Boston Flora

Month: January 2012

  • Saturday, February 11, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Meadows Turned Garden

    Meadows are not only beautiful landscapes, but also valuable habitats for plants, pollinators and birds. Information on creating and maintaining a meadow are included in the talk. Consider plant selection, siting, planting, cultivation and maintenance of native plants suitable for a meadow garden in this Berkshire Botanical Garden lecture on Saturday, February 11, from 1 – 3. View plants and combinations that will enhance properties in a natural way. In the first hour explore the native and non-native species that call meadows home and learn how meadows function. In the second hour discuss creating meadow gardens and look more closely at the cultural requirements of native meadow species.

    Drew Monthie is a horticulturalist, garden designer and ecologist working in upper New York State. He is committed to teaching about the importance of using native plants to provide beauty and preserve biodiversity in yards and gardens. $22 for BBG members, $27 for non-members. Register on line at www.berkshirebotanical.org. Image below from The American Meadow Garden by John Greenlee.

  • Saturday, February 11, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Begonia Workshop

    Seduced by begonias? Join the crowd. And who can blame you? Not only are begonias outrageously glam, but they are a cinch as houseplants – if you know the ropes. Join Tovah Martin, curator of the begonia collection at Logee’s Greenhouses for 25 years and lifelong begonia addict, at Berkshire Botanical Garden on Saturday, February 11 from 10 – 12 for a begonia workshop. She’ll spill the goods on which begonias make the best houseplants as well as revealing which begonias to avoid. She’ll recommend begonias that make a smooth transition from indoors to outside. In fact, she’ll introduce you to the entire begonia family with scenic detours to show you her favorite real live plants. Care, maintenance, watering, pruning, repotting, and propagating will be demonstrated with plenty of hands-on interaction. Best of all: Bring home several begonia cuttings in a mini-greenhouse to grow on! Bring hand pruners and a cardboard box to transport plants home. BBG member price $37, non-members $45, and you may register on line at www.berkshirebotanical.org.

    Tovah Martin is a horticulturist, writer and garden personality living in Northwest CT. She writes for many horticultural publications and her latest book is The New Terrarium, published in 2009.  Photo below of begonia ‘Chocolate Cream’ from Logee’s Greenhouses 1999.

  • Saturday, February 18, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Aviflora: Plants and Birds That Love Them

    The quantity and diversity of trees and shrubs in our area provide shelter and food to a wide assortment of birds throughout the year. Three fantastic bird photographers have combed their portfolios for images that capture both floral and avian organisms in tandem. By giving a measure of parity to the plants, these images invite the viewer to consider the vital interactions between all living things. The Arnold Arboretum hosts the show Aviflora: Plants and Birds That Love Them from January 14 – March 11, 2012, in the Hunnewell Lecture Hall at the Arboretum, with an artists reception on Saturday, February 18 from 1 – 3. For more information visit www.arboretum.harvard.edu, or call 617-384-5209.

    Aviflora: Plants and the Birds that Love Them

  • Sunday, February 26, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Women in Botany

    Judith Sumner, botanist, author, and educator, celebrates women’s many roles in botany, at Garden in the Woods in Framingham on Sunday, February 26 from 10 – 4. Expert practical botanists – as gardeners, cooks, herbalists, and midwives – women have also become recognized professional botanists contributing significantly to plant science through exploration, research, and publication. Beginning with colonial America and the work of Jane Colden, explore the role of women in botanical studies and documentation. Recognize the role of women in protecting biodiversity (including the origins of the New England Wild Flower Society) and the work of Beatrix Farrand and others in ecology and landscape design.  In addition to lecture, slides, and discussion, peruse primary source materials from the Society library and participate in hands-on activities that commemorate the diverse roles of women in botany. This lecture is offered in collaboration with The Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture. Fee for members of either organization is $72 per person, and for non-members, $87. Register on line at www.newfs.org, or at www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

  • Tuesday, March 13, 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Boston Flower & Garden Show Preview Party

    The 2012 Boston Flower & Garden Show will kick off with an elegant fundraising Preview Party at The Seaport World Trade Center chaired by Fox 25′s Maria Stephanos and hosted by Mayor and Mrs. Thomas Menino. Proceeds from the Preview Party will help restore Boston Parks Department’s Greenhouses, where plants are propagated for the Public Garden, Boston Common, and dozens of neighborhood parks. Special guests, entertainment, delightful food and beverage and a silent auction make this an exclusive and enjoyable opportunity to view the show’s gardens and exhibits before the show opens to the general public the following day. Tickets are $100 each before February 14, $125 per person thereafter.  You may also purchase a $500 Friend ticket, and your company name or patron name will be displayed in the program.  Ticket includes admission to the private party, exclusive viewing of the Flower Show’s gardens and the chance to meet the designers, open bar, complimentary hor d’oeuvres reception, live music, and one ticket to return to the Flower Show later in the week.  You may download a ticket order form by visiting www.bostonflowershow.com/preview-party/.  Pictured below is the original Olmsted greenhouse in Franklin Park.

  • Landslide 2012: Landscape and Patronage Call for Nominations

    American history is replete with visionary, inspired and willful patrons who supported and shaped beloved and nationally significant estates, parks, plazas and other civic amenities across the country.

    The Cultural Landscape Foundation announces the 2012 Landslide®: Landscape and Patronage call for nominations. Landslide, the annual thematic compendium of threatened and at-risk landscapes, in 2012 will focus on those people and/or organizations and the sites they helped create. The goal is to celebrate their accomplishments and inspire new generations of patrons and philanthropists. The landscapes that surround us everyday shape our communities and the people living in them — help bring attention to these sites and the individuals who shaped their creation by nominating an at-risk cultural landscape.  Deadline is May 31! Submit a nomination on line at www.tclf.org.  Below is a photo of A.D. Taylor and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. at Forest Hills Park, Ohio.

    Glendora Bougainvilea

  • Wednesday, March 14, 7:00 pm – High Line: The Inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky

    The 2012 Esther Steinberg Memorial Architecture Lecture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston will take place Wednesday, March 14, beginning at 7 pm in the Remis Auditorium at the MFA.  Robert Hammond, co-founder and executive director, Friends of the High Line, will share the story of how the High Line, a new public park atop an elevated freight rail structure in Manhattan, became an innovative urban reclamation project.  Hammond and his co-founder collaborated with neighbors, elected officials, artists, local business owners, and leaders in horticulture and landscape architecture, to create a park celebrated as a model for creatively designed, socially vibrant, ecologically sound public space.  A book signing follows.  This is a ticketed event ($15 MFA members, $18 others) and tickets may be reserved by calling 1-800-440-6975, going in person to the Remis Auditorium box office at the Museum, or visiting www.mfa.org.  Because this event will undoubtedly sell out, we recommend buying tickets early.

  • Sunday, February 12, 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Glassblowing Flowers and Hearts

    Give your sweetheart a special gift – learn basic glass blowing theory to produce brilliantly colorful glass flowers and hearts.  No experience necessary to take this Boston Center for Adult Education class on Sunday, February 12 from 2 – 6, taught by the instructors at the Diablo Glass School.  The $145 session will take place at Diablo Glass and Metal, 123 Terrace Street in Roxbury.  To sign up, visit www.bcae.org.  The antique glass flower bouquet pictured below was a gift to Elizabeth C. Ware and her daughter Mary Lee Ware from Leopold Blaschka in 1889.  Photograph by Hillel Burger, copyright President and Fellows of Harvard College.

  • Saturday, February 4, 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Franklin Park Snow Festival

    Considering the weather we’ve been having lately, this event might not come to pass.  However, just in case, here is the information you need to attend the Franklin Park Snow Festival on Saturday, February 4, from 12 – 3: Sign in at the Franklin Park Golf Clubhouse. Come sled, snowshoe, build snowpeople (politically correct term these days, we guess,) and track animal prints in the snow! If you have cross country skis, a guided tour will begin at 1:30. Warm up with hot chocolate and board games in the clubhouse. Bring a sled if you have one, we’ll have plenty for those without. Wear warm clothes and mittens! RSVP and Questions? www.franklinparkcoalition.org / 617-442-4141.  We just couldn’t resist the picture below, although we can’t determine the original photographer.

  • Wednesday, March 7 – Thursday, March 8 – 18th Annual ELA Conference and Eco-Marketplace

    ELA Conference Save the Date

    For complete information, visit www.ecolandscaping.org.