Holliston localtownpages
Vol. 3 No. 8
Holliston Man Brings Vision to Life with Dahlia Farm By Judith Dorato O’Gara
The community-wide cleanup held by Holliston in Bloom in anticipation of America in Bloom judges was well attended by both young and old alike. Trista (4 yrs), Austin (7), Skyla (5) Rodenhiser were very proud of the fact that they picked up over 350 small pieces of trash at Stoddard Park. (Note the gloves and dress shoes!) Photo by Cherry Fenton.
“Over the day I had 15 people, including one Mom with three little kids. Most of the big pieces of trash had been picked up, but they came with little pieces of trash. They picked up over 350 pieces!”
The oldest volunteer was an 83-year-old Holliston resident, who mowed the grass at Blair Square.
HOLLISTON PRIDE
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It used to be a grape vineyard. The five-acre expanse, now bursting with the bright colors of dahlias grown by local flowerenthusiast Bobby Blair, is visible on Highland Street, a little further down and across from Highland Farm. “It might just be the largest dahlia farm in Massachusetts,” he says. “It’s a hobby that got out of hand,” jokes Blair, who says he discovered a niche market. “When I saw posts out here, with guide wire, I thought instantly ‘Dahlia farm!’ Dahlias need some kind of support structure. The stalks are hollow and snap easily.” The gardener contacted Jim Poitras, who owns the land, known as Broad Hill, which is aimed for stewardship by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. “I had gone by here and saw grapes all overgrown,” says Blair. “I emailed him and said I was thinking of doing something
with it. The big email I got back was ‘Go ahead.’ ” That was seven years ago, and “Mayor’s Plantation,” as it has come to be known, since Blair is warmly regarded in town as “The Mayor of Mudville,” literally took root. Blair, who started cultivating dahlias 10 years ago, after Mike Koshivas, of Arcadian Farms, had given him a couple of boxes of them, cleared the space of overgrown grape vines It was a heaping amount of work – but he planted 3.4 miles of the tubers, which, luckily, don’t seem to be too palatable to deer or woodchucks. Blair nurtures a variety of the tubers, and he’s careful to cut off early blooms. It’s been up and down. Too much rain can be a problem for the plants, which, says Blair, can rot if there isn’t enough drainage. In 2011, Hurricane Irene wiped
FLOWER GARDEN
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Volunteers Step Forward to Show Holliston Pride
A slew of volunteers turned out for the first ever community Holliston in Bloom cleanup on July 18 and 19. “I think we saw nearly 70 people,” says HIB volunteer Cherry Fenton. “We weeded and edged and mulched a lot of places in Holliston. There was a command center in Blair Square and we had someone there who told people where to go.” Volunteers spruced up Blair Square, Stoddard Park, Goodwill Park, Town Hall, Holliston Public Library, the Holliston Historical Society, and couple of traffic islands, says Fenton. America in Bloom Judges arrived on July 22, and Holliston in Bloom held a welcoming reception for them at the Historical Society on June 23. “It made us feel so good that so many people came out to support us,” says Fenton. “If you drive around, you would not believe how great it looks.” Fenton says she was in charge of the work done at Stoddard Park.
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