects; and
• The ability to collaborate with Town departments, boards, and other stakeholders.
Community gardens—apply now for the 2024 season
Wellesley has two community gardens with over 100 plots for residents to rent for a nominal yearly fee.
Prospective gardeners may apply for a plot at Brookside or Weston Community Gardens. There is a waiting list for plots.
Brookside Community Gardens
There are 40 garden plots at Brookside, and they cover a total of about 2.4 acres. They land is located on the south side of Oakland Street between Standish Rd. and Brookside Rd. in a residential area. Part of the property abuts the Wellesley Country Club, and Rosemary Town Forest is across the street. For additional information on Brookside Community Gardens, email brooksidegardenclub@gmail.com
Weston Road Gardens
There are about 90 plots in a 2.5 acre space at the Weston Road Gardens. The area is part of the North 40, a 46-acre parcel that the town purchased from Wellesley College for $35 million in 2014.
Garden star Adrian Bloom promotes new book at MassHort
British plantsman Adrian Bloom of Bressingham, England, swung by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society—Garden at Elm Bank in Wellesley last month as part of a lecture tour and to promote his new book, Foggy Bottom, a Garden to Share. Through beautiful pictures, all taken by the author, the book is a private season-by-season tour of Foggy Bottom, a part of the Bressingham Gardens in Norfolk county, England. The 432-page glossy book is an invitation into Bloom’s six-acre personal garden, a place where since the 1960s he has experimented with creating a garden with year-round color and interest.
MassHort and Bloom have a long history. MassHort’s Bressingham Garden was named after the one in the UK, and added in 2007 to the Garden at Elm Bank. Smaller in scale than the UK version, it’s a one-acre space between Weezie’s children’s garden and the Cheney mansion, and was designed and its installation supervised by the world-renowned garden expert.
Bloom’s philosophy came out of early experiences working in large established gardens that left him deflated by the late-autumn sight of perennials cut to the ground. To his eye, labels in the bare garden marking the flowers of seasons past gave it a graveyard look. Clumps of perennials “put to bed” for the winter brought to mind shorn sheep. He thought there had to be a better way.
Foggy Bottom, a Garden to Share shows readers that all seasons—including winter when, arguably, color and interest are most needed—are an opportunity to showcase what shines. “Its all down to the plants that you use,” Bloom said in an interview with The Swellesley Report, “You need to try to plant focal points. You can put things around it with color tweaks, and bark.”
With Foggy Bottom—and in gardens around the world—Bloom has created his four-season garden using mass planting techniques to create visual impact. “Every garden aspect needs to be done with some sort of balance,” Bloom said.
Don’t have six acres to play with like Bloom? He doesn’t want to hear your excuses. He says “no garden is too small,” and encourages gardeners to plant as naturally as they can, even in a window box.
And now that you want to see the garden Bloom designed at Elm Bank, mark your calendar. MassHort is welcoming visitors back after a long winter starting April 1.
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