Boston Flora

Month: January 2012

  • Thursday, February 16, 10:00 am – Historic Gardens of Japan

    The February meeting of The Garden Club of the Back Bay will take place Thursday, February 16, beginning at 10:00 am at The College Club, 44 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Lee Schneller Sligh will present an illustrated lecture entitled Historic Gardens of Japan. Lee Schneller Sligh is a Master Gardener volunteer and has designed and built more than 200 gardens in Maine since 1995 as owner of Lee Schneller Fine Gardens. Her revolutionary perennial garden design system is the subject of her new book, The Ever-Blooming Flower Garden: A Blueprint for Continuous Color (Storey Publishing, March 2009), which has been a continuous bestseller in independent bookstores and on Amazon.com. She lectures frequently and offers four-hour workshops teaching her design method. In addition to continuously blooming gardens, Lee specializes in Japanese-inspired and naturalistic gardens. She lived in Japan for four years, earned degrees in Chinese language and literature and in Asian history and worked for ten years as a Japanese technical translator before starting her gardening business.
    Illustrated with striking photos from her travels throughout Japan over thirty years, this talk and slide show introduces very old gardens, some brought to light only recently through the efforts of archaeologists. The oldest Japanese garden discovered so far is a little-known stream garden in rural Mie Prefecture dating from the 4th century A.D., which was just discovered and excavated in the 1990s.  Japanese gardens are widely admired for the sense of intimacy and inner stillness they convey to the viewer, an effect achieved through the sensitive and simple arrangement of elements. These qualities seem ever more precious, both to the Japanese and to foreigner visitors, and make the Japanese garden a timeless refuge from our complicated and fast-paced modern lives.  Lee specializes in creating Japanese-inspired gardens with native New England plants, and travels frequently to Japan to tour and research gardens. Examples of her work can be seen at www.LeeSchneller.com.

    Garden Club members will receive written notice of this meeting in the mail.  Non-members are cordially invited to attend ($10 meeting only, $25 with lunch following the meeting) with reservations.  Email info@bostonflora.com, or telephone 617-859-8865.

  • Saturday, February 11, 8:30 am – 12:00 noon – Southeastern Massachusetts Land Trust Convocation

    Join fellow conservation professionals, volunteers and board members for a morning of free topical workshops on Saturday, February 11, from 8:30 – noon at the Canal Club Facility, Trowbridge Road (off the Bourne Bridge Rotary), Quality Inn Hotel in Bourne, Massachusetts. Come hear about: * How to deal with property violations and fund stewardship * The new Massachusetts tax credit incentive for conservation donations * Developing good governance policies for your organization * Using new media to reach out to your members and others. Funding for the Convocation is provided by The Island Foundation of Marion, MA. Co-sponsored by The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts, Inc, Coalition for Buzzards Bay, Inc, & the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition, Inc.  For more information, visit www.thecompact.net.

  • Saturday, February 18, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – European Container Garden for Indoors

    Plant a lovely winter garden for your table or window to enjoy indoors while winter still holds sway outside. European container gardens combine potted plants with fresh cut flowers in a decorative container. With proper care, the plants will last for many months and the fresh flowers can be replaced when desired. This Tower Hill Botanic Garden workshop, led by Betsy Williams on Saturday, February 18 from 10 – noon, costs $65 (THBG members) or $70 (nonmembers.) All materials included.  Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Thursday, January 26 – Sunday, March 4 – Robert Burle Marx: Tablecloth

    Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994, Brazil) is recognized as one of the most influential – if not the most influential – landscape architects of the 20th century. “Tablecloth/Toalha”, an exhibition at Rooster Gallery, 190 Orchard Street on New York’s Lower East Side, will be comprised of several late works, mainly executed during his stay in Constância at José Ramoa’s, an art dealer and collector with whom Burle Marx developed an intense friendship. The exhibition will be on display January 6 – March 4, with an opening reception January 26 from 6 – 8, so if you’re planning a trip to the Big Apple this winter, don’t miss this show.

    The exhibition is titled after a 141”x59” painted tablecloth specifically designed to fit Ramoa’s dining table. Just like another tablecloth on display at Sítio Burle Marx in Guaratiba, Rio de Janeiro, this work clearly demonstrates Burle Marx’s originality as a multifaceted artist whose work cannot be exclusively categorized as landscape architecture. Lauro Cavalcanti – curator of the retrospective exhibition “Roberto Burle Marx 100 anos: A permanência do Instável” – stated that Burle Marx “…painted every day in the morning and in the afternoon he did his gardens” and did not enjoy the fact that his paintings were relegated to a secondary position.

    Also on display will be 12 india-ink works on paper, dated from 1973 to 1990, which reveal Burle Marx’s loose proficiency. While dispensing color – something inherently his due to his activity as a landscape architect – Burle Marx still follows the same provocative abstract morphology that characterized South-American art during the second half of the 20th century, providing the viewer some hints on issues like urbanism and landscaping. Along with these works some never before seen letters and photography of Burle Marx and Ramoa will be available.

    “Tablecloth/Toalha” is an exhibition that wants to show Burle Marx’s activity not only as a landscape architect, but also as a prolific and inventive artist. In the end, one might question whether it is the architectural grammar that is present on Burle Marx’s paintings or the pictorial language that is present in his landscape projects.

  • Tuesday, February 14, 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm – Christian Rabeling Lecture

    On Valentine’s Day, The Cambridge Entomological Club will host Christian Rabeling, Junior Fellow at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, as the speaker for its February meeting.  Christian’s studies include the evolutionary biology of social insects, genetic evolution and speciation of social parasites, and the natural history of ants.  CEC meetings are held the second Tuesday of the month from October through May. The evening schedule typically includes an informal dinner (6:15 to 7:15 PM) followed by our formal meeting (7:30 – 9:00 PM) in MCZ 101, 26 Oxford Street, Harvard University. The latter begins with club business and is followed by a 50 minute entomology related presentation. Membership is open to amateur and professional entomologists.  For more information, email CEC President Jessica Walden-Gray at jessisoutside@gmail.com.

  • Wednesday, February 1, 4:30 pm – 7:00 pm – The Smile Project to Benefit the Greater Boston Food Bank

    A public showing of local area artists with complimentary appetizers & beverages to benefit the Greater Boston Food Bank will take place Wednesday, February 1 from 4:30 – 7 pm.  The Blue Glass Cafe at 200 Clarendon Street in Boston (John Hancock Tower)  has teamed up with Smile Boston Artist Bren Bataclan, Daruma, the Factory Inc. artists Minatsu Ariga (picture below) & Kotaro Morita, Faith Hyde & Marjorie Montemayor to support the Greater Boston Food Bank with The Smile Project. The Cafe is collaborating with the Greater Boston Food Bank to hold a can drive, as well as to provide donations on a weekly Smile Project item. The event is free – call 617-275-0250 for more information.

  • Thursday, February 23 – Sunday, February 26 – The Rhode Island Spring Flower & Garden Show

    The Rhode Island Flower Show attracts more than 30,000 attendees annually, showcasing garden displays and 250 larger-than-life garden marketplace vendors. From Thursday, February 23 through Sunday, February 26, see demonstrations and lectures, with an emphasis on organic gardening and bring the kids for some family fun. Children under five receive free admission. For almost two decades the Flower Show has been the beacon for early Spring fun in Rhode Island.  Hours are 9 – 8 daily except for the final Sunday, when the Rhode Island Convention Center will close at 6 pm.  Tickets are $16 in advance, $18 at the door, and may be purchased through the website, www.flowershow.com.  Sponsored by the Rhode Island Horticultural Society.

  • Friday, January 27, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm, and 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm – A Feast for the Senses: Sight, Smell, Tasteand Touch

    This Tower Hill Botanic Garden demonstration, in conjunction with Flora in Winter, will take you on a vacation for your senses – travel an herbal highway featuring culinary delights such as herb butters, syrups and cordials; scented treasures such as potpourris; feel good body products like massage oil and body powder; and visual delights such as pressed flower bookmarks and miniature dried flower arrangements. You will learn how simple it is to surround yourself with beautiful and unique items of an herbal nature. Handouts will be given to each participant with project directions. THBG member price $5, non-member price $8, presented by Karen O’Brien of The Green Woman’s Garden. The event will be given twice, once from 11 – 12:30, and again from 1:30 – 3:00. Register online at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Saturday, February 4, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Cheese-Making Workshop

    With the abundance of local and raw milk, homeowners can now expand their domestic arts into the realm of cheese making. This Berkshire Botanical Garden program on Saturday, February 4, from 1 – 3 will introduce the craft of basic fresh cheese making, both concepts and process. Participants will watch and help local homesteader/farmer Dominic Palumbo, from Moon in the Pond Farm, make a simple “Farm Cheese.” The program will conclude with a tasting and tips for how to turn your wonderful cheese into the perfect treat for family or guests including how and what to serve it with. This program will be held off site.

    Dominic Palumbo owns Moon in the Pond Farm, a NOFA (Northeast Organic Farmers Association) certified organic farm in Sheffield, MA. He produces organic eggs, milk, meat, wool, yarn and honey. Register on line at www.berkshirebotanical.org ($30 BBG members, $35 non-members) and directions will be sent.

  • Saturday, February 4, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon – Beekeeping for Gardeners: Getting Started in Backyard Beekeeping

    This Berkshire Botanical Garden workshop on Saturday, February 4 from 9 – 12 is for everyone with an interest in honeybees and beekeeping. Learn how to start a honeybee colony, the seasonal management required to keep a healthy hive of bees and the role of pollinators and their relationship to flowering plants. Topics provide an overview of the beekeeper’s job, and will help new beekeepers, or those who are considering becoming a beekeeper, to make the correct choices for starting a backyard apiary. Equipment and tools used by the beekeeper will be discussed, and step-by-step instructions for starting a new colony of bees will be covered. At the end of the workshop participants should have a solid understanding of how to successfully begin as a new beekeeper.

    Dan Conlon owns Warm Colors Apiary in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. Warm Colors maintains bee yards in western Mass for honey production, and to provide pollination services on area farms. As a full-time beekeeper, concerned with the decline of all bees, Dan focuses on management that improves Queen development & health, colony nutrition, and reduces the environmental risks threatening bees. He is President of the Massachusetts Beekeepers Association, and was recognized as the Eastern Apicultural Society’s 2004 Beekeeper of the Year, and the Massachusetts 2005 Beekeeper of the Year. Register online ($37 BBG members, $45 non-members) at www.berkshirebotanical.org.  Photo of Dan’s Russian Queen Bee Yard below from www.commonweeder.com.