Boston Flora

Month: January 2015

  • Saturday, February 7, 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm – Keepsake Annuals

    The best old-fashioned annuals for beds and containers and the new versions of some our favorites will be discussed. Whether you like fragrant heliotrope or self-sowing verbena, this Tower Hill Botanic Garden lecture on Saturday, February 7 from 1 – 2:15 will cover the A-Z of easy care heirloom types and showcase combinations that work.

    Lecturer Barbara Pierson of White Flower Farm graduated from Cornell’s School of Horticulture and has been the Nursery Manager at White Flower Farm since 1998. A popular guest on television and radio, she is regularly interviewed and quoted as an expert in newspapers across the country. She was featured in a five-part series of articles in The New York Times about home gardening in the summer of 2010. She has been a guest on WNPR’s “The Faith Middleton Show” and Martha Stewart Radio’s “Morning Living”. She is the face and voice of many of the how-to gardening videos available on White Flower Farm’s Web site. Her encyclopedic knowledge of ornamentals and edibles mean her talks are both enormously instructive and highly entertaining. Free with admission, but pre-registration is requested at https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/EventDetail.asp?cguid=C7E2C131-AD0F-49AA-B073-5B92F8300A37&eid=50739&sid=09529F86-BAEF-4393-8887-27E3C466858A.

  • Saturday, January 31, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Winter Landscape Photography

    Come join The Trustees of Reservations at Francis William Bird Park on Washington Street  in Walpole to learn how to capture the beauty of a winter landscape through your camera lens. Instruction will be provided by a professional photographer, all participants must bring their own equipment. The class will take place Saturday, January 31 from 10 – 12, and the cost is $10 for TTOR members, $20 for nonmembers. To sign up, call 508-668-6136 or email birdpark@ttor.org.

  • Thursday, February 5 and Friday, February 6 – Southeast Region Conservation Forum

    Wildlands firefighters, natural resource managers, land trusts, municipal conservation agents and other conservation-minded people in southeastern Massachusetts are encouraged to register for the 2nd Annual Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Conservation Forum to be held February 5 – 6, 2015 in Mashpee and Buzzards Bay. Learn how fire, tree harvest, and other habitat management activities benefit wildlife of all kinds, including some species that have been dwindling in numbers. This forum will build on the conservation initiatives prioritized by the participants of the first Regional Forum held in 2014, furthering the development of a Regional Conservation Partnership. On February 5, in Mashpee at the Wampanoag Tribal Offices, the focus will be on Fire Science and Land Management and include field trips to properties where various habitat management activities such as prescribed burning and tree harvest activities have been conducted. On February 6, at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay there will be presentations and breakout sessions on restoration projects, exploring partnerships in the Pine Barrens ecoregion, and reviewing the fire science field trip. The forum is sponsored by the North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange, Southeastern Pine Barrens Alliance, MassWildlife, MassAudubon, and the Forest Guild Northeast Region. To register for the forum and for more information about the Regional Conservation Partnership, view the Forum Registration and Agenda at http://pinebarrensalliance.givezooks.com/events/se-mass-regional-conservation-forum.

  • Saturday, February 7 Deadline – Love that Lasts: Plant a Rose for Your Valentine

    Thinking about sending roses to your sweetheart this year?

    Sponsor the planting of a rose in the Kelleher Rose Garden in honor of your Valentine for a gift that will last. With your $75 donation, choose from a selection of roses (Peace and Love shown below) that will be planted in the spring and a card will be mailed with a personalized message to your someone special. This gift not only symbolizes love and beauty, but also the value you place on the maintenance and improvement of the Emerald Necklace.

    The Emerald Necklace Conservancy thanks you for your support! Please Note: Locations for plantings are pre-deternined by the Kelleher Rose Garden plan.

    Be sure to place your order by February 7th to have a Valentine’s Day card sent to notify your sweetheart of your thoughtful gift. To order, visit https://25749.thankyou4caring.org/lovethatlasts.

  • Tuesday, February 17, 6:00 pm – The Evolution of the Dinner Party, 1860 – 1954

    Etiquetteer (Robert B. Dimmick) will speak at the Gibson House Museum on Tuesday, February 17, on The Evolution of the Dinner Party 1860-1954. “Etiquetteer explores how the way Americans entertained at home changed during the time the Gibsons lived at the Gibson House. The Victorian formal dinner party of many courses and ever more obscure accessories gradually gave way with the social upheavals following World War I, including Prohibition. By World War II, writers like Dorothy Draper were gaily recommending buffet dinners with striking color schemes and other novelties.”

    Tickets are $10 for Gibson House members, $15 for non-members. Reception at 6:00 PM, program at 6:30 PM. For tickets, please email info@thegibsonhouse.org. Image from www.foryourbigday.files.wordpress.com.

  • Wednesday, February 11, 10:00 am – New Technologies and Unique Set-Ups

    Urban farming is taking off in some of the most densely populated places around Greater Boston in interesting, unexpected ways. Learn about the ever-changing landscape of growing technologies that is making this possible and how to apply these techniques at home or in your community. Jessie Banhazl, CEO and founder of Green City Growers, will join The Garden Club of the Back Bay at The College Club, 44 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, on Wednesday, February 11 at 10 am for this informative talk. Green City Growers are experienced and passionate organic urban farmers who specialize in year-round raised bed urban farms for yards, rooftops, decks, and unused lots. They maintain production-level urban farms for hotels, grocers, and restaurants, and pioneer farming education programs for businesses, municipalities, homeowners and schools. Garden Club of the Back Bay members will receive written notice of this meeting.  If you are not a member but are interested in attending, please email info@bostonflora.com.

  • Sunday, February 1, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Hope Floats on White: History and Future of the White Garden

    Tower Hill Botanic Garden will host an illustrated lecture on the history, design and future of the white garden beginning with Sissinghurst in England, then showing lecturer Carol Julien’s 1,000 square foot garden since 2001 and her theory for transferring the sanctuary of our gardens to the busy world beyond.

    For reasons known only to a seven year old, Carol began gardening in Canton, Massachusetts, when she asked her mother for a section of the perennial border that she could call her own. While at Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, (on scholarship from the Canton Art Association) she began working as an estate gardener in Sharon. Carol was graduated from S.U.N.Y., College of Environmental Science and Forestry, School of Landscape Architecture, with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1979. Carol’s core belief is that anyone can build a garden if they have spirit, energy and are willing to work hard. And none of this requires formal training. The key to gardening and design is to be a keen observer of much of what is around you.

    The February 1 lecture is free with admission and takes place from 2 – 3:30, but Tower Hill asks that you pre-register at https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/EventDetail.asp?cguid=C7E2C131-AD0F-49AA-B073-5B92F8300A37&eid=50738&sid=530D164F-406E-4300-BB6E-37BEE61F8747.

  • Saturday, January 31, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – A Legacy in Blue: Recapturing an Iconic Newport Garden

    On Saturday, January 31, landscape historian Arleyn Levee and Sarah Vance, Director of The Blue Garden, will discuss The Blue Garden, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. from 1911 – 1913, with a monochromatic concentration of purples and blues.  The lecture takes place at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, and is free with admission to the garden.  The lecture takes place from 2 – 3, and a reception follows from 3 – 4 with complimentary refreshments and a cash bar.  For directions and more information visit www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Tuesday, June 23 – Sunday, June 28 – Gardens of Greater Chicago

    Join Pat Wipf and the Pacific Horticulture Society June 23 – 28 for a tour of top public and private gardens of the Windy City and surrounding towns and hamlets.  Check in to the Embassy Suites near the Magnificent Mile and have dinner at Rick Bayless’s Frontera Grill.  The next day you’ll visit Rick Bayless’s garden with Bill Shores (pictured below,) a completely organic garden serving as a model for urban food production.  Enjoy an architectural river cruise, a tour of a unique Bucktown garden designed by Julie Siegel, the Lily Pond at Lincoln Park, Millennium Park, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Botanic Garden, and a number of private gardens in Chicago and Evanston. Read details and get pricing information at http://www.sterlingtoursltd.com/Chicago2015.html. 

  • Thursday, February 12, 6:00 pm – The Future of Food: How Science, Technology, and Taste Shape What We Eat

    Food is as fundamental to human life as it is to the development of civilization itself. It is also a source of pleasure, a celebration of culture, and a foundation of health and well-being. To quote Kurt Vonnegut, “When it comes right down to it, food is practically the whole story every time.” From hunting and gathering to contemporary living in today’s fast-paced, digital world, how we produce food and what we eat is continuously shaped by scientific discovery and engineering ingenuity, which dovetail with our ever-evolving dietary preferences. In this lively and entertaining talk on Thursday, February 12, beginning at 6 pm, part of Boston University’s Pepin Lecture Series in Food Studies and Gastronomy, P.K. Newby, ScD, MPH, MS, reflects on the human journey from farm to fork, science fiction to science, and paints a picture of what our plate will look like as we approach a population of nine billion. Dr. Newby, co-author of the new book Foods for Health: Choose and Use the Very Best Foods for Your Family and Our Planet, is a scientist, educator, speaker, and food writer who teaches at several universities in Boston and communicates regularly with the public via her blog The Nutrition Doctor is In the Kitchen.  $20 fee includes book. Register online at www.bu.edu/foodandwine. Class is held in Room 117, 808 Commonwealth Avenue, the old Peter Fuller Cadillac building.