Trip to Boston

Boston in May is very windy. The leaves on most trees are just budding. I was still able to find some interesting stuff while we walked through Fenway Park. Fenway Park isn't just for baseball! It's a real park within walking distance from the stadium. They have victory gardens and beekeeping plots. It's a great place to walk your dog or run the trails.

We noticed a Blue Heron sitting on a branch of a tree that had toppled over into a retention pond. These birds are known to eat fish, frogs, salamanders, turtles, snakes, insects, rodents, and small birds. This pond is the perfect place for a Blue Heron to live.

photo credit: CK Worley

This tree caught my eye. It's leaning toward the sun. The only problem with a tree that leans this much is it could become disease prone. This tree seems to be doing very well.

photo credit: CK Worley

If you look closely you can see right through this tree trunk. It's hollow but still alive. Trees feed through the cambium layer which is just beneath the bark. The cambium layer distributes food and water to the tree. This is why it still has leaves and turns green during the summer. Most likely it will fall in a strong storm. I wouldn’t want to be standing near it in high winds which is why after I took this picture - we quickly moved along.

photo credit: CK Worley

Fenway Park has a program where you can rent plots of land to grow vegetables. There is a $30 fee per year and you have to be a Boston city resident. People put chairs and tables in their yards and grow vegetables. It's a large area with 500 garden plots. Fenway garden is the nations only WWII Victory Garden remaining today spanning 7.5 acres! This is a must see when you visit Boston.

One word of warning. I wouldn't walk this place at night. It didn't seem well patrolled and there were no call boxes that I could see.

photo credit: CK Worley

I found some beautiful azaleas right in front of the Harvard Medical School. Most of the other azaleas looked kind of sick but these were really pretty. Harvard has it's own garden. The Countway Community Garden was created by a group of staff, students and faculty. The garden includes vegetables and medicinal herbs.

photo credit: CK Worley

My daughter tells me that almost every mall around Boston has green space. Here at the Prudential Center there is a plant guide to help you identify many of the different varieties of plants that you'll find in their garden. They even have free concerts and movies on the lawn during the summer. For example one of the movies at sunset is "Brave" on July 27th, 2014. If you are in Boston near the Prudential Center this summer you should check it out the happenings in the South Garden.

photo credit: CK Worley

And lastly, we had a great time at Boston Gardens were my daughter joined 3,303 of her fellow students in the 2014 graduation ceremony. It was an exciting time and a great trip!

photo credit: CK Worley