Boston Flora

  • Tuesday, November 10, 5:00 am – 6:00 am Eastern (but recorded) – The Tradescants, Online

    This Gardens Trust talk on November 10 looks at John Tradescant and his son, also John, who were an extraordinary pair of 17th Century Gardeners.

    John Tradescant and his son, also John were an extraordinary pair: Gardeners to the aristocracy and royalty in the 17th Century, as well as plant hunters, nurserymen and founders of the first museum to be open to the public. Famous in their own lifetimes, and continuously in the centuries since, their lives have even been romanticised by a modern novelist. John senior worked for the Cecil family at Hatfield, and later the Duke of Buckingham, the royal favorite, and traveled to Europe, northern Russia and North Africa collecting plants and other interesting objects. John junior worked alongside his father and in 1637 went to Virginia to collect plants. He succeeded his father a royal gardener a post he lost because of the Civil War. He published a catalogue of their museum which also included plants in the nursery. The pair are buried under the same elaborate and enigmatic tombstone in the grounds of St Mary’s Lambeth, which is now home to the Garden Museum.

    Presenter Dr David Marsh was awarded his PhD in 2005 for a study of the ‘Gardens and Gardeners of Later-Stuart London’ and has been lecturing and supervising research in Garden History ever since. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Buckingham and was co-course director for their MA in Garden History. A trustee of the Gardens Trust from 2016-2023, he helped set up and run the Trust’s online lecture program and is the author of a weekly blog about garden history.

    This ticket is for this individual session and costs £8 (Gardens Trust members £6 )

    Ticket holders can join the session live and/or view the recording until 24 November .

    Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available until 24 November) will be sent shortly afterwards. Register through Eventbrite UK HERE. Image: One end of the Tradescants’ tomb, St Mary’s Lambeth. Detail from Hollar’s Prospect of London and Westminster from Lambeth 1647.

  • Thursday, November 12, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Eastern – Native Sedges & Grasses

    Looking for strategies to garden smarter and boost your landscape’s ecological impact? Join The American Horticultural Society on November 12 at 2 pm Eastern online to explore how native grasses and sedges do heavy lifting in the garden—far beyond what conventional turfgrasses can offer. Prized as ecological workhorses, these extraordinary plants build and preserve soil, suppress weeds, reduce inputs, and support biodiversity. But their value doesn’t end when the growing season winds down. Native grasses and sedges add beauty and function across the year. In this webinar, we’ll examine what makes grasses special and explore how to put them to work on your site. From sun to shade, short groundcovers to tall accents, learn how native grasses and sedges can increase resilience and provide year-round performance in any landscape.

    Shannon Currey is a horticultural educator with Izel Native Plants. She has worked in the nursery trade since 2006, developing expertise in grasses and sedges and expanding her knowledge into native perennials. Currey has written for national publications and traveled the country speaking to professional organizations, community groups, and at public gardens. She currently serves on the North Carolina Plant Conservation Program Scientific Committee, holds advisory roles with several organizations, and served on the Board of the Perennial Plant Association. Currey lives in Durham, North Carolina and loves exploring gardens and native flora everywhere she goes.

    $15 for AHS members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at https://ahsgardening.org/ahs-live-native-sedges-and-grasses/

  • Thursday, November 19, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Eastern – Mistletoe, Magic, Myths, & Mysteries, Online

    The mistletoe native to the UK, Viscum album, is a parasitic plant which grows on hundreds of trees; it is often benign and brilliant for biodiversity.

    “Seeming to appear in the trees from nowhere, mistletoe has fascinated people since ancient times and features extensively in folklore. Though we know more about its biology today, mysteries still remain about this intriguing plant. In this talk, I will discuss mistletoe through history, legends, science and the questions that remain.” Participants can log in 5 minutes before the start of the talk to ensure a prompt start. The November 19 event is sponsored by the Oxfordshire Gardens Trust. £4 for members; £5 for non-members. Register at https://ogt.org.uk/2025/12/07/talk-thursday-19-november-2026-mistletoe-magic-myths-and-mysteries/

  • Thursday, November 5, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm Eastern (but recorded) – What’s In a Name? Online

    Lea Johnson and Uli Lorimer will engage in a lively Native Plant Trust conversation on November 5 about the history and complexities of plant naming. Learn more about how Latin and common names came to be, how they are used by botanists and gardeners alike, and why they matter.⁠
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    Our Lunch and Learn webinar brings together Native Plant Trust’s Director of Conservation, Lea Johnson, and Director of Horticulture, Uli Lorimer, for lively conversations about timely issues within the native plant world. This series highlights Native Plant Trust’s unique contributions to conversations about plants by juxtaposing the perspectives of conservation and horticulture, and demonstrating both the overlaps and differences between these fields. Whether you are a seasoned student of plants or just beginning to learn, we hope you will join us.⁠ $25.00
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    A recording of this webinar will be available for 30 days after the program date.⁠ https://nativeplanttrust.org/class/lunch-learn-whats-in-a-name/?utm_campaign=feed&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=later-linkinbio

  • Wednesday, November 4, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Eastern – Gardens of India, Online

    Jill Sinclair kicks off the fall Gardens Trust Wednesday sessions on November 4, with a personal tour of the Gardens of India.

    Join us for a personal tour of some of the great gardens of India. Highlights will include the Mughal emperors’ summer home in the earthly paradise of Kashmir, the gardens created by the British Raj in Calcutta and Delhi, and the wonders of Corbusier’s work in Chandigarh for the newly independent country. Jill Sinclair is a garden historian who lived in Delhi for four years and explored many of the country’s parks and gardens. She has written on early Mughal gardens in Gardens of Renaissance Europe and the Islamic Empires (Penn State UP, 2017) and on two Indian gardens for Gardens of the World (DK Travel, 2022). Jill is a trustee of the Gardens Trust.

    This ticket is for this individual session and costs £8 (Gardens Trust members £6 ) Register through Eventbrite UK HERE.

    Ticket holders can join the session live and/or view the recording until 18 November.

    Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available until 18 November) will be sent shortly afterwards.

    Jill Sinclair is a US-trained landscape historian. She has been a trustee of the Historic Gardens Foundation and co-editor of its magazine, Historic Gardens Review. For several years she taught the history of the English Landscape Garden for Oxford University. Jill is now a trustee of the Gardens Trust, overseeing its education and training work and organizing its program of online talks.

    Jill’s time living and working in the UK, US, France and India has given her the chance to explore many garden styles and cultures, and to relish the joy of places with great stories to tell.

    Image: “Kesar Kyari Bagh, the garden at the Amber Fort, Jaipur” (c) Jill Sinclair

  • Tuesday, November 17, 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm Eastern – The Japanese Garden as a Work of Art, Online

    Is Japan still a place where gardens are understood as deeply spiritual, philosophical and aesthetic practice — far more than horticulture? This Garden Museum session, available on livestream and recorded, brings together Dan Pearson, one of the UK’s foremost landscape designers who has worked extensively in Japan on projects including the Tokachi Millennium Forest, and Haruko Seki, a multi-award-winning Japanese designer based in London whose gardens express a sensibility of impermanence and quietness.

    This Garden Museum series, chaired and curated by landscape historian and critic Tim Richardson, aims to broaden our ideas of what gardens, landscape and place can mean in the context of artistic practice in an era of climate change. This session is £10 Livestream and can be reserved HERE

  • Thursdays through Sundays, November 21 – December 27, 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Sparkling Lights at The Breakers

    This holiday season, the landscape of The Breakers will dazzle visitors like never before.
    Sparkling Lights at The Breakers, which delighted thousands of visitors when it debuted, will be twice as large when it opens Saturday, November 21. The colorful spectacle and holiday music will be expanded to the southern portion of the historic Serpentine Path. Photo opportunities will abound, from the expanded, 50-foot-long Tunnel of Light to the Van”deer”bilt Selfie Station. The back terrace will be part of “Sparkling Lights” for the first time, with warming stations, adult beverages and s’mores kits available. In all, Sparkling Lights will cover more than half of the 13-acre property, with nearly 100,000 lights and plenty of surprises along the way. Sparkling Lights at The Breakers will be displayed primarily Thursday through Sunday evenings, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., from November 21 through December 27.

    Tickets are now on sale through NewportMansions.org. Click on the green “Tickets” button on the upper right, then choose “Event Tickets” if you are not a Preservation Society member, or “Member Tickets” if you are. You will be asked to choose a date and time; admission for “Sparkling Lights” will be timed at intervals between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. The “Sparkling Lights” ticket includes the interior house tour. For more information, go to https://www.newportmansions.org/events/sparkling-lights-at-the-breakers-2026/

  • Saturday, November 28 – Opening of Kinney Azalea Gardens Festival of Trees

    We know fall has only just begun, but consider getting involved in this year’s Kinney Azalea Gardens Festival of Trees in Kingston, Rhode Island.
    Decorate a tree, volunteer, join us with your caroling group or Scout troop, or sign up to read stories. There are so many ways to be part of the magic.
    Festival of Trees sign-ups are live on our website. The event runs until early January, 2027.

    Kinney Azalea Gardens in Rhode Island is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating the beauty of native and uncommon plant life across its enchanting 16 acres of whimsical woodland trails.

    Home to over 500 species of unique and rare azalea cultivars, the gardens also boast diverse habitats and ecosystems, an arboretum of notable trees, and abundant native plantings that flourish in harmony with the land.

    Each winding path offers visitors a chance to explore vivid seasonal interests and discover the rich tapestry of life that makes Kinney Azalea Gardens a botanical treasure.
    https://www.kinneyazaleagardens.com/festival-of-trees

  • Saturday, November 14, 9:00 am – 11:30 am – Nature Journaling & Sketching

    Step outside at the Drumlin Park Wildlife Sanctuary with notebook in hand and learn how to translate nature’s story onto the page. Begin with a guided walk around the sanctuary, slowing down to notice the seasonal happenings around you: changing light, plants shifting color, moving birds. Then, settle in to capture what you’ve discovered through sketches, observations, and written musings with inspiration and tips from a naturalist.

    This program will be offered multiple times, with different things to discover each session in different areas of the sanctuary as the seasons shift. The specific program highlighted today takes place November 14 from 9 – 11:30. Whether you’re a seasoned journaler or picking up a notebook for the first time, you’ll build your own record of the natural world while connecting with a community of like-minded nature enthusiasts and tapping into your creative side. Mass Audubon member price $22, nonmembers $26. Registration required at https://www.massaudubon.org/programs/drumlin-farm/104013-nature-journaling-and-sketching

  • Saturday, December 5 – Monday, December 21 – Mount Auburn Cemetery Solstice: Reflections on Winter Light

    SOLSTICE: Reflections on Winter Light is an annual event at Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mt. Auburn Street in Cambridge, that includes an outdoor journey with large-scale light and sound artworks created by MASARY, and an indoor experience with live music and candle lighting. Guests are invited to walk through the light-filled landscape, explore the Winter Solstice atmosphere, and to reflect on moments of change as the year ends and a new cycle begins. Connect to a landscape of exceptional beauty, consider an intention for the new year, or commemorate the memory of a loved one. Let SOLSTICE light your way as you encounter the unique spirit of Mount Auburn. Tickets are $25 – $45, depending on time slot and availability. Tickets at https://www.mountauburnsolstice.org/