These Holiday Wreaths Keep Boston Green

The Wreath Store at the Back Bay Garden Club's website is our Friday link. Every year members of the Garden Club hand-craft many of the gorgeous wreaths that grace the doorways of Boston's historic homes. The funds raised by this effort are given back to the people of the city as grants for community projects.

Margaret Pokorny, chair of the Friends of the Public Garden's Commonwealth Avenue Mall Committee commended the Garden Club for the organization's foresight and commitment. She said,

"Proceeds from the Garden Club's wreath sale are directly spent preserving the beautiful trees of the Back Bay.

Each year another group of Commonwealth Avenue Mall trees, under 10" in diameter, is fertilized. It is very important that newly planted and smaller trees on the Mall get a good start. This boost to their health and well being would not be possible without the support of the Garden Club. 

In addition, the Garden Club pays for the Dutch elm disease prevention injection of the street tree elms between Mass. Ave. and Charlesgate. The Mall Committee injects the trees on the Mall but is not able to do these street trees. This is important because the spread of the disease could come from these trees and impact those on the Mall.

While these preservation and prevention programs are not visibile to the casual passerby, they are absolutely critical."

Jackie Blombach, Garden Club Co-President explained their street tree work,

"We have been planting, on average, ten new trees each year, and we hire a licensed arborist to prune existing trees. There are approximately 600 trees in the Back Bay and the trees have been pruned at least once. We continue regular pruning of the smaller trees to get them above the height of traffic and to give them a good shape as they mature. We also offer pruning services for front yard trees at a group rate."

In 2009, they began two new street tree projects, installing tree fences and mulching tree pits. We'll tell you more about this exciting opportunity to protect street trees in a future article.

Click here for a link to more photos of wreaths from previous years. And remember, by ordering your holiday wreath from The Garden Club of the Back Bay, your donation will help insure continued care for some of the most important aspects of this neighborhood in the heart of the city.

(photos courtesy of the Garden Club of the Back Bay. The garden club members in the wreath work room photo are from left to right Marie Crocetti and Florence Massimo.)

Details:

Garden Club of the Back Bay

www.gardenclubbackbay.org

Wreath store

http://www.gardenclubbackbay.org/?page_id=106