Garden Club of the Back Bay member Donna Morrissey created a fabulous arrangement entitled “Victoria Falls, Africa” at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Massachusetts, as a part of Flora in Winter, a celebration taking place at Tower Hill and at the Worcester Art Museum. The very labor intensive arrangement includes asparagus fern, asters, freesia, wax flower, babies breath, statice, lisianthus, loosestrife, feather fern, ruscus and bear grass.
Join Allan Mandell, an internationally published photographer with a passion for the gardens of Kyoto, in November, 2010, for a Pacific Horticulture trip timed to take advantage of Kyoto at the height of fall color. Mr. Mandell has been awarded numerous ‘Garden Globe’ and ‘Quill & Trowel’ awards for photography, and is the sole photographer of Garden to Vase (Timber Press, 2007), Artists in Their Gardens (Sasquatch Books, 2001), Garden Retreats (Chronicle Books, 2000), Naturalistic Gardening (Sasquatch Books, 1998), Gardening from Scratch (Simon & Schuster, 1998) and Tea Gardens (Chronicle Books, 1998).
Once the imperial capitol of Japan, Kyoto is a treasure trove of the traditional arts. Garden making flourished here. Experience stroll gardens and small Zen temples, navigating through crowds and quiet back streets, urban density and forested hillsides, all in pursuit of bamboo, maple leaves, imperial elegance, rustic Shinto simplicity, and the quiet within. Accommodations in a traditional ryokan, with side trips to soak in hot baths, are part of the experience. Enjoy being lost for a while – lost in color, line, pattern, creativity, and discovery. Bring open eyes, your gear, and a desire to explore. This trip is limited to ten guests, so you are advised to contact Sterling Tours at 619-299-3010 as soon as possible. They may also be found at www.sterlingtours.info/choices.php.
Join Jen Kettell, Horticultural Technologist at the Arnold Arboretum, on Saturday, February 20 at 9:00 a.m. in the Hunnewell Building at the Arboretum for this single session pruning workshop. Jan presented this program earlier in January, and you have a second chance. With no leaves on the branches to obscure your view, this is the best time of year to study a tree’s structure and shape it for improved air circulation, silhouette, and strength. Jen Kettell, an International Society of Arboriculture-certified arborist and accredited Organic Land Care professional, will explain the reasons for pruning and what to consider when pruning dormant trees, shrubs, and vines. She will demonstrate techniques, give guidelines for determining which plants benefit from winter pruning, and explain how plants heal from pruning wounds, even when dormant. Bring your questions to this classroom discussion and demonstration. Fee $30 Arnold Arboretum member, $35 nonmember. To register, or for more information, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.
Instructor Kristin DeSouza leads a class on Thursday, February 11, from 9:30 – 11:30 am, on Designing an Edible Native Plant Garden (co-sponsored by the New England Wild Flower Society). There are over 20,000 species of edible plants in the world, yet fewer than 20 species now provide over 90% of our food. What are our native edibles and how can we utilize them in the garden? Have you ever eaten a pawpaw fruit or sauteed oyster mushrooms freshly picked from your garden for your evening’s dinner? Horticulturalist Kristin DeSouza will illustrate the design and installation process of the new edible native plant garden at Garden in the Woods. She will weave together historical plant uses, design approaches, horticultural techniques, and culinary applications. A sampling of native plant edibles will be available as well. Directions will be sent to registrants ($25 NEWFS members, $29 non members). Log on to www.slowfoodboston.com for more information.
The transition from hunting and gathering to food production was a seismic shift in human history. With it, we transformed the world. But how and when did this happen, and why is it important to understanding our current human condition? Bruce Smith, curator of North American archaeology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, will discuss his current research on agricultural origins — and how the story is more complicated than you’d expect. This free lecture will take place at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, on Thursday, February 11, from 6:00 – 7:00 pm. For more information, log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.
The Medford Garden Club is sponsoring a free lecture on Thursday, February 4, from 7 – 9 pm at the Medford Public Library, 111 High Street in Medford. Bryan Hamlin, a Medford botanist and a board member of the Friends of the Middlesex Fells, will explain what has changed botanically in the Fells and why. His illustrated talk will cover the history of the Fells and its past and current habitat. For more information, email sbcummer@msn.com. Photo below taken by Sandra Loosemore.
On Thursday, February 11, at 7:00 pm, Historic Newton will present the first in the 2010 Newton History Series programs at the Newton Free Library. The series is called Roots in Our History. The opening lecture, entitled Fruits of Their Labors: The Kenrick Nurseries Legacy for Today’s Garden, will be given by award- winning landscape designer and preservationist Lucinda A. Brockway.
In his nursery catalog of 1831, William Kenrick boasted that his family nursery was about 35 years old and “now without doubt, the oldest of note in New England.” At the time he couldn’t have realized that the nursery would continue beyond his 76 year lifespan (1796-1872). The Kenrick’s “undeviating principles of accuracy, of honor, and of rectitude” gained them the highest reputation in the plant industry, and many of our most beloved fruit and tree varieties, including many in our gardens today, first came to this country through the Kenrick family nurseries. In 1796, their passion for plants, which began with “no other motive than the ornament and improvement of a portion of [John Kenrick’s] own lands,” launched the family to the heights of horticultural recognition. Today their Waverley Avenue home in Newton, and the trees shading the streets of Farlow Hill, are fitting tribute to their labors.
Today’s green movement asks us to “buy local.” What better way to buy locally than to celebrate the fruit and plant cultivars of the Kenrick nurseries in our backyard gardens or on our local grocer’s shelves! From copper beeches to Belgian pears, there is something in their nursery lists for everyone. The rich story of this family’s passions makes each juicy bit of a Van Mons pear even sweeter.
Lucinda A. Brockway is principal and owner of Past Designs, a landscape preservation and design firm in Kennebunk, Maine. Brockway serves a national clientele, including The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Trustees of Reservations, and numerous state and federal preservation agencies. In addition, she has designed landscapes for private homes which have been featured in Old House Journal, Victoria Magazine, Colonial Homes, and Accent. She is an instructor for the National Preservation Institute, offering courses in landscape preservation from South Carolina to Hawaii. Her work has been recognized by the Garden Club of America, The American Society of Landscape Architects, the Massachusetts Historical Commission, and others. She is the author of three books: A Favorite Place of Resort for Strangers, Taking a Garden Public: Feasibility and Startup, and Gardens of the New Republic. For more information, call the Newton Free Library at 617-796-1360. All programs are free and open to the public. Parking is free, and the Newton Free Library is handicap accessible.
Join the North American Rock Garden Society March 19 – March 21 in Devens, Massachusetts, to hear about terrific new plants for your garden. Learn design principles you can use to make your garden more interesting and pleasing. Buy great plants, and enter a plant show. Mingle with other obsessed gardeners. Devens, Massachusetts is the new town on the site of the former Fort Devens, 30 miles west of Boston (who knew?).
Featured speakers include Gordon Hayward, author and garden designer, on the uses of stone in the garden, Jan Sacks and Marty Schafer, proprietors of Joe Pye Weed’s garden, on small irises, Lauren Springer Ogden and Scott Ogden, authors and garden designers, on plant-driven garden design, Bill Cullina, author and plant and garden curator, from Coastal maine Botanical Garden, on trilliums, Darrell Probst, horticuturist and plant breeder, giving two talks, one on new introductions of astilbes, coreopsis and more, and the other on epimediums from the wilds to the garden, Sally and John Perkins, rhododendron experts, on ericaceous plants for the rock garden, and Jeff Good, landscape director of The Fells in Newbury, New Hampshire, on design and restoration of the rock gardens at The Fells.
You’ll also choose two of these three design workshops:Â Discussing the Design Process with the Ogdens, Propagation of Trilliums with Bill Cullina, or Sturdy, Reliable Plants for the Rock Garden with Mike Slater, NARGS Recording Secretary.
In addition to many vendors selling great plants, there will be a plant who, and newcomers as well as experienced plant show participants are encouraged to enter. For further information, contact Registrar Vivien Bouffard (vbouffard55@msn.com) or Chair Rosemary Monahan (rosemonahan@comcast.net), or call 978-568-1780.
The meeting will be held at the Marriott Spring Hill Suites/Devens Common Center in Devens. For rooms, register directly with the hotel: 1-888-287-9400, or on line at www.marriott.com. Be sure to mention that you’re registering as part of the block reserved for the New England Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society. Conference rates are $119 plus tax, and hotel reservations must be made by February 18.
You may register for the conference on line at www.nargs.org, or contact Vivien or Rosemary as noted above to receive a written form. Fee for attending is $250 if received by February 1, and $275 thereafter. There is also an optional Friday dinner for $45.
You will see a new link on the right hand side of our home page, directing you to www.bostonparks.org, a just launched web site which is part of a strategy to formalize the connections among park volunteers and advocates across Boston, and will provide tools and resources for helping members connect with one another. Website resources will include an online discussion board that makes it easy to have conversations about topics of interest to park volunteers and advocates, a calendar, and soon, a member directory.
Boston Park Advocates (BPA) is a growing, volunteer-based, citywide network of active park stakeholders who are the champions for Boston’s parks and open spaces. It is a diverse and broad based constituency of individuals and organizations that collectively use and care about Boston’s open spaces because green spaces enrich our lives immeasurably, with both their beauty and functionality. These places are our parks, playgrounds and athletic fields, our streets, sidewalks and bikeways, our community gardens, and our beaches, greenways, urban wilds and reservations.
The goal of the network is to connect and unify Boston’s diverse park and community stakeholders. BPA aims to build capacity, share resources and information, raise public awareness, and strengthen the collective impact of its network members to influence public park policy and increase support for the range of urban parks and open spaces. Membership is free – register on the web site for notification of future meetings and events.
