The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

5th annual Arts on the Green at Masshort in Wellesley

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Weezie's Garden at Elm Bank
Photo credit: MassHort

Wander the gardens, enjoy live music, and stroll through Mass Horticultural Society’s 5th annual Arts on the Green at The Gardens at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street, Wellesley, Thursday, August 15th, 5 – 7:30 pm. This event is free to the public.

Visitors will wander the gardens and enjoy live music. activities, and refreshments. Support local artists showcasing and selling their work throughout the grounds.

Bring a picnic, chairs, or blanket to enjoy the evening in the gardens. Food, ice cream, wine, beer, and other beverages will be for sale. What’s Goin’ On will entertain with live jazz and blues, featuring singer Russell Watts.

Rain Date: August 22, 5 – 7:30pm.

For more information, or to be a showcased artist, contact Amy Rodrigues:
[email protected]  or  617-933-4934

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Wellesley Police Dept. pollinator garden — what a difference a year makes

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The pollinator garden put in last summer in front of the Wellesley Police Department (WPD) has been thriving in this season’s combination of wet weather and sunny skies. If you thought June 2019 seemed rainier than usual, you were right. According to the National Weather Service, the area received 5.1″ of rain in June, a month when the normal average is 3.68″.

All to the good of the garden, as farmers and hobbyists alike know. Here are some pics of the native plants growing at the WPD:

Pollinator garden, Wellesley Police station
Here’s what the Pollinator Garden looked like at the end of June 2018. Town volunteers and staff from the Natural Resources Commission and Department of Public Works did the prep work and planting.

 

Pollinator garden, Wellesley Police Department
What a difference one year makes. The WPD pollinator garden was put in to feed and house local birds, bees, and other insects.
Pollinator garden, Wellesley Police Department
In conjunction with the planting, town volunteers and staff from the NRC and Dept. of Public Works participated in two educational programs to learn how to help these critical native plants. Pictured: white Obedient Plants.
Wellesley Police Department
The pollinator garden project is closely aligned with the NRC’s Grow Green Wellesley initiative, which encourages reduced pesticide use and promotes earth- and pollinator-friendly landscaping and lawn care. The town currently uses pollinator-friendly plants, such as Joe Pye Weed (above) in many of its garden spaces and plans to expand this practice.
Wellesley Police Department
The Grow Green Wellesley Initiative is intended to inspire the community to use eco-friendly landscaping methods to protect our health and environment. The town of Wellesley currently maintains all public land – including schools and playing fields – without harmful chemicals, and emphasizes native plants to create biodiversity in town.
Wellesley Police Department
Butterfly weed is one of the most ornamental of the milkweed varieties. Bees and butterflies love them.

Is your garden just as pretty as this one? Let Swellesley feature your beautiful yard in a gardening post. Email our gardening editor, Deborah Brown, at [email protected] and let’s talk plants.

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Beyond Wellesley: the Hidden Gardens of Beacon Hill Tour

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The members of the Beacon Hill Garden Club (BHGC) must have an in with Mother Nature. On the day of the 91st annual rain-or-shine Hidden Gardens of Beacon Hill fundraiser, the weather came down decisively on the side of shine. How the 60-member club managed to find that one beautiful day in what has been a world of wet is a mystery. Spring 2019 has gotten itself quite a reputation for its bad attitude, and seems not to care. For every complaint we’ve raised, Spring 2019 has simply doubled down, claiming with authority  that all that rain is absolutely required for May flowers, yes, straight into May itself. Somehow, someone in the BHGC convinced Spring 2019 to be cooperative, just for the day of the tour.

Whatever was said to Spring, it worked. On tour day, the skies were sunny which made for general good cheer, and the temperatures stayed steady in the high 60s, so no wilted gardens. The 2,000+ visitors appreciated the conditions, too, as they climbed from the very flat of the Hill on Mt. Vernon Street on up to the nosebleed section of Myrtle Street. I was one of the many, and I brought back pictures from gardens both sweet and dramatic, all with one thing in common  — space and sunlight challenges. Take a look at how the gardeners of Beacon Hill laugh at such hardships.

Acorn St, Beacon Hill
Just to give you a feel for Beacon Hill, let’s start out with this iconic Acorn Street pic. Known as the most photographed street in Boston, BHCG club members were on hand to make sure that visitors didn’t wander right by one of the area’s historic treasures, unaware.
Acorn Street, Beacon Hill
Bet you can’t guess what the focal point is in this narrow, brick paved, Acorn Street garden. The massive urn is a replica of one commissioned by a family member in 1914. The original weighed 14,000 pounds and was the centerpiece at a recent New York Antiques Show sale. The Manship Trustees gave the owners permission to make a replica made out of a lighter weight composite. In the foreground you can see variegated Solomon’s Seal, fern, and other shade-loving plants.
Beacon Hill Garden Tour
To be a member of the Beacon Hill Garden Club you must live in the Beacon Hill neighborhood. That’s the easy part. You also must agree to open your own garden to the tour every few years. Yes, that means club members’ gardens must be presentable enough to withstand the scrutiny of 2,000+ gawkers who expect to see something special.
Beacon Hill Garden Tour
This Chestnut Street stop was very special. Not only were visitors allowed to see the beautiful green and white garden of Boston ivy, ferns, moss, and climbing hydrangea, we were invited to walk through and admire the first floor of the home. The breakfast room, kitchen family room, formal dining room, and front hall were decorated with an English flair. Lots of pattern, color, and decorative odds and ends made it feel like a cozy, elegant, and lived in family hub. The homeowner was on hand to answer questions about the garden and the historic structure, a Late Federal Style row house that was built in the 1820s.
Beacon Hill Garden Tour
This Beaver Place garden is located on the flat of Beacon Hill, with busy Storrow Drive behind it. The owner wanted a private garden that was visually accessible to the community. The urban bee hive sits under a white flowering redbud tree. Boxwood hedges give privacy and year-round greenery.
Beacon Hill Garden Tour
A wider view of the Beaver Place garden.
Beacon Hill Garden Tour
A riot of million bells, ivy, and aspargus fern spill out of a windowbox in a Lime Street garden. Above, climbing hydrangea softens the top of the wooden fence. The home attached to this garden was build in 1869 and was the birthplace and lifelong residence of renowned Harvard historian Samuel Eliot Morison. His statue stands on the Commonwealth Avenue mall.
Beacon Hill Garden Tour
One of the secrets of a striking Beacon Hill garden is the judicious use of hardscaping, statuary, and irrigation. There were no urban homesteaders on the tour, no raised vegetable beds or complicated succession plantings of high-maintenance perennials. Let’s be serious here, people, these gardeners are not sticking around in the hot, sticky city all summer long. If they’re not off to their retreat on the Cape or Lake Wherever, they’re traveling the world. BHGC members’ outdoor spaces are meant to serve as a thing of beauty in the middle of a hectic city life.
Beacon Hill Garden Tour
A freshly planted tree pit on Mt. Vernon St. Although this one is not maintained by the BHGC, the club cleans and plants over 72 tree pits on Beacon Hill streets. They partner with the Beacon Hill Civic Association to regularly water the trees and keep the areas around them tidy. Another 30 organizations received grants last year from the BHGC including Friends of the Boston Public Garden; Emerald Necklace Conservancy; New England Wildflower Society; Old North Church garden; and the Garden Club of America Scholarship Fund. I was asked not to reveal how much the tour rakes in, but it’s enough to say that it’s many thousands of dollars, all of which gets doled out to community initiatives.
Beacon Hill Garden Club
Some of the gardens were as simple as this comfortable outdoor grilling area. In addition to the ten gardens on tour there were several “ribbon gardens,” meaning they weren’t open for guests to walk through. Instead,  the gates were thrown open for viewing, a simple ribbon strung across the opening to signal that this was a look but don’t storm the castle situation.
Beacon Hill Garden Club
Nelly Moser clematis welcomes visitors as an old brick path gives way to smooth flagstones.
Beacon Hill Garden Club
Yes, that’s a real swimming pool at this Joy Street garden. The garden was originally designed in 1928 by landscape architect Robert N. Cram. In addition to the pool, there’s also a dolphin fountain and a pergola, all of which date from that time. The space is documented in the Archives of American Gardens at the Smithsonian Institution.
Beacon Hill Garden Tour
Introducing Myrtle the Turtle, the newest addition to the Myrtle Street playground. Last year in celebration of the BHGC’s 90th anniversary, club members decided to provide a special gift to the playground. The Club commissioned Make Way for Ducklings sculptor Nancy Schön to create Myrtle the Turtle. Just like the ducklings installation in the Boston Public Garden, Myrtle is available for photo-ops, and is meant to be climbed on and included in games.

A big thank you to the Beacon Hill Garden Club member Amy Wilson for giving me the VIP tour treatment. You know when you’re taking a ski lesson and how great it feels to cut the lift line with your instructor? That’s how it felt to tour the Beacon Hill gardens with Amy. I stuck close to her and the throngs of people parted like the Red Sea for us. Thanks Amy, and congrats to the whole club for a successful tour.

MORE:

Beyond Wellesley: The Magnolia Trees of Back Bay

Beyond Wellesley: A visit to Spring at the Boston Flower Show

Beyond Wellesley: Kennebunk, Maine gardens

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Beyond Wellesley: garden clubs represent at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts exhibit

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The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) has once again, as it has for over 40 years, welcomed spring to Boston with its annual Art in Bloom exhibit. Over 50 garden clubs took on the challenge of creating art-inspired arrangements for the always-popular event, which runs through Monday, April 29. The exhibit planning takes all year, but the excitement really heats up at a meeting (attendance absolutely mandatory) in an MFA lecture hall on a cold day in March. At that time garden club members, some confident veterans, others nervous newbies, are directed to open the on-velope, please, to discover which work of art they have been assigned to interpret.

Flash forward to April. Damn, that went fast, but the garden clubs are ready. The art has been interpreted, and the arrangements are ready to roll. Forty-five minutes — and not one second more — before the Huntington Avenue doors open to all comers, the arrangers must lay down their clippers and cease all fluffing.  It’s show time.

I was among the unwashed masses who stormed the building mere minutes after the groups had put the finishing touches on their floral interpretations. There was nothing more the garden club members could do except go to the swanky breakfast the MFA put on for them and raise a glass of orange juice to each other. Cheers, garden clubs, and congratulations. Here are some pics of the event:

Art in Bloom, Wellesley Gardeners' Guild
Wellesley Gardeners’ Guild arrangers Sheila Olson and Laurie Roberts pulled quite an artistic coup. Their display is located in the Frida Kahlo exhibition with the Graciela Iturbide photos. Roberts said, “The floral arrangement is to represent the entire room of photos taken of Frida Kahlo’s used medical devices found in her bathroom. The photos are very dark and grotesque. We used a bathtub container to represent the “bathroom”, flat curly willows give the arrangement a chaotic feel and all of the flowers and succulents are indigenous to Mexico as are the flower colors. We obtained Hawthorn branches from Latvia with 1.5” thorns to represent Frida Kahlo’s lifetime of suffering. All in all, the arrangement is beautifully tragic and chaotic to represent Frida Kahlo.” Art in Bloom is included within Museum admission—$25 for adults and $23 for seniors and students age 18 and older. Admission is free for children 17 and under.
Art in Bloom, Wellesley Gardeners' Guild Artist Frida Kahlo contracted polio as a child, and at the age of 18 survived a near-fatal bus accident. was severely injured in a car crash. She had numerous surgeries throughout her life, and wore back braces and corsets to support her injured spine.
Art in Bloom, Wellesley Gardeners' Guild
Close-up of the Wellesley Gardeners’ Guild arrangement. Art in Bloom is presented by the MFA Associates, a group of dedicated volunteers who lead gallery tours and create the Museum’s flower arrangements throughout the year.
The Wellesley Garden Study Group put together this arrangement in the European Wing. The white lily, which is just about to bloom, echoes the marble of the sculptures and painting. I was in the galleries before the identifying placards were in place, so WGSG, please let me know who the arrangers are and I will update the post.
Close-up of the Wellesley Garden Study Group’s arrangement.
The Wellesley Hills Garden Club was assigned the silver teapot in the Early American Wing. Arrangers Donna Fessler and Johanna Murray’s choice of luxurious flowers echoes the formal parlors where the best of everything would be on display and in use to impress guests.

Hey, did I ever tell you about the time that Joan Minklei and I did Art in Bloom. Only ten times? I’m sure you need to read all about it again.

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Garden news in Wellesley

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The Gardens at Elm Bank, home of Massachusetts Horticultural Society (Mass Hort), will open on Friday, May 3. The 36-acre property and gardens are located on the Elm Bank Reservation at 900 Washington Street (Route 16) in Wellesley.

For the kids

Family programs will be offered Friday, May 3 through Sunday, May 5 in Weezie’s Garden for Children. Staff- led activities will engage 3 – 6 year-olds in the science and wonder of the natural world. Programs meet at 11am and usually last 30 minutes. All ages welcome, and children must be accompanied by an adult.

Looking further ahead, two events for plant lovers will take place at Elm Bank on Saturday, May 11, 2019, 9am – 3pm — the Mass Hort Gardeners’ Fair and Herb Plant Sale of the Herb Society of America.

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The Mass Hort Gardeners’ Fair

The Gardeners’ Fair is an opportunity to find rare and unusual perennials, trees and shrubs; ready-to-plant herbs and vegetables; and tomato varieties by the dozens. Visitors can also hear talks by experts and find unique garden tools, garden ornaments and accessories,  and more. The fair will feature sales of unique specimens from local plant societies including the Herb Society Plant Sale, and an Ask the Master Gardener booth hosted by the Massachusetts Master Gardeners. Admission is $5 per car for the general public, free for Mass Hort members.

Mass Hort, Wellesley
Photo credit: Mass Hort

Herb Plant Sale

You can find the Herb Plant Sale of the New England Unit of the Herb Society of America on the lawn across from the Teaching Herb Garden at Elm Bank. In addition to herb plants, native plants, and free plants for visiting children gardeners, the Society will offer a special selection of “vintage garden” items to add a bit of history and character to your own personal garden landscape. Item will include decorative garden stakes, water trough planters, rustic garden tools, antique wooden and metal signs, old milk cans, distressed planters, flower pots, and much more.

Both the Gardeners’ Fair and the Herb Plant Sale events are open to the public (although Mass Hort members can get in an hour early at 8am, and their admission is free — membership has its privileges).

Bates and Hunnewell students to plant garden at Glen Grove

Glen Grove, WellesleyIn a collaboration between Wellesley Green Schools and the Outdoor Clubs of Hunnewell and Bates elementary schools, a Native Wildlife Garden is in the works on the grounds of Glen Grove senior housing apartments. So far the students, led by Bates parent Susan Zelenko and Hunnewell parent and WPS substitute teacher Lisette Neergaard Colón have led students in the first steps toward creating a garden geared toward supporting local insects, birds, and other wildlife. Children measured the area, then removed a soil sample, which was sent to the University of Massachusetts (UMass) soil testing lab for evaluation. As the group waits for the UMass lab’s report about the organic makeup of the soil in the planting area, they are in the process of researching native trees, shrubs, and plants that can be expected to thrive in the space.

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