Willoway
Friends of the blog may recall that during one of our more ferocious summer storms, two giant limbs from the willows along the Boylston path came crashing down. This prompted talk, as you'd expect, of removing the willows altogether, since caring for them properly would require commitment and be costly, and if they're not well-maintained they could actually kill someone.
Trees lose limbs. That's a fact. Especially in 80 mph winds. In nature, no one hears about it. In the city, it's a different matter. We have an obligation when we plant a tree in the city to tend it for the whole life of the tree. Which requires dedication, planning, adequate staff, and a budget.
Which is probably why Mayor-for-Life Tom Menino's much trumpeted plan for a hundred thousand new trees in Boston by 2020 (known as Grow Boston Greener or GBG) quietly, um, went away. Well, that's not exactly true. The plan did have an impact: a net loss of 1,300 city street trees, according to the JP Gazette.
It's the "budget crisis" of course. The abstract notion that our budget priorities have nothing to do with budget shortfalls, that it's the invisible hand clenching its fist.
Money talks, and the truth is, if we want to save the willows (and the board at the Victory Gardens and gardeners themselves are divided), we'll have to find a way to fund them ourselves.
I for one certainly want to see them stay — so long as they're healthy. I have selfish reasons. From mid-afternoon on, I get the most magical dappled sunlight filtering through the undulating foliage...
My Fenway Garden yesterday.
Plus, I have to say, there is something soothing about the sound of the wind in the willows. To me, late afternoons, when the sun is streaming through the willows and a cool breeze is blowing, is, like I said, absolute magic. I can't imagine my garden without the willows towering over it.
I actually feel like Mole in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows —
Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spell-bound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.The Willows whisper their tales to me in the late afternoon, speaking for the wind. And I can sit and listen for hours.
Luckily, there are people who have more than mere aesthetics to motivate them. Our resident community activist and hero to tree-huggers across the Fenway, Marie Fukuda, told me "There are a bunch of people who are interested in keeping the high canopy trees, as Parks isn't planting willows now and they serve as a valuable resource for migrating wildlife."
I think the wildlife is the key here.
Even so, the city arborist has graciously offered to chop them down (to meet the negative tree quota of the Menino regime, no doubt). The city is, of course, happy to pay for their removal. They had a similar plan for the Public Gardens — can you even imagine the pond in the Public Gardens without its willows? — but Friends of the Public Gardens came to the rescue, with a tree care program and the funding to keep it up and running.
I actually think we have a good chance of saving ours, too, and finding funds for their continued care. These willows still have tales to tell, I'm sure of it.
I actually think we have a good chance of saving ours, too, and finding funds for their continued care. These willows still have tales to tell, I'm sure of it.
I love sedum -- you have a really nice group in a garden that makes you forget you're in the middle of a major urban area.
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They city will still replace downed trees but there is a 2 year wait.
On the other hand police continue to extort detail pay. Two details assignments could easily provide enough funds to replace a fallen tree.
So which is more important? Making city neighborhoods dominated by asphalt and concrete more green and livable or lining with more green the pockets of non-city dwelling but well paid city cops?
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I would never have guessed that you are a Kenneth Grahame fan.
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