Boston Flora

  • Now Through February 21 – Sensing Oceans at the MIT Museum

    How do we sense and make sense of the ocean? How do we go beyond the limits of our perception to understand the ocean more completely? Come see at the MIT Museum, 314 Main Street, Gambrill Center Building E-28 in Cambridge, now through February 21.

    Combining science, history, and contemporary art, Sensing Oceans offers a multifaceted look at the marine environment that covers three quarters of our planet, and yet, without technology, is largely beyond our reach. From autonomous vehicles and sonar images to immersive artistic installations and robots that mimic fish, this exhibition explores how we might sense the ocean more completely, and by extension, become better stewards of this crucial ecosystem.

    Among the centerpieces of this exhibition are the US premiere of two installations by experiential artist collective Marshmallow Laser Feast: Seeing Echoes in the Mind of the Whale, and Plankton Temple. The former, a sensory experience that immerses audiences in the worlds of whales and dolphins on their underwater journeys, and the latter an homage to plankton in the form of a kinetic sculpture of light, glass, and sound that echoes their intricate structures and movements. Additionally, audiences are invited to discover underwater landscape artwork by contemporary artist Julius von Bismarck, alongside the historic glass marine invertebrate models of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, and deep sea photography of life on the ocean floor by Harold Edgerton.

    ‘Sensing Oceans’ asks what it means to know something we can never fully grasp. From the earliest sounding rods to today’s underwater autonomous vehicles and bio-acoustic recordings, humans have built an extraordinary lineage of technologies to reach beyond our own senses and into the medium of the ocean. This exhibition brings that lineage into full view, showing how each instrument and artwork can measure the sea and transform our relationship to this magnificent realm.

  • Thursday, October 15, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Eastern – Jane Austen & The English Landscape, Online

    Austen is famed for her sharp social satire, but she was also highly attuned to the shifting sensibilities surrounding landscape. From Pride and Prejudice’s wickedly funny take on the Picturesque to the lampooning of real-life landscaper Humphry Repton in Mansfield Park, there is no doubt that Austen had a deep love of the English landscape. She recognized that “to sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.”

    Dr Laura Mayer has an MA in Garden History and a PhD in 18th Century patronage. Originally an art historian, she fell into Garden History after working at the Alhambra in Granada. She has published extensively – particularly on Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and on Jane Austen’s contemporary, Humphry Repton. Laura shares Elizabeth Bennett’s appreciation of Gilpin’s picturesque, as well as her talent for tramping about a garden inappropriately shod. She has worked as a consultant for the National Trust, English Heritage and Land and Heritage. She lectures regularly for the Gardens Trust and Cambridge Botanic Gardens.

    This October 15 online talk is sponsored by the Oxfordshire Gardens Trust. £4 for members; £5 for non-members. Booking is through Eventcube. Visit www.ogt.org.uk for registration.

  • Wednesday, October 21, 6:15 pm – 8:00 pm – Wildlife in Focus: Matt Patterson’s Journey in Art & Conservation

    The Walden Woods Project welcomes artist and naturalist Matt Patterson, whose dedication to illustration accuracy has taken him from Boston’s rivers to the rainforests of Belize. Matt has illustrated several celebrated books including three award-winning collaborations with author Sy Montgomery. In his presentation, Matt will discuss his experiences working in the field, his commitment to conservation, and the research behind bringing his (turtle) subjects to life. The event takes place Wednesday, October 21. Doors open at 6:15 pm for a wine and cheese, and lecture begins at 7. Registration required at https://www.walden.org/upcoming-events-and-event-catalog/

  • Thursday, October 22, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Music for Landscapes

    The Harvard Graduate School of Design presents Grammy Award winning musicians Caroline Shaw and Andrew Yee on Thursday, October 22 at 6:30 pm in the Piper Auditorium, They will perform a selection of their music, inspired by landscapes we imagine and inhabit. The musicians draw on their recent album, Or, The Whale (2026), to explore connections between the sun and soil of the landscape and the sound and sense of music. Edward Eigen, a senior lecturer in the history of landscape and architecture at the GSD, joins the musicians for a conversation following the performance. The event is part of ArtsThursdays, a university-wide initiative supported by the Harvard University Committee on the Arts.

    Please note: This event is in-person only, free, and registration is required. There is no livestream option for this event. Register at https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/event/music-for-landscapes/?mc_cid=d2db7456eb&mc_eid=314db6bd32

  • Sunday, October 25, 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm – Celebrating Chrysanthemums

    In celebration of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s annual John Lowell Gardner Chrysanthemum Installation in the Courtyard, we present this exploration of the chrysanthemum as a muse for musicians and writers. An all-star cast is joined by the Gardner’s Stanley P. Kozak Director of Horticulture Erika Rumbley and Abrams Curator of Music George Steel. The event, in Calderwood Hall, is on October 25 from 1:30 – 3:30, and the program may be found at https://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/celebrating-chrysanthemums-20261025. Tickets are available online at the link above or by calling the Box Office at 617-278-5156. If sold out, place your name on the wait list, or just go to the Museum and enjoy the Chrysanthemum installation while it is in peak bloom. Photo: Jenny Pore

  • Tuesday, October 27, 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm Eastern – Margaret Mee & the Moonflower, Online

    On her fifteenth and final expedition into the Amazon, in 1988, at the age of 79, Margaret Mee traveled to Anavilhanas, Rio Negro in search of a flower very few had ever seen bloom – the Amazon Moonflower (Strophocactus wittii). By torchlight, she waited for its petals to unfurl: the culmination of a search begun over twenty years earlier, and the last great encounter of her extraordinary life.

    Join The Garden Museum online on October 27 for a special evening to relive that moment – one of the most potent in the history of botanical art.

    Margaret Mee (1909–1988) was a British-born botanical artist who spent four decades documenting the flora of the Brazilian Amazon by canoe, painting plants that had rarely, if ever, been recorded. She became one of the earliest voices to raise the alarm on Amazon deforestation, using her paintings as a form of activism as much as art.

    This event forms part of our Burle Marx season, marking Mee’s close friendship with the Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx. All our live streams are recorded so you have the choice to watch the event live or enjoy at a later time that suits you. Customers who book the live stream can automatically view the recording immediately after the event at the same link. £10 Livestream Register at www.gardenmuseum.org/uk

  • Tuesday, October 13, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm Eastern – Plant Politics: Images, Knowledge, & Power, Online

    Every picture of a plant tells a story…

    From botanical illustrations and herbarium specimens to illustrated manuscripts and contemporary photographs, images shape how plants are named, understood, and valued. They also reveal deeper stories about exploration, colonialism, science, and whose knowledge is preserved.

    Join Tracy Qiu and Catherine Seavitt on October 13 at noon Eastern for an interactive lunchtime virtual conversation that uses four images to explore how botanical knowledge is created, shared, and challenged. Together, they will examine the colonial legacies of botanical gardens and plant science, consider how terms like native, exotic, weed, and invasive influence our thinking, and highlight the contributions of Indigenous communities and other often-overlooked knowledge holders.

    Held the day after Indigenous Peoples’ Day, this timely conversation invites participants to reconsider the stories we tell (and the ones we don’t) and discover how the ways we picture plants continue to shape our relationships with the living world.

    A Zoom link will be emailed to all registrants in advance of the program. Morris Arboretum members $10, nonmembers $15. https://www.morrisarboretum.org/learn-discover/adults/lecture-series

  • Wednesday, October 21, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Dahlias, The Divas of the Fall Garden

    Wellfleet Gardeners host a free program at the Wellfleet Public Library, 55 West Main Street in Wellfleet, on Wednesday, October 21 from 10 – 11:30 with Beth Taylor. She is a Master Gardener who loves dahlias! Learn how to plant, grow, maintain and overwinter these beautiful flowers for years to come.

  • Wednesdays, November 4, 11, 18, & December 2, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm Eastern – Winter Gardening Know-How Series, Online

    Registration Deadline November 2! The Massachusetts Master Gardener Association sponsors the Winter Gardening Know-How Series online starting November 4 and continuing through December 2 (no meeting November 25.) Gardeners with all levels of experience and lots of questions, new homeowners starting from scratch, garden “rehabbers”, everyone can benefit from some know-how. Lectures will include Invasives in Massachusetts, Creating Pollinator Habitat Anywhere, Where Our Vegetables Come From, and A Holistic Approach to Gardening. Virtual sessions include a question and answer time live with speakers, and a number of handouts to read in advance or to revisit in the future. Register at https://www.massmastergardeners.org/educational-resources/gardening-know-how-series

    Barbara McIntosh is a Lifetime Master Gardener and has been a Master Gardener since 2016. She has been the coordinator of the prison programs, having created partnerships with MCI Framingham, MCI Concord, Pondville, and NECC. She has also organized volunteers for MCI Shirley and Gardener. Barb has mentored numerous master gardeners, and has contributed to sourcing the How-to and Project Garden articles for The Dirt. Barb currently is coordinating the renovation of the Bedford VA serenity, memorial, and healing gardens in partnership with the Wellesley Boy Scouts and the Bedford garden club. Barb is also on the Speakers Bureau and the education committee.

    Bonnie Power has been a Massachusetts Master Gardener since 2016 and member of the MMGA Speakers Bureau since 2018 … and a serious outdoor/indoor gardener most of her life. Curious and research-oriented by nature, she has many horticultural interests and areas of expertise. Bonnie holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Zoology, which informs her perspective on the management of garden insects. She spent the past year as manager of the MMGA Soil pH Testing team and while she has passed this on to a new manager, she continues as a member of the team. She also volunteers at Garden in the Woods, a Native Plant Trust botanical garden in Framingham, where she is a guide. She learned to grow vegetables as a child from her father, and flowers and houseplants from her mother. Early in her marriage, her father-in-law provided her first lessons in organic gardening. At home in Marlborough, Bonnie grows a variety of vegetables and ornamentals (with a bias for natives). 

    Denise Guérin is a Certified Massachusetts Master Gardener, graduating in the class of 2022. She fell in love with gardens (and their contents) at a young age while “helping” her father and grandmother in their large family gardens. She volunteers regularly at the Wakefield Arboretum, the Medford Food Pantry Garden, and the MMGA’s new Ohrenberger School Pollinator Garden. Her primary focus is on growing native plants and creating habitat for native bees, birds and insect pollinators. She is a graduate of the MMGA Speakers Bureau Training Program.

    Tony Bonnano has been a Massachusetts Master Gardener since 2007. He designed, built, and oversees the Victory Gardens at the Veterans Community Health Care Center in Lowell and is the horticulture leader for the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Concord’s Outreach Organization, teaching and running a volunteer program at the facility’s farm. Tony also chairs the Topsfield Fair Home Garden committee and is a Certified Massachusetts State Fair Judge. An accomplished vegetable grower, he was named a Top Vegetable Exhibitor at the 2017 and 2019 Topsfield Fairs.

    COST: The cost of the four-lecture Fall Gardening Know-How Series is $75.00, payable online by  credit/debit card or PayPal. Classes are not available individually.

  • Saturday, October 10, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Field Study: Orange Sallow Moth Survey

    Join members of Zoo New England’s conservation team and John Berkholtz for a rare field study focused on observing and surveying orange sallow moth eggs and larvae, which rely on fern-leaved false foxglove (Aureolaria pedicularia) for survival.

    This program is cosponsored by the Native Plant Trust and Zoo New England. $90. Wear weather appropriate attire. Register at https://nativeplanttrust.org/class/field-study-orange-sallow-moth-survey/