Daily Archives: October 1, 2015

Wednesday, October 14, 10:00 am – The History of the Tulip and the Tulipmania Movement in 17th Century Netherlands

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Explore the history of this wandering beauty with Ila Cox. The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s October meeting and lecture will be held Wednesday, October 14 beginning at 10 am at The College Club, 44 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston.

From its cradle in the foothills of the Himalayas, we follow the tulip’s journey over the centuries through Persia, the Ottoman Empire and Western Europe in the 16th century. In the Golden Age of 17th century Holland, the tulip takes on larger prominence as it intersects with the burgeoning Dutch economy. It becomes a principle actor in an economic drama of historic proportion. Tulipmania has direct relevance for our 21st century experience with the inflated values of certain commodities and lack of market regulations. The tulip moved west during the 17th century and was introduced to North America and other colonies. Today Dutch tulip production has become a major commercial success as the tulip is marketed to the world.

Ila Cox is a plant lover, gardener, garden traveler, and a student of garden and plant history. She studied flower arranging with Sheila McQueen, has been a church flower arranger, owner of The Potting Shed, and is a member of the Andover and Boxford Garden Clubs, former Chair of the Flower Committee of the MFA Associates, and lectures on flower arranging and horticultural topics.

Garden Club of the Back Bay members will receive written notice of this meeting. Guests are welcome. Please email info@gardenclubbackbay.org if you plan to attend.

Saturday, October 10, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Saving the Heirloom Apple

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We have a wonderful, diverse history of fruit growing in this country and are fortunate to have many collections of precious fruit types representing cultivation from the earliest times of settlement to the present. Unlike the Svaalbard “Doomsday” seed vault in Norway, fruit collections of heirloom apples, pears, cherries and all manner of fruit are in the ground and subject to climate change, variations in growing conditions and new or old pest pressures. Maintaining these precious collections becomes more difficult with each passing year. What strategies must we consider for these living things in order to be available to future generations. Come to Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Saturday, October 10 and hear Dan Bussey give a free presentation on Saving the Heirloom Apple, beginning at 2 pm.  Visit www.towerhillbg.org for more information and directions.

Dan Bussey was born and raised in Wisconsin in the house his father built in the middle of the family farm orchard. Being surrounded by old apple trees since the time he could remember likely contributed much to Dan’s interest in planting trees and having his own orchard. Dan has collected heirloom fruit varieties since 1979. Along with the orchard, Dan operated a community cider press for 24 years and is now the Orchard Manager and apple historian for the Seed Savers Exchange. Discovering information on old apple varieties has been his lifelong passion and he has compiled a soon to be printed, 7 volume encyclopedia of apples that have been grown in North America since 1623. The Illustrated History of the Apple in North America is the largest work on apples of its kind ever published and will be available later this year.  Image from the New York Times.