Come to Elm Bank on Thursday, June 14 beginning at 7 pm to hear Betty Sanders (www.BettyOnGardening.com) speak on Creating Glorious Summer Container Gardens, as part of the Thursday at the Hort Presentation series. The cost is $12 for Mass Hort members and $15 for non members. No need to pre-register, and you may pay at the class. For more information visit www.masshort.org.
Thousands of plants are available in creams, golds, blues, and mixes at the Hosta Sale at Lyman Estate Greenhouses, June 15 – 17. Choose from large-specimen and small plants, along with many new and hard-to-find varieties. Our knowledgeable staff is on hand to help you choose the right hostas for your garden. The greenhouses are located at 185 Lyman Street in Waltham. For more information, visit www.historicnewengland.org, or call 781-891-1985. Free admission.
Bostonians can already talk the talk, but can they walk the walk? Although Boston’s known as America’s walking city, how many people actually stop and smell the roses? It’s time to slow down and look around!
Beginning in June 2012, the Boston Center for Adult Education (BCAE) is offering a series of interactive walking tours designed to educate and inspire. Guests will have a chance to explore historical neighborhoods on foot while discovering fascinating facts about the community around us! Whether you’ve just moved to the city and want to get to know your neighborhood, or have lived in the city for years, there’s something for everyone to discover.
The BCAE tours will be held on three Tuesday evenings throughout the month of June and will include: A Walking Tour of the South End, A Walking Tour of Bay Village and The Theatre District, and A Walking Tour of the Fort Point Channel Neighborhood. All tours are non-refundable ($20 fee) and will be held rain or shine. Registration is necessary. Please visit www.bcae.org or call the Boston Center for Adult Education at 617-267-4430 to sign up.
For the June 12 South End Tour: During the mid-nineteenth century, Boston’s South End developed into a fashionable neighborhood of tree-shaded oval parks and bow front bordered avenues. Explore this delightful neighborhood on foot, and discover the topographical and architectural development of this fascinating, multicultural, urban community. The tour will encompass an 1810 burial ground, an 1830s wooden house tucked away in an alley and a number of charming masonry town houses. You will want to come back on your own to visit the many vibrant shops, galleries and restaurants you’ll pass in the course of the walk.
*Please note: Tour meets at the BCAE.
Change Comes to Dinner takes readers into the farms, markets, organizations, businesses and institutions across America that are pushing for a more sustainable food system in America. Author Katie Gustafson is an award-winning writer, journalist and editor whose articles and essays have been published in numerous print and online media. She has written about sustainable food, among other topics, for Yes! Magazine, The Huffington Post, Civil Eats, Change.org, and Tonic.
Raising the Salad Bar, by Cathy Walthers, of more than 135 inventive salad recipes is timed to answer the great demand for healthy recipes with organic ingredients. Walthers offers up delicious twists on tired classics, including pasta salads, salad wraps, chicken salads, and more. Walthers, an award-winning journalist and food writer, is also the author of the cookbook Soups and Sides. A graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts, she has worked for the past 15 years as a private chef and cooking instructor in the Boston area and on Martha’s Vineyard. She is the food editor of Martha’s Vineyard Magazine and founding member of the Martha’s Vineyard Slow Food Group and the Island Grown Initiative.
Both authors will appear at Porter Square Books, 25 White Street in Cambridge, on Wednesday, June 6, beginning at 7 pm. For more information call 617-491-2220, or visit www.portersquarebooks.com.
From its calcareous cobbles to its coastal plains, Massachusetts has a broad diversity of eco-regions and is home to 1,814 species of native plants. Of these, 254 (or 14%) are vulnerable to extinction and protected by the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act. Even more are species of conservation concern. On Wednesday, June 6, from 7 – 8:30, get a valuable overview of these many vulnerable plants and the threats they face — from habitat destruction to invasive plants to climate change. We have significant challenges ahead of us if we are to ensure their survival. The program is sponsored by Grow Native Massachusetts and will take place at the Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway. The program is free.   Speaker Bryan Connolly is the State Botanist for the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program.
The members of Swansea Oakhill Seekonk Grange need help! The Swansea School Committee has contacted the Grange to inform the members that they plan to take their hall through eminent domain, tear it down and build a new driveway for the high school. Obviously this is a course of action the members of Swansea Oakhill Seekonk Grange and the Massachusetts State Grange do not support.
Anyone who is interested may attend the next meeting of Swansea Oakhill Seekonk Grange on June 8th at 7:30 pm to show their support for the Grange. At this meeting a representative of the School Committee will be there to explain their plan. Swansea Oakhill Seekonk Grange’s hall is located at 65 Milford Road Swansea 02777.
Please consider attending the meeting on June 8th at 7:30pm. The more people who attend the stronger the message.
For more information contact Christopher Szkutak (LEGISLATION@massgrange.org) or Jason Gregory, Master of Swansea Oakhill Seekonk Grange (webmaster@massgrange.org).
Enjoy an informal and informative guided walk along the paths of the award-winning Shirley G. Cross Wildflower Garden on the grounds of the Green Briar Nature Center and Jam Kitchen, 6 Discovery Hill Road (off Route 6A) in East Sandwich. Registration is not necessary for this drop-in program to be held each Tuesday, June 5 – August 28, beginning at 10 am and sponsored by the Thornton W. Burgess Society. The garden, conceived and designed by Dr. Shirley G. Cross (pictured below) is a living museum for those interested in the study and use of wildflowers. The one-third acre contains over 300 plants and is maintained by a small group of dedicated volunteers. The fee of $3 for Thornton Burgess members, $5 for non-members helps to support the maintenance of the garden. For more information, call 508-888-6870, or visit www.thorntonburgess.org.
Join Athol Bird & Nature Club president Dave Small and naturalist Lula Field at Dave and Shelley’s house, 1542 Pleasant Street in Athol, to search for Lunas, underwings, silkmoths and other night flying insects. Participants are invited to bring their tents, snacks to share, and favorite moth baits. Don’t know what those are? You’ll find out. For complete information, contact Dave@dhsmall.net.
Here is a hint about this year’s Needham Garden Tour on Sunday, June 3, from 11 – 3: The topics of the “Garden Chats” that will take place during the day of the Tour have been finalized! See below…
Integrating a vegetable garden in to your garden design
The low maintenance garden
Perennial color all summer
Butterfly & hummingbird gardens
Plantings for shady and acidic areas
About the Needham Garden Tour…
Enjoy the gardens, small and large, of six area homeowners
Tickets are $30 (through Memorial Day).
A self-guided tour, 11am-3pm
How-to “garden chats” by area experts offered during the day
Event proceeds support the rebuilding of the Greene’s Field play area
Tickets ($35) available by visiting www.needhamwomensclub.org/needhamgardentour.html.
Christopher S. Reece and Martha R. Pappas invite you to an Evening to Support the Children’s Garden at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, with cocktails, tapas, and a presentation with designer Gary Smith, on Wednesday, June 20, beginning at 6 pm. Individual tickets are $45, sponsor tickets are $75. You may purchase tickets by calling 508-869-6111, ext. 136, or by visiting www.towerhillbg.org. The evening is generously supported by Tasting’s Caterers.
