Enjoy our October e-newsletter.

“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” John Muir

Celebrate the season with us at October-FamilyFest, Saturday October 21, 2:00PM-5:00PM

Tickets required, $20 adults, kids free.

Join us at the Mary MB Wakefield Arboretum for a family-friendly afternoon of local beer, delicious food, live music, s'mores, pumpkin carving and fun for everyone at October-FamilyFest. Tickets include entrance to the gardens, food (brats) and one free pour from Barrel House Z, a small-batch beer brewer from Weymouth, MA.

Electric Standard will be returning to bring us rock, blues and soul with the sound, spirit and enthusiasm of the original rock 'n' roll combos. Formed in 2015, the Boston-area trio initially began as a cover band, interpreting songs from a wide range of eras and genres through a roots-rock sensibility. The band's latest album, Lady Luck & the Grand Vizier, was produced with Bill Mason at Second Story Studios. Released in 2023, the album shows Electric Standard expanding its sonic range to include an even wider range of blues, folk and pop styles.

Join in the fun of pumpkin carving. Bring a pumpkin, go home with a jack-o-lantern, leave the mess here (our chickens will thank you!) You can bring your own pumpkin or purchase one from us for $5.00. Make sure to select the "pumpkin ticket" when you register.

Click here for tickets.

Looking forward to school visits in October.

In early October we will welcome students from Boston Public Schools. As a learning landscape, the arboretum offers hands-on experiences for students learning about plant and animal lifecycles, seasonal changes, structures of life in the pond and decomposers in the woodlands, as well as visiting the llamas and sheep.

TEC High School volunteer program is off to a great start!

Student volunteers received an introduction and safety orientation and then got right to work spreading mulch in the Kalmia Garden. After the garden work, students spent time with our resident cat and llamas.

North American Rock Garden Society members enjoyed a late summer garden tour and luncheon.

Sometimes gardens are even prettier on rainy days. Members of the NARGS enjoyed a day a the arboretum viewing the gardens through a light rain. The group hosted a plant swap for members featuring many interesting garden plants. We appreciate the perennial donation and have already given the plants a new home for visitors to enjoy.

Tree planting demonstration at the Milton Public Library offered step by step guidance to residents.

Autumn is the time for planting trees. The months of August through mid-October offer favorable conditions for a tree to settle into its new home and focus energy on growing roots.

Milton residents joined us at Milton Public Library to learn more about planting trees. We discussed how to choose the right tree for the planting site, how to plant a tree and what you can do to help a newly planted tree thrive.

Curry College students got into the weeds, identifying native vs. invasive plants.

Following a lecture on the impact of invasive plants on an eco-system students learned how to identify common invasive plants found in our local area. For the field portion of the class, teams marked out plots along the woodland trail and used the iNaturalist app to identify and document the location of both invasive and native plants within those plots. This data collection will be used in support of the management plan for the long term health of the woodland.

Staff Note

According to an ancient Greek proverb, "a society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit.” Here at the Wakefield Arboretum, planting new trees is part of our mission, offering the community an opportunity to engage with a living landscape. We move smaller trees to sunnier areas and re-plant trees in more open space giving them room to grow. While we struggle to move trees bigger than ourselves, we revel in the immediate impact that a wall of green or the pillars of a natural fence can provide. We delete dangerous or invasive bullies and take advantage of the opened space to offer a new variety of color, texture, or fragrance. Trees also serve as a colorful backdrop for hardscape features otherwise lost in the landscape. Many pretty, stately trees are on exhibit here at the Arboretum and visitors have the pleasure of enjoying their shade and marveling at the broad and soaring heights of their colossal structures. We thank those wise and generous enough to have planted here in the centuries prior and delight at the reaching limbs of our ever-climbing newest varietals. What tree is your favorite? What tree would you like to see us plant? Let us know on Facebook or send an email.

Matthew Noiseux,

Buildings and Grounds Manager

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