Roots of History: Friends of the Public Garden Celebrate the Legacy of 3-D-09

If you visit Boston's iconic Public Garden frequently, you might be familiar with the Garden's stunning willow trees that line the lagoon. Many have been there for decades, and that was the case for one of the most beloved trees of all: 3-D-09, which was recently taken down due to disease after growing there for more than a century, watching the city change dramatically around it. Liz Vizza, President of the Friends of the Public Garden, returns to the show to talk about the tree's history, why it was such a standout, and the Friends' plan to preserve the willows that remain.

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston.This is New England Weekend, where each
and every week we come together andtalk about all the topics important to you
and the place where you live.It's so good to be back with you
again this week. As always,I'm Nicole Davis. Sometimes the best way
to spend a summer day around hereis to pack a bag with some snacks,
a blanket, a couple of books, get on the tee, maybe

(00:29):
drive or ride your bike down tothe public garden in Boston, find a
beautiful big tree and set up shopin the shade. The garden is fully
in bloom right now, with gorgeoustrees and flowers line in that lagoon.
You've got the iconic swan boats.Not far from there is the Makeway for
Duckling Statue. You've got the commonacross the street. There's always something new
to see. The thing as though, if you make your way through the

(00:51):
garden right now, there's something newin a different way. It's something you
won't see. One of the belovedwillow trees that's been standing there for decades
is gone, and those who frequentthe garden are mourning. It's loss.
Let's talk about it. Liz Visais the president of the Friends of the
Public Garden. She's been here onthe show before. Liz, welcome back.
Give us a bit of background onthis tree. It's called three D

(01:12):
nine. What happened here, Predna, you've got the name, yeah,
I mean it was a beloved seniorcitizen in the park. The lagoon is
surrounded by this amazing iconic image ofwillows. You know that those willows started
in nineteen hundred. That was thefirst year that willows were planted around the

(01:33):
Public Garden lagoons. So it's beenan amazing image of this place for one
hundred and twenty four years. Andthis is a particularly old tree by willow
standards. I mean, they growvery fast. They can double their size
in one year, so it wasolder than the average life of expectancy for
this species. Because they grow sofast, they also can be weak wooded.

(01:57):
And so we do really a lotof of the willow trees just to
make sure that we are managing themas well as we can and keeping them
growing as long as we can inthe garden. Now, when did you
realize that the tree was getting toa point where it had to be taken
down? No matter what you weretrying to do with it. Yeah,
lost a big limb of a storm, and then when we are our breast

(02:20):
took a look at it. Clearlythere was rot in the middle of it.
So it was going to be avulnerability to keep it up any longer.
And I would say that one ofthe things, you know, we
just talked about heat a little whileago, one of the challenges of climate
change that we have been trying tomanage in our parks is wet springs.
So these willow trees, they havea susceptibility anyway just by the nature of

(02:45):
the wood, but having a wetspring means that they're absorbing a lot of
water, and that water can startto rot the cavity of the tree the
inside of the tree, and canbe an excessive weight, so that when
there's a windy day, that treeis heavier than it normally is. So
it was a combination of factors thatreally added up to this poor tree having

(03:09):
that large limben. Luckily, thatlarge limb fell on the lagoon side and
not on the path side. Butthen when we saw that big cavity,
we realized that that was the onlything we could do is to take it
down. Yeah, that must havebeen sad for you, as somebody who
knows the public gardens unlike most ofthe rest of us and has a personal
connection to it. That must havebeen really tough for you to watch it
come down. It was a horriblething. And I think what's wonderful about

(03:31):
what we did was we had agathering. It was the last week of
June. We took the tree downthe first week of July, so we
had a gathering and invited people tocome and talk about their experiences with this
tree. We heard about engagements andprom pictures and just going by and sitting
beneath the beautiful shade of that tree. So people have connections to each of

(03:54):
these trees in this amazing place.We had a moment of silence, we
toasted to the tree. It wasa very sweet gathering of the public and
people are glad that they had theopportunity to come and collect themselves as a
community and say goodbye to this tree. Yeah. Sure, I think that
people might who aren't familiar with thepublic garden might think why on earth are

(04:15):
you throwing a party for a tree? But if you've been there, I
mean these trees have been. Iwent to college in downtown Boston, and
I remember just days walking over tothe public garden and reading under the trees,
and people hugging under the trees andcuddling and you know, watching the
animals. It is an experience unlikeyou would find in many other cities in

(04:35):
this country. You know, itis their beloves features that they are friends.
I mean I talk about and theNative Americans, I mean, I've
learned this. We've all learned aboutour deep connection and we feel that deep
connection to nature intuitively, but theNative American cultures give a voice to that
when they talk about the importance ofreciprocity. That we live in a bond

(04:58):
of reciprocity with the plant and animalrelatives who call our parks their home,
and the gift that they give usis countless. You just started mentioning some
of that. And the gift thatwe give them is to care for them,
and that is the relationship that wehave. Well, it is certainly
indisputable that you and the friends ofthe public Garden care deeply for those trees

(05:20):
and for the garden itself. Soyou're going to replant, I'm assuming,
and put a new tree in itsplace. Well, we are doing a
whole actually, because willows are theway willows are. And we lost another
one in April, and there wasan outpouring of grief when that one came
down, and we got people onsocial media talking about how devastated they were

(05:42):
when that tree came down. Itwas again, it was in a storm,
and it was a similar aide tothis willow. And you know,
one person wrote on social media,it's nine forty seven am. Why am
I so emotional over a tree?So what we are about to do,
and in August we're going to beworking on this is do a little mini
master plant about the willows themselves.We have now seventeen willows around the lagoon.

(06:06):
We're hiring an arborist to do anassessment of every single tree and identify
what the health of these trees is, what the age of them, and
how can we sustain this character intothe future. That's a great idea,
and I'm assuming that most of thetrees are in pretty good shape at this
point, but it's good to doublecheck. We have to check because they

(06:27):
say this is a tree that growsfast and it therefore is weak. And
you know, we do a pruningcalled polarity, which is more common in
Europe. But they look funny inthe spring because they look kind of stumpy.
But what we're doing is reducing theend weight so that they don't keel
over in stores, which as yousee, can happen. So we're doing
everything we can to care for them. But that the species, being as

(06:47):
the species is, it is inherentlyweak, and we are dealing with a
couple of stresses about climate change.So we're going to, you know,
see what the best way forward inorder to sustain what is as I say
earlier, an iconic image in thispublic garden not explained something because I was
at the public garden earlier in thissummer, I want to say, late

(07:08):
May, early June, and Iwas walking and right there by the lagoon,
and I saw one of those treeslooking super stumpy, and I said,
wait a minute, that doesn't seemright. But it all makes sense
now. I just never followed up. I never thought about it. I'm
like, huh, what happened there? But that makes a lot of sense.
And people have really challenged us.They say, you're bastardized the tree
that here. I mean, there'ssome people that are very angry, and

(07:30):
I get it because they look funkyyeah the spring time. But it really
does ultimately support their life longer thanthey would live if we didn't do it.
Well, that's you know what.I'm leaving it up to you,
the expert. I will look ata stumpy tree. As long as it's
a healthy stumpy tree. I don'tcare. That's the most important thing.
See, I know, happier now, Nicole, Yes, much happier,

(07:51):
thank you. So, you know, obviously it's a very busy time of
year over the public garden. Everything'sin bloom. Everything is just beautiful.
The animals, the swan boats,they're all out. What's happening at the
public garden that you might want tolet people know about. Come and ride
in a swamboat you know, it'sbeen so hot that they've been closed nosed
earlier, but once this heat wavey'sover come, and just enjoy yourself.

(08:11):
There's nothing formal and structured other thansitting on one of those amazing boats and
plying a slow revolution around that lagoon. Come with your blanket and have a
picnic, you know, Come andmeet your friend. Come with that book
that you've been longing to read outsideand sit underneath the willow and read your

(08:31):
book. Yeah. Well, it'ssuch a peaceful, beautiful place to be.
And if people want to help yousustain the public gardens, if they
maybe want to help a volunteer withweeding or whatever needs to be done,
how can they learn more about yourwork over the Friends of the Public Garden.
Well, thank you for asking thatquestion. I would love everyone to
go to Friends Ofthepublicgarden dot org ourwebsite learn more about the friends. The

(08:52):
best thing you can do is tobecome a member to support us, to
support the work that we do,because we spend two point six million dollars
a year on direct and programming inthese parks, and that's a tremendous amount
of money. And the care ofthe trees alone in the three parks is
you know, over half million dollars. So it's really important for people to
know just how much it costs tocare for the beauty of nature in an

(09:16):
urban environment. Yeah, our veryspecial garden. That again, many other
cities can't say that they have agarden quite like ours, and it's something
special that needs to be kept going. I agree, absolutely right, Nicole,
Liz, thank you so much foryour time, and you know,
all the best as you try toget these new willow trees planted in the
ground and we can find make morememories with these new little trees. That's

(09:39):
right, making members is what it'sall about. Have a safe end healthy
weekend. Thankfully not so human andsticky out there this time, so enjoy
your weekend and have a safe andhealthy one, and please join me again
next week for another edition of theshow. I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News
Radio on iHeartRadio.