Somerville Garden Club

An Update on Somerville’s Urban Forestry Plan

Vanessa Boukili, the City of Somerville’s Senior Urban Forestry and Landscape Planner will talk to us about the latest updates to the City’s Urban Forest Management Plan. A lot has happened since the city launched its Urban Forestry Plan in 2021 and Vanessa will talk about what they’ve learned and how Somerville’s residents can support the trees. 

Dr. Vanessa Boukili is the City of Somerville’s Senior Urban Forestry and Landscape Planner. She holds a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Connecticut. Prior to joining the City’s staff Vanessa served as Research Director for Urban Forests at Earthwatch Institute, Boston.

Fabulous Garden Photographs

Marion Davis has been an avid photographer, since 2022. She runs the Somerville Garden Club’s Instagram feed, filling it with pictures she takes on her daily walks through the city. She will explain how we can capture beautiful images of our gardens using our cell phone’s camera settings.  No photography training needed.

Marion Davis is a writer, editor and communications strategist who works mainly on climate change and sustainable development issues, with clients around the world. Born and raised in Costa Rica, she has loved nature and gardening since she was a child and has been growing things for most of her life. Her current garden, in East Somerville, is packed with native plants and other flowers, shrubs and vines, and a profusion of bugs and birds. She recently joined the Somerville Urban Forestry Committee and also serves on the board of Walk Massachusetts.

All Somerville Garden Club meetings are free and open to the public. 7-9pm.

In-person meetings are held the at the Tufts Administration Building, (TAB), 167 Holland Street, second floor, wheelchair accessible. Parking is available for a small fee, and the building is a ten-minute walk from the Davis Square MBTA stop.

If you are interested in attending virtually, but have not received the meeting link via email, or are not a SGC member, you can email info@somervillegardenclub.org for the link.

Look up! Green Roofs and Gardens in the Sky

(NOTE: This talk was originally scheduled for our June meeting.)

Join Recover Green Roofs Emily Ahlstedt and Stephanie Almasi for an in-depth look into the specific considerations for installing and maintaining urban green roof spaces in New England.

Emily Ahlstedt has worked in the horticulture industry for over 10 years, with hands-on experience working at multiple landscape design companies. Her passion for gardening and creating thriving urban green spaces led her to Recover’s horticulture department where she enjoys coordinating projects from concept to completion. Her favorite days at work always involve a job site at elevation, remediating an old space or installing a new green roof. Stephanie Almasi has been a lifelong gardener and lover of plants and nature. She has over 20 years of experience in varied areas of horticulture; residential, historic and public from midcoast Maine to Charleston, SC and most recently, Rose Kennedy Greenway and Mount Auburn Cemetery. A passion for plants both native and unique, she loves creating and maintaining spaces that are ecologically beneficial, biodiverse and meaningful for all beings. Steph is a naturalist to the core and loves birding, botanizing and messing around in her overly ambitious vegetable garden.

All Somerville Garden Club meetings are free and open to the public. 7-9pm.

In-person meetings are held the at the Tufts Administration Building, (TAB), 167 Holland Street, second floor, wheelchair accessible. Parking is available for a small fee, and the building is a ten-minute walk from the Davis Square MBTA stop.

If you are interested in attending virtually, but have not received the meeting link via email, or are not a SGC member, you can email info@somervillegardenclub.org for the link.