Boston Flora

Month: August 2013

  • Tuesdays, September 17 – October 22, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Floral Design Course

    Tuesdays, September 17 – October 22, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Floral Design Course

    This fall Mass Hort will once again offer a six week course for anyone interested in learning the nuts and bolts of how to do a design for a flower show. This course is designed especially for those who would love to enter a flower show but are unsure of how to go about it or are timid and need support and encouragement. This course will be held in the Education Building at Elm Bank on Tuesday evenings from 7 to 9pm from September 17th through October 22nd.

    Cost – $100.00 for Massachusetts Horticultural Society members, $100.00 for non-members. Register on line at www.masshort.org.

     

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  • Friday, August 16, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Cocktails in Great Gardens – The Home of Douglas and Wilmer Thomas

    Last, but most definitely not least, Berkshire Botanical Gardens wraps up its “Cocktails in Great Gardens” 2013 series at the Great Garden of Douglas and Wilmer Thomas, 101 Selleck Hill Road in Salisbury, Connecticut, on Friday, August 16 from 5 – 7.

    Hors d’oeuvres, a cold refreshment, and the warm summer light of late afternoon are the perfect companions to take in some of the area’s most spectacular private gardens through the Cocktails in Great Gardens series. It’s a rare opportunity to roam these private spaces with the gardeners themselves that you will not want to miss. Tickets are limited and reservations are required. Call 413.298.3926 for more information. BBG members $20, nonmembers $25.  For more information visit www.berkshirebotanical.org.

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  • Wednesday, August 14, 10:30 am – 11:30 am – Puppets on the Common

    The manipulation of inanimate life forms to tell stories is an ancient and near universal art form dating back at least to the 5th century B.C., when Herodotus wrote of marionettes used in the Egyptian Festival of Osiris.

    Today, puppetry can be found in virtually all cultures. The British brought European puppetry to North America, where ceremonial puppets had already been used for many years by Native American cultures.

    Puppetry has been performed regularly on Boston Common since 1883 and probably earlier. It stopped temporarily in 1995.

    In 2011 the Friends of the Public Garden restored the puppetry tradition by launching its “Puppets on the Common” Series. It is underwritten by a grant from the M. Holt Massey Charitable Trust and features Rosalita’s Puppets, created by master puppeteer Charlotte Dore.

    On Wednesday, August 14, Charlotte and her friends return to the Common for a third season. From 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. at the Parkman Bandstand she will direct a performance of the marionette show “Rosalita and the Giant Bugs,” customized for the Common.

    Derived from “Alice in Wonderland,” the story is about a young Boston girl named Rosalita, who finds herself in a pickle when her curiosity leads her to drink from a bottle lying in the Common. As a result, she shrinks to an insect-sized human.

    The moral of the story is two-fold – don’t drink trash and do not litter. Protect our parks by disposing of trash properly.

    The show is free, open to the public and designed for “children of all ages.” It is underwritten by a grant from the M. Holt Massey Charitable Trust.

    Puppets on the Common is one of many programs and activities sponsored by the Friends of the Public Garden, a nonprofit citizen’s advocacy group founded in 1970 to preserve, protect and enhance the Boston Common and Commonwealth Avenue Mall as well as the Public Garden, in collaboration with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department. For more information visit www.friendsofthepublicgarden.org, or call 617-723-8144.

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  • Thursday, August 15, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm – Standing Stones in the Garden: Stone-Carving Workshop

    Students will learn the ancient art of hand-carving symbols and words into stone. This Berkshire Botanical Garden all-day workshop on Thursday, August 15 will provide hands-on experience in the fine craft of stone carving with an emphasis on creating a decorative surface. Watch a stone-carving demonstration, discuss various tools and stone surfaces and then work on a small carving project. Bring a simple decorative element then carve it into slate using a mallet and chisel to create a lasting and permanent work for your garden. This project can be completed during a single session although you may wish to purchase the carving tools for working on a more complex project to finish at home.

    Karin Sprague is a stone carver specializing in hand-carved letters and symbols in slate. She and her small team of artists create testaments of life’s fleeting nature with stone. In business for over a decade, Sprague uses mallet, chisel and slate to artfully carve one-of-a-kind gravestones, memorials, sculptures and standing stones. One of the few hand-lettering carvers in the world, Sprague actively mentors apprentices and teaches slate-lettering carving classes. Check  www.karinsprague.com.

    Tools and materials included. Bring a bagged lunch, safety goggles and dress for working in the open air.BBG member price $174, nonmembers $185.  Register on line at http://www.berkshirebotanical.org, or call 413-298-3926.

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  • Wednesday, August 14 – Friday, August 16, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Botanical Illustration: Drawing Fruits and Flowers with Colored Pencil

    This Berkshire Botanical Garden intensive workshop will focus on colored-pencil techniques for botanical illustration. Learn ways to create textured backgrounds and colors smooth as glass or rough as sandpaper. This versatile medium can be used to mimic an oil painting, pastel or watercolor. Explore a full range of techniques for creating both bold and subtle effects that will bring a botanical drawing alive. Participants should bring a pear and other fruits or flowers to include in their illustrations. Click here for Materials List.

    Carol Ann Morley is an illustrator and dedicated teacher of botanical illustration working in Dover, NH. She founded the Botanical Art Illustration Certificate Program at the New York Botanical Garden and teaches illustration there and for other botanical gardens. This is Ms. Morley’s only summer workshop in the Berkshires for 2013.

    This is a 3-day class: August 14, 15 and 16, 10 – 4 at Berkshire Botanical Garden. BBG member price $260, nonmembers $290.  Bring a bag lunch. Register on line at www.berkshirebotanical.org, or call 413-298-3926.

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  • Sunday, August 18, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm – Tomato Taste Test

    The verdict is out and Blithewold Mansion, Gardens & Arboretum needs your help to decide which tomato is the tastiest of the season in Blithewold’s vegetable garden!  After visiting the vegetable garden to learn about each variety of tomatoes, you and your family will have the opportunity to taste each tomato, and place your vote for the best tasting tomato of the season, on Sunday, August 18, from 1:30 – 3. Blithewold is located at 101 Ferry Road in nearby Bristol, Rhode Island. The cost of this event is included in regular mansion admission – visit www.blithewold.org for complete information. Also enjoy live music, crafts, and delicious food samples from Leo’s Ristorante, made with ingredients from the vegetable garden.

  • Monday, August 12, 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm – Gardeners Online Roundtable

    Concord Home Gardener will sponsor a Gardeners Roundtable on Monday, August 12, from 4:30 – 5:30 online at www.concordfood.ning.com/events/event/listByLocation?location=Concord+Home+Gardener.  The Concord Food Network is a free online resource for people interested in learning about and building local food connections in Concord, Massachusetts.How is your garden growing? What are your questions and observations? What thrives—or dies?

    Can home gardeners help build a healthy food system?? Let’s continue the conversation about sustainable gardening with iced drinks and cheese/crackers!

    We’ll talk about the topics, tours, speakers and events for September-November. Are you interested in sharing what you know about soil/health and nutrient dense soil and native plants to attract pollinators, birds and wildlife? Are you willing to share your garden with others? Other topics of interest? Come along!  RSVP by August 9: deb01742@comcast.net.

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  • Saturday, August 10, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm – Walking Tour of Jamaica Pond

    Once a district that only included the houses of Boston’s elite, Jamaica Pond later was put to industrial use as tons of ice were harvested there each winter (see below.) Learn about the movers and shakers such as Francis Parkman and James Michael Curley who made their homes on the Pond’s shores. Discover how the Pond was transformed from private estates and warehouses into the parkland we know today. This August 10 walking tour will begin at 11 am at the Bandstand on Pond Street and Jamaicaway, and is sponsored by the Jamaica Plain Historical Society, www.jphs.org.

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  • Tuesdays in August – Not Your Average Joe’s Garden to Table Program Benefit

    The Garden to Table Program at Massachusetts Horticultural Society has been chosen to receive Not Your Average Joe’s 15% community donation. What this means is that every Tuesday night in August, 15% of your restaurant tab will be donated to our program.

    Not Your Average Joe’s has been a generous supporter of the program this year. Come see the garden they sponsored titled “New and Unusual” which includes Flower sprouts, Indigo Rose Tomatoes, Lunch box Peppers and something called a Tomato Berry. Enjoy some great food and help support Mass Hort.

    Not Your Average Joe’s has locations in the following communities: Acton, Arlington, Beverly, Burlington, Dartmouth, Hyannis, Medford, Methuen, Needham, Newburyport, Norwell, Randolph, Seekonk, Watertown, Westborough.

    Here’s how it works:
    Print and present the certificate to your NYAJ’s waitstaff and the Garden to Table Program will receive 15% of your total purchase.  Click here for a certificate!

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  • Through September 2, 8:30 am – 4:00 pm – From Petals to Paper: Poetic Inspiration from Flowers

    The Smith College Botanic Garden, Lyman Plant House, Northampton, Massachusetts has mounted a display of contemporary poetry inspired by the beauty of nature, selected by student interns at the Smith College Poetry Center, Janan Scott ’13 and Liliana Farrel ’13.  Poets represented in the exhibit include Li-Young Lee, Jean Valentine, and Louise Glück.  As stated by Scott and Farrel, “The shapes, colors, smells and textures in this stunning array of blooming are reflected in poetry’s rhythms, sounds, and images.”  For directions visit www.smith.edu/garden.

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