By Maryann Heuston
Ward 2 Alderman

Every year as spring comes into full bloom, I can’t help think about Mom digging in her garden. She prided herself on tending to the Rose of Sharon bushes and seeing the early gladiolas and crocuses arrive in abundance, but trees were her true passion.

I suppose this stems from Mom growing up a city girl in a 3-decker apartment in East Boston, where the only open space for her Italian immigrant parents and 7 younger siblings was the front stoop.  Trees and green open space were scarce where she grew up, and so became important to her wherever she could seek them out.

Mom’s chance for a tree of her own came with her marriage and move to Somerville. Her and my father purchased a property with a back yard that already housed two trees, a Canadian Maple and an Oak. But, that was not enough for Mom. And so, when a contractor asked her a few years later if she wanted the Blue Spruce sapling he had salvaged from another job, she readily accepted. She assembled her planting crew- me and my sister Nancy- and we are memorialized in a home movie planting the sapling in the middle of our yard. That Blue Spruce eventually grew to 40 ft.

Still, her pride and joy was the Japanese Maple my sister and I bought for her one Mother’s Day. Not a common choice for an urban setting, and difficult to grow, but Mom was always up for a challenge. The tree turned out to be spectacular and was named one of the “Great Trees of Somerville”.

Mom was not just focused on her own back yard either.  Her all-time favorite Alderman was Alderman Billy Joyce because he delivered on her request for a tree in front of her house on Beacon Street and a few elsewhere in the neighborhood.   In her book, that was the epitome of constituent services.

Mom passed in the spring of 2007. The majestic Blue Spruce succumbed to disease as did the Canadian Maple despite much care and expense.

But the Japanese Maple still stands in all of its blazing glory for all to see and enjoy.  Passersby comment and take pictures and I like to think that my Mom’s spirit lives in that tree and the message it sends.  Trees, no matter the type or size, are important, especially for a city girl.