Boston Flora

Month: July 2009

  • Sunday, July 12, 10 – 5 – ACK-Sustainable

    The 45th Annual Community Green Thumb Flower Show, a Garden Club of America Flower Show, will be presented by the Nantucket Garden Club on Sunday, July 12, from 10 – 5, at the Nantucket New School, 15 Nobadeer Farm Road, Nantucket, Massachusetts.  The Nantucket Garden Club is a member of the Garden Club of America. This “summer” club on the resort island of Nantucket off the Coast of Cape Cod has members from throughout the U.S. who spend much of their vacation time in service to the Nantucket community and take responsibility for long-term civic projects.  In July, when gardens across the island are all in bloom and the fragrant roses of ‘Sconset are a highlight of the island tours,  the Nantucket Garden Club presents the Annual Community Green Thumb Flower Show. For 45 years the island community has entered their cut stems, blooms, plants, and vegetables, along with special theme arrangements, where children, seniors, men, and women compete for ribbons and awards. The Nantucket Garden Club maintains the historic Hadwen House Garden and assisted with funding the Athenaeum (library) garden/park in the downtown historic district. The picturesque and often photographed Main Street fountain is seasonally decorated with colorful plants throughout the year by the Garden Club members. Four major scholarships are awarded annually to Nantucket High School graduates for advanced study in horticulture, landscaping, environmental studies, and conservation. Efforts by members in local and national conservation is a current focus of the Nantucket Garden Club.

  • Thursday, July 16, 6-9 pm (rain date Thursday, July 23) – 11th Annual Lantern Festival

    Join The Friends of Forest Hills Educational Trust on Thursday, July 16 from 6 – 9 pm (rain date Thursday, July 23) for a moving memorial ceremony inspired by Buddhist rituals. Inscribe a lantern with a personal message to friends or family and float it across Lake Hibiscus at sunset.

    In this breathtaking ceremony of remembrance, visitors to this lush, Victorian landscape make paper lanterns and set them afloat on the peaceful waters of a small lake. This ritual is based on the traditional Japanese Bon Festival, a time when a door opens to the world of the ancestors, allowing us to send messages to the other side. People enjoy picnics on the grass and a multi-cultural program of music and dance. They decorate their lanterns with calligraphy and notes to those who have died. At sunset, a candle is lit in each lantern, and the glimmering lanterns are set afloat. Drifting and flickering with the wind, the lanterns symbolize the soul’s journey when life ends For more information, log on to www.foresthillstrust.org

  • Saturday, July 18, 10 – noon – Canning and Preserving at Cogswell’s Grant

    Visit Essex, Massachusetts on Saturday, July 18,  from 10:00 to noon, and join Historic New England and Caroline Craig, who worked for the Little family for more than 30 years, for a lecture and demonstration on canning and preserving.  Learn about traditional preservation methods, look at the equipment used, and see some of the produce of Bert and Nina Fletcher Little’s farm.  $10 for Historic New England members, and $15 for non-members.  Registration is required.  Log on to www.historicnewengland.org, or call 617-227-3956.

  • Friday, July 24, 9 – 3 – Organic Gardening Magazine Program

    This is going to be one great day of gardening insights, delicious food, and gardening fellowship. Please make plans to join exceptional professionals in their fields Steve Silk, Ellen Ogden, Tim Kane, and Kerry Mendez at the elegant Glen Sanders Mansion (www.glensandersmansion.com) on Friday, July 24 from 9:00 – 3:00 p.m. Continental breakfast and registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. The first garden presentation starts at 9:00 a.m. Featured topics: European Kitchen Garden Designs; The Crazy, Mixed-up Border: An Eclectic Approach to Using Trees, Shrubs, Annuals, Tropicals, Edibles and Perennials; Hellstrip Gardening (some of the toughest, top performing plants for tough to garden areas including dry shade, slopes, poorly drained areas, poor soils, and hot, baking sites),and the best fruiting shrubs and trees, including their care and pruning requirements. For more about the speakers and topics, please visit www.pyours.com/gardenclasses.html.

    As a bonus, every attendee will receive a one-year complimentary subscription to Organic Gardening magazine. This premier magazine is a must for everyone interested in tips and how-to’s for organic gardening and living a healthier lifestyle. Check out this fantastic publication at www.organicgardening.com.

    The registration fee is only $65 per person for four dynamic garden talks, continental breakfast, lunch, door prizes, a one-year subscription to Organic Gardening magazine, and terrific handouts. To register, please visit Kerry’s garden classes page at www.pyours.com/gardenclasses.html. You can pay by PayPal or by check.

  • Monday, July 13, 5 – 7 – Landscapes: Urban & Rural

    The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University presents a photographic exhibit July 13 – August 6, 2009, with an opening reception Monday, July 14, from 5 – 7 pm.

    By forcing the photographer to impose limits and provide visual meaning to what amounts to a pre-drawn canvas, the photograph has the possibility of communicating a personal vision, revealing lines and relationships previously hidden. Roger Cody will exhibit a collection of landscapes that provide an opportunity to see the familiar and ordinary as something more. The locales are diverse, but the collection of images is united by a commonality of artifice—the transformations used to make the impersonal and chaotic, personal and meaningful.

    Location: The Landscape Institute, 30 Chauncy Street, Cambridge, MA.  For more information, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

  • Sunday, July 12, 10 – 5 – Georges River Land Trust Garden Tour

    18th “Gardens in the Watershed” tour in mid-coast Maine, featuring seven country gardens in Spruce Head, Tenants Harbor and Port Clyde. A gourmet bag lunch is available by pre-order through the Georges River Land Trust office. Sponsored by and to benefit the Georges River Land Trust. Tickets are $20 in advance, $22 on tour day. For further information contact Linda Arnold at the Georges River Land Trust, 207-594-5166, info@grlt.org, or log on to www.grlt.org.

  • Thursday, July 16, 10 a.m. – Castle Hill Landscape Tour

    On Thursday, July 16, beginning at 10 a.m., join the Trustees of Reservation. Take a guided walking tour of this grand, early 20th-century estate by the sea, and learn how landscape architects Arthur Shurcliff and the Olmsted Brothers transformed a bare, sandy drumlin into a beautiful, country retreat. Explore the farmstead, vegetable garden, formal garden areas, and outbuildings. See website www.thetrustees.org for other dates and times. Recommended for children 8 years and older. Full (90-minute) and half (45- minute) tours.  Members of the Trustees: free, Non-Members $5.  For more information call 978-921-1944 x 4009, or email needucation@ttor.org.

  • Thursday, July 17, 5 pm – Flight Path Exhibit, 7 pm – Living on the Wind: The World of Migratory Birds

    Plymouth Beach is part of the breathtaking panorama seen from Plimoth Plantation. Few visitors know that this beautiful shoreline plays a crucial role in a complex and ancient system of shorebird migration routes running from the tip of South America to the Arctic tundra. In addition to the threatened and endangered species that breed and nest on this local barrier beach, more than 20,000 migratory birds use the bay as a fuel stop.

    Eighty-five striking images by nature photographer Jim Fenton provide a close-up of coastal water bird life to reveal their beauty and behavior. The exhibit was developed in partnership with the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, Goldenrod Foundation and Massachusetts Audubon Society, and produced with generous financial support from the Bobolink Foundation, Goldenrod Foundation, Sheehan Family Foundation and others.

    At any moment of every day, migratory birds fill the skies of the western hemisphere, journeying from the High Arctic to Tierra del Fuego, across the Atlantic and Pacific, moving by day and night.  Join naturalist and author Scott Weidensaul on an exploration of how and why birds migrate, and the conservation challenges that face them, based on his book, Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds.  The program ranges from the doorstep of the Aleutians in Alaska and the frozen edge of Hudson Bay in Canada to landscapes as exotic as the grassy pampas of Argentina, and as familiar as the barrier islands of the Massachusetts coast.  A presentation filled with the drama of this remarkable phenomenon awaits.  No reservation needed.  Members of Plimoth Plantation $6.50, non-members $8.50.  Flight Path: Plymouth Beach will be open free of charge from 5 pm to 7 pm to all current members of Mass Audubon, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, and Goldenrod Foundation members.

    For directions to Plimoth Plantation and more information, log on to www.plimoth.org.

  • July through September – Cocktails in Great Gardens of the Berkshires

    The Berkshire Botanical Garden has arranged for a series of Friday evening visits to spectacular private gardens featured in the new book, “Great Gardens of The Berkshires.” Enjoy this rare opportunity to roam these private spaces with the gardeners themselves while enjoying wine and hors d’oeuvres in the beautiful waning light of the summer day. The book’s creators will be in attendance. For advance reservations contact call the Garden: 413-298-3926. The parties will all take place from 5 – 7 p.m
    Admission is limited. Berkshire Botanical Garden Members $20, non-members $25; all four for $70/85.
    The dates and locations are: July 10, Under The Hemlocks, West Stockbridge, MA; July 24, Good Dogs Farm, Ashley Falls, MA ; August 14, Rockland Farm, Canaan, NY; September 4, Seekonk Farm, Great Barrington, MA.  For additional information, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.

  • Saturday and Sunday, July 18 – 19 – Pittsfield Garden Tour

    If you are in the Berkshires, plan to attend the Pittsfield Garden Tour on Saturday, July 18 (10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.) or on Sunday, July 19 (noon – 4:00 p.m.).  This is a self guided tour of seven gorgeous private gardens designed and maintained by the homeowners, as opposed to professionally designed and maintained premises.  Plus, there will be an inspirational garden dedicated to the memory of AIDS victims.  Tickets ($15 for adults, free for children 12 and under) are available at 480 West Street in Pittsfield.

    Also, on Saturday, there will be a silent auction of hand decorated and embellished birdhouses.  The auction ends at 5:30 p.m. and no ticket is necessary to participate in the silent auction.  The birdhouses can be seen, and bids placed, at the Garden Tour Headquarters, 480 West Street, Pittsfield.  For further information, contact Anne W. Pasko at awpasko@verizon.net, or call 413-443-1832.  You may also log on to www.pittsfieldgardentour.org.