GreeningRozzie Plants Trees at the Roslindale MBTA Station

By Amy Galblum

The Roslindale MBTA Station got a significant green facelift in the form of a dozen new trees -- a pin oak, and two sugar maples, crabapples and Japanese Lilac trees.

Community group, GreeningRozzie, led the effort. The group was awarded a grant of $2,500 from Grow Boston Greener for trees, mulch and fertilizer, and coordinated 20 GreeningRozzie volunteers who dug holes and the planted trees in and around the station’s upper parking lot.

“The large shade trees and smaller flowering trees will make the station more attractive, and tie it to the surrounding neighborhood,” said GreeningRozzie board member, Amy Galblum, who secured the grant funds and coordinated the volunteers. As part of the effort, the MBTA has also agreed to remove several dead and dying trees to give the area a more lively and welcoming look.

GreeningRozzie’s Tree Committee is planning more tree planting projects in the spring. Possibilities include planting in the lower area of the MBTA Station, other public spaces, and putting new street trees in empty sidewalk pits. “Roslindale is fortunate to have green parks surrounding the community -- the Arboretum, the George Wright Golf Course and Stony Brook Reservation -- but some residential streets are in great need of additional trees,” noted Ken Phillips, GreeningRozzie’s chairperson.

In a related effort to improve the Roslindale tree cover, GreeningRozzie and Roslindale Green and Clean are working to encourage residents to water newly planted street trees so the trees have a better chance of surviving. The Grow Boston Greener grant award specifies that the new trees at the MBTA Station be watered for three years to give them a good start.

GreeningRozzie has chosen to focus efforts on trees in part because research shows that that there are many benefits to adding trees to urban areas.
• Tree-shaded sidewalks encourage pedestrian activity – getting people to walk a few blocks rather than drive gives a city a friendlier atmosphere.
• Green areas encourage more healthy social interaction between adults and children and lower levels of graffiti and crime.
• Trees and other plants increase curb appeal and make the landscape more comfortable by providing shade and evaporation to lower temperatures.

The next GreeningRozzie Community Meeting is about street trees. Everyone is welcome. There will be a presentation on trees and information about future tree projects. It will be held on Wednesday, November 16, 6:30 - 8:30 pm at the Roslindale Community Center at 6 Cummins Highway.

Grow Boston Greener (GBG) is a collaborative effort of the City of Boston and Boston Natural Areas Network (BNAN). The group's goal is to increase the urban tree canopy cover in the city by planting 100,000 trees by 2020. This will increase Boston’s tree canopy cover from 29% today to 35%, by 2020 as the planted trees mature. GBG is funded through the Fund for Parks and Recreation in Boston.

GreeningRozzie’s mission is to make Roslindale a greener, more sustainable, and more cohesive community. It's overriding goal is to help achieve a 25% reduction in Roslindale’s carbon emissions from 1990 levels by 2020.

This article first appeared in the Roslindale Transcript.