Belmont’s Beech Trees are Dying

 January 2024, Newsletter, Plants  Comments Off on Belmont’s Beech Trees are Dying
Jan 052024
 
Belmont’s Beech Trees are Dying

By Phil Perron The majestic beech tree is under attack in Massachusetts. The culprit is a microscopic nematode (Litylenchus crenatae ssp. mccannii). Beech leaf disease (BLD) has taken the state by storm, causing, in the best cases, leaf distortion and, in the worst cases, total tree mortality. All beech tree varieties are at risk, including the stately copper beech. Unfortunately, many questions about this disease have yet to be answered as the industry works to find solutions to manage this pest before it is too late. BLD was first discovered in Ohio in 2012. Eight years later, it had made [READ MORE]

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Lone Tree Hill Goes Native with Plantings

 Environment, Lone Tree Hill, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants, September/October 2023  Comments Off on Lone Tree Hill Goes Native with Plantings
Sep 012023
 
Lone Tree Hill Goes Native with Plantings

By Jeffrey North  On Earth Day 2023 (April 22), the Belmont Citizens Forum (BCF), in conjunction with the Judy Record Conservation Fund, held its ninth annual Lone Tree Hill Volunteer Day. (See “Volunteers Plant, Clean Up Lone Tree Hill,” BCF Newsletter, May/June 2023, for more information).  Several dozen volunteers rolled up their sleeves, and gardening trowels in hand, planted 350 plugs of young native plants in the Great Meadow and reclaimed meadow areas of Belmont’s Lone Tree Hill Conservation Land in addition to planting 40 white pine saplings to replace the mature pines gradually lost to age and weather. The [READ MORE]

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BH Students Create Native Plant Garden

 July/August 2023, Newsletter, Plants  Comments Off on BH Students Create Native Plant Garden
Jun 302023
 
BH Students Create Native Plant Garden

By Audrey Brenhouse On Saturday, May 13, the Belmont High School Climate Action Club, with the help of adult and student volunteers, planted our long-anticipated native garden in front of the school. Our  goal is to grow plants native to this area to promote and support native wildlife, helping to restore the land’s natural biodiversity. In the spring of 2022, we held a student-led concert where many families kindly donated to this process. After years of approvals and fundraising, we are proud and grateful to be able to display the result of your generosity.  Over the next few years, these [READ MORE]

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How to Get Your Garden Through Summer Heat

 Environment, July/August 2023, Newsletter, Plants  Comments Off on How to Get Your Garden Through Summer Heat
Jun 302023
 
How to Get Your Garden Through Summer Heat

By Sarah Wang, Kim DeAndrade, and Jean Devine  By this point in the summer, your water barrels may be dry and you may be devoting inordinate amounts of time (and money) to watering. No matter how much you water, it cannot compare to real rain. Here are some tips to help with drought: Mulch!  Besides retaining moisture, mulch will feed the soil and keep down the weeds. Avoid dyed mulch. It is unregulated and may contain shredded construction wood waste and pressure-treated wood. And, it won’t do much to feed the soil.   If you buy mulch, consider compost and [READ MORE]

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Lone Tree Hill Restoration Hit 2022 Milestones

 Environment, January/February 2023, Lone Tree Hill, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants  Comments Off on Lone Tree Hill Restoration Hit 2022 Milestones
Jan 032023
 
Lone Tree Hill Restoration Hit 2022 Milestones

By Jeffrey North In 2020, the Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill (LMC) and the Judy Record Conservation Fund began a multi-year campaign to restore native plant communities in prioritized areas of the Lone Tree Hill conservation land. Step one in the restoration was to bring the invasive plant species under control. Planting natives would be a wasted effort and expense if they cannot compete with the pernicious plants that have come to occupy large swaths of our conservation lands and private yards.  The work began with a broad brush, property-wide restoration survey conducted by ecological design professionals in [READ MORE]

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Belmont’s Invasive Species: Ailanthus

 Environment, Lone Tree Hill, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants, Sept/Oct 2022  Comments Off on Belmont’s Invasive Species: Ailanthus
Sep 102022
 
Belmont’s Invasive Species: Ailanthus

By Jeffrey North Tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima), typically called ailanthus, is a rapacious deciduous tree native to China. It was first introduced into the United States when it was imported as an ornamental plant to Philadelphia in 1784 and later to New York in 1820. On the West Coast, immigrants brought the plant from Asia and planted it in California in the 1850s. The tree was initially valued as a fast-growing ornamental shade tree that was tolerant of poor soils and a broad range of site conditions. It tolerates vehicle exhaust and other air pollution quite nicely. It was widely planted [READ MORE]

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Miyawaki Forest Boosts Biodiversity, Resilience

 Climate Change, Environment, May/June 2022, Newsletter, Plants  Comments Off on Miyawaki Forest Boosts Biodiversity, Resilience
May 082022
 
Miyawaki Forest Boosts Biodiversity, Resilience

By Maya Dutta  The first Miyawaki forest in the northeast United States was planted in Cambridge’s Danehy Park last September. Miyawaki forests are dense, biodiverse pocket forests that aim to recreate the symbiotic relationships between diverse life forms that make a natural forest so resilient. By densely planting a diverse array of native species, Miyawaki forests encourage nutrient exchange between the plants and with fungal and microbial life in the soil, resulting in fast-growing forests with high survival rates.  Benefits of Miyawaki forests The Miyawaki method offers a vision of not just planting trees to raise their sheer number, but [READ MORE]

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Belmont’s Invasive Species: Glossy Buckthorn

 Environment, January 2022, Lone Tree Hill, Newsletter, Plants  Comments Off on Belmont’s Invasive Species: Glossy Buckthorn
Jan 042022
 
Belmont's Invasive Species: Glossy Buckthorn

By Joe Hibbard Take a walk on the north side of the Great Meadow at the Lone Tree Hill Conservation Land and you might notice some recent changes in the landscape. A broad area along both sides of the Pitch Pine Trail, which was until recently an impenetrable thicket of invasive plants, is being cleared and on its way to a healthier forest/meadow edge landscape. The clearing is part of a long-term project to restore ecological balance to degraded landscapes that are part of the Lone Tree Hill Conservation Land. The project is led by the Land Management Committee for [READ MORE]

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Events July-August 2021

 BCF Events, July-August 2021, Newsletter, Plants  Comments Off on Events July-August 2021
Jun 252021
 
Events July-August 2021

Though days are now long and warm, event listings for local organizations harken back to the dreary depths of winter. Few groups are planning meetings this summer, the season of bittersweet freedom, of sunny days so many people did not live to see. Voltaire wrote in Candide, “We must tend our garden,” but he didn’t specify how, or who should benefit from said garden. If you’d like to help support your local web of life, consider enrolling in a class with the Native Plant Trust: “Native Species, Cultivars, and Selections: What’s the Difference?” held on Friday, July 16, from 1-3 [READ MORE]

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Restoration Projects Approved for Lone Tree Hill

 Environment, May-June 2021, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants  Comments Off on Restoration Projects Approved for Lone Tree Hill
May 042021
 
Restoration Projects Approved for Lone Tree Hill

By Jeffrey North The Land Management Committee for Lone Tree Hill approved plans and funding for three 2021 forest restoration and meadow management projects for Lone Tree Hill at a March 3 meeting. The Judy Record Conservation Fund is providing matching funds for the projects, for a total of $22,000 for these initiatives. Area A1 Restoration Continues In early spring, licensed field technicians trained in identifying invasive plant species will cut, mow, and apply plant-specific herbicide in the Area A1 woodland. They will combat Asian bittersweet, buckthorn, garlic mustard, black swallow-wort (Cynanchum louiseae), and lesser celandine, and at least one [READ MORE]

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