Come to the Harwich Community Center, 100 Oak Street in Harwich Center, on Saturday and Sunday, September 19 and 20, for a signature event featuring at least 150 juried crafters, community non-profits, kids activities, food trucks, CranJam Music, a Saturday night drone show, dance floor, and ample free parking. For detailed information visit https://www.harwichcranberryartsandmusicfestival.org/harwich-cranberry-arts-and-music-festival-1
The apple may be the most diverse food plant in the world. A century ago, 16,000 varieties existed in the United States alone. Today, thanks to industrial agriculture, only a handful appear in most grocery stores, but hundreds of the most interesting varieties still exist, and a new apple renaissance has many making a comeback. Some have played key roles in American history. Some have languished in obscurity for decades, then swept to national dominance, only to be knocked off by the new apple on the block. Some deliver flavors no Red Delicious ever dreamed of. And some are coming soon to a market near you with brand-new taste surprises.
From the explosively crisp Pixie Crunch to the dark and moody Kingston Black, the lychee-scented King of the Pippins, and America’s oldest apple, the Roxbury Russet, Rowan Jacobsen, author of Apples of Uncommon Character, explores some of the most exotic, colorful, delicious, mysterious, and downright strange apples you’ll ever meet. Profiling some of the best and brightest, the oddballs and old veterans, Jacobsen tells the tale of the apple in America and reveals a world every bit as magical as it was over a century ago.
This Smithsonian Associates talk takes place September 30 at 6:30 pm. $20 members, $30 nonmembers. Register at https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/programs/apples-of-uncommon-character
Boston Dance Theater (BDT) returns to the Garden this September for Plants: Solos for Native Species. On September 26, visitors are invited to experience immersive dance performances throughout the Garden, featuring 20-minute solo works inspired by native plant species. Four solo performances will loop throughout the day in different locations, allowing guests to discover each piece at their own pace and to come and go freely during regular Garden hours. Free with Garden Admission. For more information visit https://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/plants-solos-for-native-species/
Order by September 18 and come by Minuteman High School, 758 Marrett Road in Lexington on September 25 or 26 to pick up your orders and pay (cash). Details can be found at https://middlesexconservationdistrict.org/events/2026-fall-native-plant-sale-minuteman-high-school-pickup-cash-sale-day-1/
Evan Abramson, Principal, Landscape Interactions, presents a Massachusetts Pollinator Network monthy free webinar on September 29 at 7 pm Eastern. A first of its kind hybrid regional plan and open source design toolkit, this project demonstrates the opportunities that farms and working landscapes provide for building soil health, increasing soil carbon sequestration and restoring regional biodiversity. Register at https://grownativemass.org/Our-Programs/calendar
On September 17 from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm, learn how to use iNaturalist to catalog flora and fauna, and collect vital community science data for our “BioBlitz” biological survey. Explore the impact of a new river restoration project and tell us your vision for the brook and the surrounding area! Cheesecake Brook is located at 256 Albemarle Road in Newton. Free but sign up HERE. And ignore street misspelling in poster below.
Sonja Waites launches her book The Amazing Lady P: The Inspiring Story of Pulbrook & Gould and their English-grown Flowers. Join the Garden Museum on September 29 to hear Sonja in conversation with Shane Connolly to recall the extraordinary success of Pulbrook & Gould, one of London’s most celebrated floral decorators, drawing on recollections from former staff, clients, and the suppliers of their distinctive English-grown flowers.
Founded in the 1950s by society hostess Susan, Lady Pulbrook and her Constance Spry-trained partner Rosamund Gould, the firm quickly became the leading choice for Society events: weddings, funerals, balls and private parties, with a client list that included the Royal Family. As passionate gardeners, their signature natural style drew on flowers sourced from country-house contacts and English growers at Covent Garden Market.
Sonja (Lady Pulbrook’s sister-in-law) became a partner when Rosamund Gould retired in 1974. Her book offers a unique insight into running a flower business in an era when individual style truly mattered, and when women founding and leading a celebrated enterprise of this kind was still a rare achievement. £10 Livestream. Register at https://www.gardenmuseum.org.uk/whats-on/book-launch-the-amazing-lady-p-with-sonja-waites-and-shane-connolly/?utm_source=Newsletter+Subscribers&utm_campaign=d81fc0bba9-Newsletter+-+01.08.26&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-be7878cebb-439296746&mc_cid=d81fc0bba9&mc_eid=03faa403db
The human use of plant fibers has shaped entire landscapes — territories, economies, and identities. In Latin America, this history spans thousands of years and holds a complexity rarely captured in the literature: distinct peoples, distinct plants, distinct bodies of knowledge, each built and passed down within very specific ecological and cultural contexts.
This online course is a journey through Latin America told through its fibrous plants. We’ll cover botany, ethnobotany, history, textile uses, and extraction practices documented in scientific literature, historical sources, and audiovisual records. We will also discuss communities’ rights over their traditional knowledge of plant fibers, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the concept of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). More information can be found on Google Docs HERE.
Class 1 — Tuesday, September 22, 2026: A Panoramic View of Pre-Colonial Plant Fibers in Latin America
Which plants were used, by which peoples, in which territories. How fibers structured economy, spirituality, identity, and memory.
Class 2 — Wednesday, September 23, 2026: Botany, Ethnobotany, and Extraction Practices
A deep dive into some of Latin America’s key fiber species — from Mexican henequén to Amazonian curauá. Ecology, geographic distribution, and textile uses. Extraction techniques documented in the literature and in reference videos.
Class 3 — Tuesday, September 29, 2026: Colonialism, Expropriation, and Rights
What colonialism did to fiber knowledge. Concrete cases of appropriated and erased knowledge — and what protections exist today.
Class 4 — Wednesday, September 30, 2026: What Fibers Exist Where You Live?
Ahead of this class, you’ll be asked to go outside, observe the plants around you, and bring back a photo or sample. In our final session, we’ll identify these plants together, trace their stories, and connect what’s growing near you to everything we’ve covered throughout the course.
Who this course is for
Anyone curious about plants, history, and material culture. Artisans, designers, and fashion professionals who want to understand the origins of what they work with. Students and researchers in anthropology, biology, history, and law.
About the instructor
Eduarda Bastian is a doctoral researcher in Botany at UFSC (PPGFAP – Laboratory of Human Ecology and Ethnobotany, Brazil), where she studies the traditional and contemporary use of plant fibers across the Global South. She is the founder of Fibershed Brasil, a nonprofit organization supporting and strengthening the work of traditional communities engaged in plant fiber and textile projects.
The Emerald Necklace Conservancy announces a brand-new, mobile-friendly website, https://www.emeraldnecklace.org/, full of exciting tools to make the Emerald Necklace parks even more accessible. Explore the Necklace’s parks with our informative, interactive map; discover each park’s history and hidden treasures; and learn more about the Conservancy’s work in these extraordinary landscapes over the past three decades—and counting!
With this new website comes a new look and feel for our organization—including a new logo that bridges the Emerald Necklace’s rich history with its dynamic future.
This important update was made possible with generous support from our communities, alongside hundreds of comments and thoughtful feedback from neighbors, advocates, and park users like you.
Join Master Gardener Chris Ferrero at Berkshire Botanical Garden on Saturday, September 26 from 1 to 3 p.m., to explore how to maintain perennial borders, foundation plots and vegetable gardens that have been created and tended over the years. This course will teach participants how to reshape their garden design and how to choose appropriate types of plants that can improve the gardening process.
Chris Ferrero is a gardening speaker, writer and consultant. Chris is a Cornell Master Gardener from Dutchess County, N.Y., where in addition to speaking and teaching classes, she has led demonstration garden renovations, organized regional events and served on teams as a perennials specialist known for particular expertise in shade gardening, flowering shrubs, pollinator-approved planting designs, and native plants as alternatives to invasives. $30 for BBG members, $45 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/gardening-baby-boomers-10-ways-garden-smarter-we-get-older
