Taft Hill Park Refreshed

RG&C volunteers worked Saturday, September 16, 2017 to revamp the plantings at Taft Hill Park at the corner of South Street and Taft Hill Terrace across from Wallpaper City.

Joyce Chalfin spearheaded this extensive work. Joyce worked with RG&C board member Diane Carter Duggan to develop a new planting plan for the park and drove out to nurseries in Greater Boston (Mahoney’s Garden Centers in Concord and Russell’s Garden Center in Wayland) to select and transport chosen plants and grasses. Joyce included plans to reuse as many existing plants at the park as possible.

This preliminary effort, including site preparation work done by Joyce and her husband Richard, led up to the work done on Saturday, September 16, 2017 to move existing plants, get the many new plants and grasses into the ground so they’re established before winters bears down on them, and spread a layer of fresh compost over the entire site. Joyce and Richard did yeoman’s work on Saturday, starting earlier than anyone else and finishing later in order to get as much work completed as possible.

Working with Joyce and Richard to make the park refresh possible were several RG&C volunteers including board members Diane Carter Duggan, Joan Linden, Erica Max and Cynthia Walat and volunteers Leah Bellman, Kathleen Kenney and Nancy Leask.

We’re also extremely grateful to Tobin & Tobin, the park’s next door neighbors, for their offer to provide access to water from their property (the City of Boston has no water service to Taft Hill Park nor will it include the park plantings as a location visited by its water truck).

On the subject of watering, we should note that a new planting done at the small plot of land at South Street and Washington Street next to Sergio’s Auto Body owes its survival to the efforts of Jon Goodhue, a local architect, who has been transporting water to the site and watering there regularly, making up for another spot the City will not water. We thank Jon for his willingness to take on this important task.

Gardening in the Square – Saturday, September 16, 2017 9:00-10:00 AM (TIME CHANGED) at Taft Hill Park (across the Street from Wallpaper City)

Join us for one of our Gardening in the Square (GitS) sessions in Roslindale Square.

This time, Saturday, September 16, 2017 9:00-10:00 AM at Taft Hill Park (across the street from Wallpaper City), we’ll be planting a swath of the park which has been cleared to make room for variety of plants and grasses intended to revitalize the park’s appearance. (The time for this work has changed from the originally scheduled evening slot.)

No past experience is necessary!

2017 Plant Sale

Our 2017 Plant Sale took place at the Roslindale Farmers Market in Adams Park on Saturday, June 3, 2017.

Again this year, we sold a variety of perennials, edibles, and shrubs from our own members’ and local donors’ gardens.

We’re most grateful to those plant and shrub donors and to the volunteers who set up and manned our booth at the Farmers Market.

Finally, thank you to everyone who chose to buy from our large selection of plants and shrubs. Your purchases, we trust, will enhance your enjoyment of your gardens. We know the purchases help fund Roslindale Green & Clean’s ongoing efforts to add to, support, and maintain Roslindale’s green spaces.

Please join us or say hello to us at our Gardening in the Square sessions this 2017 growing season.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017 at 7:00 PM – Armchair Garden Tour

On Wednesday, March 8, 2017, Roslindale Green & Clean will present, “Armchair Garden Tour, A Breath of Summer in the Middle of Winter.

This presentation, at Roslindale House (120 Poplar Street, a short walk down Poplar Street from the Roslindale Branch Library), will offer a photo tour of: a private garden in Grafton, MA designed by William Leach of
Tranquil Lake Nursery in Reheboth, MA; Sakonnet Garden in Rhode Island; and, Barnes Arboretum near Phildaelphia, PA.

The program will begin at 7:00 pm.

Admission is free. Light refreshments will be served.

Join us for a pleasant evening reminding us that winter is just about over and the growing season is around the corner.

Join us for Gardening in the Square! Saturday, October 29th at 9 a.m.

October 29th at 9 a.m.
We will be planting bulbs at Adams Park – at the corner of Washington and Cummins Highway. Be part of the effort to beautify Roslindale for next spring!!!
If you want to add beauty to your own little portion of Roslindale, buy your own bulbs and plant them using our guide below!

Fall Bulb Planting for Spring Flowers
One of the easiest ways to garden for impact is planting bulbs in the fall for brilliant flowers in the spring. Fall bulbs come in a wide variety. Some of the simplest ones are the minor bulbs, daffodils, and tulips. Minor bulbs (scilla, crocus, grape hyacinth), will come back year after year, and usually multiply, daffodils often bloom in the next years and sometimes multiply, and tulips are mostly an elegant one-time show, but oh so magnificent that first spring.

It’s simple! Here’s how to bulbs to your landscape:

  • Buy your bulbs
  • Dig your holes
  • Plant bulbs at depth 2 ½ x’s the bulb’s height
  • Water

A half-year later, ENJOY!

Although you can buy bags or boxes of mixed colors, most bulbs come in a grouping of just one color and type, for example-10 grape hyacinths, 6 white darwin hybrid tulips, 15 King Alfred Daffodils. If you are just starting out with bulb planting, don’t overwhelm yourself with a hundred or five hundred bulbs.

An extremely useful tool for planting bulbs is a bulb planter. A spade or trowel will work, but the planter is really efficient. There are long handled planters, even powered ones, but get an inexpensive one at your local hardware store and you will be in good shape.

So, go buy some bulbs, a mix of bulbs that bloom at different times is good. There are early, mid, and late blooming tulips and daffs, even crocus bloom at different times (some even in the fall).
Bulbs should all be planted with the tips (growing end) facing up. The flatter, wider end of the bulb has the roots. You will probably even see dry, brown roots on the bulb. Bulbs should be planted at a depth about 2 ½ times the height of the bulb, err on the side of a little more. Most bags and instructions will tell you how deep to plant. They may also tell you how close, but within a couple inches is ok.

When you are planting, a bit of bone meal in the hole will give the bulb a nice start, and water in after the bulbs are planted. That’s it. You’ve made yourself a spring garden. If you have chipmunks or squirrels, you could get theft, try a screen over the bulbs or just as they come up in the spring, a nip of cayenne pepper over the tip. Won’t hurt the bulb, might keep the squirrels from nipping the tulip in the bud.

Happy planting.

Even Heat and Drought Do Not Stop RG&C’s Work to Keep Roslindale Looking Good

A group of volunteers from Atlanta, arranged through Charles River Church, watered, weeded, and deadheaded a few of the RG&C sites on a recent hot July afternoon.

The group toiled, and broiled, working at Alexander the Great Park, the traffic islands at Belgrade Avenue and Robert Street, and the slope alongside the stairs going up from Robert Street to the Roslindale Village commuter rail stop.

Thanks to all involved for helping to keep Roslindale green.

IMG_4051 IMG_4027 IMG_4026 IMG_4036 IMG_4031 IMG_4043 IMG_4049

Spring Plant Sale – Saturday, June 11, 2016 at the Roslindale Farmers Market

Roslindale Green & Clean will be having a plant sale on Saturday, June 11, 2016 from 9 am to 1:30 pm at the Roslindale Farmers Market in Adams Park.

Divisions and seedlings from our members’ gardens will be for sale at very reasonable prices.

Take a look at these very special arisaema (jack-in-the-pulpit) donated by Claudia Harris – Roslindale grown and almost never available at this size. Though they have already finished blooming this year, they still look amazing!

We will raffle off two arisaema as well as a lovely birdhouse shown below.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Birdhouse

Congratulations to Roslindale Winners in Mayor’s 2015 Garden Contest

While Roslindale Green & Clean works on keeping public green spaces in Roslindale attractive, Roslindale residents are making and keeping their own properties attractive.

Residents from our community won seven awards for their gardens (gardens in bold were on the Roslindale Green & Clean 2015 Garden Tour) in the Mayor’s 2015 Garden Contest which invited gardeners across the city to enter:

Shade Garden
First Place: Ngaio Schiff, Roslindale
Second Place: Cheryl Crawford, Roslindale

Small Yard Garden
Third Place: Katherine Stevenson, Roslindale

Medium Yard Garden
First Place: Kenneth Aubert, Roslindale

Large Yard Garden
First Place: Joyce and Richard Chalfin, Roslindale
Third Place: Sandra Kautz, Roslindale

Vegetable or Herb Garden
First Place: Aspasia Bakolas, Roslindale.

Our congratulations to everyone across the city who received recognition in this annual contest and to everyone who submitted their garden to the contest. You don’t have to receive an award to know how much you enjoy your own garden.

2015 Roslindale Garden Tour May Be Just a Pleasant Memory …

but the people who made it possible continue to work on beautifying Roslindale’s public green spaces.

The 2015 Roslindale Garden Tour Committee:
Roslindale Garden Tour Committee

And please remember our 2015 Garden Tour Sponsors and RG&C Supporters

Gold Sponsors – $1,000

Linda Burnett, Realtor® Keller Williams Realty/Boston-Metro
Linda Burnett, Realtor® Keller Williams Realty/Boston-Metro

Christie Dustman & Company, Growing Gardens for 16 Years
Christie Dustman & Company, Growing Gardens for 16 Years

Mahoney’s Garden Centers: A family-run home and garden center with 8 retail locations in Winchester, Tewksbury, Wayland, Concord, Brighton, Falmouth, Osterville and Chelmsford
Mahoney's Garden Centers

Silver Sponsors – $500

Kyle Zick Landscape Architecture, Inc
Kyle Zick Landscape Architecture, Inc

Meetinghouse Bank
Meetinghouse Bank - Serving the Community for over 100 Years

Hebrew SeniorLife
Hebrew SeniorLife

a Yard & a Half Landscaping – Enriching lives with beautiful outdoor spaces
a Yard & a Half Landscaping

Other Generous Sponsors

Birch St. House & Garden – Hand curated for you, your home, your garden
Birch St House & Garden - Hand curated for you, your home, your garden

Joanne Rossman – Purveyor of the Unnecessary and the Irresistible
Joanne Rossman - Purveyor of the Unnecessary and the Irresistible

Sacred Heart Parish, A Roman Catholic Parish in the Archdiocese of Boston
Sacred Heart Parish, A Roman Catholic Parish in the Archdiocese of Boston

Jon Goodhue Architect Craftsman
16 Lee Hill Rd
Boston, MA 02131
(617) 323-6997

Dedham Whole Foods Market at Legacy Place
Whole Foods Market