Boston Flora

Month: June 2013

  • Sunday, June 16, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm – A Sensory Stroll

    On Sunday, June 16, from 3 – 4:30 pm, discover a world of wonder as you experience the fragrant and tactile aspects of woody plants at the Arnold Arboretum. Tour a world beyond the visual, focusing on your sense of smell and touch. This tour is suitable for blind or low vision visitors. Participants are welcome to bring sighted companions. This tour is free; however, attendance is limited, and pre-registration is required at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu. Kevin Schofield, Arboretum Docent, will lead, beginning from the Arborway Gate. In case of inclement weather, contact 617.384.5209.

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  • Wednesday, June 19 – Deadline for Entries to Nutrients for All Competition

    Ashoka’s Nutrients for All and Ashoka Changemakers are seeking your innovative solutions that will ensure the availability of nutrients for healthy, natural ecosystems, farms, food, and people. Enter before the deadline on June 19, 2013 for a chance to win cash prizes totaling US $45,000. The environment, farms, food, and our health and prosperity are inextricably linked by nutrients. The nutrient value chain—the generation and flow of nutrients from the environment to soils, farms, food, and people—creates wellness and vitality for people and the planet.

    Healthy environments, by generating and cycling essential nutrients, directly impact the quality and productivity of our agricultural systems. Nutrient-rich agriculture is driven by empowered farmers who manage soils and nutrient cycles intelligently and thereby produce full-nourishment foods. Full-nourishment foods provide bioavailable nutrients that are critical to childhood development, disease resistance, and human performance and vitality. Fully nourished human beings create healthy and prosperous societies and economies.

    However, the nutrient value chain is broken. Degraded ecosystems cannot generate and cycle nutrients, nor provide the carbon sequestration, clean water, and biodiversity that our food systems depend on. Unsustainable agricultural practices are accelerating the degradation of the environment, loss of croplands, and reduction in nutrient content of our food. Nutrient-rich foods have also become less accessible to people because of their high cost and processing techniques that prioritize shelf-life and profit margins over nutrient content. Finally, nutrient-related illnesses such as stunting of growth in childhood, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and a host of infectious diseases are debilitating societies and economies around the world.

    We need solutions that help strengthen the nutrient value chain and ensure that nutrients are available for healthy, natural ecosystems, farms, food, and people. To discover these solutions, Ashoka’s Nutrients for All and Ashoka Changemakers have launched a new competition: Nutrients for All: Vitality for People and the Planet. We are seeking solutions related to:

    Healthy environment (natural ecosystems, soils)
    Nutrient-rich farming (agricultural techniques, supporting farmers)
    Full-nourishment foods (processing, distribution, markets)
    Wellness and vitality (human nutrition, health systems, consumer awareness)

    For complete information visit www.changemakers.com/nutrientsforall/competition.

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  • Saturday, June 15, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – 20th Annual South End Garden Tour

    This year’s rain-or-shine, self-guided tour will kick off at the South End Branch of the Boston Public Library, at the corner of Rutland Square and Tremont Street, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 15. The tour will feature many beautiful, diverse gardens in the South End – from pocket-sized patio spaces to rooftop terraces to neighborhood parks and Land Trust community gardens. All of the gardens show the creativity of the owners and gardeners, and the joy they receive from developing and caring for a city garden.

    The tour, a major neighborhood event, attracts garden lovers from all over the city as well as the suburbs, who are often surprised and amazed to find such creative use of outdoor urban space.  One of the biggest attractions of the South End Garden Tour is its yearly variety of gardens. Because the South End encompasses such a large area, the tour visits a different area of the neighborhood every year. The tour revisits the same portion only every four to five years. Within that cycle, the gardens have changed dramatically. It’s never the same tour twice! Back for 2013 – Artists In the Garden. South End artists will be creating paintings in the Tour gardens and other designated locations within the Tour area. The painting will be available for purchase at the reception immediately following the Tour. A reception/art sale will be held at City Year headquarters, 287 Columbus Avenue, Boston MA 02116 (corner of Clarendon Street).

    Proceeds of the Tour benefit the South End/Lower Roxbury Open Space Land Trust, a non-profit organization supporting local community gardens and open spaces, through Boston Natural Areas Network. The SELROSLT was established to protect community gardens and pocket parks in this historic Boston neighborhood while working with the South End Landmarks Commission. Discounted tickets are available for $20.00 prior to the day of the tour at the following locations: Gracie Finn, 18 Union Park St. Coldwell-Banker, 633 Tremont St., Keller Williams Realty, 1313 Washington Street, Whole Foods Market, 15 Westland Ave., Mortgage Master, 671 Tremont St., Rondeau-Tierney Real Estate, 69 Appleton St. at Clarendon Street, TIPS Hair, 76 Dartmouth Street, and South End Realty Group, 476A Columbus Avenue. Tickets are also available online prior to the tour day.

    Cost: $20 in advance/$25 day of tour. Sponsored by the South End Lower Roxbury Open Space Land Trust, you may log on to www.southendgardentour.org for more information.

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  • Friday, June 28 – Saturday, June 29, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Coastal Gardens Tour

    The Rockport Garden Club will hold its 2013 Coastal Gardens Tour Friday and Saturday, June 28 and 29, from 10 – 4. This is a Rain or Shine event.

    Tickets:  $25.00

    The 2013 Coastal Gardens tour features 10 gardens. Many of these private gardens have never been open to the public. While the gardens vary in size, location, composition, and plant material, there is a common thread: each garden has had significant owner input.  Some of the selections which stand out are several water gardens; cottage gardens bursting with color early spring through late autumn; dramatic use of local granite as hardscape; and beautifully crafted gardens overlooking the sea.  An expansive garden near the ocean hosts special events: a luncheon and a sale of local artists original artwork.

    All tickets are non-refundable.
    Beginning June 1 tickets will be sold at Toad Hall Bookstore, 51 Main Street.
    Purchase in advance 978-546-5988 or gardentour@rockportgardenclub.org.

    June 27, 28, 29 tickets sold 9AM-5PM at Chamber of Commerce Info Booth Upper Main St and on June 28, 29 at Barletta Park corner Broadway and T Wharf.

    Tickets ordered before June 17th can be mailed, add $1.50 post/handling per ticket.

    Proceeds from the garden tour help to fund the planting and maintenance of Rockport town gardens, civic projects and scholarships.

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  • Friday, June 14, 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm – Hyper Local Craft Brewfest

    Hyper Local Craft Brewfest, to be held Friday, June 14 from 6:30 – 9:30 at The Armory, 191 Highland Avenue in Somerville, is an annual event from Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts (SBN) to highlight and promote local brewers, vintners, artisan beverage makers, distillers, home brewers, and food vendors and is a major annual fundraiser for SBN’s Boston Local Food Programs. The goal of SBN’s Boston Local Food Program is to transform the local food system by raising awareness about the abundance of wonderful locally grown and produced products in Massachusetts and New England and by encouraging individual consumers, food and beverage producers, and vendors to Think Local First. $35, and you may register by calling 617-395-7680 or at hyperlocalbrew.eventbrite.com.

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  • Massachusetts Mulch Fire Safety Regulations

    Thank you Penny Cherubino at www.BostonZest.com, for bringing this to our attention. With gardening and landscaping season underway, it is a common practice to use mulch to prevent weeds from growing. The most common type of mulch is made of wood product which is combustible. After several fires caused millions of dollars of property damage, a new Massachusetts regulation went into effect last fall. The regulation prohibits building owners from placing mulch less than 18 inches away from a structure’s wall. Residential buildings with fewer than 6 units are exempt. Even if your property is exempt, it is a good idea to use stone or crushed rock for the first 18 inches around your foundation as a barrier. For more information on this regulation, visit http://www.mass.gov/eopss/agencies/dfs/dfs2/osfm/pubed/fs-topics/fs-topics-a/mulch-fire-safety.html.

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  • Thursday, June 13, 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm – 17th Annual Rose Garden Party

    First Lady Angela Menino and Commissioner Antonia Pollak cordially invite you to attend the 17th Annual Rose Garden Party to benefit ParkARTS on Thursday, June 13, from 5:30 – 8 in the Kelleher Rose Garden, Back Bay Fens in Boston.  Garden party attire enthusiastically encouraged.  Wear a hat to enter the “Hats Galore” contest.  For more information, call 617-635-4032 or visit www.cityofboston.gov/parks/rosegarden/

    Boston’s ParkARTS program, launched by Mayor Thomas Menino and the Boston Parks and Recreation Department in 1996, offers the public the opportunity to enjoy free programs in parks year-round.  The Sapphire Sponsors of this event are Paul and Sandra Edgerley.  Individual tickets $125.  Parking will be available on Park Drive and Agassiz Road – please look for the Boston Park Rangers to direct you.  Photo courtesy of yelp.com.

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  • Saturday, June 15, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm – Spring into North Adams

    On Saturday, June 15, join the Pioneer Valley Institute at Greenfield Community College for a day-long PVI tour to North Adams, featuring great scenery and geologic history of the Berkshires, the unique marble natural bridge and dam at Natural Bridge State Park, Western Gateway Heritage State Park focusing on the Hoosac Tunnel history, and MassMoCA with one of the largest contemporary visual art exhibits in the US. Along the way we will discuss the stories behind the scenery of this fascinating region with geologist Richard Little. A bus option is available, at cost, with a minimum of 25 participants.

    Tour fees (includes admission)
    With bus transportation: $47 ($57 non-PVI members)
    You provide transportation: $22 ($32 non-PVI members)

    Bus space is limited to 25. Contact Richard Little at rdlittle2000@aol.com to sign up or for more information.

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  • Wednesday, June 12, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm – The Hermit in the Garden

    Author and historian Gordon Campbell tells the engagingly eccentric tale of the eighteenth century craze for ornamental hermits – the must-have accessory for the grand gardens of Georgian England and beyond. Campbell traces the garden hermit’s history from Imperial Rome, to unwashed hired “hermits” in specially built hermitages, to the modern garden gnome. This quirky story is sure to be interesting.  Gordon will appear at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Wednesday, June 12, from 6:30 – 7:30, and there is no additional charge beyond the garden admission fee for the event.  You may register on line at www.towerhillbg.org.

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  • Tuesday, June 18, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Through a Child’s Eye: Illustrations by Students from the Boston Teachers Union School

    Strong observational skills are fundamental to every scientist. The Arnold Arboretum and the Boston Teachers Union School—a BPS pilot school—are engaged in a unique partnership to develop observational skills and foster a love of science in every student from kindergarten through fifth grade. Through hands-on work and experiments with plants and animals, Arboretum staff guide students to create accurate, vivid illustrations and describe what they see using rich vocabulary. This leads student scholars to ask questions, design experiments, do research, and learn important concepts in the life sciences. Works in this exhibition represent a range of ages, as well as the breadth of life science topics studied in the classroom, all seen through a child’s eye.  An exhibit of these works, Through a Child’s Eye, will open in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum on June 13, the opening reception will take place on Tuesday, June 18, from 5:30 – 7:30, and will run through September 1.

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