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A living memorial to Anne Frank on Boston Common

Anne Frank sapling gets its first mulching.Anne Frank sapling gets its first mulching.

City and Dutch officials today dedicated a sapling from the chestnut tree that stood outside Anne Frank's refuge and that she wrote in her diary gave her much comfort.

The sapling sits behind some protective wrought iron at the bottom of the hill leading up to the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, on the Earl of Sandwich side.

Boston is one of 11 U.S. cities to get one of the saplings from the tree - taken before it collapsed in 2010 - thanks to Aliya Finkel, a student at Gann Academy in Waltham, who got Mayor Menino's ear and convinced him to apply for the tree. Among the people who raised money to plant the sapling in Boston: Students at the Indian Head School in Hanson.

Finkel helped give the sapling its first mulching this morning, along with officials who included City Councilor Mike Ross, whose father Stephen is a holocaust survivor.

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Comments

I'm going to be THAT guy...

Umm. nice notion but really.. the trees in boston common already get enough abuse. I wonder how long until enough urine between dogs and wine-o's kills that sapling.

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You'd be surprised what trees can take if watered properly.

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Well, the reason they're doing this is the original tree toppled over recently. THere are saplings all over the world now. I'm sure this one can be replaced if it dies.

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I love the idea, but not that particular area in the Common. The top of that hill is known for its nightly debaucheries and raucous behavior. I'll give the sapling a week.

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...would explain the "tree in the iron mask" approach to the planting then. Maybe the cage is electrified?

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We can but dream.

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Hard to tell which side of the hill this is on. I hope it's not where folks go sledding in winter...

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It's on the same side as the bandstand and the Earl of Sandwich.

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Well, if it's on the Hill side of the "mayors walk" it's in the sled zone. On the other side is where the Shakespeare stage usually sets up.

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Anne Frank's tree was a horse-chestnut, not a chestnut. They have little in common beyond their names. Chestnuts are delicious and nutritious; horse-chestnuts are unpalatable and poisonous (but beautiful trees, especially when in bloom in May).

Chestnuts used to grow around here but have been driven to near extinction in the last 100 years by an introduced blight. Horse-chestnuts are European natives but grow well here as an ornamental - the Common already has at least a few.

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Number Three - The Horse Chestnut

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Anne's birthday is June 12th we could have had a small ceremony and maybe some attention from the local media.

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Why not the Public Garden? Doesn't' that at least close every night, which might limit the possibility of drunken idiots destroying it?

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ZOMG somebody (changed, planted, built, did) SOMETHING and we can't possibly expect it to last because NOBODY HERE HAS ANY SELF CONTROL!

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