Take the guesswork out of watering your plants. Learn about hydroponic culture: which plants to grow, what products you need, and how to set up and maintain your system. The course, sponsored by Historic New England, will take place at the Lyman Estate Greenhouses in Waltham on Friday, June 18, from 10 – 12, and the fee is $20 for Garden and Landscape members, $25 for HNE members, and $35 for nonmembers. Registration is required at www.historicnewengland.org, or call 781-891-1985.
Roof decks, patio spaces, backyards, neighborhood parks and community gardens will be part of the 17th annual South End Garden Tour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m on Saturday, June 19. Proceeds benefit the South End/Lower Roxbury Open Space Land Trust, which owns and maintains 16 community gardens. The 2010 tour will showcase forty two gardens in the neighborhood bordered by Tremont Street, West Newton Street, Harrison Avenue, and Northampton Street. It will include roof top gardens (including the Menino Pavilion roof garden food project), terraces and courtyard gardens, and South End Burying Ground (not open to the public). It’s a special treat to get access to these cherished spaces, which are seldom if ever open to the public. All of the gardens show the creativity of the owners and the joy received from developing and caring for a city garden.
Tickets, $20, will be sold at the South End Branch of the Boston Public Library, 685 Tremont Street (Rutland Square – where the tour begins). Advance tickets, $17, and information at (617) 437-0999 and www.southendgardentour.org. This year, there is a special ticket price to members of area garden clubs. If you purchase 5 tickets or more, the price drops to $15 per person. This is called the “carpool discount” – just mention your affiliation with the Garden Club of the Back Bay when you call to reserve.
Explore and compare the Atlantic White Cedar Swamp at the Marconi Site in Wellfleet, and the Red Maple Swamp at Fort Hill in Eastham, both Cape Cod National Seashore properties, with Marsha Salett of the New England Wildflower Society.  Rare and globally-threatened, Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) swamps are cool, dark, acidic, saurated wetlands, their hummocks and hollows dominated by sphagnum mosses and other bog species, including sweet gale (Myrica gale), highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), swamp azalea (Rhododendron viscosum), and Virginia chain fern (Woodwardia virginica).  Red maple (Acer rubrum) swamps are more abundant and diverse. At Fort Hill, you should find a wider variety of trees and shrubs including tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia) and sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia) as well as several species of ferns. Both trails have boardwalks through the wetlands. The red maple trail is fairly easy and level; the cedar swamp trail has several steep stairs and the last half-mile is along an old, soft sand road. Bring sturdy shoes, long pants and long-sleeve shirt, a bag lunch, water, and insect repellent. You will carpool from the first site as parking is limited at the second site.
The cost for this outing is $40 for members of NEWFS, and $45 for non-members. You may register at www.newfs.org.
Land’s Sake Farm, 90 Wellesley Street, Weston, MA is the place to be on Saturday, June 19, beginning at 10 am, for its Annual Strawberry Festival. Please come for pick-your-own berries, summertime food including strawberry shortcake, live music, tractor rides, and many farm games and activities for children. Land’s Sake strawberries are grown without the use of pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. Admission is $4 for adults, $2 for children, and children under 2 and Land’s Sake members are free. Call 781-893-1162 for more information.
Highfield Hall, 56 Highfield Drive in Falmouth, presents a lecture by Shelley Baker-Vance on Thursday, June 17, at 10 am. Shelley has been a professional gardener and nursery specialist on Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod for over 30 years, so she has the kind of practical experience to help you learn about hummingbirds and how to attract them. Shelley will cover the types of hummingbirds coming to Cape Cod, the timing of when they come to feeders and flowers, and she’ll share ideas on annuals and perennials to keep them coming back to your garden during their stay on the Cape. $5 suggested donation. For more information, log on to www.highfieldhall.org. Image of hummingbird in Cotuit courtesy of House Calls For You.
The Sixteenth Annual Garden Tour, to be held Saturday, July 17, will again benefit The Child Abuse Prevention Council of York County, Maine. The nine garden tour throughout Kennebunk and Kennebunkport will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the advance ticket cost is $15 per person before July 1, and $20 per person thereafter. One featured garden is that of syndicated talk radio Garden Club host Paul Parent.   Generously sponsored by Estabrook’s Color Spot, Digital Research, Inc., Genest Concrete, Libby, O’ Brien, Kingsley & Champion, LLC., and Saco & Biddeford Savings Institution. For more information contact Child Abuse Prevention Council of York County, 62 Portland Road, Suite 15, Kennebunk, ME 04043, or log on to www.kidsfreetogrow.org. Tickets are available by calling 207-985-5975. You may also email events@kidsfreetogrow.org.
The 2010 Newport Flower Show will take place at Rosecliff from Friday, June 25 through Sunday, June 27. Tickets may be purchased at www.newportmansions.org. The Opening Night Cocktail Party will take place from 6 – 9 pm on Friday, although the show itself opens at 10:30 am that morning, closing at 5 pm to ready itself for the benefit gala. Hours on Saturday and Sunday are 9 am – 5 pm. Bartlett Tree Experts are the Presenting Sponsor. All proceeds from the Newport Flower Show are dedicated to the ongoing restoration and maintenance of The Preservation Society of Newport County’s 88 acres of gardens and landscapes.
The New England Wild Flower Society is seeking volunteers to contribute photographs of New England plant species for its forthcoming NSF-funded “Online Flora of New England”. For each of several thousand plant species of our region, photos are needed of habit, leaf, flower and fruit, as well as images of bark and buds for woody species. This fun workshop, taking place Saturday, June 26 from 1 – 4 at Garden in the Woods, will prepare you to take aesthetically-appealing “diagnostic photographs,†that you may wish to contribute to the forthcoming Online Flora. You will learn some of the tips and tricks of successful plant photography from an accomplished botanical photographer. Bring your digital or film camera and a tripod for the outdoors practicum, which will follow the indoor slide presentation. Arieh Tal leads the workshop, which will cost $22 for NEWFS members and $26 for nonmembers. For more information, log on to www.newfs.org.
The Rockport Garden Club presents its Coastal Gardens Tour, a tour of sixteen private Rockport seaside gardens (ten stops), on Friday and Saturday, July 9 and 10, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Ten stops provide access, and each garden offers unique plantings and styles. Most of the gardens are on the waterfront along Rockport’s spectacular coastline, while others feature ocean views. Perennials, refreshments, and original art will be offered for sale at designated tour sites. All proceeds will be used to maintain Rockport’s town gardens and to fund civic projects and scholarships. This is a rain or shine event. Admission is $25 in advance (call 978-546-5949). Tickets may be purchased after June 1 at Toad Hall Bookstore, 51 Main Street, Rockport, at Pier & Main Gifts, 1 Main Street in Rockport, and on the week of the tour at the Visitor Information Booth, Main Street (Rte. 127). For further information, you may email Gretchen Anderson at ganderson8945@comcast.net, or log on to www.rockportgardenclub.org. The picture below was taken by Francine Crawford at last summer’s tour, which she and Jolinda Taylor attended.
The final weekend of The New York Botanical Garden’s exhibit Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers will take place Saturday and Sunday, June 12 and 13. On Saturday, from 10:00 am – 6:00 pm, in the Perennial Garden, there will be an all day program entitled Death, Bees, and Roses. Participate in a thematic reading of Emily Dickinson’s poems. Select some of your favorite Dickinson poems relating to death, bees, or roses and join in celebrating the life and works of this great American poet. Or, also in the Perennial Garden on Sunday from 10 – 6, the same program will be held, but with the title and topics Flowers, Birds, and Trees.
Then, on Sunday, from 4 – 5 in the Ross Lecture Hall, Judith Farr, professor of English Emerita at Georgetown University and author of The Gardens of Emily Dickinson, presents a lecture and slide show that delves into the topic of Dickinson’s habit of referring to her own two acre garden as “my Eden” or “Eden in Amherst” and how this image of Eden that prevails in her poems and letters corresponds to the images of Eden that appear in the works of the American Hudson River School and Impressionist painters.
For complete information, log on to www.nybg.org. $20 adult ticket price, $18 seniors and students with valid ID, and $8 children 2 – 12. Co-presented with The Poetry Society of America.
