Be the first to find one of these wasp colonies in Newton & I’ll treat you to dinner
If you were reading Village14 last summer, you may recall I was looking for a Cerceris fumipennis wasp colony in Newton for Wasp Watchers. This is a biosurveillance project for early detection of the Emerald Ash Borer beetle, which has recently reached New England,...
Really stupid tree vandalism at Wellington Park
I just heard from Greer Tan Swiston this morning about an appalling and idiotic case of tree vandalism at Wellington Park in West Newton, which has the Friends of Wellington Park, and the park’s many users, very upset. The bark was stripped from a beautiful 13” sugar...
Careless drivers & broken trees
One of the more discouraging aspects of trying to get trees started is when they are run over, literally. This week I received an email that one of the trees the Newton Tree Conservancy planted had been run over by a snowplow. This was an Aristocrat Pear planted in...
Should any street in the “Garden City” be this bare?
Think your street’s been losing trees? This is Wiltshire Road looking east, on the Nonantum side of the Newton Corner zip code. I happened to be there this morning because that tree in the middle there, a 23” Norway maple, is one of the trees added since last fall to...
Washington Street in West Newton may look greener next year
If anyone came to the recent West Newton Cash Mob approaching from the east on Washington Street, you may have noticed some new plantings, which came about thanks to a CDBG grant, administered by the West Newton Advisory Committee working with the Planning &...
Can anyone top an 18-year gas leak?
This past Saturday I was on McCarthy Road in Oak Hill for the Tree Planting class for representatives (including Adam Peller!) of the neighborhood groups where Newton Tree Conservancy is planting trees this Saturday, and we got eight of the trees planted. I also met...
How are the streets, sidewalks and trees in your village?
I’m writing this at 10 p.m. Tuesday, well before the expected storm was scheduled to pass over Newton. But already there have been reports of downed tree limbs over the scanner. How are the streets, sidewalks and trees in your village?
Spring 2013 Community Tree Plantings application deadline October 8
Here’s some happier news on the tree front: the Newton Tree Conservancy is inviting applications from groups of neighbors wanting street trees and willing to help us plant them, water weekly for two years, and keep them weed-free. You can read my tree buddy Beth...
Anyone seen wasp nests like this in Newton?
Meant to ask this back in July, which was peak season, but has anyone seen little circular piles of sand with pencil-sized openings in the center anywhere in Newton? They would most likely be found in hard-packed sandy soil, in sun, but within a couple hundred yards...Goodbye Newton trees
As a combination tribute to, and lament, for all the street trees we have known which will be disappearing and not replaced any time soon, and to increase awareness (if that is still needed!) of the hazardous trees out there, I have recently begun tweeting, in no...Kindred tree spirits in 1852!
My fellow Newton Tree Conservancy director Penny Caponigro has recently found, on the city website, a charming account of a like-minded organization, the Newton Centre Tree Club, formed in 1852. Records end in 1855, but it appears it may have turned into, or been...
Crazy Divers: Men be like...
drivers man be like