Daily Archives: September 28, 2009

Sunday, October 18, 1 – 3 pm – Autumn Beauties: Native Plants in the Collections

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Tower Hill Botanic Garden’s grounds contain many beautiful native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants that are at their most vivacious in the fall. Blueberries and chokeberries around the Wildlife Pond will be in vivid fall dress, and winterberries will be ripening for winter migrating birds. Fine native grasses will be at their ripest on Sunday, October 18, beginning at 1 pm, in the Systematic Garden. Witch hazels will be glowing yellow around the Wildlife Garden. Garden Designer Dori Smith, M. Ed, of Gardens for Life in Acton, Massachusetts,  will seek out the best specimens in the garden’s collections to show you. She will discuss the special characteristics of native plants that make them good choices for your gardens, and how to create a palette of plants that will please you and the wildlife, year round. Fee $20 for Tower Hill members, $25 for non-members.  To register, log on to www.towerhillbg.org.

Monday, October 19, 2:00 pm – The Gardens of Paris

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Experience the gardens of Paris as close up as you can hope for without being there.  Wellesley College Botanic Garden docent and former Paris garden tour guide Maureen Bovet provides us with her unique view of Paris’ most beautiful parks and gardens.  Maureen will show us well known historic parks – Luxembourg, Parc Monceau (pictured below, photo courtesy of Marcel Germain), Jardin des Plantes, Medieval Garden of Cluny Museum, and Parc des Buttes-Chaumont – as well as several exciting new Paris gardens – Parc de Bercy, Promenade Plantee and Andre Citroen, with their innovative urban park designs.  She will discuss French garden design and plant cultivation, along with the fascinating history of these parks.  The program will begin with tea at 2:00 pm, and the lecture follows at 2:30.  WCFH members $10, non-members $13.  To register, or for more information, log on to www.wellesley.edu/SCFH, or email horticulture@wellesley.edu.

Parc Monceau by marcelgermain.

Thursday, October 8, 6:30 – 8:00 pm – Snapshot of Galapagos

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The Galapagos Islands have always attracted the imagination of potential visitors for its landscapes, fauna and high number of endemic species.  A booming tourism industry coupled with a resident population explosion from mainland Ecuador has forced the World Conservation Union to include Galapagos in the World Heritage in Danger List.  In his recent trip to these islands (another tourist?), Eduardo del Solar spent considerable time with Galagueno educators interested in conservation and reform.  For this Thursday, October 8 presentation at Mass Audubon’s Boston Nature Center, 500 Walk Hill Street in Mattapan, beginning at 6 pm, he will use his photographs and the website he created to talk about issues that face this incredible site.  For more information, log on to www.massaudubon.org.