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.
Month: September 2009
-
Monday, October 19, 2:00 pm – The Gardens of Paris
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.
-
Thursday, October 8, 6:30 – 8:00 pm – Snapshot of Galapagos
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.
-
Saturday, October 3, 2:00 pm – 12th Annual Forest Hills Cemetery Dog Walk
Dee Morris tells tales of Victorian animals – beloved pets and faithful workers – and tours animal sculpture throughout Forest Hills Cemetery, 95 Forest Hills Avenue, Jamaica Plain, on Saturday, October 3 beginning at 2:00 pm. The walk is for sociable canines and their owners, but people without dogs (poor souls) are also welcome. Dogs receive delicious treats from the Walk sponsor, Polkadog Bakery, and a certificate. $10 for Forest Hills Educational Trust members, $12 for non-members. For directions and more information, log on to www.foresthillstrust.org.
-
Woods of the World
The Woods of the World permanent exhibit consists of 178 unique woods from all parts of the globe and hangs from the walls and ceiling near the north entrance of Lyman Plant House, 15 College Lane, Northampton, Massachusetts.
The wood samples on display have a clear protective finish but are not stained. Aging will change the colors over time.
Deforestation, poaching and global warming are placing many tree species at risk. It is only through sustainable harvesting, reforestation and habitat preservation that many useful and beautiful woods will be available for future generations. The hours are 8:30 – 4:00 daily, closed Thanksgiving Day and December 23 – January 2.
-
Saturday, October 3, 12:00 – 6:00 pm – Hello Fall
Try Something New, like skating on artificial ice, on Saturday October 3rd at the Greenway Conservancy’s second annual fall festival in Dewey Square Parks. Tickle all of your senses at this free all-ages event with a farmers market and cooking demonstrations, local art, a carnival ride, Greenway and Harborwalk tours, treasure hunt, and multi-cultural music. Get your body moving with hula hoops, Nordic pole walking, and a laughter class…where everyone gets an A+. For more information, log on to www.hellogreenway.org.
-
Thursday, October 8, 3:30 – 5:30 pm – Seed Safari
The New England Wild Flower Society is sponsoring a family program entitled Seed Safari – Study and Collect Seeds, on Thursday, October 8, from 3:30 – 5:30 at the Garden in the Woods in Framingham. Seeds explode like grenades, shoot like cannons, stick like glue, float like feathers, all in an effort to disperse themselves. Bonnie Drexler shows how to collect seeds from around the Garden and study them, using all of your senses as well as powerful stereo-microscopes. Make a seed display to take home and plant some pots of wildflower, shrub, and tree seeds to sprout in the spring. $12 for members of NEWFS, $14 for non-members. Pre-registration is necessary. You may phone 508-877-7630, ext. 3303, or email registrar@newenglandWILD.org. For additional information log on to www.newfs.org.
-
Tuesday, October 13, 2 – 4:30 pm – Afternoon at the Farmer’s Market
Join Leah Bloom and the Boston Center for Adult Education (122 Arlington Street, Boston) for this hands-on trip to the Farmer’s Market, followed by a tasting of unusual fruits and vegetables and cooking demonstration, where you’ll learn to cook several colorful dishes with a bounty of farm fresh ingredients. The cost is $45 plus a materials fee of $18. BCAE members pay $39 plus the materials fee. For more information, and to register, log on to www.bcae.org.
-
Tuesday, October 6, 6:00 pm – No Impact Men with Colin Beavan and David Owen
Hear two authors speak at the Boston Public Library Abbey Room, 700 Boylston Street, on Tuesday, October 6, beginning at 6 pm. Meet the two men who are concerned about the environment, and about leaving as little impact on the environment as possible. No Impact Man (a book and a movie) is a deeply honest and riveting account of the year in which Colin Beavan and his wife attempted to do what most of us would consider impossible: buy nothing, waste nothing, and reduce their carbon footprint to zero – while living with a young child in a 9th floor Manhattan apartment. He’s known as the guy who went a year without toilet paper.
In a persuasive and provocative challenge to established environmental thinking, David Owen’s Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less are the Keys to Sustainability challenges much of the conventional wisdom about being green and shows how the greenest place in the United States isn’t Portland, Oregon or Snowmass, Colorado, but New York, New York. For more information, log on to www.bpl.org.
-
Tuesdays, October 6, 13, 20 & 27, 6:30 – 8:30 pm – Flower Design with Al DeLuca
Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Massachusetts is sponsoring a series of floral design workshops with Al DeLuca, A.I.F.D., A.A.F., Flor-Al’s Inc.
On October 6, enjoy Designing with Fruits and Vegetables. Fruits and vegetables add exciting color, texture and focal interest to a floral design. Learn how to select produce, condition it, and place it in an arrangement for long lasting pleasure.
October 13 brings a session entitled Autumn Arrangement. Incorporating the bounty of color in New England, participants will create a beautiful arrangement utilizing the richly hued floral product available during the autumn season.
The next workshop, Trans-seasonal Arrangement, takes place on October 27. This class is designed to help you make an arrangement that will be appropriate for Thanksgiving and can be transitioned into Christmas. The arrangement will include both fresh and permanent materials.
Each session costs $55 for Tower Hill members, $60 for non-members. You may register on-line at www.towerhillbg.org.
