The summer of 2021 brought only six days of sunshine in one of the most moisture laden months on record. Local farms were literally under water. Fast forward a year and we have almost a “total extreme” Mark Ahronian of Ahronian Landscape told the Reporter on Wednesday morning. Channel 7 in Boston says that “July 2022 is in place to be the 4^th driest on record”. We’re not alone as the U.K. is experiencing its driest summer since 1911. A new water ban was put in place by the town on July 23^rd with handheld watering before 9 am and after 5 pm on an odd and even street number sequence.

On Wednesday morning a quickly adjourned meeting of interested parties met at town hall to address the dying hydrangeas lining the sidewalk in front of the Congregational Church. The hydrangeas were installed a few years back by Holliston in Bloom at great expense and are now the property of the town. Ahronian, Town Facilities Manager James Keast, and Tim Smith of Moisture Tech. Met and the trio hatched a plan, and after $60 in parts were secured a temporary fix sent water to the thirsty plants.

Three Alberta Spruces, two gracing the foyer at town hall and another in an urn on the corner of Jasper Hill Road and Washington Street may not be as lucky. Keast supplied several of the conifers with water from a hastily secured small trash bucket in hopes of reviving them while the third plant was unceremoniously uprooted and sent to the compost pile.

Also, on Wednesday the Select Board met to discuss the drought’s impact on the Town-owned Pinecrest Golf Course -> https://hollistonreporter.com/2022/07/select-boards-meets-to-discuss-drought-impact/