Boston Flora

Month: March 2012

  • Saturday, March 31, 11:00 am – Elegant Edibles for the Home Garden

    Moderator Dawn Davies, staff horticulturist at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, will present a slide show of 50 plant varieties focusing on vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers selected for their productivity, time tested reliability, and, of course, their visual appeal, on Saturday, March 31 beginning at 11 am at Russell’s Garden Center, 397 Boston Post Road in Sudbury.  She will show how combinations of these stunning edibles can be utilized to make your own garden a little more elegant and edible.  Free.  For directions, visit www.russellsgardencenter.com. Garden below designed by Bunny Guinness, photo from www.aerialediblegardening.wordpress.com.

  • Wednesday, April 11, 7:00 pm – Landscape as Urbanism

    A leading scholar in the field of landscape architecture, Charles Waldheim, Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Consulting Curator of Landscape, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, will speak about the role of landscape in defining our communities on Wednesday, April 11, beginning at 7 pm.  Mr. Waldheim is also the editor of The Landscape Urbanism Reader.

    Tickets: $15 members of Trinity/Arnold Arboretum, $20 general admission, available at www.arboretum.harvard.edu or by phone or in person at The Shop at Trinity 617.536.0944 x225. The lecture will take place at the Weld Hill Research Building, 1300 Centre Street, Roslindale, MA 02131. Questions: Kathy Acerbo-Bachmann 617.536.0944 x217 or kacerbobachmann@trinitychurchboston.org.

    This lecture is part of the Garden & Spirit Lecture Series, co-sponsored by Trinity Church, Boston and The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.

  • Tuesday, April 3, 6:00 pm – Learning From Insects: How Our World is Shaped by Bees, Ants, and Other Social Insects

    Discover why many of the world’s top scientists have devoted their careers to the study of social insects in Learning From Insects: How Our World is Shaped by Bees, Ants, and Other Social Insects, a dialogue and booksigning with Thomas Seeley, Biology Professor at Cornell, and Bernd Heinrich, Profession Emeritus at the University of Vermont, on Tuesday, April 3, at 6:00 pm at the Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge. Moderated by Professor Naomi Pierce, Curator of Lepidoptera in the MCZ at Harvard. The speakers will discuss their research and why it’s critical that we study and learn from insects.

    Following the presentation, there will be reception and book signing in the Museum’s galleries. Cosponsored with Harvard University Press. Free and open to the public. Free parking available in the 52 Oxford Street garage.  For more information, visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Wednesday, April 11, 7:00 pm – On the Brink of War: Literary Boston in 1860

    Every now and then we post an event which has little to do with horticulture, but everything to do with Boston.  On Wednesday, April 11, beginning at 7 pm, Brenda Wineapple, author of White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, will speak at Boston College as part of the Lowell Humanities Series and Forgotten Chapters Project.  Her topic will be On the Brink of War: Literary Boston in 1860, and the lecture will take place in Devlin Hall, Room 101. Ms. Wineapple was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award, a winner of the Washington Arts Club National Award for arts writing, and her work was named a New York Times Notable Book.  For more information, call 617-552-2203, or visit www.bc.edu/arts.

  • Saturday, March 31, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm, and Sunday, April 1, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Norwood Evening Garden Club’s Art in Bloom

    Norwood High School art students will once again join the Norwood Evening Garden Club to present Art in Bloom 2012. This is the eighth annual event where club members create floral displays to interpret the work done by students in Drawing and Painting III and 2D Digital Design III classes.

    The historic George H. Morse House at 1285 Washington Street in South Norwood will host this year’s Art in Bloom on Saturday, March 31 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday, April 1, from 1:00-5:00 p.m. The public is invited. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.

     

    For information about the Norwood Evening Garden Club, contact Susan Pearson at 508-668-4039 or visit www.NorwoodEveningGardenClub.com. For more information about Art in Bloom, call Julie Stenson at 781-344-5650.

     

  • Wednesday, April 11, 6:30 pm – Learn to Garden with Edibles

    Join Master Gardener Betty Sanders at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 11 at the Endicott Estate, 656 East Street, Dedham, for a talk on how to grow vegetables in that most local of all gardens, your own back yard. Admission is free. Light refreshments will be served. Sanders will discuss how to plan an edible garden, amend the soil, and choose what plants to grow. While vegetables traditionally are grown in a separate area, Sanders will also talk about how to incorporate edibles into flower borders, containers or raised beds. Betty has lectured at the New England Flower Show, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s lecture series, the Boston Public Library as well as at many garden clubs and civic organizations. Her own two-acre garden was part of the National Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program in 2008. The talk is sponsored by the Fairbanks Garden Club of Dedham and is made possible by a grant from the Dedham Institution for Savings Foundation. For further information call Fairbanks Garden Club co-president Lisa Brayton, 781-326-6081. Photo from www.housetrends.com.

  • Wednesday, April 4, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Our Native Pollinators: Intriguing Insects and More

    Scientists now consider our residential landscapes to be a “final frontier” in providing essential habitat for at-risk pollinator species that are vital to environmental health and a functioning food web.

    Come to the Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway in Cambridge, on Wednesday, April 4, from 7 – 8:30 to learn about the best plants for helping to feed and shelter our native pollinators, including bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. There are many easy ways to support pollinator populations in your garden, utilizing a few important principles in your landscaping practices.

    Speaker Ellen Sousa is a garden coach, habitat naturalist, and author, whose writings appear in numerous journals and blogs. The lecture is free, and is sponsored by Grow Native Massachusetts. Photo from flatbushgardener.blogspot.com.

  • Tuesday, April 3, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Creating Lush Containers

    The Andover Garden Club will hold a meeting, open to the public, on Tuesday, April 3, beginning at 10 am at South Church, 41 Central Street in Andover.  A $5 suggested donation is requested. Garden designer, writer, and lecturer Donna Lane, speaking on Creating Lush Containers, will demonstrate how to create lush container gardens that will be the envy of the neighborhood. She will discuss color, texture, form, mass, and scale; how to select plants; the best soil for planters; which plants are best suited to containers; professional secrets; and use of accessories.

    Founded in 1927, the Andover Garden Club is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that encourages the study and practice of horticulture, landscape design, and floral design; aids in the beautification of the town of Andover; and helps protect and conserve natural resources. For more information telephone 978-475-7119.

  • Tuesday, April 3, 1:00 pm – 1:45 pm – From Seed to Tree

    Did you know that almost all of the new plants in the Arboretum begin their lives in the Dana Greenhouses? Get a behind-the-scenes look of the greenhouse growing process, from seed to sprout to seedling to tree, on Tuesday, April 3, beginning at 1 pm. Meet at the Bonsai Collection. There is a 15-person maximum. There is no fee, but registration is required by emailing arbweb@arnarb.harvard.edu, or by calling 617-384-5209. The address for the Dana Greenhouse is 1050 Centre Street, Boston.

  • Thursday, April 5, 7:00 pm – Pruning Outdoor Trees and Shrubs

    Pruning is a practice that is periodically required on all woody landscape plants and a yearly pruning program helps to maintain the health, beauty and safety of plantings. Jack Kelly of Bartlett Tree Experts will discuss those techniques that are safe and reasonable for the home gardener to do as well as discussing when it’s time to call in an arborist for consultation and management of large or difficult specimens. The lecture, entitled Pruning Outdoor Trees and Shrubs, will take place at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s headquarters at Elm Bank in Wellesley on Thursday, April 5 beginning at 7 pm. The event is free but registration is recommended at www.masshort.org.