May 18, 2013 - Boston Flora

Tuesday, June 4, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Native Shrub Heroes

May 18, 2013 by Boston Flora

The New England Wild Flower Society and the Ecological Landscaping Association will co-sponsor Robin Wilkerson, Landscape Designer, in a lecture entitled Native Shrub Heroes on Tuesday, June 4, from 10 – 1 at Garden in the Woods in Framingham.Â Learn about plants that offer color and form to our landscapes, but also provide nourishment and habitat for birds, mammals, and insects.Â Find out which shrubs can replace any non-native invasive shrubs lingering in a back corner of your garden – burning bush, anyone?Â Discover the reasons for going native in your plant selection, as Robin introduces you to a choice collection of beautiful and well-behaved indigenous plant.Â Following the lecture and slide program, walk the Garden to see these shrubs in their early summer glory.Â $40 for members of the sponsoring organizations, $48 for nonmembers.Â Register on line at https://www.eventville.com/catalog/eventregistration1.asp?eventid=1010242.

Thursday, May 30, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – The Physical Fitness of Leaves

May 18, 2013 by Boston Flora

Every organism must contend with its immediate physical environment, a world that both limits what organisms can do and offers innumerable opportunities for evolving ways to challenge those limits. Steven Vogel, author of The Life of a Leaf, will explain these interactions, using the leaf as example, on Thursday, May 30 from 7 – 8:30 at the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum. In exploring the leafâ€™s world, Vogel simultaneously explores our own. Heâ€™ll answer questions about how objects get much hotter than air when in sunlight and far cooler when beneath a clear night sky; how air movement matters even when we canâ€™t feel it; how objects such as trees avoid damage from storms; and ways leaves acquire the essential resources for growth and reproduction. Join us to learn about some of the extraordinary designs that enable a leaf to adapt to its physical world. Fee $10 Arboretum member, $15 nonmember.Â Register on line at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu.