Boston Flora

Month: September 2011

  • American Horticultural Society Online Auction

    For the third year in a row, the American Horticultural Society will reprise its online auction. This year’s auction features exclusive opportunities for four people to have lunch and a garden tour with notable horticulturists and landscape designers throughout the United States.

    Among the tours is Fallingwater in Pennsylvania with Landscape Architect Melissa Marshall, principal designer for the award winning firm MTR Landscape Architects. Ms. Marshall was instrumental in the recent renovation of the last great Frank Lloyd Wright house with its original setting, furnishings, and artwork intact.

    Also available is a tour with Allan Armitage, internationally known for his multifaceted teaching and research in new plants for the garden and greenhouse at the University of Georgia Horticulture Gardens.

    Visit http://www.ahs.org/auction/ for a full list of these exceptional experiences and more information about the auction process. The deadline to bid on the auction items is September 26, 2011, 5:00PM EST. All proceeds benefit the AHS’s outreach programs and stewardship of its River Farm headquarters.

  • Friday, September 30 and Saturday, October 1, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm – Aster Identification Workshop

    Join Polly Hill Arboretum research associate Melissa Dow Cullina for a workshop on the Identification and Ecology of Asters, September 30 – October 1, 9 – 3. In this intensive two-day workshop students will study the many asters of Martha’s Vineyard. On day one, Cullina will give a presentation on the species reported for the Island, discussing their various features, abundance, and habitat, and introduce students to terminology and morphology specific to asters using photographs and specimens. Day two the class will go afield to practice identification in the wild using field guides and manuals. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. Bring a brown bag lunch. $120/$100 for PHA members. $80 for professionals associated with Island land management or conservation. Register by calling 508-693-9426.  Photo by Susan Safford, originally published in the Martha’s Vineyard Times.

  • Saturday, October 1, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Clean Water Action’s 17th Annual Benefit Party

    Come enjoy a buffet of tasty vegetarian treats donated by local restaurants, visit the beautiful Garden in the Woods, and celebrate a year of hard work for the environment, at Clean Water Action’s 17th Annual Benefit Party on Saturday, October 1, from 3 – 5!

    They are thrilled to announce the 2011 recipients of the John O’Connor Awards for Grassroots Leadership. This year they are taking the unusual step of recognizing multiple grassroots organizations and community activists with the John O’Connor Grassroots Leadership award. The board felt that this year is a uniquely challenging one, with efforts to roll back clean air, clean water and healthy communities facing us on every front. Please join them in celebrating the unique role these awardees are playing in holding the line and even making progress against the odds. The awardees and all the benefit details are on Clean Water Action’s website, www.cleanwateraction.org.

    Please help make the party a success by being a sponsor today. Your sponsorship will enable their continued work to protect our health, environment and democracy. Sponsorships options include:

    $75 Sponsor (includes one ticket)
    $150 -$299 Advocate (includes two tickets)
    $300 – $499 Building for Victory Sponsor (includes four tickets)
    $500 – $999 Making It Happen Sponsor (includes six tickets)
    $1000+ Leader (let them know how many tickets you need)

    Individual tickets are $30 each.

  • Monday, September 26, 7:00 pm – Growing Vitis Vinifera in New England

    Massachusetts winemaker Kip Kumler, owner of Turtle Creek Winery in Lincoln, will speak at Elm Bank on Growing Vitis Vinifera in New England. The talk, sponsored by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, will be on Monday, September 26 at 7 p.m.  Wine grapes and New England aren’t usually mentioned in the same sentence, but Kumler’s Turtle Creek Winery is proof that excellent wine can be made here given adequate planning and preparation.

    “While the comparisons are a bit simplistic, Boston is at the same latitude as Rome and the best Italian wines come from that country’s northern regions,” Kumler says. “We have more degree days (periods when temperatures are above the threshold for grapes to grow) than Burgundy. What we also have,” Kumler acknowledges, “is a shorter growing season, a colder winter, and diseases that can devastate a vineyard.” Kumler’s talk will focus on how he has overcome New England’s problems to produce critically acclaimed wine. For example, his vines are grafted onto rootstock that trade vigorous growth for earlier ripening and higher quality. The issue of cold is addressed in a more high tech manner: by insulating vines against prolonged periods of sub-zero temperatures. Loss from disease is kept to a minimum through a combination of choosing healthier nursery stock and use of new classes of fungicides which are targeted to individual fungi, have short persistence, and are environmentally benign.

    There is no charge to attend for Mass Hort members. The cost for non-members is $10. The presentation will be held in Mass Hort’s Education Building. The entrance to Elm Bank is at 900 Washington Street (Route 16) on the Wellesley/Natick town line. For additional information, call 617-933-4995.

  • Sunday, October 9, 2:00 pm – Bark: A Field Guide to Trees of the Northeast

    The Harvard Museum of Natural History will sponsor an author talk by Michael Wojtech on Sunday, October 9, beginning at 2 pm at the Museum, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge. Many people know how to identify trees by their leaves, but what happens when those leaves that have fallen or are out of reach? With detailed information and illustrations covering each phase of a tree’s life-cycle, author and naturalist Michael Wojtech will explain how to identify trees by their bark—the one tree characteristic that’s visible all year round. Learn about the structure and ecology of tree bark and how its different traits evolved. Free with museum admission.  For directions and more information, log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Sunday, October 2, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Grilling on the Green

    Join Chefs Collaborative and Metro Boston’s finest sustainability-minded chefs for Grilling on the Green on Sunday, October 2, from 4 – 6, at 500 Technology Square in Cambridge. That’s between Area Four and Catalyst restaurants, for those of you who are geographically challenged. The growing list of chefs cooking for the event includes: Antonio Bettencourt, 62 Restaurant & Wine Bar; Chris Coombs, Deuxave; Mary Dumont, Harvest; Richmond Edes, Beacon Hill Bistro; Richard Garcia, 606 Congress; William Kovel, Catalyst; Michael Leviton, Area Four/Lumiere; Peter McCarthy, EVOO/Za; Jeremy Sewall, Eastern Standard/Lineage and more! Purchase online by visiting www.chefscollaborative.org/events/2011-boston-fundraiser/ or by calling the office at 617-236-5200.

  • Tracking Fall Foliage with Yankee Magazine

    Penny and Ed Cherubino over at Boston Zest have called our attention to a fabulous on-line service by Yankee Magazine.  Read how you can pinpoint areas of peak color – the map is updated every fifteen minutes! Amazing.  Link to http://www.bostonzest.com/2011/09/tracking-fall-foliage-with-yankee-magazine.html for the full story.

  • Saturday, September 24, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Using Perennials to Create Great Color Combinations

    This lecture, Using Perennials to Create Great Color Combinations,  is a plant-based talk highlighting combinations of native and non-native perennials for many different garden situations including perennial borders, mixed borders (both sun and shade), rain gardens, vegetative swales, wet and dry meadows, and pollinator gardens. Participants will learn about the biological and aesthetic functions of North Creek’s newest perennials, including “nativars,” with the revival of tried-and-true varieties to enhance the New England livable landscape. By doing so, the existing landscape progresses in terms of ecological value and biodiversity. Beyond botany, this lecture delves into color combinations and the harmonic relationships of texture, form and landscape function. Kevin will bring some of North Creek’s favorite perennials for participants to take home. Kevin Staso works at North Creek Nurseries in Landenberg, Pennsylvania. North Creek is a wholesale propagation nursery with a strong emphasis on eastern U.S. natives and their cultivars. He travels throughout the U.S. helping wholesale growers develop programs for the retail sale of perennials. He has worked as Division Manager for a landscape design firm located in Lewes, Delaware, where he and his crews were responsible for the care of more than 100 private properties. He also worked for J. Franklin Styer Nurseries (now Terrain). Kevin has a passion for the natural world and bringing healthy, beautiful landscapes to life.  The lecture will take place at the Berkshire Botanical Gardens in West Stockbridge on Saturday, September 24, from 10 – noon, and will cost $25 for BBG members, $30 for non-members.  Register on line at www.berkshirebotanical.org.

  • Saturday, September 17, 12:15 pm – 4:00 pm – Anatomy of a Vermont Barn

    Tour six barns this Saturday dating from 1790 to 2009 in Weathersfield, Vermont, with local experts Steven Melanson and Willis Wood. Learn about barn history, timber framing, and other construction techniques. Melanson is an architectural historian, preservation consultant, and preservation carpenter. Wood is a longtime member and past president of the Weathersfield Historical Society. During lunch, join Historic New England’s Preservation Stewardship Manager and Vermont native Caitlin Corkins for a discussion about the state Barn Census and the unique grant program that works with private owners to preserve area barns. Co-sponsored by the Weathersfield Historical Society.

    Tour begins at 12:15 p.m.  The fee to attend is $10 for Historic New England and Weathersfield Historical Society members, $15 for non-members. For an additional $10 per person, an optional box lunch is available at 11:15 a.m. Lunch will be held across from parking lot on Center Church Road. Bring chair or blanket for seating. Transportation between barns is by bus. Light refreshments follow the tour.

    Despite the damage caused in parts of Vermont by Hurricane Irene, our local partner has confirmed that this program can still take place. Registration is required. Please call 978-744-0440 for more information. Purchase tickets now on line at https://shop.historicnewengland.org/p-7321-anatomy-of-a-vermont-barn.aspx.  Photo by Nanci Nutile-McMenemy.

  • Sunday, October 2, 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Fall Table Wreaths

    Register for a Tower Hill Botanic Garden course, Fall Table Wreaths, on Sunday, October 2, from 1 – 3 pm, and, under the guidance of award winning designer Julie Lapham, arrange fall flowers and foliage into a wreath for your table or wall.  Fresh and dried plant material and all mechanics will be provided.  Bring clippers and an apron.  Tower Hill Botanic Garden member price is $60, non-members $65.  Register on line at www.towerhillbg.org.