|
Contents
- Arbor Week 2026!
- Spring Tree Planting is Underway!
- Explore Cambridge in Bloom: Flowering Tree Map
- Rain Barrel Discount Program
-
Species Highlight: Red Maple (Acer rubrum)
- Stumped! Urban Forestry Treevia
- Become a Cambridge Urban Forest Friend
- Sign Up for a Tree with Green Cambridge
| | |
Arbor Week 2026!
Join us the first week in May for our annual Arbor Week celebration! Arbor Week celebrates the critical role that trees play in keeping our city healthy and resilient. From Monday, May 4 to Friday, May 8, Public Works and Urban Forestry have planned fun tree-related events around Cambridge. Come meet our staff, learn about Cambridge’s trees, and even take home a free tree seedling! Please join us for these events—we look forward to celebrating with you!
Monday, May 4
- Learn about the dozens of tree species at our Joan Lorentz Park (445 Broadway) on a self-guided tree walk.
Tuesday, May 5
-
- Meet with Urban Forestry staff and Committee on Public Planting members at the City Hall Annex (344 Broadway) from 10am-12pm.
- Sign up for our newsletter and become a Forest Friend to take home a free tree seedling!
- Grab a coloring book, stickers, and other giveaways to show your love of Cambridge’s trees.
Wednesday, May 6
-
Join us for a tree walk led by the City Arborist, David Lefcourt! We’ll meet in front of the Tobin School, 181 Vassal Lane at 5:30 pm and walk to Danehy Park. Along the way David will share his knowledge of Cambridge trees, projects, and plantings.
- Tree planting event at a Cambridge school with the Mayor.
Thursday, May 7 Arbor Week Celebration at the Main Library
-
Meet with Urban Forestry staff, Committee on Public Planting members, and Green Cambridge staff at the Main Library/Joan Lorentz Park (445 Broadway) from 10am-5pm.
- Join Cambridge sound artist Skooby Laposky at Joan Lorentz Park for two sonic experiences celebrating Arbor Week!
-
Tree Hugging Studies invites visitors to listen deeply to their own interactions with the park's beloved Copper Beech — contact with bark, branch, and root amplified and rendered intimate through close listening.
-
Laposky will also debut Park Sounds, a new mobile web app that lets visitors build their own custom soundscape from a collection of live microphone feeds placed throughout the park.
- Join us for story time with the Cambridge Library outside of the Main Library at 11:00 am.
- Learn about different tree bark textures on a self-guided tactile bark tour of trees. Make your own bark and leaf rubbings!
- Learn about the 100-year-old Harvard elm on display.
- Sign up for our newsletter and become a Forest Friend to take home a free tree seedling!
- Grab a coloring book, stickers, and other giveaways to show your love of Cambridge’s trees.
Friday, May 8
- Tree planting event at a Cambridge city building with the Mayor.
| Come learn about the history behind this Harvard elm! | | Join us for a tree walk with City Arborist David Lefcourt on Wednesday, May 6th! | | |
Spring Tree Planting is Underway
Have you seen the new trees around Cambridge? Our spring tree planting season has begun! Trees are planted by our Urban Forestry Planting Crew and the City’s tree planting contractor. A map of planned locations is available online here!
These new trees (and the thousands of other new trees across Cambridge planted in the last few years) need your help! Please sign up to be a Forest Friend and care for a new tree near you. New trees are watered by the City but they need lots of water! Forest Friends can help by filling the gator bags once a week May through November.
| |
Explore Cambridge in Bloom: Flowering Trees Map
Spring in Cambridge brings not just warmer days, but an annual explosion of blossoms. Serviceberries, cherries, magnolias, and more are currently in bloom across Cambridge, painting our streets and parks in pinks, whites, and pastel hues. To help you enjoy every petal and bloom, the City has an interactive Flowering Trees Story Map that shows where trees are flowering across Cambridge this month.
This digital map lets you see where spring blossoms are popping up in town so you can plan walks, outings, or simply enjoy a moment under a blooming canopy. It’s an easy and fun way to explore Cambridge’s urban forest and learn about the variety of trees that brighten our city in spring.
Cambridge’s Urban Forestry team maintains thousands of public trees, and we use tools like this StoryMap to share that living data with the community. Our flowering trees not only add beauty, they support pollinators, cool sidewalks, and create seasonal highlights that draw us outside to meet, walk, and savor spring.
| | A young Kwanzan cherry tree (Prunus serrulata ‘Kwanzan’) in full bloom in April. | | |
Rain Barrel Discount Program
DPW is once again teaming up with the Great American Rain Barrel Program to offer residents reduced‑price rain barrels for $89. These barrels collect rainwater that can be used on gardens, lawns, and trees, helping conserve drinking water and cut down on stormwater runoff. Taking part in the program is an easy way to support local water conservation and strengthen our community’s sustainability efforts.
How to order:
Important Dates:
- Order deadline: All orders must be placed by Sunday, May 31, 2026
- Pick-up Date: Barrels will be available for pick-up on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM. All rain barrels must be picked up in the parking lot across from 63 Mooney Street, Cambridge MA on June 9.
| | Take advantage of the discounted rain barrel program and use the saved water to water trees and support our urban canopy! | | |
Species Highlight: Red Maple (Acer Rubrum)
When you picture a maple tree, chances are you’re imagining a red maple. The most common tree species in North America, red maple earns its popularity through adaptability, resilience, and year-round beauty.
True to its name, red maple carries hints of red throughout every season. In early spring, its rounded buds swell and open into clusters of tiny red flowers. As the season progresses, you might notice the reddish petioles (leaf stems) and developing red samaras, those small, winged “helicopters” that spin to the ground. In autumn, red maple steals the show with brilliant scarlet foliage.
Its leaves are typically three-lobed with serrated margins, usually smaller than those of Norway or sugar maples. The leaf shape can vary from tree to tree, a reminder of the species’ genetic diversity. The bark begins smooth and gray when young, gradually becoming rougher with age, forming subtle vertical plates.
Beyond its good looks, red maple is a workhorse of the urban forest. It tolerates a wide range of soil conditions, handles wet sites better than many species, and establishes quickly. It also has relatively few serious pest or disease issues. For pollinators, its early flowers are an important food source. For people, it provides shade, cooling, stormwater interception, and that unmistakable seasonal color that signals fall in New England.
You’ll find red maples throughout Cambridge, along streets, in parks, in backyards, and at Fresh Pond Reservation. Thanks to numerous cultivars and varieties, they come in different shapes, sizes, and fall color intensities, making them a versatile choice for urban tree planting.
Common doesn’t mean ordinary! The red maple is a quiet cornerstone of our canopy, dependable, adaptable, and beautiful in every season.
| | Red maples feature some of the best fall color of any tree species found in Cambridge. | | |
Stumped! Urban Forestry Treevia
Learn a fun fact about urban forestry in Cambridge!
| |
| What species is NOT in bloom in April?
| | | | |
The trivia answer will be revealed in next month’s newsletter!
Last month's question was "Why is the Callery pear on the Massachusetts Prohibited Plant List?” and the answer was "D. It can naturalize into landscapes and threatens native biodiversity.". Did you get it right?
| | Become a Cambridge Urban Forest Friend | |
We need your help to maintain a healthy, vibrant urban forest! Any Cambridge resident willing to regularly water the tree and provide some general care for the tree is welcome to become a Cambridge Urban Forest Friend.
How to Start
| | |
Questions?
For questions about the Cambridge Urban Forest Friends, please contact Kristen Kelleher, Community Relations Manager at 617-349-4825 / kkelleher@cambridgema.gov.
**Please let us know if you are no longer caring for your street tree and we will remove you from the database and future emails**
| | Sign Up for a Tree with Green Cambridge | |
If you have space for a tree on your property, Green Cambridge can plant a tree to help expand Cambridge’s urban tree canopy! If you own your home in Cambridge, MA and would like Green Cambridge to plant a tree in your yard, visit https://www.greencambridge.org/canopycrew
| | | | |
