Boston Flora

Month: October 2013

  • Friday, November 8 – Saturday, November 23 – Simple Machine’s Stage Adaptation of The Turn of the Screw

    From November 8 through November 23, 2013, Simple Machine proudly presents Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, adapted for the stage by Jeffrey Hatcher and directed by M. Bevin O’Gara.

    James’ classic story of a young governess charged with caring for two orphaned children at a lonely English country estate is one of the most famous Victorian ghost stories ever written. Hatcher’s adaptation ratchets up the psychological suspense and intimacy of the story with two actors playing all the roles.

    The Turn of the Screw will be staged in two historic houses in Boston. The Gibson House Museum in Back Bay is a beautifully preserved 19th century home that has served as a museum for over 40 years. The Taylor House Bed & Breakfast was built as a residence in the 1850s at the height of Jamaica Plain’s golden age and has been lovingly restored in recent years to its former glory. Although both houses are from the same era, the staging in each will be unique to that location; these remarkable settings will give audiences an authentic and exhilarating atmosphere in which to experience this classic Gothic thriller. All performances will start at 7:30 pm. The performance runs approximately 80 minutes with no intermission. Due to the intimate nature of the venues, there will be no late seating.

    Tickets and specific dates of performance are available through www.simplemachinetheatre.com for $25.

    http://1-ps.googleusercontent.com/x/www.broadwayworld.com/images.bwwstatic.com/columnpic6/29658E16B-D4B6-D441-97E926578A16436B.jpg.pagespeed.ce.uiy7cDZvRy.jpg

  • Holiday Wreaths 2013 Season Kickoff

    Holiday Wreaths 2013 Season Kickoff

    While you may think we’re crazy to think about holiday wreaths in October, we actually think about holiday wreaths all year long.  In summer and fall we clip and dry natural materials, buy ribbon on sale, schedule venues, design order forms and advertisements, and generally obsess about the beautiful creations we will make in December.  This year, our wreath project will be in full swing December 1 (set up at The First Lutheran Church of Boston), then, on Monday December 2 – Thursday December 5, we will produce and deliver hundreds of glorious wreaths for our neighborhood and beyond.  All proceeds benefit the trees of Back Bay, and help fund our many charitable projects.  Order forms will be mailed soon to customers from the past two years, and to our membership.  If you are not on that list, you may print the order form from this website, email info@bostonflora.com and request one (we can send it by email or snail mail as you prefer,) or call 617-859-8865 and leave your name, address and telephone number.   Over the next weeks we will feature pictures and information on our many styles, each of which is custom designed for the customer.

    IMG_0111

  • Tuesday, October 29, 6:00 pm – Seventy-Five Years Later: The Hurricane of 1938

    Historic New England, in partnership with Saylesville Friends Meeting,  will sponsor an event at the Saylesville Meeting House, 374 Great Road, Lincoln, Rhode Island, on Tuesday, October 29, with a lecture at 6 pm and reception at 7 pm. On September 21, 1938, a massive hurricane hit New York and New England, to the surprise of all residents. The Great New England Hurricane, one of the most destructive storms in American history, caused more than six hundred deaths and $400 million in property damages. What made this storm unique? In this illustrated lecture, learn about the impact and aftermath of the Hurricane of 1938 in southern New England. Reception at Arnold House to follow lecture.  Free to Historic New England members, $5 for nonmembers.  Registration is recommended.  Call 617-994-5959.

    http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2005/07/20/1121866195_2054.jpg

  • Tuesday, November 5, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Dymystifying the Flora Novae Angliae

    The newly published Flora Novae Angliae is now the most up-to-date and comprehensive compendium of the plants in the New England region. Are you reluctant to delve into it because of the technical terms and the unfamiliar format? On Tuesday, November 5 from 10 – noon, receive an introduction to the organization of the Flora and then learn some simple techniques to verify the plants you may have already identified. Using the Flora can be like using a dictionary to clarify the meaning of a word! Practice your skills during class with a couple of plant families and a few species. Bring a copy of the Flora if you have one, otherwise all materials provided. The class will take place at New England Wild Flower Society’s Garden in the Woods in Framingham, and is co-sponsored by NEWFS and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. $26 for Arnold Arboretum or NEWFS member, $32 nonmember. Register online at www.arboretum.harvard.edu or at www.newfs.org.  The class will be taught by botanist and author Neela DeZoysa, PhD.

    http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/sites/harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/files/styles/medium/public/Flora_nova.jpg

  • Saturday, October 26, 9:00 am – 3:30 pm – Environmental Experiences for Early Childhood Educators: Growing Up Wild and Project Learning Tree

    Growing Up WILD and Project Learning Tree’s Environmental Experiences for Early Childhood build on children’s sense of wonder about nature and invite them to explore the natural world around them. Through a wide range of activities and experiences, these new curricula provide an early foundation for developing positive impressions about the natural world and lifelong social and academic skills. Educators taking this professional development workshop on Saturday, October 26 from 9 – 3:30 will receive award winning curriculum guides for educators of young children. The activity guides feature over 150 experiences that engage children in outdoor play and exploration. Join instructors Patti Steinman, Education Coordinator, Connecticut River Valley Sanctuaries and Kim Noyes, Northfield Mountain’s Education Coordinator, for a fun-filled day of interactive, hands-on, activities. Gain experience and skills helpful for taking children outside to explore the natural world. This professional development workshop is great for teachers, camp counselors, child care providers, home school parents and other educators. Both curricula are correlated to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Standards and the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework. Fee is $40, which includes two activity guides. The event will take place at Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Easthampton, and is co-sponsored with Massachusetts Audubon Society. To register call 413-584-3009 or online through Mass Audubon.

    https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-prn1/s160x160/535897_10150702380258658_1904146414_a.jpg

  • Friday, November 1, 6:45 pm – Ginkgo: An Evolutionary and Cultural Biography

    Dr. Peter Crane, Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Professor of Botany, Yale University, will speak on Friday, November 1 on Ginkgo: An Evolutionary and Cultural Biography, at the meeting of the New England Botanical Club in the Haller Lecture Hall (Room 102), Geological Museum, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge.

    Dean Crane’s work focuses on the diversity of plant life: its origin and fossil history, current status, and conservation and use. From 1992 to 1999 he was director of the Field Museum in Chicago with overall responsibility for the museum’s scientific programs. During this time he established the Office of Environmental and Conservation Programs and the Center for Cultural Understanding and Change, which today make up the Division of Environment, Culture, and Conservation (ECCo). From 1999 to 2006 he was director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of the largest and most influential botanical gardens in the world. His tenure at Kew saw strengthening and expansion of the gardens’ scientific, conservation, and public programs. Dean Crane was elected to the Royal Society (the U.K. academy of sciences) in 1998. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, foreign associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and a member of the German Academy Leopoldina. He was knighted in the U.K. for services to horticulture and conservation in 2004. Dean Crane currently serves on the Board of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas, and the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation.

    For information visit www.rhodora.org.

    http://news.yale.edu/sites/default/files/imce/Dean-Peter-Crane-browser_0.jpg

  • Tuesday, November 5, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm – ELA Season’s End Summit: Natural Landscapes

    Natural Landscapes are not just for nature preserves. Join the Ecological Landscaping Association at Montvale Plaza, 54 Montvale Avenue in Stoneham on Tuesday, November 5, from 8:30 am – 4:30 pm,  for a full day of presentations, panel discussions, and networking with colleagues to explore the many aspects of natural landscapes. Learn techniques to expand client notions of the potential of ecological landscapes.  $75 for ELA members, $95 nonmembers, including lunch and networking.  Featured speakers are Nanette Masi, a landscape designer specializing in Wildlife Habitat, Carolyn Summers, Kim Eierman, Amanda Hardy Sloan, Carl Brodeur, Kate Pawling, Darryl Newman, and Jeremy Dick.  Image from www.greatecology.com. Register online at https://www.eventville.com/catalog/eventregistration1.asp?eventid=1010648. 

    http://greatecology.com//srv/htdocs/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/IMG_2716-4-960x475.jpg

  • Saturday, October 19, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm – South End House Tour: Back to Our Roots

    Tomorrow is the day of the 45th Annual South End House Tour, hosted by The South End Historical Society.  The tour will take place from 10 – 5, rain or shine. Day of tour tickets may be purchased for $30 in the theater lobby of the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, and at Roundeau-Tierney Real Estate, 69 Appleton Street.  For complete information visit www.southendhistoricalsociety.org, or call 617-536-4445.  All House Tour attendees gain free admission to the Ellis Boston Antiques Show.

    http://www.clarendonsquare.com/images/image-top-amenities.jpg

  • Saturday, November 9, 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Project Handprint Symposium

    The Wellesley Center for the Environment’s Project Handprint is creating a powerful new learning community focused on environmental issues.  This inaugural symposium for Project Handprint brings together alumnae, faculty, staff, students, and Friends who are interested in and working on improving food systems, from production through consumption.  Be inspired to expand your handprint.  Hear from faculty about current research in the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens and beyond.  Connect with farmers, foodies, scientists, policy-makers, and activists about their current roles and the paths they took to get there.  The symposium will take place Saturday, November 9, from 2 – 6 in the Wellesley College Science Center Focus.  Free, but space is limited.  Please pre-register by Friday, November 1 by calling 781-283-3094, or email wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu.

     

    http://www.wellesley.edu/sites/default/files/assets/departments/environmentalscience/images/eslanding.gif

  • Wednesday, November 6, 6:00 pm – Feasting at Leisure: 19th Century Hotel and Resort Dining

    During the 19th century, hotels and resorts elevated fine dining for their guests to an art form, a combination of entertainment and spectacle. This Wednesday, November 6 lecture, Feasting at Leisure: 19th Century Hotel and Resort Dining by Mary Ann Caton, Director of the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum, at Rosecliff, 548 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, examines the causes for such feasting and highlights special foods, chefs, menus and recipes used at resorts from New York to Newport and beyond.

    Admission: Newport Mansions Members free, general admission $5. Advance registration required. Register online, or call Brittany Hullinger at 401-847-1000 ext. 154.

    http://blogs.denverpost.com/library/files/2012/08/Brown-Palace-Hotel-Menu.jpg