Boston Flora

Month: October 2014

  • Thursday, October 30, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm – The Japanese Kimono – Now and Then

    The Japan Society of Boston and the Boston University Center for the Study of Asia present The Japanese Kimono – Now and Then, on Thursday, October 30, from 7 – 10 at the Boston University Metcalf Trustee Ballroom, Ninth Floor, One Silber Way in Boston.  Performance and reception to follow.  Free and open to the public.  Welcome a delegation from one of the leading kimono schools in Japan, who will present a retrospective of kimono styles, from modern to ancient.  Performance will be from 7 – 8:30 in the Ballroom, and the reception, from 8:30 – 10, will be in the Lounge.  Sponsored by The Cultural Foundation for Promoting the National Costume of Japan.

  • Wednesday, November 5, 1:30 pm – Food of the Gods: Chocolate Production from Bean to Bar

    This Wednesday, November 5 talk by Wellesley College Botanic Garden fellow Katie Goodall will explore the journey of chocolate from tropical landscapes to consumers all over the world.  Focusing on Latin America, she will discuss cacao’s botanical origins, cultural history, cultivation methods, and their ecological impacts.  And what’s a chocolate talk without a tasting?  Be sure to come (1:30 pm at the Visitor’s Center of the Botanic Garden) ready to savor the flavors of local specialty chocolates. Image from www.neroandbianco.com.  WCBG Friends free, nonmembers $10.  Register by calling 781-283-3094 or email wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu.

  • Saturday, November 8, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Craft Beer Tasting at Fruitlands

    Join the Fruitlands Museum, 102 Prospect Hill Road in Harvard Massachusetts on Saturday, November 8, from 3 – 5, for the 2nd Annual Craft Beer Tasting.  You’ll sample selections from local breweries, complimented by hors d’oeuvre from Fireside Catering.  Space is limited and advance purchase is required.  There are no physical tickets for the event – check in at the door to receive your wristband and souvenir tasting glass.  Fruitlands members $45, nonmembers $50, Designated Driver $10.  Guests must be 21 or older and should bring a valid photo ID at the time of entry.  Purchase tickets online at www.fruitlands.org/beertasting.

  • Saturday, November 1, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Grow Your Own Mushrooms

    The Boston Natural Areas Network will present a free class on Saturday, November 1, from 10 – noon at City Natives, 30 Edgewater Drive in Mattapan, entitled Grow Your Own Mushrooms. Mushrooms thrive in shady spots, are low maintenance and taste delicious! From inoculation to harvest learn to grow mushrooms on a log, over wood chips or in a bin. Registration required, to register call 617-542-7696 or email info@bostonnatural.org. Image from www.countryfarm-lifestyles.com.

     

  • Wednesday, October 22 – Deadline for Orchard House’s Kickstarter Campaign

    Last fall, The Garden Club of the Back Bay traveled to Concord for a tour of Orchard House’s museum and gardens as part of our Author Year programs.  We received the following notice from them, and share it with you:

    Guess what? Orchard House is making a movie – the first documentary about the 350 year history of the house – and we want YOU to be involved in creating the film.

    We’ve launched a fundraising campaign on the crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter.com to raise the $150,000 needed for production of Orchard House – Home of Little Women!

    For those who may not be familiar, Kickstarter is dedicated to fundraising for creative projects just like this. Funding is all-or-nothing, which means we need to raise every penny of our goal by October 22, 2014 through pledges to our online campaign.

    Click here and take just 10 minutes out of your day to visit our page, watch the beautiful 4 minute video, make a donation (called a pledge), and share the campaign with friends and family.

    Everyone has a special place – a mountaintop, a cathedral, a beloved home – that makes them feel safe, connected, and inspired. For millions of people from all over the world, Orchard House is that place: a gathering place, where people from many backgrounds have come together for over 350 years to count themselves part of a community – a community steeped in hope, courage, and perseverance.

    Many who wish to experience Orchard House may never be able to visit in person, and there are millions more that do not realize the house exists. Together with your pledges and our dedication, this film will change that.

    Pledges of all amounts are welcome and encouraged, and there are even some great rewards for our backers. #PledgeYourLove to Orchard House and become part of our legacy!

  • Thursday, November 6, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation

    Author, lawyer, Yale University doctoral candidate and historian Eric Rutkow digs deep into American history to show how trees were essential to the early years of the republic and indivisible from the country’s rise as both an empire and a civilization. He will share stories set in New England and beyond, in which trees—as symbols of liberty, community, and civilization—are perhaps the loudest silent figures in America’s complicated history. Early presidents, conservationists, politicians, and politics resurface alongside the trees and forests that supported independence and fueled this country’s westward expansion. Eric Rutkow’s book, American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation (Scribner, 2012), will be available for purchase and signing. The event takes place Thursday, November 6, from 7 – 8:30 in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum, and is $5 for Arboretum members, $10 for nonmembers. Register at https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?DayPlanner=1387&DayPlannerDate=11/6/2014.

  • Boston Preservation Alliance Achievement Award to Tom and Nancy High

    The Boston Preservation Alliance has awarded www.BackBayHouses.org one of its 2014 Preservation Achievement Awards! Tom and Nancy High, who created this website, will receive their award at the ceremony on October 21. If you would like to attend the Awards event to honor and celebrate their accomplishment, you can purchase tickets online (www.BostonPreservation.org) or by contacting Alison Frazee at the Alliance.

    There is another way you can show your support for this project! The Alliance is awarding a fan favorite prize to the project with the most votes! Visit http://vote2014.bostonpreservation.org/ and cast your vote for http://www.BackBayHouses.org once a day using your email address. Encourage your friends and neighbors to vote, too!

  • Wednesday, November 19, 6:00 pm – An Emerald Evening

    An Emerald Evening celebrates one of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s founders and newly appointed Life Trustee, former Governor Michael S. Dukakis.

    Michael has been a champion of parks and open space long before and continuously after his terms as Governor. As a life-long Brookline resident, he personally invests in the beauty of the Emerald Necklace by picking up trash as he walks through the park to work each day. Out of public office, he continues to advocate for the benefits of urban park land and the people who depend on their resources. He has challenged all of us to follow suit.

    An Emerald Evening will be held on November 19, 2014 at 6 p.m. in the Koch Galleries of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The evening will include a lively reception and the awarding of the Olmsted Award of Excellence to our honored guest.

    Visit http://www.emeraldnecklace.org/emerald-evening/ for more information, to become a sponsor or purchase tickets. All proceeds from the event will directly support the Conservancy’s programming in the Emerald Necklace park system.

  • Friday, November 14, 9:00 am – 3:30 pm – Castle Hill Casino Restoration Seminar

    Friday, November 14, 9:00 am – 3:30 pm – Castle Hill Casino Restoration Seminar

    New England Landscape Design and History Association (NELDHA) and The Trustees of Reservations (TTOR) are pleased to collaborate on a Preservation Seminar that focuses on the Casino restoration at the Country Place Era Estate at Castle Hill in Ipswich, Massachusetts. The seminar is on November 14, 2014, at the Great House at Castle Hill from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

    Join them for an in depth program in the Great House with TTOR staff and other professionals who will explain the issues, process and decision making involved. TTOR Northeast Region’s Operations Manager Robert Murray will lead a tour of the restored Casino. After lunch, a distinguished panel will answer questions and discuss issues with a particular emphasis on hardscape, ornamentation and adaptive reuse of this incredible space. The panelists include Robert Murray; Lucinda Brockway, TTOR Program Director for Cultural Resources; James Younger, AIA, LEED AP, TTOR Director of Structural Resources and Technology; Susan Hill Dolan, TTOR Curator and Cultural Resources Specialist for the Northeast Region; Robert Levitre of Consigli Construction, and distinguished landscape architect and preservationist, Marion Pressley, FASLA, and past speaker for the Garden Club of the Back Bay.

    In 2014, TTOR continued the restoration of the grounds at Castle Hill, a National Historic Landmark. This year, 99 years after its creation, the crumbling Casino—the epitome of a Country Place Era estate feature for entertainment and leisure—was restored. The casino was designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style by landscape architect Arthur Shurcliff, in collaboration with the Boston architectural firm Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge, 1914 – 1915. Although sited on the fabulous grand allee, it is elegantly hidden within the iconic view from the Great House. The Casino predates the existing Great House designed by David Adler, 1924 – 1928. For this project, TTOR used original documentation and materials wherever possible.

    The seminar is $70 for NELDHA members, TTOR members and current students and $85 for non-members. We are offering an early registration discount of $10 for registrations received before October 14, 2014. The Registration & Refund Deadline is November 8, 2014. Space is limited. Visit www.ttor.org to register.

    casino ballroom 1915

  • December 4 – 15, 2014, or February 5 – 16, 2015 – Discover Cuba!

    WAITING LIST ONLY for the December trip, reservations available for the February trip. Pacific Horticulture Society has just renewed its People-to-People US travel license to Cuba granting permission to take friends and members on what promises to be a rich cultural journey with a botanical slant. Our itinerary includes Havana, Zapata National Park— the finest wetland in the Caribbean with over 900 indigenous plant species and 175 unique birds, the city of Cienfuegos—”pearl of the south” and home of the former Harvard Botanic Garden, the Sierra del Escambray Mountains, and the World Heritage City of Trinidad.

    Throughout our journey, there will be a special emphasis on meeting the people of Cuba: botanists, environmentalists, teachers, scientists, students, and national park personnel.

    Steve Gerischer, PHS board member, will escort the December tour, and Josh Schechtel will escort the February tour. See more at: http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/tours/discover-cuba-3/#sthash.PzQGZOEJ.dpuf.