The Russell’s Garden Center Herb Ladies will talk about growing and cooking with culinary herbs. Bring in your favorite herbal recipes and traditions to share with everyone. Admission free. For more information and directions to Russell’s Garden Center, 397 Boston Post Road, Wayland, log on to www.russellsgardencenter.com, or call 508-358-2283.
In celebration of spring, The Trustees of Reservations invite you to the 2nd Annual, FREE Spring Open House at Castle Hill on the Crane Estate to enjoy a day of fun. Plant a seedling and help them recover some of the hundreds of trees lost in the recent nor’easter. Pack a picnic and they’ll provide lawn games such as croquet and bocce ball, a Maypole dance, self-guided tours of the Great House and grounds, refreshments, and more. Please feel free to bring friends and family, but leave furry friends at home.
The Open House thanks the public for its support of The Trustees’ ongoing restoration of the Castle Hill grounds, which in recent years has included historic plantings and restorations of the Italian Garden and the Great House forecourt. This February, The Trustees began the first phase of a 3-year renovation plan of the Grand Allee, the one-half mile long, undulating, grassy lawn framed by classical sculptures, Norway spruce, and pine hedgerows. Phase One of the project includes the removal of approximately 150 trees and the planting of 65 7-foot Norway spruce and White Pines.
The Allee Restoration was disrupted by the late February nor’easter that wreaked havoc on the North Shore. Castle Hill was hit particularly hard, with more than 300 trees coming down in the storm. Crews worked tirelessly to clean up the property and make it safe for the public. Much work, including replanting trees and stabilizing stripped embankments, remains. The Trustees invite the public to help by planting seedlings in celebration of spring at the May 2nd Open House.
Location:
The Crane Estate
290 Argilla Rd.
Ipswich , MA 01938
Sponsor: The Crane Estate
Time(s): Noon – 6 pm Saturday; Noon – 4 pm Sunday
Phone: 978.356.4351 x4015
Fax: 978.356.2143
Email: membership@ttor.org
http://www.craneestate.org
Come to the Clarendon Street Playground on the corner of Clarendon and Commonwealth Avenue on Saturday, May 8. There will be food, drinks, games, face painting, a balloon artist, entertainment, a juggling show with magic, prizes, and fun for all. Pizza and drinks will be available for purchase, and an ice cream truck will visit during the event. The playground is in need of new toys – please bring a new, fun, weatherproof toy to leave that day. Suggestions include sand shovels and pails, soft balls and bats, trucks, and push/riding toys. Please, no jump ropes, skateboards, hard balls, or anything dangerous! To make the day a success, the Playground Committee of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay needs volunteers. Contact playground@nabbonline.com, or call NABB at 617-247-3961.
The New England Wild Flower Society has scheduled a tour of two gardens, led by Pam Durrant and Jessie Panek, on Wednesday, May 26, from 10 – 1, in Harvard, Massachusetts.
A 1915 English Tudor style house in Harvard is the setting for the Panek garden, where a continuous sequence of flowers in bloom is enhanced with carefully chosen textures of leaves, fruits and bark. A formal yew hedge encloses a sunny English style border, facing a pool. Additional mixed borders are anchored by mature 15’ tall native azaleas, mountain laurel, rhododendron, dogwood, and magnolias. A wide variety of unusual small trees and shrubs form a naturalistic transition to the surrounding woods. Other features include a butterfly garden, a meadow, a recently discovered ‘secret’ garden, woodland paths, and a vegetable garden.
You then tour the Croyle garden, situated around a dramatic contemporary home with a collection of outdoor sculpture.  This garden began as a woodland garden designed by Neil Jorgensen and has continued to evolve over the years.   A series of winding gravel paths travel through the garden, crossing seasonal streams via stone bridges.  A river of Primula japonica flowing through the garden is especially colorful in May. A wide variety of trees and shrubs provide the setting for an extensive collection of perennials including trilliums and epimediums. Specimen Japanese maples,  yellowwood,  American and Chinese fringetrees, sweet gum, tri-color and weeping purple beech are just a few of the mature specimens that have recently been added to the garden to enhance interest. In contrast to the woodland garden, the entry terrace is treated in a contemporary design vernacular with a sculpture court, mature paperbark maples and concolor firs.
$30 for NEWFS members, $36 for nonmembers, and you may register on line at www.newfs.org, or by calling 508-877-7630. Directions will be provided.
The New England Wild Flower Society and Roland “Boot” Boutwell will once again take you on an adventure, this time in Saco, Maine, on Saturday, May 22, from 10 – 2. This outstanding botanical site is perhaps the southernmost example of a raised bog in North America, dating back 12,000 years when glacial activity created adjacent water-filled kettle holes. Saco Heath formed when these ponds filled with decaying plant matter called peat. With each year’s plant growth adding to the peat accumulation, the two peatlands eventually grew together above the water table to form a raised, coalesced bog. The Rhodora (Rhododendron canadense) should be in glorious bloom. The flora we should encounter includes, tamarack, black gum, labrador tea, leatherleaf, pitcher plant, cotton grass, and Atlantic white cedar. Bring lunch and a hand lens if you have one. $32 for NEWFS members, $36 for nonmembers. Register at www.newfs.org.
Come to UMass Amherst’s Cape Cod Lounge in the Student Union on Wednesday, May 5 at 3:30 pm to hear Michael Singer speak on Regenerative Design in the Public Realm. Free lecture is open to the public.
Michael Singer’s perspective is that of an artist, a creative thinker and problem solver whose work has evolved around questioning assumptions and constantly looking at why things are the way they are and how they might benefit from different points of view. Michael Singer’s Studio uses an integrative design process as a way to recognize the systems of a place, respond specifically to that place, and gather information and direction from naturalists, biologists, engineers, scientists, social anthropologists, historians, economists, other professionals and communities about how a project can innovatively address environmental, social, political, and economic concerns, as well as provide solutions that promote regenerative outcomes.
For the past twenty years Michael Singer has worked on large-scale infrastructure projects, parks and gardens, architectural design, urban planning and public art commissions. In 2007 Singer co-authored “Infrastructure and Community: How Can We Live With What Sustains Us†published by Environmental Defense, an advocacy organization. This booklet presents case studies from the Michael Singer Studio offering insight on how public officials, communities and developers can plan infrastructure that promotes environmental justice, generates ecological renewal, inspires civic responsibility and enhances quality of life without sacrificing function or economic viability.
The Friends of the Public Garden, in partnership with The City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department, presents the 30th Annual Duckling Day Parade on Sunday, May 9, beginning at noon on Boston Common. Registration begins at 10:30 am, inside the Boston Common, across from the State House. Parade participation requires a $25 donation per family. This donation includes snacks, entertainment, and a toy for each child. Registration is available in advance on line using the “For Kids” tab at www.friendsofthepublicgarden.org. Based on the book Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, children and their families will retrace the steps of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and their family of eight ducklings. Led by the Harvard University Marching Band, children relive the adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard dressed as one of their favorite characters from the book, or echoing its themes. The Friends of the Public Garden is a non-profit organization dedicated to the care and protection of the Boston Common, the Public Garden and the Commonwealth Avenue Mall. For additional information call 617-723-8144. Duckling Day happens rain or shine because ducks love water.
See beautiful displays of daffodils and primroses of every kind imaginable, including lovely flower arrangements, presented by The New England Chapter of the American Primrose Society and the Seven State Daffodil Society on Saturday, May 1 and Sunday, May 2. Welcome spring with these two colorful and simultaneous displays of popular plants. Participate in tours of the shows, as well as lectures and discussions on daffodils and primroses. Vendors will be selling choice primrose, woodland and alpine plants. If you are interested in exhibiting your own daffodils, contact show organizer Mary Ann Streeter at 978-468-2262, or Nancy Mott at 203-661-6142. For more information, log on to www.towerhillbg.org.
Hancock Shaker Village presents a Root Cellar Workshop over two weekends, the first on Saturday and Sunday, May 15 – 16, and the second on Saturday and Sunday, October 2 – 3, from 10 am – 5 pm. Registrants must participate in both weekends. Students will learn the basics of food storage, tour existing root cellars, see presentations on innovative design options, assess and plan their own crop storage needs, examine energy and monetary savings, and explore planting guidelines while seeding a garden. Participants will take home their own food security action plan, a design for a space of their own, planting and storage guideline charts, as well as a copy of the Bubels’ book on root cellaring. Come ready for two intensive weekends and learn how to make hard work into simple living! Tuition is $450 for HSV members, and $500 for non-members. To register, and for more information, log on to www.hancockshakervillage.org, or call 413-443-1088, x 213.
Entomologist, photographer, and intrepid world-traveler Mark Moffett explores the parallel between ant colonies and human societies in his latest book, Adventures with the Ants. From his travels to the Amazon, the Congo, Borneo, Australia, California and elsewhere, Moffett provides fascinating details on how ants live and dominate their ecosystems through strikingly human behaviors: hunting, fighting, building, recycling, and even creating marketplaces. Mark Moffett — “Dr. Bugs†— grew up in Beloit and graduated from Beloit College in 1979. His explorations of tropical forests and ecology have taken him around the world, from the top of the world’s tallest tree to deep in unexplored caves. He has discovered new plant and animal species while risking life and limb to find stories that make people fall in love with the unexpected in nature.
Moffett captivates audiences with first-hand stories of tropical ecology, treetop exploration, teamwork and goal accomplishment under extreme conditions, adventures under a rock (wonderful and weird stories of ants and spiders), and the love of nature and conservation. Television’s Stephen Colbert calls him “Ant-Man†and Conan O’Brien calls him a “frog-licker,†but Moffett calls himself a storyteller.
The lecture, followed by a book signing, will take place Tuesday, May 11, at 7 pm, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge. The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information you may call 617-495-3045, or email hmnhpr@oeb.harvard.edu.
