Boston Flora

Month: February 2010

  • Thursday, February 25, 6:30 – 8:00 pm – Art and the Gardener: Taking a Fresh Look at Your Garden through Art

    The Trustees of Reservations will sponsor a lecture by Gordon Hayward on Thursday, February 25, beginning at 6:30 pm, at Long Hill, 572 Essex Street in Beverly.

    Gordon Hayward first presented this lecture at The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1995; he has since been refining and presenting this slide illustrated lecture in art museums and garden organizations across the country.

    This one-hour lecture is about the visual language shared between painters and garden designers. By juxtaposing a painting and a garden image on the screen, Hayward explores the many levels of similarity between how the painter and garden designer construct their images.

    He begins by exploring style: romanticism, expressionism, pattern and decoration… and others. For example, he places Childe Hassam’s In the Garden next to an image from his own garden in Vermont to show what an impressionist passage in a garden looks like.

    He next explores many design principles you can put to work in your garden: defining depth, creating foreground/background, how light can be manipulated, the power of focal points, pleasing contrasts, framing, contrasting textures and forms and the many roles of trees in the garden.

    He closes with an exploration of color in paintings by Gauguin, Matisse, Bonnard and others, and how you can use paintings to inspire your color combinations in pots and beds.

    This is a lecture that enables you, through art, to take a fresh look at your garden from a new perspective.  The lecture is preceded by refreshments, served at 6:30.  Trustees of Reservations members $20, nonmembers $25.  To reserve, call 978-921-1944, x 4018, or email bzschau@ttor.org.  For directions, log on to www.thetrustees.org/longhill.

  • Wednesday, February 24, 10:00 am – Should I Become An Organic Gardener?

    The February meeting of the Garden Club of the Back Bay will take place Wednesday, February 24, beginning at 10 am, at The College Club, 44 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston.  Dianne Plantamura has been an organic gardener for over 30 years, and shares her training as a Master Gardener in this presentation on the benefits, costs and challenges of gardening organically.  Dianne’s first memory in life was sitting at age 3 or 4 in the warm soil of her grandfather’s truck garden.  Raised on the now celebrated Mediterranean cuisine, she has always been interested in tasty and nutritious food, a synonym for organically raised food.  She will tell us why she considers organic methods crucial for human health and for the well being of the earth.  In addition to her work as a Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Dianne is an officer in the Groveland Garden Club and works as Executive Director of the New England College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.  The meeting is free and open to the public.  An optional vegetarian, organic lunch will follow the meeting at a cost of $20 per person, and pre-registration is essential.  You may sign up by emailing info@bostonflora.com.

    http://guerrillahealthwatch.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/organic_produce.jpg

  • Saturday, February 27 – Sunday, February 28, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – 14th Annual Winter Garden Fair

    Everyone is invited to Russell’s Garden Center on Saturday, February 27 – Sunday, February 28, from 10 am – 4 pm each day.  Chase the cabin fever blues away and join the staff of Russell’s in the warm tropical greenhouse for a weekend of free demonstrations, lectures, informational booths, food and music, plus the opportunity to win glorious raffle prizes.  Mark your calendars, and check for specific details, as they become available, at www.russellsgardencenter.com.  Russell’s is located at 397 Boston Post Road in Wayland.  Their telephone number is 508-358-2283.  The  Wayland Winter Farmer’s Market will be open there on Saturday as well, from 10 – 1.  Just like a traditional outdoor market, this indoor market provides a wonderful opportunity to meet and support local farmers.

  • Saturday, March 13, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm – Growing Plants from Seeds

    Jack Alexander, Plant Propagator for the Arnold Arboretum, presents a single session class at the Dana Greenhouses in Jamaica Plain on Saturday, March 13, from 9 am – 1 pm.  There’s nothing more satisfying to a gardener than growing plants from seeds. From annuals and perennials to trees and shrubs, success can be achieved if you understand what triggers germination. Expert propagator Jack Alexander will share techniques and tips for starting various types of plants from seeds. This workshop is for beginners and those who have been frustrated in past attempts to transform seed to seedling. Students will leave class with a selection of seeds raring to grow. Aftercare will be necessary. Fee $45 Arnold Arboretum member, $55 nonmember. To register, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

  • Saturday, February 13 – Monday, February 15, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm – WinterFest 2010 at Kennedy’s Country Gardens

    Kennedy’s Country Gardens , at 85 Chief Justice Cushing Highway, Rt. 3A in Scituate, is sponsoring a President’s Day Weekend event featuring free garden related seminars, information, plant sales and specials.  Horticulture groups, including the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, will be available to offer advice.  The event is free.  For more information, call 781-545-1266, or log on to www.kennedyscountrygardens.com.

  • Saturday, February 13, 1:30 pm – Eternally Green: Natural Burial and New Cemetery Landscapes

    Mark Harris, former Los Angeles Times environmental columnist and author of Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial, will speak Saturday, February 13, beginning at 1:30 pm, in the Tapestry Room of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 280 The Fenway.  Green cemeteries that take an eco-friendly approach to burials and memorialization are springing up in North America, England, and Europe.  Permitting only chemical-free burials in biodegradable coffins, the new green graveyards allow the speedy decomposition of the body and its return to the natural cycle of life. At the same time, green cemeteries work to preserve land from development and, in the best of schemes, restore it to ecological health. Using archival images of early American cemeteries and recent photographs of green cemeteries here and abroad, Harris examines the history of natural burial, tracing its roots in the rural cemetery movement to current strategies for land preservation.  Tickets are $15 General Public, $12 Seniors, $5 Members of the Museum, and Free for students.  To purchase tickets in advance, or for more information, log on to www.gardnermuseum.org.

  • Friday, February 12 – Monday, February 15 – The 13th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count

    The 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) will be held from February 12 – 15th, 2010. The GBBC is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent and in Hawaii.

    Each checklist submitted by these “citizen scientists” helps researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society learn more about how the birds are doing—and how to protect them and the environment we share. Last year, participants turned in more than 93,600 checklists online, creating the continent’s largest instantaneous snapshot of bird populations ever recorded.

    Anyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from novice bird watchers to experts. Participants count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the event and report their sightings online at www.birdcount.org.

    Bird populations are always shifting and changing. For example, 2009 GBBC data highlighted a huge southern invasion of Pine Siskins across much of the eastern United States. Participants counted 279,469 Pine Siskins on 18,528 checklists, as compared to the previous high of 38,977 birds on 4,069 checklists in 2005. Failure of seed crops farther north caused the siskins to move south to find their favorite food.

    On the www.birdcount.org website, participants can explore real-time maps and charts that show what others are reporting during the count. The site has tips to help identify birds and special materials for educators. Participants may also enter the GBBC photo contest by uploading images taken during the count. Many images will be featured in the GBBC website’s photo gallery. All participants are entered in a drawing for prizes that include bird feeders, binoculars, books, CDs, and many other great birding products.

    For more information about the GBBC, visit www.birdcount.org. Or contact the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at (800) 843-2473 or (outside the U.S., call (607) 254-2473) or GBBC at Cornell University, or Audubon at Citizen Science at the Audubon Society or (202) 861-2242 ext 3050.

    The Great Backyard Bird Count is made possible, in part, by generous support from Wild Birds Unlimited.

  • Saturday, May 22 – Monday, May 31- Gardens of East Anglia

    The American Horticultural Society hosts a trip to Great Britain with AHS host Stephanie Jutila and Tour Escort Antonia Lloyd Owen, May 22 – May 31, 2010.  This is a tour designed for the connoisseur of English gardens who has perhaps already visited the famous great houses and gardens of Derbyshire and Yorkshire, the Cornish coast, or those within easy reach of London.  The little known, but beautiful region of East Anglia (comprising Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Cambridgeshire) has a rich history dating back to pre-Roman times.  It boasts several Viking burial sites, and is famed for its splendid churches and the venerated Cambridge University.  Norfolk and Suffolk, in particular, are memorable for their peaceful landscapes and charming villages, little touched by time, and for the great open skies and magical quality of the light which has inspired countless artists.

    Stephanie Jutila, director of member programs and outreach at the American Horticultural Society, invites you to hoin her on this tour.  An anglophile herself, Stephanie studied gardens and horticulture in the UK as a Garden Club of America Martin McLaren Scholar.

    This new tour has been created specifically for the AHS by Antonia Lloyd Owen of Specialtours.  A long-time resident of Norfolk, Antonia has ensured access and a warm welcome at a number of enchanting private gardens, many of which are not generally open to visitors.  From historic formal gardens to classic English country house gardens to contemporary gardens with a twist, this tour offers a delightful horticultural journey through East Anglia.

    To optimize time spent in gardens, the tour is based at just two hotels.  The four-star Sprowston Manor Hotel near Norwich is a converted 19th century country house that was once the home of the Gurney family, one of the Quaker families who united to create Barclays Bank.  The Swan at Lavenham is a fine old inn dating back to the 15th century.  It is a quintessential English country house hotel, with ancient oak beams and inglenook fireplaces.

    The complete itinerary may be found at www.ahs.org.

  • Thursday, February 18, 6:00 pm – The Origins of Agriculture: Everything You Need to Know in 50 Minutes of Less (Rescheduled)

    Bruce Smith’s lecture at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, originally scheduled for February 11, has been rescheduled to Thursday, February 18, beginning at 6 pm at The Harvard Museum of Natural History.  Dr. Smith, Curator of North American Archaeology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, has been stuck in the snow, but will arrive next week to discuss his current research on agricultural origins, and how the story is more complicated than you’d expect.  But perhaps not more complicated than getting out of Reagan International.  Free admission.  For more information, log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu, or call 617-495-3045.  A reception for museum members follows the talk.

  • Saturday, February 13, 12:30 – 3:30 pm – Powerpoint Presentation of the Atlanta Botanical Garden

    Shaun Montminy, New England Carnivorous Plant Society Membership Secretary, will give a presentation of his visit to the Atlanta Botanical Garden and California Carnivores on Saturday, February 13, beginning at 12:30 pm at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center.  For more information, log on to www.necps.org.