Boston Flora

  • Tuesday, September 8, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm GMT – The Beth Chatto Approach to Ecological Planting in Public Spaces, Online

    Join The Garden Museum on September 8 online for an evening in conversation with Julia Boulton, CEO of Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens; John Little of the Grass Roof Company; Daryl Moore of Cityscapes, and wildlife advocate Chris Gibson, as they explore the power of ecological planting to transform the places we live, work and share.

    At a time when our public spaces are expected to do more than ever – for people, wildlife and the climate – this discussion will examine how thoughtful planting can reshape neglected urban landscapes, streets, parks and new residential developments into vibrant, resilient places that are rich in character, support biodiversity, and foster stronger connections between communities and the natural world.

    Drawing on Beth Chatto’s philosophy of “right plant, right place” the speakers will explore how selecting plants that are naturally suited to their environment can create landscapes that are both beautiful and resilient. Sharing their experience of planting into sand and rubble to create thriving habitats in the most challenging urban conditions, the panel will discuss practical approaches that embrace rather than fight the realities of a site.

    Rooted in the pioneering principles established by Beth Chatto, the speakers will explore how the ethos that defines Beth Chatto’s Plant & Gardens has inspired projects far beyond the garden gates. Moderated by Julia Boulton, the panel will examine how thoughtful design, resilient plant communities and sustainable horticultural practises can create public spaces that are both beautiful, biodiverse and enduring.

    The conversation will highlight projects inspired by Beth Chatto’s ethos: the award-winning Meanwhile Garden in central Colchester, the nearby Albert roundabout and Chattowood housing development; demonstrating how ecological planting can transform overlooked corners of our towns and cities, or shape new neighbourhoods; showing how ecological planting offers an opportunity to create places that are not only more sustainable and climate resilient, but also more welcoming and enriching for everyone who uses them.

    The discussion will cover practical approaches to increasing biodiversity, selecting plants that thrive in challenging conditions, working with different substrates, and managing planting schemes for long-term success. The speakers will also reflect on the collaborations, partnerships and shared expertise that have helped bring the Beth Chatto approach into the public realm. £10 Livestream Register at www.gardenmuseum.org.uk

  • Sunday, September 13, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – The Dead Botanists Society (Rain Date September 21)

    For New England Botanical Society’s 130th anniversary, we’ll be celebrating with the ‘Dead Botanists Society’ of Mount Auburn Cemetery. The cemetery, established in 1831, is a National Historic Landmark and considered the first “garden cemetery” in the United States. The collection features more than 2,500 taxa (in over 20,000 plantings) throughout 175-acres. It is also the final resting place for several notable botanists in NEBS’s history. The event begins at 9:30 am on September 13 (rain date September 21).

    Jim Gorman of Mount Auburn Visitor Services will provide a list of plants in flower and talk about the cemetery and eminent botanists prior to the founding of New England Botanical Club in 1896. This includes Asa Gray and the garden named in his honor that was recently renovated and Jacob Bigelow, the architect of the cemetery. Samantha Richardson, Mount Auburn Manager of Horticulture Records, will provide a customized tour map and describe the Flora of Mount Auburn online plant records database of trees, shrubs, and ground covers. Nancy Eyster-Smith, NEBS Corresponding Secretary, will provide biographical highlights of members of the “Dead Botanists Society,” at the burial sites. This includes founding members of NEBC who served as President, Vice President, Treasurer, Corresponding Secretary, Curators of herbaria, and Editor-in-Chief of Rhodora, as well as the well-known Merritt Lyndon Fernald. Additional highlights of the tour will include trees recorded as Massachusetts or New England champions for their species and the Franklin Tree (Franklinia alatamaha), now extinct in the wild, named in honor of Benjamin Franklin.

    Location: Mount Auburn Cemetery. Meet at the Story Chapel, 580 Mt Auburn St, Cambridge, MA, for an introduction before we head out on the tour. The walk is about 1 mile. Bring water and wear comfortable shoes. Picnicking is not permitted on the cemetery grounds.

    FREE and open to members and nonmembers. For more information visit https://rhodora.org/meetings/

  • Friday, September 11, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Fearless With Color: Selected Works in Watercolor

    Experience the bold, expressive watercolor paintings of acclaimed artist John Barnard (1924–2018) in Fearless With Color, a special exhibition celebrating light, landscape, and the beauty of the natural world. The opening of the exhibit will take place September 11 from 5 – 8 at the Prescott Community Center in Groton, Massachusetts, sponsored by the Nashua River Watershed Association.

    Known for his fearless use of color and expressive brushwork, Barnard’s paintings capture the energy, beauty, and emotion of the natural landscape. His work invites viewers to experience a deeper connection to a place and serves as a powerful reminder of the landscapes and waterways that enrich our communities.

    We are especially grateful that a portion of proceeds from artwork sales will be donated to NRWA. These contributions help advance our work to protect water quality, restore habitat, educate future environmental stewards, and promote the long-term health of the Nashua River watershed.

    We encourage community members, art enthusiasts, and conservation supporters alike to visit the exhibition and celebrate the connection between art, nature, and environmental stewardship.

    Please contact John Barnard, 978-382-3032, for more information.

  • Thursday & Friday, November 5 & 6, 8:30 am – 3:45 pm – Newport Symposium: What Makes It American

    This November, the Newport Symposium explores the theme “What Makes It American” with a series of lectures and tours examining the origins and legacy of art, architecture, landscape and design in the United States. As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, presenters will discuss the history of our national—and Newport—identity through visual culture. The event takes place over two days at Marble House and Rosecliff. A star-studded list of speakers includes Robyn Asleson, Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Raissa Bretaña, Fashion Historian at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Rachel A. Heslop, Senior Project Coordinator at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Thomas Jayne, Interior Designer with Jayne Design Studio, K.L.H. Wells, Author and Assistant Professor of Art History, University of Wisconsin-Milwaulkee, and Christopher YOung, Vice President and Creative Director of Tiffany & Co. Register at https://www.newportmansions.org/events/save-the-date-newport-symposium/

  • Wednesday, September 2, 6:45 pm – 8:15 pm Eastern – The History & Beauty of Mount Desert Island, Online

    Thoughts of Mount Desert Island off the coast of Downeast Maine often conjure up rugged granite cliffs rising above the Atlantic, fishing boats in rocky harbors, and the sweeping landscapes of Acadia National Park. But beyond these familiar images, it is a place where dramatic scenery and human history are deeply intertwined.

    Historian Ralph Nurnberger traces the island’s story from its Native inhabitants and early exploration by Samuel de Champlain through centuries of settlement and change. In the 19th century, artists of the Hudson River School were drawn to its majestic coastline and unspoiled scenery, helping establish its reputation as one of the most beautiful places in America. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it became a summer retreat for some of the country’s most prominent Gilded Age families.

    A defining chapter in the island’s preservation came through the efforts of John D. Rockefeller Jr., Harvard President Charles Wilson Eliot, conservationist George Dorr, and others whose work helped create Acadia National Park—the first established through private donations and the first national park east of the Mississippi River. The park was enhanced through the work of the Civilian Conservation Corp and then survived the devastating Great Fire of 1947.

    Together, these and other stories reveal the history and beauty of Mount Desert Island. They invite a closer look at the landscape, people, and forces that continue to shape it today and why it remains one of America’s most remarkable coastal landscapes.

    This Smithsonian Associates webinar takes place September 2 on Zoom, beginning at 6:45 pm Eastern. $20 for Smithsonian Associates members, $30 for nonmembers. Register at www.smithsonianassociates.org

  • Saturday, September 12, 9:30 am – 12:00 noon – Fall Native Plant Sale

    It’s that time of year again – the Rhode Island Wild Plant Society Fall Native Plant Sale is coming up on September 12th at the Pawtuxet Village Farmer’s Market in Cranston.

    Note that there is a MEMBERS ONLY presale from 8:30 am to 9:30 am. It’s not too late to become a member – head to RIWPS.org to sign up! Sale is open to the public 9:30 am to noon. Sale is on, rain or shine!

  • On Demand, Online: Amsonia for Every Garden

    Now you can gain gardening expertise whenever and wherever you want with Classes On Demand! Featuring several of Mt. Cuba Center’s most popular courses, each class lasts about 90 minutes. Once purchased, students are able to watch the pre-recorded videos more than once, or stop at any point and re-start it again later within 30 days of the purchase date. Please call if this is a gift that will need a specific start date.

    On-demand classes are intended for independent learning by one student. They do not offer teacher interaction and are available for a limited time only. Visit https://mtcubacenter.org/programs/classes-on-demand/ for details, and registration. $19.00.

    Amsonia, or bluestars, are a rugged, versatile, and endlessly garden-worthy genus that deserve a place in any home garden. Without exception, bluestars are long-lived and provide multiple seasons of interest from their blue flowers in April and May, to their beautiful foliar textures in the summer, and striking golden color in the autumn. In addition to being exemplary garden plants, Amsonia support a variety of early season pollinators, including bumble bees and hummingbirds, and are even host plants for several butterflies and moths. Sam Hoadley, Mt. Cuba’s manager of horticultural research, will be your guide through the trials, sharing how Amsonia was evaluated to determine horticultural value and performance, disease resistance, and pollinator preference.

    About the Instructor
    Sam Hoadley is the Manager of Horticultural Research at Mt. Cuba Center where he evaluates native plant species, old and new cultivars, and hybrids in the Trial Garden. Prior to working at Mt. Cuba, he was the lead horticulturist for Longwood Gardens’ Hillside Garden. He earned his degree in Sustainable Landscape Horticulture from the University of Vermont.

  • Thursday, September 17, 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm – A Flower Party in the Garden: The New England Fall Flower Show Preview Party

    You’re invited to join us at the Preview Party for the 140th New England Flower Show: Growing Together!

    Thursday, September 17, 2026
    6-10pm
    The Garden at Elm Bank
    Attire: Cocktail Garden Party

    Enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvre amid immersive displays and floral exhibits. Spend the night mingling & dancing among friends and flowers, then take home a curated swag bag full of premium vendor goods. Purchase tickets at https://www.masshort.org/fall-flower-show/preview-party

  • Tuesday, September 22 – Wednesday, September 23 – Native Plants for Cape Cod Life

    Join Grow Native Massachusetts this September in Wellfleet for Native Plants for Cape Cod Life. It’s a celebration of local plants that make Cape Cod sing. At 3 events over 2 days you can expand your knowledge of native plants and the pollinators and birds that depend on them, bring home native plants from local, independent growers, and see firsthand how to design, plant, and maintain them in your home garden. Come to 1 event or all 3!

    Native plants function as a critical building block for our ecosystems, providing food, shelter, and host plant services for nearly all of our native insects, including the abundance of caterpillars needed to sustain local bird populations. These native species are also perfectly adapted to our landscape conditions, thriving in the dry, sandy soils we all know well on the Cape. When you embrace them in your garden, you can do more for the environment by doing less (watering, mowing, fertilizing, etc.)! Join us to explore the beauty and benefits of native plants, and why it is so critical to add them back into our Cape Cod landscapes.

    At this market, we will be joined by Butterfly Effect Farm, Hilltop Natives, and Tree Talk Natives, all small businesses who specialize in sustainably-grown native plants. They start much of their stock from seed (often local ecotype), and curate their inventory with an eye toward species of particular value to pollinators, caterpillars, and other threatened wildlife. All of them are passionate advocates for native plants and creating habitat in our gardens. We will also be joined by Association to Preserve Cape Cod, who will also have plants to sell, and Pollinator Pathway Cape Cod.

    Cape Cod is part of an ecoregion we call the pine barrens, a name that belies the rich, thriving natural communities that give this place its distinctive beauty. Understanding the conditions that shape the barrens and the plants that flourish here is key to creating ecologically vibrant gardens that thrive with minimal care, and enhance and protect the surrounding environment. Join Alex Kent of Kent Land Design to learn how he puts this understanding into practice on a tour of a Wellfleet home garden that he designed, installed, and maintains.

    September 22, 7pm – Why Native Plants? with Erin Camire of APCC at the Wellfleet Public Library. September 23, 8 am – noon – Native Plant Pop-Up Market at the Wellfleet Farmers Market. September 23, 2 pm, Garden Tour. For more information visit https://grownativemass.org/

  • Sunday, August 30, 12:00 noon – 2:00 pm – Goats ‘N’ Boats

    THE GOATS ARE BACK! Join The Boston Parks Department, the American Red Cross, and the Muddy Water Initiative for our Goats’ N Boats’ Celebration & Cleanup on Sunday August 30th from 12pm-2pm at the Muddy River. Thanks to all of our volunteers for making this GOAT season possible. All materials will be provided. Please wear close-toed shoes and clothes that can get muddy.