Boston Flora

Month: April 2013

  • Wednesday, May 1, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Go Botany! Plant ID for the 21st Century

    Grow Native Massachusetts continues its Evenings with Experts on Wednesday, May 1, from 7 – 8:30 at the Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway in Cambridge, with Elizabeth Farnsworth, Senior Research Ecologist for the New England Wild Flower Society. Imagine identifying plants in the field with your iPad or smartphone! Go Botany is the new definitive on-line Flora of New England for just that. Elizabeth Farnsworth will introduce and demonstrate this richly illustrated interactive key to over 3,500 native and naturalized plants of our region. This tool also includes PlantShare for reporting discoveries, exchanging checklists, and more. This evening will equip you to ID and better understand the many plants you encounter. Dr. Farnsworth is one of New England’s great botanists and Editor-in-Chief of Rhodora.

  • Sunday, May 5, 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm – Festival Floralia 2013

    Festival Floralia 2013 will take place Sunday, May 5, from 2 – 4:30 pm at the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House, 159 Brattle Street in Cambridge. This is Grow Native – Massachusetts’ Annual Celebration of Spring and Native Plant Sale — With food, wine, music, and a great silent auction!

    This Festival, named in honor of the Goddess Flora of Roman mythology, celebrates the cycle of life, friends, food and flowers.  The native plant sale, staffed with horticultural experts, provides the opportunity to get professional advice on the species most suited to your landscape needs while you shop. All the plants sold are native to New England, and they have assembles a great collection that is typically not available all at one location. These species are guaranteed to add ecological value to your gardens and landscapes.
    New in 2013: Pre-order the native plants you are looking for at http://grownativemass.org/programs/festivalfloralia.

    Offered are a diverse selection of about 50 species native to New England that are sourced from three different nurseries. Grow Native assembles and organizes the orders, getting all these plants delivered and ready for pick up at the event. This option will only be available to those with prepaid tickets. Many additional plants will still be for sale at the event, with no need to pre-order if you prefer shopping “in the moment.”

    http://www.grownativecambridge.org/sites/default/files/images/FF%202012-Plants%20and%20Food_0.jpg

  • Challenge Grant – Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens Botany Fellow

    The Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens are excited to announce a challenge pledge: a generous donor will match every contribution towards a Botany Fellow through the Center for the Environment, doubling the impact of your gift.  If the Friends can raise $160,000 by May 1, they will be able to hire a Botany Fellow, with a focus on sustainable agriculture, possibly as soon as this fall.  Gifts should be made out to Wellesley College, with an indication that they are for the Center for the Environment fund.  You may also follow the directions at www.wellesley.edu/wcbgfriends and make a gift online: in step 2 click on the box to the left of “I would like to direct my gift to the following area(s)” and under “Other Designation” enter “Center for the Environment Fund.”  For more information please call Kristina Jones at 781-283-3027.

    http://new.wellesley.edu/sites/default/files/styles/slider/public/logo_slider_botanic.jpg?itok=2C1MmFnS

  • Wednesday, May 15, 11:00 am – Party in the Park

    The Chairs of Party in the Park announce a 10th anniversary goal of $1 million and the founding of the Olmsted Tree Society, at the Justine Mee Liff Luncheon Party in the Park, to be held on Wednesday, May 15 in the Kelleher Rose Garden, The Fenway, beginning at 11:00 am.  The 2013 Liff Spirit Award will honor Thomas M. and Angela Menino, Mayor and First Lady of the City of Boston.  Proceeds from the luncheon will benefit the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, preserving Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace.  $750 per person – please respond by April 26.  Valet parking and a complimentary trolley will be available.  Make checks payable to Justine Mee Liff Fund for the Emerald Necklace, and send to the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, 125 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115.  If you wish to pay with a credit card, call 617-522-2700 or visit www.emeraldnecklace.org.

    http://www.emeraldnecklace.org//srv/htdocs/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/2013-PIP-Save-the-Date.jpg

  • Wednesday, May 1, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Global Environmental Threats: Why They are So Hard to See and How Using a Medical Model Can Help

    Tragically and self-destructively, we human beings have so much difficulty recognizing that we are an integral, inseparable part of the natural world and that we have no other choice but to preserve it. Our failure in understanding this fundamental truth is central to our difficulty in seeing the changes, happening before our eyes, that we are making to the global environment and in acting to prevent them. This talk, given by Eric Chivian, MD, Director of the Program on Biodiversity and Human Health, Center for Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard School of Public Health, shall look at why these alterations are so hard to see and how looking at their consequences from a medical perspective can be helpful. The session will take place on Wednesday, May 1 beginning at 7 pm in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum, $5 for Arboretum members, $10 for nonmembers. Sign up on line at www.arboretum.harvard.edu.  And here he is below with Harrison Ford – perhaps not the photo the Arboretum had in mind for this post, and we doubt anyone will mistake Mr. Ford as an environmental threat, but we just couldn’t resist.

    http://archives.focus.hms.harvard.edu/2002/June7_2002/harrison_ford449.jpg

  • Sunday, April 28, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm – Art in the Garden

    For any New Englander, the Art in the Garden spring event is a welcome chance to enjoy the return of sun and outdoors fun. For any afficionado of handmade items, this event has always been a crowd pleaser. Once again Holistic Treasures will host Art In The Garden at Weston Nurseries — one of the most popular harbingers of warm weather! The event will feature 40 to 50 local artisans and crafts people. Only the finest handmade items will be featured including pottery, jewelry, glass work, wood work, home decor, textiles, photography, paintings, ironwork, candles, soaps, lotions, handbags, food products and more. $3 Admission. All profits are donated to The John Andrew Mazie Memorial Foundation, www.mazie.org. Weston Nurseries is located at 93 East Main Street in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and you may call 508-293-8091 or visit www.westonnurseries.com for more information.

    http://www.westonnurseries.com/_ccLib/image/classes/DETA1-148.jpg

  • Monday, April 29, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Good Fungus, Bad Fungus

    John Klironomos, Professor of Biology at University of British Columbia – Okanagan, will speak to the public at the Arnold Arboretum on Monday, April 29, from 7 – 8:30 in the Hunnewell Building, in a program co-sponsored by the Boston Mycological Club. Fungi are found everywhere and play important roles in the environment. Some are decomposers (recyclers), others are parasites and pathogens, and yet others form mutualistic symbioses with plants and animals. In this presentation, the diversity and functioning of fungi in terrestrial ecosystems will be illustrated and discussed.  $10  for members of the sponsoring organizations, $15 nonmembers, and you may register on line at www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

    http://pre.cloudfront.goodinc.com/posts/full_1317668377fungus2.jpg

  • Saturday, April 27, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm – Invasive Species Pull with Garden and Greenhouse Tours

    Historic New England will conduct garden and greenhouse tours on Saturday, April 27 from 9 – 1 at the Lyman Estate in Waltham, Massachusetts, for volunteers willing to spend a few hours pulling invasive species out of the garden.  Registration is recommended at 617-994-5900, ext. 6321.  Do a good deed and dress comfortably.

    http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/04/be/50/camellias-in-bloom-in.jpg

  • Saturday, April 27, 7:30 am – Warblers at Mount Auburn

    Visit the beautiful historic Mount Auburn Cemetery, a famous spring hotspot for migrating songbirds, with the Athol Bird & Nature Club on Saturday, April 27. Meet at the gate of the cemetery at 7:30 a.m. If time allows, you’ll also visit the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. Bring snacks or a lunch, and water. Info: Joan or Larry Duprey, 978-249-4964. Free.  Photo from www.cs.uiowa.edu.

    http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~bbaron/Life-List-July-2008/slides/Warbler,%20Black-and-white,%202008-05142397%20Mount%20Auburn%20Cemetery,%20MA.jpg

  • Grief and Hope

    Today we pause and pay tribute to the runners, spectators, and neighbors in Back Bay who experienced such horror yesterday.  May the coming days bring peace and solace to all.

    http://www.iknewit.org//srv/htdocs/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/How-to-Make-a-Laurel-Wreath.jpg