Boston Flora

Month: July 2015

  • Sunday, August 2, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm – Kill Your Lawn

    According to NASA scientists, in the United States more surface area is covered by lawn than by any other single irrigated crop. Lawns are resource-heavy, requiring irrigation, fertilizer, and pesticides to thrive in our climate. Learn why you should “kill your lawn” and how to replace it with environmentally friendly native plantings. The class will be held on Sunday, August 2 from 9 – 3 at Garden in the Woods in Framingham, taught by Mark Richardson. The fee is $82 for New England Wild Flower Society members, $98 for nonmembers, and is co-sponsored by the Ecological Landscape Alliance. Register online at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/kill-your-lawn.  Image from www.sustainable-gardening.com.

  • Saturday, August 8, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Marblehead Open Day

    Join the Garden Conservancy on Saturday, August 8 from 10 – 4 in Marblehead and Beverly.  The Lodge Garden at 239 Hale Street is seven acres and has been in the family for more than 150 years. The family planted four European beech trees in the mid-nineteenth century and they continue to add beauty. Other specimen trees include yellowwood, catalpa, katsura, and yellow birch. The garden has equal numbers of exotic trees and shrubs and native plants. The emphasis the last few years is to encourage bird and insect life so large numbers of native wildflowers and shrubs have been added. There is a small but interesting border with annuals and perennials and a large vegetable garden. Two acres are a wildflower meadow.

    The Parable (Ellen Cool’s garden) is located at 19 Circle Street (pictured.) In the oldest part of Marblehead alongside a 1720 house you will find a garden gate leading into a landscape with extensive stonework and ornamental plant materials. These are the working spaces and display gardens of a landscape designer, so the garden buildings, stone features, tools, books, and working systems may provide some ideas you can readily use for your own garden. Mature dwarf and unusual trees, shrubs and vines are featured along with long blooming or otherwise particularly pleasing hardy perennials and rock garden plants. There are stone and hypertufa troughs planted with alpines and other winter hardy materials, as well as annual plants in container groupings. Ellen Cool’s website, http://aReasonedLandscape.com is searchable by subject, with many articles about landscape and garden design and unusual plant materials.

    Admission to each garden is $7. For more information and directions visit https://www.gardenconservancy.org/events/all-events/marblehead-ma-open-day.

  • Tuesday, July 28, 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm – A Taste of Ethnic Boston

    The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy is happy to partner with Get Konnected! to host a second annual food event, A Taste of Ethnic Boston. Join them on Tuesday, July 28 from 5:30-8pm at the Harborside Inn, 185 State Street, to sample an array of foods from some of Boston’s most exotic ethnic restaurants while enjoying live music. The Greenway’s Public Art Curator, Lucas Cowan, will also be in attendance to share thoughts on the Greenway’s Janet Echelman sculpture and the Greenway’s public art efforts.

    Purchase your tickets today ($15) at http://getkonnected.com/events/a-taste-of-ethnic-boston.

  • Saturday, August 8, 11:00 am – Historic Walking Tour of Jamaica Pond

    Join the Jamaica Plain Historical Society on a walk around the Jamaica Pond. Once a district that only included the houses of Boston’s elite, the Pond later was put to industrial use as tons of ice were harvested there each winter. Learn about the movers and shakers such as Francis Parkman, Pauline Agassiz Shaw, Emily Greene Balch 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.
    All tours are free to the public. Tours last between 60 and 90 minutes and are canceled in case of heavy rain. No reservations are required, just meet the guide at the Jamaica Pond Bandstand, 570 Jamaicaway in Jamaica Plain. For more information visit www.jphs.org. Image from www.friendsofjamaicapond.org.

  • Friday, August 14 – Sunday, August 16 – NOFA Summer Conference

    The Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) Summer Conference takes place August 14-16, 2015 at UMass Amherst in Massachusetts.  This year’s main conference features 144 individual sessions with 27 different topic areas. Workshops address organic farming, gardening, land care, draft animals, homesteading, sustainability, nutrition, food politics, activism, and more. The theme for this year’s Conference is “Healing the Climate, Healing Ourselves: Regeneration through Microbiology”.

    This year, among the five pre-conference intensives will be an all-day seminar on Friday, August 14, given by Natasha Campbell-McBride, on the healing potential of food for overcoming chronic illness. She will also give the first keynote on Friday night.

    Our second keynoter, Ronnie Cummins will speak Saturday night on “Reversing Global Warming & Rural Poverty through Regenerative Organics”.

    Each year, we offer educational and fun workshops designed for kids and teens where children bond with others throughout the Northeast while parents attend workshops and the plenaries.

    This is an event for the whole family: Music, dance, films, games, animal rides, and meet-ups. Modest registration, inexpensive dorm rooms, camping and delicious, wholesome organic meals.  For complete details, visit http://nofasummerconference.org/index.php.

  • Monday, August 10 and Tuesday, August 11 – Designing for Future Climates: Resilient Facilities, Communities, and Economies

    Come to a two day development workshop for planners, designers, project reviewers, investors, and other decision-makers, in the beautiful Berkshire foothills of Conway, Massachusetts, co sponsored by The Conway School and Pinchot University, on August 10 – 11.

    Addressing climate change has often narrowly focused on public policy related to greenhouse gas emission controls and other issues seemingly out of most peoples’ hands.

    In this workshop we will highlight specific roles for designers, planners, and project owners — those who help shape the economy’s underpinnings — in improving how buildings, infrastructure, and business processes affect and are being affected by changing climate.

    Our investments in the built environment and its energy supplies are shaping future climate conditions. From warming oceans and weather extremes, to urban floods and regional droughts, threats related to climate change pose serious impacts to communities and businesses.

    In the course, participants will learn practical strategies that work, and will explore how to more broadly apply them. Discussions will focus on:

    How feasible is it to pursue sustainable and climate-compatible pathways?
    How can thought leaders from business, design, and other relevant fields join forces for improved results?
    How can we better integrate resilient options into our decision-making?
    How can we better account for the known risks as well as unknown (or ignored) potential scenarios?

    We have made special arrangements with nearby Berkshire East Resort to offer discounts to workshop participants and their families who want to recreate while they are here. Berkshire East offers: zip-lining, riding the mountain coaster, mountain biking, and rafting. Fishing, hiking, and other recreational activities are also available in the area and it is a short drive to MASS MoCA and other summer destinations. After you register for the workshop you will receive a discount code for recreation at Berkshire East. Register before August 4, $900, and see complete list of speakers and topics, at http://landscape.csld.edu/designing-future-climates-resilient-facilities-communities-economies?utm_campaign=Workshop%3A+Design+for+Future+Climates&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=19031188&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9A4mxBB5X7-p6_BTaYgqUSrxGWB4r-d_CulveDXYgqtJ3aHhSn0Gh4e1M_HXuatDsoCvoUb-0i7pPD0oPJcVdfcc9EcQ&_hsmi=19031188.

  • Tuesday, August 11 – Thursday, August 13, 9:30 am – 3:30 pm – Luminous Fruit: Highlights and Reflected Light

    Capture the glow of summer fruit by balancing highlights, shadows and reflected light to make your subject luminous. In this Wellesley Botanic Garden seminar designed for artists from advanced beginner to expert, Catherine Watters will teach you how to observe, measure and raw your subject, followed by careful and accurate color mixing using the Double Primary Color Bias Wheel. You are then ready to paint and capture the elegant shape, bold colors and textures using proper lighting to make your fruit come to life. Please note: choose to work on paper or vellum. For those more advanced artists wishing to work on calfskin vellum, Catherine will teach you her vellum dry brush technique. Vellum is not included in the registration fee ($395 for Friends of Wellesley Botanic Garden members, $495 for nonmembers) for this seminar. Contact the Friends office in advance to order a piece from Catherine. The class will take place at the Botanic Gardens on Tuesday through Thursday, August 11 – 13, from 9:30 am – 3:30 pm. To register, call 781-283-3094.

  • Thursday, August 6, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – A River Runs Through It: Daylighting the Neponset River at Gillette Stadium

    More than a decade ago, the New England Patriots constructed the new Gillette Stadium. A significant side project was the restoration of a long stretch of the Neponset River adjacent to the new stadium’s parking lot. In the 1940’s, racetrack construction on the site had forced the river underground. Gillette Stadium needed parking and the silt-clogged system needed daylighting and restoration. The daylighting project removed two blocked culverts and reconnected disrupted sections of the river, diverting flow back to river’s historic alignment. Wetland mitigation and flood control provided major drivers for this fast-tracked project that proceeded from concept to implementation in less than one year. Learn more and register today for this Ecological Landscaping Alliance talk and tour. Sponsor organization member price $22, nonmembers $32. Brady sitings not guaranteed. Co-hosted by the Southern New England Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society. Rain or shine, bring a bag lunch. Register online at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/a-river-runs-through-it-daylighting-of-the-neponset-river-at-gillette-stadium/

  • Tick Alert

    New England is suffering from a record tick population explosion this summer. University of Rhode Island Tick Encounter Resource Center provides up-to-date information on tick activity by region. You can report your own tick encounter or access tick safety information from the website: http://www.tickencounter.org/. A recorded webinar (click HERE) offers an overview.

  • Wednesday, August 5, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Seasonal Farmers Market

    Become a master of the farm to table experience – in this Boston Center for Adult Education class on Wednesday, August 5 from 6 – 9, students will work with seasonal ingredients carefully chosen by the instructor. Simple techniques will be shown to highlight the beautiful early summer flavors. There will be no menu in advance because the class will be based on the ingredients that look best that day! $55 (BCAE members $47) with a $15 materials charge. Register online at www.bcae.org.  The class will take place at 122 Arlington Street, Boston, in the Front Gaggenau kitchen. Image from Yankee Magazine.