COMMUNITY GREENING
At the Garden, we believe that access to nature and to green space is a human right. Our Community greening efforts aim to bring plants to places in Worcester where they’re needed most. Initiatives address issues of environmental justice and put plant-based solutions to climate change into action. Urban forestry education, tree planting (through spring 2024), and urban beautification projects are just a few ways in which the Garden works alongside nonprofit partners and residents to advocate for and support healthy, climate-resilient communities.
New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill’s outreach programming began with the strategic integration of another Worcester based organization, Worcester Tree Initiative (WTI). After serving as WTI’s fiscal agent for over five years, the Garden incorporated WTI as a program focused on outreach in the community, specifically in the City of Worcester. WTI was organized in January 2009 by Congressman Jim McGovern and Lt. Governor Tim Murray, after officials estimated that tens of thousands of trees would need to be removed from people’s yards, city streets, and parks due to an infestation of the Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) in Worcester County. Understanding the impact this would have on the environment, these leaders took immediate action. WTI was created to be a route of recovery from the imminent crisis of tree loss. WTI helped plant more than 30,000 trees in a 110 square mile area of Worcester and surrounding towns in October of 2014. Although the WTI name is no longer used, the tree stewardship work of that organization continues.
Over the last few years, tree stewardship emerged as one of many outreach programs that could connect people to plants beyond the boundaries of our property in Boylston, MA. New England Botanic Garden’s focus on trees expanded beyond strictly planting trees in the ALB zone to planting and maintaining trees throughout the city (especially in environmental justice neighborhoods); tracking tree health; working with residents to coordinate community tree plantings, tree watering, pruning, and more; educating residents and the public about the importance of protecting and expanding the urban tree canopy; recruiting and training volunteers to care for the trees in their communities; and more. In 2022 and 2023, large support of the Garden’s tree planting work in Worcester came from grants through the State of Massachusetts’ Greening the Gateway Cities Program.
- Urban forests offer more than beauty; lower temperatures and clean air, Telegram & Gazette, February 2023 (PDF)
- 100 trees coming to Worcester neighborhoods from Botanic Garden, Patch, August 2022 (PDF)
- WooServes students and NE Botanic Garden team up to beautify city and improve health, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, July 2022
URBAN GREENING INITIATIVES
With the help of partners in greater Worcester, the Garden establishes and stewards plants in urban spaces, efforts that improve the health and vibrancy of our neighborhoods while building climate resilience.
GET A TREE, PLANT A TREE
For 2023, the Garden has a goal of planting at least 100 trees in Worcester’s Bell Hill, Grafton Hill, and Main South communities with the help of a Greening the Gateway Cities grant. The team will choose from a list of beautiful, regionally suitable trees for your location, and will set you up for success.
GREENING AWARDS
Worcester County Horticultural Society’s annual Community Greening Awards recognize individuals, organizations, and community groups whose planting and gardening efforts make their community more vibrant, welcoming, or resilient.
Due to overwhelming interest in the Get a Tree, Plant a Tree program, we are pausing free tree requests through the end of the year. This fall, our team will be focusing on planting trees already requested. Please check back in the spring for updates. Thank you for your interest in bringing more trees to Worcester!
Garden staff help maintain urban greenspaces in the greater Worcester area and coordinate volunteer events at these sites. Volunteers are needed for pruning Worcester street trees to ensure pedestrian and vehicle clearance. Our volunteer pruning program is supported by the Davey Resource Group, a national company dedicated to providing quality tree care. To volunteer, please sign up here.
If you’d like to join our volunteer ranks or learn more about outreach volunteer opportunities, contact April Tougas, Volunteer & Intern Coordinator, at volunteer@nebg.org or 508.869.6111 x175.
Each growing season, New England Botanic Garden staff and volunteers grow and harvest fresh fruit and vegetables to combat food insecurity in Worcester.
In 2020, with an award from the Urban Agriculture Resilience Program, a joint initiative of the American Public Gardens Association and the U.S. Botanic Garden, we donated more than 1,000 pounds of produce from our Vegetable Garden to Worcester food pantry patrons.
In 2021, we received a $25,000 grant from the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture to increase the size of the Vegetable Garden from 5,000 to 15,000 square feet. The project allows us to produce even more fresh fruits and vegetables to support families facing food insecurity in Worcester County. The expanded garden also creates educational opportunities for visitors interested in learning how to grow their own food and to advocate for sustainable agricultural methods. Learn more here.