Boston Flora

Month: September 2015

  • Sunday, October 4, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm and 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm – Learning from the Wild and The Rock Garden

    The secret to growing challenging plants in the garden is to understand and to accommodate their adaptations to conditions in the wild. In this talk, Peter Korn discusses in what ways plants are adapted to specific natural environments: deserts, steppes, forests, mountains and more, and shows how these adaptations can be accommodated in the garden, using a mix of photos from nature and from his own garden. The program takes place at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, on Sunday, October 4, from 11 – 12:30. Free with admission to the Garden.

    Then, from 1:30 – 3:00, Peter returns with a talk about the design and construction of rock gardens, and the cultivation of rock-garden plants. Rock gardens can be successful in almost any environment; the secret to success lies in choosing appropriate plants for your conditions as well as, to the degree possible, tailoring your conditions to the plants you want to grow. Depending on your skills and circumstances, these may range from desert plants through small temperate-zone plants to the most demanding alpines. Illustrated primarily with photos from Peter’s extensive and amazing gardens.

    Presented by the New England chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society, www.nargs.org.

  • Thursday, October 8, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Wrapping Up Your Garden

    The calendar says October, but it doesn’t mean your work in the garden is done. There are four areas you need to concentrate on. Betty Sanders calls them the ‘Must Do’s’, ‘Should Do’s’, ‘Could Do’s’ and ‘Don’t Do’s’.

    Garden writer, lifetime Master Gardener, and President of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts Betty Sanders offers a Massachusetts Horticultural Society program on Thursday, October 8 from 7 – 8:30 at Elm Bank that will ensure your garden gets off to a great start next spring. Register at http://goo.gl/UhG3tV

    $10 Mass Hort Members, $15 Non-Members.  Image from www.dailymail.co.uk

  • Saturday, October 24, 3:30 pm – 6:00 pm – Clean Water Action’s 21st Annual Celebration

    Every year, Clean Water Action’s Celebration commemorates a year of collective hard work. THIS YEAR, come celebrate YOU! It’s your dedicated support that keeps us determined to protect our environment and public health, lay the foundation for a clean energy future, and restore decades old protections under the Clean Water Act. We love working with you to achieve our goals.

    To place an advertisement in our program booklet, purchase tickets, and find out more, visit our website, http://www.cleanwateraction.org/ma/2015benefit. Featuring complimentary beer and wine, an hors d’oeuvre reception, an awards ceremony, silent auction and celebration of victories and progress towards a healthy and sustainable world! Ticket prices begin at $40.

    The event will take place Saturday, October 24 from 3:30 – 6 at the Congregational Church of Weston, 130 Newton Street in Weston.

  • Tuesday, October 13, 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Natural Swimming Ponds: Beauty, Recreation, and Habitat with No Chemicals

    A low gurgle emerges from beneath the Mentha aquatica as clear water begins to make its way from the bog downstream between smooth boulders and over gravel. Liquid fingers catch the sun’s rays, bending them and throwing them in every direction. The blooms of iris, hemerocallis, and lobelia bob in the gentle breeze over the bog, where the water collects. The stream rushes over a broken slab of granite in a shimmering sheet adding its high-pitched notes to the chorus of gurgles above as it drops into the pond. Alighting on the edge, a female robin takes a drink, startling a small frog sunning on a warm boulder, while further along sparrows take turns flitting from a Dappled Willow to bathe. The splash of a Frisbee is followed by another splash as a dog wades into the water and momentarily disrupts the serene calm.

    This entire sensory scene takes place at a natural swimming pond designed and constructed by Trevor Smith in Massachusetts. It is the embodiment of residential ecology combining habitat creation and rain harvesting, along with human interaction. It is 100% chemical free, low maintenance, and provides year round interest unlike a regular swimming pool. And although a swimming pond costs more than a rubber lined pool, it costs less than a gunite pool of equal size and comes with a tremendous number of additional benefits.

    In this one hour Tuesday, October 13 Ecological Landscape Alliance webinar, Trevor Smith will explain design considerations, mechanical and bio-filtration options, water flow and circulation, rainwater capture for recharge, construction methods, and will Trevor will also discuss how to sell this new concept to your clients.

    Trevor Smith is the owner of Land Escapes, a full service ecological landscaping company in the Boston area that specializes in Garden Design, Eco-Rain Recovery, Water Features, and Living Wall Installations. Trevor is also the President of the Ecological Landscape Alliance. You can reach Trevor through his website: www.everydaygetaway.com.

    Register at: http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-natural-swimming-ponds-beauty-recreation-and-habitat-with-no-chemicals/#sthash.bxGi3G8S.dpuf.

  • Friday, July 8 – Thursday, July 21 – Travel to China with the New England Wild Flower Society

    July 8-21, 2016, join the New England Wild Flower Society’s Ted Elliman as we explore forests, meadows, alpine communities, and the culture of the traditionally nomadic Tibetan people who inhabit the eastern edge of the Roof of the World. The Tibetan highlands of Sichuan are home to a spectacular array of landscapes, flora, and wildlife, with mountains soaring to 20,000 feet and an extraordinary diversity of plants, including many species of rhododendrons, primroses, orchids, gentians, and numerous other plants. Little wonder the region has been a magnet for plant explorers for over 150 years. The spruce, fir, and hardwood-forested slopes of the mountains, often with dense understories of bamboo, are among the last strongholds of the giant panda. Want to learn more? Download the brochure at http://www.newfs.org/images/learn/FINAL%20FLYER%20NEWFS.Tibetan%20Highlands%202016.pdf or register now! Please note: This tour will be a deeply rewarding experience for passengers who enjoy travel on scenic, winding mountain roads. There will be frequent stops, and most days do not require excessively long drives, but there will be travel most every day. Most nights will be spent in valley locations at elevations below 11,000 feet, and there will be one night in the town of Litang, which is more than 13,000 feet elevation. Lodging will be “best available,” which means basic amenities everywhere, but some hotels may reflect local rather than Western standards of opulence. Some days we will drive and take short walks at elevations that may exceed 14,000 feet, although we do not intend to spend long periods of time at these elevations, nor engage in sustained activity this high. The higher elevation areas will come later in the trip, after you have had some time to acclimatize. And yes, there will be pandas. Trip fee $3,995 per person double occupancy, plus $1,595 airfare from Boston to Chengdu, round trip, and $295 in tour air.

  • Saturday, October 3, 10:00 am – Therapeutic Gardens: Design for Healing Spaces

    On Sunday, October 3, at 10 am at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, Amy Wagenfeld, co-author of Therapeutic Gardens: Design for Healing Spaces, will talk about why being in nature can support health and well-being, and how healing gardens can be designed to benefit everyone. Using examples from around the world, she will engage in an interactive conversation about how healing gardens support learning, movement, sensory enrichment, remembrance, as well as improved physical and mental health. Free with admission to the garden.
    Amy Wagenfeld, PhD, OTR/L, SCEM, CAPS, an occupational therapist, educator, researcher, and master gardener, brings a unique perspective to her work by blending occupational therapy, horticulture, and design to make gardens and gardening possible for a wide range of adults and children. She is on the faculty in the department of occupational therapy at Rush University and has a landscape design consultation practice.

  • Saturday, October 3, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – The History of Apples in Massachusetts

    Saturday, October 3, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – The History of Apples in Massachusetts

    For 300 years Massachusetts was the center of American orcharding. Long before the days of Red Delicious, Fuji, Gala and Honeycrisp there was Roxbury Russet, Garden Royal, Hubbardston Nonesuch and Westfield Seek No Further. Where did those old varieties come from? What were they like? What were they used for? Where are they now? On Saturday, October 3 at 1 pm join apple historian and fruit explorer John Bunker at Tower Hill Botanic Garden for a romp through the history of apples in the Bay State. Learn the answers to these and other questions. Bring your apples for John to identify. Free with admission.

    John Bunker grew up in Massachusetts and California, moving to Maine in 1968. He has lived in Palermo on Super Chilly Farm for the past 43 years, where he and Cammy Watts grow vegetables, woody and herbaceous ornamentals, small fruits and tree fruits. He coordinates nursery sales for Fedco, the co-op seed and nursery company in Clinton. His passion is tracking down heirloom fruit varieties, particularly those originating in Maine. He has established the Maine Heritage Orchard at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association -MOFGA’s- Common Ground in Unity. Eventually the orchard will be home to 500 or more historic pears and apples. The first 100 apple varieties were planted in April 2014. He coordinates an annual series of organic orcharding classes at MOFGA, the spring “Seed Swap and Scion Exchange” and the October “Great Maine Apple Day.” He speaks and teaches in the New England area regularly year round. In 2007 he self-published Not Far From the Tree: A Brief History of the Apples and the Orchards of Palermo, Maine.

    notfarfromthetree

  • Fridays, October 2, 9 & 16, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – History of Tower Hill Botanic Garden

    Join John Trexler, Executive Director Emeritus of the Worcester County Horticultural Society and Founding Director of Tower Hill Botanic Garden, on a 3 session walking history of the Gardens. Learn the agony and ecstasy of how Tower Hill evolved from a simple eighteenth century farm to a nationally renowned public garden. Come dressed for the weather, rain or shine. Dates are October 2, 9 and 16 from 10 – 12. Tower Hill members $100, nonmembers $150. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Saturday, October 10, 12:00 noon – 4:00 pm – From Tree to Table

    The acorn has been an important staple for aboriginal people across North America for thousands of years. The people of each region had their preferred species and methods of collecting, storing, and processing this fruit of the oak tree. In this New England Wild Flower Society class on Saturday, October 10 from noon – 4 at Garden in the Woods, you will learn primitive and contemporary methods for gathering and preparing acorns. At the end of class, we will enjoy fresh-cooked acorn-flour pancakes with instructor Arthur Haines. $53 for NEWFS members, $64 for nonmembers. Register online at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/from-tree-to-table.

  • Wednesday, September 30, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Winter-Growing House Plants

    Over the years, Art Scarpa has assembled a collection of plants that extend the growing season to year round. They include camellias, clivias, tropical and hardy bulbs, jasmines, cyclamens, primroses, Living Stones from South Africa and many more. On Wednesday, September 30 at 7 pm at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, he will give tips on how to fill a bright but cold breezeway, balcony or deck with living plants for winter interest and color.

    Art Scarpa has been growing unusual plants all his life and his hobby greenhouse is filled to the eaves with plants that reflect his diverse interests. His curiosity has taken him to many exciting places to view them in their natural habitats, such as the US south and southwest, Hawaii, Europe, Australia, South America and South Africa. Now retired, Art is busier than ever, sharing his experiences and horticultural knowledge with others at flower shows, arboreta, garden clubs and fairs all over the northeast. $20 for Tower Hill members, $30 for nonmembers. Register online at www.towerhillbg.org. Image from www.ryanhomesblog.com.