Happy Arbor Day, Wellesley

April 25, 2025

Arbor Day is the most symbiotic gift-giving holidays of them all.  Those who celebrate by planting a tree give it the space to thrive and stretch its branches. The tree, in return, cleans the air, provides shade to an increasingly hot planet, and reduces flooding.

A poet once told us that everyone has “their” tree, and directed us to close our eyes and remember. Mine was easy—the red delicious apple tree dad planted in the backyard of our first house. Every spring its white blossoms were so plentiful the tree looked like a snowball had landed on a tree trunk. I’ve spent my life searching for a perfume to equal the fragrance of those flowers. Every fall my brother and I would climb its limbs after school, pick an apple straight off a spur, and snack away, legs dangling, juice dripping down chins.

Close your eyes. Remember “your” tree. Don’t have one? Arbor Day (or anytime in the spring) is the perfect time to remedy that.

Rotary Club joins the 500 Club

A fine crew of volunteers helped The Rotary Club of Wellesley and the Town to bag up saplings over 500 saplings at the DPW on Arbor Day so that each fourth grader in town may receive one to plant. Suzy Jordon, Wellesley’s Horticultural Technician, will hand out the trees to students and teach an environmental lesson.

Help support Rotary by attending the annual Taste of Wellesley fundraiser on Wednesday, May 21, at the Wellesley Country Club. Sample delicious creations from 16 amazing Wellesley restaurants.  Tickets here.

Wellesley Rotary Club, Arbor Day
Wellesley Rotary Club tree bagging volunteers Susie Perkins, Tom Atkinson. Kip Dole, Paul Simard, Pat Hayden, Ashley Denton, Don McCauley, Vin Spoto, Fred Wright, Tory DeFazio, Dawn Taylor, Phyllis’s Theerman, Donna Armentano, Sue Bevilacqua, Paul Schellito,  Cathy Trumbull, Lisa Moore, Katherine Babson, Cathy Macdonald, Don Eburne,  Carol Hildebrand, Harrison Shaw, Joan Gaughan, Frank Rowbotham

Free trees from the NRC

Wellesley NRC, free trees
Photo by Town of Wellesley

Did you know that the Wellesley Natural Resources Commission (NRC) has a free tree program? In an effort to expand and protect the town’s Tree Canopy and replace trees lost due to construction, the NRC will plant a tree on your property for free. Find your tree soulmate and start a “treelationship” that lasts a lifetime.

Learn more here. Email the NRC here to sign up.

Our favorite tree in town—the Station Oak

We always take a minute to admire our favorite tree, the Station Oak, located in Wellesley Square near the post office. No matter the season, this gorgeous specimen is a stunner. Here are a few pics from over the years:

Wellesley Square, Station Oak

Station Oak, Wellelsey, summer

Wellesley Station Oak

 

Station Oak, Post Office Square, Wellesley
The beloved Station Oak is 70-feet tall with multiple lower branches that extend over 80 feet horizontally.

Station Oak, Wellesley Square, fall 2020
Station Oak, fall.

Wellesley College tree, edible ecosystem garden
Another favorite graces the Wellesley College edible ecosystem garden, near the Whitin Observatory.

Hunnewell School, Wellesley
Hunnewell’s massive White Oak tree presides over all the first day of school, 2018. The 200-plus-year-old tree was removed by the Department of Public Works in 2020 due to safety reasons. The school itself was torn down in 2022 and replace with a new Hunnewell, which opened in 2024. A couple of “tree cookies” were preserved from the oak and incorporated into the new school.

charles river tree tutus ice january
Trees on the Charles River in Wellesley wear their winter ice tutus.

9/11 tree at Simons Park
9/11 tree at Simons Park, adjacent to the Wellesley Free Library.

UU Wellesley
Witch hazel tree in front of UU Wellesley on Washington Street.

Isaac Newton Apple Tree Babson
Sir Isaac Newton apple tree, one of eight at Babson College  descended from the famed tree whose apple Newton watched fall to the ground in 1666, leading the prolific scientist, author, and theologian to formulate the law of universal gravitation. Photo by Babson College.

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