Boston Flora

Month: December 2012

  • December, 2012 – A Holiday Garden at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

    Each year the horticulture department at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum prepares an elegant and colorful display of seasonal flowers and trees just in time for the holiday season. The Courtyard display, dubbed A Holiday Garden, is a rich and festive array featuring dark forest greens and shades of red and silver, adding to the excitement of the season. This holiday tradition showcases dark red poinsettias, and silver artemisia, also known as dusty miller. Bright red berries of pyracantha shrubs and the blooms of amaryllis brighten winter shadows.

    “A Holiday Garden is one of the most colorful and celebrated Courtyard displays each year,” said Stan Kozak, Chief Horticulturist at the Gardner Museum. “The deep red poinsettias that punctuate the Courtyard help usher in the holiday season.”

    History of the poinsettia can be traced back to the 14th century when records show that Quetzalcoatl used the sap to control fevers. They later made their first known appearance in the United States when Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, sent them to his greenhouse in South Carolina in 1828. The first commercial grower was Colonel Robert Carr, owner of Bartram Nursery in Philadelphia, who exhibited them in 1829 at the Philadelphia Horticulture Society. Mass production was initialed around 1920 by a California horticulturalist Paul Ecke, who marketed them as a Christmas flower.  Archival records trace evidence of poinsettias in the Courtyard back to 1949, when director Morris Carter included a sprinkling of red and cream poinsettias in the holiday display.  A Holiday Garden will be on display throughout the month of December.

  • Wreath of the Day – Silver Frost

    Wreath of the Day – Silver Frost

    Silver bow and silver accents – we receive a number of orders like this each year.  The challenge is to keep the look wintry but not cold.  Sparkle helps.  The polka dotted bow echoes the round silver balls and the lotus pods, while elongated spruce cones provide contrast.  And yes, those are sweet gum seeds poking out like miniature satellites.

  • Monday, January 14, 7:00 pm – Plants, The First Three Billion Years

    Plants, The First Three Billion Years: A Reflection on the Nature of Evolutionary History will be the first of this year’s Director’s Lecture Series at the Arnold Arboretum on Monday, January 14 at 7 pm at the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway in Boston.

    Plant biodiversity. How did it all begin? And what are some of the key evolutionary twists and turns that have deposited us into a world teaming with photosynthetic life? William “Ned” Friedman, Director of the Arnold Arboretum and an evolutionary biologist, will explore how lunch for a unicellular organism inadvertently laid the groundwork for the first plants, and how they then went on to produce exquisitely beautiful multicellular photosynthetic lineages dozens of times, only one of which made it out of the water and onto land 475 million years ago.  Free, but registration requested at 617-384-5277, or email Pam Thompson at pam_thompson@harvard.edu.

  • Wreath of the Day – Lotus Eaters

    Wreath of the Day – Lotus Eaters

    Many customers request lotus pod accents, which in the pictured wreath are shown both natural and painted gold.  They are not native to the Northeast and we must purchase them, as we purchase the magnolia leaves, but they are striking in this classic design, also trimmed with tiny artificial apples, berries, and flowering eucalyptus.  This wreath will be used outdoors and can stand up to extreme weather.  One customer asked that her wreath be decorated with “those pods that look like Swiss cheese.”  We knew just what she meant.

  • Tuesday, December 18, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – The World of Hollies

    Bill Cannon is a horticulturist and owner of Holly Farms of Cape Cod. He is also a former garden writer for the Patriot Ledger.  On Tuesday, December 18, from 7 – 8:30, Bill will speak about the uses and care of hollies that are hardy on the South Shore. Included will be reasons to use hollies in the landscape, what hollies to choose for your property, and pruning, feeding, and overall care of hollies.  He will show slides of his holly collection in Brewster. Gardeners are invited to bring sprigs of holly for identification.  Th program is sponsored by the Mattakeesett Garden Club of Pembroke and will take place at the Pembroke Public Library, Center Street, Rte. 14, in Pembroke.  Free admission.

  • Wreath of the Day – An Arresting Design

    Wreath of the Day – An Arresting Design

    A new ribbon this year was a brilliant red velvet with bright green piping, perfect for people who don’t want gold on their wreaths but are looking for a bit of pizzazz.  The branches with attached cones were collected by Garden Club co-President Jackie Blombach, who almost managed to get herself arrested in the Berkshires, collecting milkweed pods on a friend’s property in Connecticut. Her friend had given permission but had not alerted the caretaker, who saw Massachusetts license plates and a couple of women foraging in the fields and immediately called the State Police.  Two heavily armed patrolmen approached the ladies, and luckily their explanations were accepted and a crisis was averted.  Must have been a slow day at headquarters.

  • Friday, December 21, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Solstice Headlamp Hike: It’s The End Of The World As We Know It

    A holiday celebration for hikers and those who dare! This Northfield Mountain Recreation & Environmental Center sponsored romp will be on carriage width ski trails at Northfield. Our headlamps will light the way on this longest night of the year as we share facts and quotes to celebrate the winter solstice and explore the prophecy of the ancient Maya. A visit to a mid-mountain campfire and shared cider and snacks will sweeten this night as we turn towards the sun. Participants must bring a headlamp, dress in layers for hiking in winter weather and expect to hike 1 – 2 miles with an elevation gain of 300 feet. If our trails have sufficient snow, snowshoes are required. For ages 12 and over, free ($12 with snowshoe rental.) Pre-registration is required at 1-800-859-2960.

  • Wreath of the Day – Della Robbia Revisited

    Wreath of the Day – Della Robbia Revisited

    Last year we created Della Robbia style wreaths for the Vendome Condominiums, and they were so pleased they asked us to do it again.  Our decorators generally hate to repeat themselves, but we certainly wish to please our customers, so three wreaths were made to hang outside their front doors – walk by and see them if you have the chance:

  • Thursday, December 13, 6:00 pm – Nature Wars: The Incredible Story of How Wildlife Comebacks Turned Backyards into Battlegrounds

    Although Americans may spend 90 percent of their time indoors, we now live in closer proximity to wild animals now than anytime in our history. Journalist Jim Sterba traces our 400-year relationship to wild animals, from the 19th-century “era of extermination” to the conservation movement of last century, and up through the current age of “sprawl.” Today, Sterba argues, our well-meaning efforts to protect certain species has allowed some wild populations to burgeon out of control, costing billions in damage, degrading ecosystems, and deepening disputes that have polarized communities. The talk will take place this Thursday, December 13, beginning at 6 pm. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free event parking in the 52 Oxford Street garage.

  • Wreath of the Day – Green Ribbon

    Wreath of the Day – Green Ribbon

    In the past couple of years we’ve begun using green ribbons.  The green ribbon choice is actually not on our order forms, but often a client will request it, and we’ve dipped into the stock when we have a “designer’s choice” option from a customer.  At first we worried that green would not show up well against the balsam, but clearly we’ve been proven wrong: