The Trail of Flowers (TOF) project (www.trailofflowers.com) had its beginnings when more than a dozen volunteers showed up in the fall of 2018 at the Marble Farm historic site to plant thousand of daffodils. Since then, close to $12,000 has been raised and spent to plant flowering bulbs, shrubs and trees at three sites in Acton, four in Maynard and two in Marlborough, all adjacent to the Assabet River Rail Trail (ARRT). Volunteers have been recruited via high school community service programs, garden clubs and residents interest in TOF. The Town of Hudson approved a site, but an inability to get a commitment from any volunteer group in Hudson led to that expansion being tabled.
In the intervening years, amongst planting successes, there have been failures. Fall of 2021, nine small Kousa dogwoods were planted along High Street. These grew slowly, reaching heights of four to nine feet by fall of 2024. Winter of 2024-25 was a low snow year, and this gave rabbits access to the lower trunks of the trees. Come spring of 2025, all of the trees showed some gnawing damage, with two so extensive that no leaves appeared. Over the summer both of those put out new growth from the ground. A third - one of the tallest - mysteriously died in mid-summer. The remaining six had a sprinkling of flowers, with hopes for more as the trees mature, but there is always the risk of further rabbit depravations. Rabbits also decimated weigelia along High Street but all of the plants recovered.
On the east side of where the Rail Trail crosses the river in Maynard there is a modest-sized grassy area with five large granite blocks - remnants of the railroad bridge that once crossed at the same site. In the fall of 2019 and again in 2020, tulip and grape hyacinth bulbs were planted amongst the blocks. Each year, the initial spring blooming was strong, but by the second spring the tulips were scant and the hyacinths diminished. By the third spring - sad. It is possible that the soil is contaminated from the railroad era's lead (from burning coal) and arsenic (used as a weed herbicide) deposits. There are no plans to try again.
Extensive plantings between Summer and Concord streets suffer from competition from native and invasive species. At the north end, Virginia creeper vines overgrow the daylily bed unless cut back. Pokeweed pops up throughout. Further south, a large swath of Japanese knotweed (invasive) threatens daylily and iris plantings. English ivy is a slow-motion invasive ground cover that also forms vines which cling to tree trunks, causing damage. Maple trees overshade hophornbean trees, including the currently signed "Very Sad Tree." On a positive note, plantings of forsythia and beauty bush on the east side are thriving, and in doing so, contribute to blocking the view of the Enterprise and Emerald Acres parking areas. In time, the beauty bushes will be more than ten feet tall and wide. In late June these are covered in pink flowers favored by bees, bumblebees and hummingbirds. The forsythia, while celebrating early spring in yellow, are not pollinator friendly.
In Acton, by the Sylvia Street parking area and access ramp, there have been a few failures, but in the main, the variety of flowering shrubs and trees are doing well. The row of winterberry display red berries in winter until either robins or cedar waxwings put in a hungry appearance. For robins, this used to mean "first robins of spring" but now ravenous hordes of non-migrating robins stay all winter, eating winterberry, Oriental bittersweet, multiflora rose hips, holly and juniper berries, etc.
Also in Acton, north of the bridge over Fort Pond Creek, a long row of flowering "Double-Take" quince planted in the spring of 2024 are doing poorly. The summer drought hindered growth despite periodic watering. That winter saw deprivations by rabbits, which target the protein-rich bud ends of low branches, and then the summer drought of 2025 was an additional setback. There may also be an (untested) soil problem, as quince prefer slightly acidic soil. The growing season of 2026 may require soil treatment, fertilizer and weekly watering if the poorly-looking, foot-tall plants are ever to reach the promised height and width of four feet, creating, ideally, a striking flowering hedge. At one end of the row, a few flowering ninebark are doing somewhat better.
In Marlborough, six beauty bush plants, each about a foot tall, were planted at three locations near the south end of the Hudson/Marlborough end of ARRT in the fall of 2021. Despite notifying Marlborough's Dept. Public Works of the plantings and marking the plants with stakes, a visit during the summer of the next year found the stakes removed and the plants mowed over. The sites have not been since revisited to discover whether any recovered from the roots or continue to be mowed as part of DPW maintenance. A planting of daffodils with the help of the Marlborough Garden Club and another of grape hyacinth by Marlborough Girl Scouts probably both need refreshing.
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Tulips and sculpture inside the fence
at the Marble Farm Historic Site |
Tulips, unless planted in the best of growing conditions, fail after a few years. Typically, a large bed of the same type will display height-, size- and timing-matched blooms the first year. By second year there may be variations. By third year some will refuse to bloom at all, instead displaying only one large leaf. By fourth year, if not dug up and all bulbs discarded and replaced, the entire bed may have failed. Part of the tulip plantings inside the fence at the Marble Farm Historic Site failed prematurely in the second year, so that bed was dug up and replanted with 200 bulbs in the fall of 2025. Fingers crossed for a good display next spring and after.
Extensive tree plantings pre-date Trail of Flowers. Clearing space for construction of the Rail Trail in Maynard included removal of more than 600 trees of more than four inches in diameter that had grown next to and between the rails in the 50+ years since the last train passed. The budget to create the trail included planting of 600 trees in Acton and Maynard, at a cost of about $200,000. Roughly 15% died from being planted in areas too wet, too dry, too shaded, etc. Others were smothered by over-growing Oriental bittersweet vines. The majority are thriving: the firs and spruces, initially 5-6 feet tall, are mostly 10-15 feet tall as of fall 2025.
Tulip trees (yellow poplars) that were initially 2-3 inches in diameter are now topping 6 inches. Four of these are in the green-space south of Concord Street. Once mature, they will display tulip-shaped flowers in spring, a striking yellow leaf color in fall, and can easily top 75 feet in height. Tulip trees are messy - dropping flowers, sap, leaves and wind-snapped branches - and are also susceptible to tipping over in strong wind storms.
TOF donations welcome! Checks to be made out to Assabet River Rail Trail Inc and mailed to David Mark, 10 Maple Street, Maynard MA 01754. (ARRT is the parent organization for Trail of Flowers, and is a 501(c)(3) organization.) Or donate via PayPal to damark51@gmail.com or Venmo to www.venmo.com/u/DavidAMark51.
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