Boston Flora

Month: May 2011

  • Thursdays, June 2, 9 and 16, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – History of Botanical Art Seminar

    Past Garden Club of the Back Bay speaker Carol Govan introduces you to illustrations from a variety of eras and artists who tried to preserve the ephemeral qualities of plants for different reasons, in this three session class at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden on Thursdays, June 2, 9 and 16, from 9:30 – 12:30.  Learn why plant illustrations changed from fanciful copied images to accurate representations from direct observation.  Learn the difference between an herbal, a floral, a florilegia, a botanical monograph, and many other collections of images based on who would use the finished book.  See the many techniques involved in creating original images as well as reproducing them for a larger audience.  A private viewing in Margaret Clapp Library Special Collections highlights the College’s extraordinary world-class collection of rare manuscripts.  Bring a hand lens for looking at samples.  Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture members $100, non-members $125.  To register, log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH, or call 781-283-3094, ext. 4.   Florilegium illustration shown below: And thou, divine LINNAEUS! … from The temple of Flora: or, Garden of nature, being picturesque botanical plates of the New illustration of the sexual system of Linnaeus, by Robert John Thornton, London : Printed for the publisher [i.e., the author], 1799

  • Saturday, May 21 – Saturday, June 4 – Susurrus

    The Public Garden is annually the host to countless cultural events. This year beginning on May 21, the park is will be the setting of Susurrus: a play without actors and without a stage. The production is part radio play, part recital, part lesson in bird dissection, and part stroll in the park. Susurrus (pronounced sus-YOO-rus and referring to the rustling sound of wind in trees), is written and directed by David Leddy, a Scottish playwright known for his experimental works. In this installment of his, participants follow a map around the Public Garden as they listen to the piece on headphones; the different elements meld location and sound to create a theater experience in which there are no actors and only one member in the audience: you.

    The dates of the production include: May 21, May 22, May 26, June 2, June 3, June 4, and June 5. Times will vary, with groups of four admitted every 15 minutes. The piece includes about a mile of walking on paved pathways. Headphone pickup will be on Boylston Steet between Charles and Tremont.

    Tickets are on sale now at the Emerson College Arts Box Office located at 559 Washington Street. For more information, call (617) 824-8000 or e-mail tickets@artsemerson.org.

  • Monday, May 23, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – The Allure of Orchids

    Why do so many people collect and obsess about orchids?  Botanical artist and botanist Carol Govan has been researching and drawing the orchids in the Wellesley College Ferguson Greenhouse collection, and has many images to present: orchids that look like pterodactlys, cow horns, slippers, oxen yokes, and other fabulous shapes and colors.  She has stories to share about orchid mania and the wars among unscrupulous nurseries and plant hunters.  From ecology and botany to literary references and representation in botanical art, Carol will reveal an orchid’s allure.  Come to the Wellesley College Botanic Garden to hear Carol (a popular past Garden Club of the Back Bay speaker) on Monday, May 23, beginning with tea at 2 and the illustrated lecture at 2:30.  $10 for WCFH members, $15 general public. To register, log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

  • Saturday, May 14, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm – Bedford First Parish Annual Plant and Craft Fair

    The 58th Annual Plant & Craft Fair, to be held Saturday, May 14, from 10 – 3 at the First Parish on the Common, 75 The Great Road, (Route 4/225 Exit from Route 95/128) Bedford, Massachusetts, features a wide selection of heritage perennials from members’ gardens, specialty annuals, nursery-grown native plants along with hearty locally-grown annuals, perennials, veggie 6-packs and tomato plants, herbs for cooking or to enhance your garden, and shrubs. Come early for the best plants and stay on the Common to peruse the crafts and enjoy the day. You’ll also find more than fifty crafters on the Common as well as a traditional cook-out lunch, an outstanding bake sale and fun for the family: Live music by the Yankee Doodle Dixieland Band, a petting zoo featuring Bedford 4-H kids and their animals, professional face painting and a strolling Transcendentalist to round out the day.  Yes, we said a strolling Transcendentalist – try to find that in the parking lot at Home Depot!

    The Annual Plant & Craft Fair is a fundraiser for Bedford’s First Parish on the Common and its work in the community. Free.  For more information, log on to www.uubedford.org/plantfair, email plantfair@uubedford.org, or call 781-275-7994.

  • Wednesday, May 25, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm – C’est la Vie!

    The North Shore Garden Club, a member of The Garden Club of America, presents C’est la Vie!, a Garden Club of America Flower Show, on Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at Willowdale Estate, Bradley Palmer State Park, 24 Asbury Street in Topsfield, Massachusetts, from 1 pm – 5 pm.  The show is open free of charge to the public.  Founded in Manchester, Massachusetts in 1915, the North Shore Garden Club’s priorities are education, service and protecting the beauty of Essex County’s natural resources. For more information, log on to www.nsgcma.org.

  • Wednesday, May 18, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Greenway Carousel Public Meeting

    The Greenway Conservancy is hosting a series of public meetings to discuss a new custom carousel on the Greenway. The next meeting will take place at the Conservancy offices, 185 Kneeland Street, Boston, on Wednesday, May 18, from 5:30 – 7:30. Please come and join the discussion. For more information, log on to www.rosekennedygreenway.org.

  • Saturday, May 28, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Spring into Summer: A Celebration of Plants

    The Polly Hill Arboretum on State Road in West Tisbury is looking forward to a new season and will open its Visitor Center on May 28 with a new event, Spring into Summer: A Celebration of Plants.  This celebration will kick off the summer season with the annual Memorial Day plant sale, special talks and tours, a book sale, tree raffle, garden talks,  and much more.  For more information, log on to www.pollyhillarboretum.org, or follow them on Facebook.

     

     

     

  • Tuesday, May 10, 7:15 pm – Katydids of South Africa: An Exploration of a Nearly Unknown Fauna

    The next meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club will be held Tuesday, May 10 at 7:15 pm in the Harvard University Herbarium seminar room.  Piotr Naskrecki will present a talk entitled Katydids of South Africa: An Exploration of a Nearly Unknown Fauna.  Piotr Naskrecki has traveled the world investigating invertebrate biodiversity, capturing beautiful images of the natural world and studying katydids.  Dr. Naskrecki will address the club to discuss his NSF-funded orthopteroid survey work in South Africa.  The talk will include a biogeographical and historical overview of the country’s katydid fauna and highlight some of the interesting species radiations that have been uncovered.  The meeting location information may be accessed at www.huh.harvard.edu/visiting/.  To see examples of Dr. Naskrecki’s work, log on to www.insectphotography.com.  His photo of a pink-eyed katydid is seen below.

  • Saturday, May 7 – Three Plant Sales of Interest

    The Boxborough Garden Club will host a plant sale, raffle and bake sale on Saturday, May 7, from 8:30 – 11:30 am on the Boxborough UCC Community Church Lawn, 723 Massachusetts Avenue in Boxborough.  On the same day, from 9 – 1, the New England Unit of the Herb Society of America will host its 31st Annual Great Herbs & Heirloom Plant Sale at Elm Bank Horticultural Center’s Field, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley, where they will sell culinary, fragrance, remedy herbs, heirloom tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, eggplants, and the herb of the year – horseradish!  You may also buy hand planted container and fairy gardens for Mother’s Day gifts, and there will be free chives and johnny jump-up plants for the kids.  For more information, log on to www.neuhsa.org.  The Norwood Evening Garden Club will be holding its Annual Plant Sale at Hawes Pool Park in South Norwood, from 9 – 1, and they say this is an excellent opportunity to purchase a gift for Mom as well as plants for your own garden.  Perennials from member gardens will be offered at reasonable prices, most under $10.  Some annuals, herbs, single geraniums, patio pots, and hanging baskets will be featured – call 508-668-4039 for more information.  All sales from these three events will promote civic projects, so find your spot and bring cash or checks, rain or shine.

     

  • Monday, May 9, 7:00 pm – Seeds: One Man’s Serendipitous Journey to Find the Trees That Inspired Famous American Writers

    Porter Square Books, 25 White Street in Cambridge, will host author Richard Horan on Monday, May 9, beginning at 7 pm, for a discussion of his latest book Seeds: One Man’s Serendipitous Journey to Find the Trees That Inspired Famous American Writers from Faulkner to Kerouac, Welty to Wharton.  From the wooded road made of golden hemlock running past L. Frank Baum’s childhood home to the lonely stump of Scout’s oak in Harper Lee’s Alabama, Richard Horan gathers tree seeds-and stories-from the homes of America’s most treasured authors. At once a heartfelt paean to literature and a wise, funny, and uplifting account of one man’s reconnection with nature, Seeds celebrates Horan’s triumphs and calamities on his quest to link trees with great writers.  Richard Horan recently spoke with Tom Ashbrook, the voice of “On Point”, about the book and his experiences on the road.  Horan is a novelist, English teacher, and book reviewer for several national publications. His novel Goose Music was a finalist for the Great Lakes Fiction Award and won the ForeWord Book of the Year Bronze Medal. He lives in Oswego, New York.  For more information, email ellen@portersquarebooks.com, or call 617-491-2220.