Boston Flora

Month: April 2011

  • Friday, May 6, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm and Saturday, May 7, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm – 34th Annual Plant Sale at Berkshire Botanical Garden

    Calling all gardeners – get a jump start on the gardening season and choose from thousands of plants, shrubs, and trees – many grown at Berkshire Botanical Garden – at the 34th Annual Plant Sale on Friday and Saturday, May 6 and 7.  BBG members receive early buying privileges and a 10% discount on plant purchases.  Early buying hours for members are Friday, May 6, from 8 – 11 am, and regular hours are Friday, May 6, 11 – 5, and Saturday, May 7, 9 – 5.  The Plant Sale is generously sponsored by Ed Herrington, Inc.  Rain or shine event.  Photograph by J. Parker for www.ruralintelligence.com.

  • Thursday, April 14, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – DCR Public Meeting on Esplanade Play Space

    The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) will hold a public meeting on Thursday, April 14, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm, to discuss the construction schedule for a new playground on the Charles River Esplanade near DCR’s Hatch Shell. The proposal for a new play space comes from a coalition of Boston families who have agreed to provide all the necessary funding for the design and construction of the play space. The meeting will be held at Community Boating, 21 David Mugar Way (on the Esplanade, near the Hatch Shell) in Beacon Hill.

  • Saturday, April 16, 11:00 am – 2011 Swan Boat Opening

    Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Boston’s First Lady Angela Menino will take the first ride of the season as the Swan Boats open at the Public Garden Lagoon at 11 am on Saturday, April 16.  Let’s hope it doesn’t snow.  2011 marks the 135th season for the Swan Boats.  For more information, log on to www.swanboats.com or call 617-522-1966. A print of the beautiful image below, by photographer Louis Yanucci, may be purchased at www.yanucciphotography.com.

  • Thursday, April 14, 5:30 pm – Chasing Chiles: Hot Spots Along the Pepper Trail

    Chasing Chiles is both a rollicking travelogue from three guys on the hunt for authentic food and cultural experience and an adventure with a larger, sobering mission: to understand the effects of climate change by zeroing in on one critical crop and the people whose lives are most deeply intertwined with it. Chef Kurt Michael Friese is author of A Cook’s Journey: Slow Food in the Heartland and owner and founding chef of Devotay, a restaurant in Iowa City that is a community leader in local and sustainable cuisine. He is owner and publisher of Edible Iowa River Valley magazine, a board of directors member for Slow Food USA and the Iowa Food Systems Council, and a graduate and former chef-instructor at the New England Culinary Institute.

    Hear Kurt on Thursday, April 14 at Harvard University, Sever 213.  Free and open to the public.  For a campus map, log on to www.harvard.edu.

  • Tuesday, April 19, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Spring Seeds and Seedlings

    Spend an afternoon from 2 – 4 on Tuesday, April 19 side-by-side with Historic New England’s Casey Farm’s experienced and knowledgeable vegetable farmers to learn the tricks of the trade while helping the greenhouse team prepare for the popular Mother’s Day plant sale. As you plant, you’ll discuss the proper ways to start seedlings and get answers to your garden questions. Space is limited to 15. Free, but open only to Historic New England members. Casey Farm is located at 2325 Boston Neck Road, Saunderstown, Rhode Island. Registration is required. Please call 401-295-1030 for more information.

  • Thursday, April 21, 6:00 pm – Here on Earth: A Natural History of the Planet

    In his newest book, Here on Earth, Tim Flannery, Australian scientist and author, offers a sweeping account of the dual evolutionary history of Earth and the life it supports. Beginning with the birth of stars to the creation of water and the accident of simple life forms, Flannery documents life up through the 2-million-year rise of our human species and ponders our future as a “superorganism” capable of either sustaining or destroying the planet’s ecosystems. This Thursday, April 21 Harvard Museum of Natural History program begins at 6 pm. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. For more information log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Tuesday, May 3, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Dinner from the Farmers’ Market

    Discover the pleasures of eating seasonally and locally at Williams-Sonoma, 100 Huntington Avenue (Copley Place Mall) in Boston on Tuesday, May 3, from 6 – 8. Using recipes from the Williams-Sonoma Cooking from the Farmers’ Market cookbook, a culinary expert will show you how to transform summer’s bountiful produce into an impressive meal. On the menu: English Pea and Ricotta Tart, Fresh Strawberry and Spinach Salad, Chicken Thighs with Roasted Apricots and Warm Plums with Honey and Greek Yogurt.  The cost of the class is $50, and you may call 617-262-3080 for registration information.  Additional cooking classes will be held throughout May and June, and complete information may be found at www.williams-sonoma.com.

  • Monday, April 25, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Champion Natives For Your Garden

    When making plant choices, a responsible gardener needs to consider much more than color and form.  In addition to providing a pleasing landscape, the ideal plant is well behaved – that is, it won’t escape into the natural community – and provides valuable nourishment and habitat for birds, mammals and insects.  Long-time gardener and naturalist Robin Wilkerson looks at the reasons to go native and introduces a choice collection of beautiful indigenous plants.  Be inspired and enhance your appreciation of our native species.  The program, to take place at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden, will be held Monday, April 25, with tea at 2 pm and the lecture beginning at 2:30.  WCFH members $10, non-members $15.  To register, log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

  • Thursday, May 19, 7:00 am – 7:00 pm – Planting Fields Arboretum and Old Westbury Gardens

    This year’s annual Berkshire Botanical Garden benefit garden tour on Thursday, May 19 will explore two extraordinary estate gardens on Long Island’s “Gold Coast:” Planting Fields Arboretum Historic State Park, Oyster Bay, NY, and Old Westbury Gardens, Old Westbury, NY.

    The day will begin with a tour led by Vincent Simeone, Director at Planting Fields Arboretum (pictured below), a premier public arboretum and historic site. A former Gold Coast estate of over four hundred acres, it contains greenhouses, gardens, woodland paths, and outstanding woody plant collections. The grounds, landscaped by the Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Massachusetts, are spectacularly beautiful at this time of the year. Following the tour enjoy a picnic lunch on the grounds of the Arboretum.

    The afternoon will include a tour of Old Westbury Gardens. Completed in 1906 by the English designer, George A. Crawley, the magnificent Charles II-style mansion is nestled amid 200 acres of formal gardens, landscaped grounds, woodlands, ponds and lakes. Although the guided tour will focus on the horticulture of the gardens and grounds, history and architecture will be included. Tours of the house will be possible only if time permits.

    A mid-morning refreshment and late afternoon wine & cheese snack will be provided. Participants should wear comfortable walking shoes, dress for the weather, and bring a bagged picnic lunch. (Lunch can also be purchased at the Arboretum’s café.) Due to travel time and traffic the coach will leave promptly at7 am from the Garden’s main parking area, and return at 7 pm.Tickets: $125 Members / $150 non members.  You may register on line at www.berkshirebotanical.org. For more information, call 413-298-3926.

  • Sunday, April 17, 1:00 pm – Plants from the Bible

    The Friends of Mount Auburn would like to welcome you to visit Mount Auburn Cemetery on Sunday, April 17, beginning at 1 pm, for a walking tour entitled Plants from the Bible.  Jim Gorman will identify plants known with either certainty or probability to be growing in Biblical times.  Additionally, he may visit closely allied species – relatives of plants mentioned in the Scriptures.  Consider this tour a walking recollection of the Holy Land.  The fee is $5 for Friends of Mount Auburn, $10 for non-members.  For more information, call 617-607-1952.  Below is spikenard, from Song of Songs.