Boston Flora

Month: August 2009

  • Saturday, September 12, 6 pm – Cider Hill Farm to Table

    Cider Hill Farm in Amesbury, Massachusetts, began in 1978 when Ed and Eleanor Cook purchased the old Battis Dairy Farm with the hope of transforming it into an apple farm. Not long after that, the Cook’s son, Glenn, along with his new bride, Karen, bought the adjacent Vedrani Poultry Farm so they could start a quality life together. Now, with three generations diligently tending to the chores, they bring you a beautiful and diverse farm operation that looks and feels everything but first generation.

    We are excited to announce the final Farm to Table Dinner with the Cook family on their grounds. Festivities will begin at 6:00 pm and will include the following:

    ~ A Four Course Meal prepared by Good Tastes Kitchen, sourcing from Cider Hill Farm and other local purveyors.
    ~ Wine, Beer & Beverages from local artisans.
    ~ Live Music

    Seats ($80 each) are limited to the first 100 tickets sold. TICKETS MUST BE PURCHASED BY SEPTEMBER 6TH. For further details and directions please log on to www.ciderhill.com, or call the number below.

    PLEASE NOTE: THERE ARE NO PAPER TICKETS FOR THIS EVENT!!! Please call 978-518-5300 with any questions and to place your reservation over the phone.

    http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/8/7/0/3/ar124976639130782.JPG

  • Tuesday, September 1, 1:00 pm – Nordic Pole Walking on the Rose Kennedy Greenway

    The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy brings you a free 12-week instruction in Nordic Pole Walking, designed to achieve a low-impact, full body workout for all levels of fitness, health, and experience. Specially designed poles involve the arms, activate the upper body and achieve a total body workout with significant health and fitness benefits. Nordic Pole Walking is beneficial to opening up hunched postures and loosening tight shoulders developed from tension and poor working conditions. Instruction and equipment are free. Every Tuesday at noon on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Meet on the Wharf District Parks across from the Rowes Wharf. Walking sites may change. Check www.hellogreenway.org for more details on walking.

  • Sunday, August 30, 8:45 a.m. – New England Carnivorous Plant Society Cookout

    The New England Carnivorous Plant Society (www.necps.org) will hold a cookout and show on Sunday, August 30, beginning at 8:45 in the morning at the Black Jungle, 370 Avenue A, Turners Falls, Massachusetts 01376.  This annual event is always much anticipated.  You will see all sorts of plants, and there are wonderful discounts for NECPS members.  See the site for information on joining ($20/year for adults).  This year, there will be a visit and talk from renowned author Stewart McPherson.  Stewart has written several amazing books on varieties of carnivorous plants, and has new ones on the way.  He will be giving a talk on Nepenthes, and will be signing books.  This is a wonderful chance to speak with and meet a true giant of the CP world.

    http://www.collectorscorner.com.au/Carnivorous%20Plants/Carnivorous%20Pictures/AvftNo1.jpg

  • Saturday, August 30, 2:30 p.m. – Summer Herb Walk

    Join the Northeast Seacoast unit of the Herb Society of America on an end of summer Herb Walk in the woods.  Meet at The Mustard Seed, 80 Stage Road, Nottingham, New Hampshire.  The walk will be led by Jen Munson, 603-427-1475.  You may email her for directions at jenmun@yahoo.com.  The website for the Herb Society of America is www.herbsociety.org.

  • August is Asian Longhorned Beetle Awareness Month

    It was just over a year ago that the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) was first reported by Worcester resident Donna Massie. Since that time, local, state, and federal entities have joined together to fight the infestation of an invasive pest that has caused negative impact to the City of Worcester and placed the Commonwealth as well as the entire Northeastern United States on high alert. To this end, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) has worked with the Governor’s Office to declare August as Asian Longhorned Beetle Awareness Month, with the goal of encouraging every resident in the Commonwealth to learn to identify and report sightings of this invasive insect.  Aren’t you glad you know?

    http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/PI/AsianLongHornedBeetle.jpg

  • Saturday, September 12 – Yankee District Rose Show and Lobster Fest

    The Yankee District of the American Rose Society announces its Fall Rose Show and Lobster Fest, to be held Saturday, September 12 at the First Congregational Church of Yarmouthport, 329 Main Street (6A) in Yarmouthport.  Contact Oz at ozrose@comcast.net for times.  A bed & breakfast next to the First Congregational Church is holding rooms: contact www.colonialhousecapecod.com and mention the rose event.  The rose show will be in very close proximity to Grays Beach, the location of the Lobster Fest.  In case of bad weather, the Lobster Fest will be held in the Church Hall.  The price of the Lobster Fest will be $40, and includes chowder, 1 1/2 lb. lobster or a 16 oz grilled New York steak, native steamers, mussels, corn on the cob, onions, red bliss potatoes, linguica, and watermelon.  Send your check, specifying lobster or steak, to Audrey Osborn, 12 Scotch Pine Farm, East Harwich, MA 02645.  You may also call 508-221-6734 for more information.

  • Sunday, September 13, 12 – 7 pm – Cambridge Carnival at Kendall Square

    Not exactly a garden event, but something of interest to our Boston members is the 17th Annual Cambridge Carnival International.  This is a colorful and festive celebration rooted in African traditions.  The festival attracts over 150,000 people, making it the largest festival in Cambridge, Massachusetts  The highlight of this annual Mardi Gras style festival is a grand costume parade accompanied by rich rhythmic musicality promoting all types of cultures.  The festival combines food and craft exhibits, costumes, masks, wire-bending, live music, steel pan, street parades and dancing, displaying the history and culture of the Caribbean traditions based on the models of Trinidad, Tobago, and Brazil.  For more information log on to www.cambridgecarnival.org.  The Children’s Museum will feature “Meet Me at the Table,” and will focus on food and art activities that relate to six different cultures around Boston: Brazilian, Haitian/Caribbean, Puerto Rican and Dominican, Cape Verdean, Chinese and Vietnamese. They will be setting a table with beautiful, artist-made play food, and will encourage festival participants to eat and play together. Activities will include making collage place mats that will then go back to the museum for use at our big end-of-summer party in September.

    Carnival Close-up by Steve_C.

  • Wednesday, September 16, 6:30 – 8:30 pm – Interpretive Floral Design

    What better way than to end your day at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive, Boylston, Massachusetts, than with a floral design class? Instructor Al DeLuca will discuss floral design theory, give inside tips, and walk you through the steps in creating your own beautiful floral arrangement to take home! Beginner to advanced.
    Taking inspiration from nature, this class will teach you how to interpret what you see outdoors in floral design to bring a bit of nature indoors.

    Al DeLuca is accredited in floral design by the American Institute of Floral Designers and has been recognized for his outstanding contribution to the floral industry by the American Academy of Floriculture. His designs have been featured in both the Philadelphia and Boston Flower Shows. His mastery of floriculture ranges from contemporary to traditional and European styles.

    Registration by September 9 is required.  Cost – $58 for Tower Hill Members, $63 for Non-Members.  For more information, log on to www.towerhillbg.org.

    http://www.flowerbarn1.com/Fall/Fall%20Halloween%20174.jpg

  • Plant Society Magazine Launches

    Matt Mattus, of Worcester, Massachusetts, maintains a very good website, www.growingwithplants.com, and this week formally announced the publishing of the first prototype issue of Plant Society Magazine, available now at Magcloud.com.  Here is what Matt says about his new venture:

    “Magcloud is HP’s new Beta self publishing site for magazines, and I am using it to launch the first few issues. Magcloud tells me that that they can currently ship directly to USA, Canada and the UK. Let me know how it works if you are outside of the US. As a designer, horticulturist, trend hunter, artist, photographer, blogger and plant collector, it only seemed natural to use this new platform to launch this venture. After all, I design magazines for a living, I evaluate publication design for many of the major graphic design journals and annual award issues, I speak at both leading visual design conferences, and plant societies, and I have a vault of images taken over the past ten years from my greenhouses, alpine house and gardens.

    The publishing business is changing so fast, that what once was seen as vanity publishing, is now much more accepted in our new digital world of blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. You can think of this as a magazine, or a blogazine. Either way, it will morph and change as I develop future issues to include both plant related features focusing on subjects not examined by the mass market magazines, and garden lifestyle – with inspirational crafts, holiday design, food, travel, and more all planned for future issues.

    The first issue of this quarterly magazine is for people who are serious about plants. You know who you are, you don’t just like plants, you are crazy about them. You don’t just collect them, you curate your collections and you will do most anything to get that plant that you do not have.  This stunningly designed plant quarterly is a plant connoisseur’s dream come true.  It’s part botanical journal, part lifestyle magazine and part blogazine.

    This issue focuses on high summer, both in the greenhouse and in the garden of the plant collector. Learn about Nerine sarniensis, the Guernsey Lilies, Japanese trained chrysanthemums, rare South African Geraniums (Pelargonium in the section Horarea), and Crocosmia.

    Currently the magazine sells for $14.99. at 75 pages, but it is on sale as a feature of Magcloud for around $12.00 US give or take some change for shipping and handling directly through the website MAGCLOUD. Anyone in the US, Canada or UK can order direct from the Magcloud website portal, and can even pay directly from their credit card or Paypal on the site. Magcloud prints to order, and the process is very easy. In five days or less, the magazine will be printed, bound, and mailed directly to you.”

  • Sunday, September 20 – Monday, September 21 – Third Annual Garden Party at Basin Harbor Club

    Dreamy. Refreshing. Unparalleled. Basin Harbor Club (www.basinharbor.com) in Vergennes, VT (just south of Burlington, VT) is a majestic, 700-acre resort on Lake Champlain. It has charming cottages, a statuesque Main Lodge, great dining facilities, beautiful gardens, tennis courts, nature trails, heated outdoor pool, an 18-hole golf course, and more. The program kicks off Sunday afternoon, September 20th at 3:00 p.m. with a garden talk by the infamous garden designer, Sydney Eddison. This will be followed by a wine and cheese boat cruise. The garden program continues on Monday, September 21 until 3:00 p.m. Overnight and day-only rates are available.

    This year’s program will be hosted by Sydney Eddison, Anita Dafonte, and Kerry Ann Mendez. Sydney has written six award-winning gardening books and is currently writing her seventh masterpiece to be out in 2010. Based in Newtown, CT, Sydney travels around the country giving her infamous talks. Her gardens have been featured in Martha Stewart Living and on The Victory Garden. She has received the Connecticut Horticultural Society’s Gustav A.L. Melquist Award in 2002; the New England Wild Flower Society Kathryn S. Taylor Award in 2005 and 2006, and The Federated Garden Club of Connecticut’s Bronze Medal. Anita is the associate editor of People, Places & Plants magazine and has worked in national gardening sales for years. She’s an avid gardener and cook and was also the manager of a vintage-car race team!

    Sydney will present two dynamic talks. Her first on Sunday afternoon is titled The Rainbow Contained. This talk explores connections between color in art, nature and the garden and how you can create contrast and harmony to create beautiful compositions. On Monday Sydney will have
    you thinking outside the box with her presentation The Unsung Season, Gardens in
    Winter    . Kerry will lead two interactive garden talks. Putting Your Gardens to Bed for the
    Winter     will cover shortcuts and proven techniques for wintering over gardens including care
    for shrubs, roses, and vines. She’ll also cover tips for getting the best deals at fall garden
    center sales. Her second talk, Give New Life to Tired Gardens will feature a pro’s secrets for beautifying and revitalizing lackluster gardens, including some of her favorite, top performing plants. Anita will delight you with her popular talk Eggplants on Parade. The presentation will feature a slide show from her own gardens and how to make a vegetable garden both productive and beautiful.

    The one night package includes Sunday afternoon’s lecture by Sydney; the wine and cheese boat cruise; one night’s accommodations; breakfast and lunch buffets on Monday; four garden talks on Monday; handouts, colorful garden catalogs, and a garden gift. Package rates are $220 for a single and $335 for a double ($167.50 per person). Taxes and gratuity are additional. The Sunday and Monday day-only rate (includes all of the above except overnight accommodations) is $160 per person. The Monday only day rate is $110 and includes the garden program, handouts, morning coffee, lunch, and a garden gift. To see how incredible these resort rates are, check out the video tour on the Club’s web site. Please call Basin Harbor Club at (800) 622-4000 to reserve overnight packages. Day only reservations go through Perennially Yours. Please visit www.pyours.com/gardenclasses.html or call  (518) 885-3471.