Boston Flora

Month: May 2016

  • Saturday, June 4, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Tom Ashbrook at Newton Community Farm

    The Newton Community Farm is honored to host an intimate evening with Tom Ashbrook, award-winning journalist and host of NPR’s On Point. Having spent his childhood on a farm, Tom will talk about farm life, both past and present, and the place of local farms in our agricultural system. The event will be held June 4th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The event will begin with a farm tour at 6:30 p.m., and the talk will begin at 7 p.m. This event is part of Newton Community Farm’s Ten-Year Anniversary program. Click here to register, or call 617-916-9655.

  • Wednesdays, June 1 – June 15, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Hands-On Floral Design

    Bring a little bit of your garden indoors. In this three-session class Massachusetts Horticultural Society class to be held Wednesdays, June 1 – 15 from 7 – 9 at Elm Bank, learn how to arrange flowers that you may find in your garden and yard. Barbara Rietscha, owner of Stow Greenhouses in Stow MA, will bring seasonal flowers from her farm to the class and teach you how to condition and arrange them. In the first class, you will be creating an arrangement in a glass cylinder vase. The second class will teach you how to create a dining table centerpiece and for the third class bring your own vase to arrange in. Flowers for all sessions are provided as are vases for sessions 1 and 2. Bring your own flower cutters/scissors and a vase for session 3. Each evening you will go home with a beautiful arrangement of fresh, locally grown flowers.

    Stow Greenhouses is a cut flower farm and floral design studio specializing in fresh-from-the-garden arrangements for weddings and special life events. They sell retail at many area farmers’ markets and at the Boston Public Market. Stow Greenhouses brings the best of what is blooming from their garden to your vase.  Mass Hort members $150, nonmembers $200.  Register at www.masshort.org.

  • Sunday, June 5, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – A Festival of Lavender

    Fruitlands Museum, located at 102 Prospect Hill Road in Harvard, will be all things lavender when aromatherapist and lavender expert Nancy Engel comes to play on Sunday, June 5 from 2 – 3:30. Part workshop, part celebration, this 90-minute program will dive deep into the incredible nature of lavender covering the medicinal, culinary, and other uses of this pleasantly fragrant herb. Participants will sup on lavender-inspired dishes, learn valuable growing tips and fashion a lavender sachet or wall bunch. Don’t forget to wear your best lavender finery for this festive afternoon at Fruitlands. Space is limited. To register, contact programming@fruitlands.org or call (978) 456-3924, ext. 239. Price: $35 Fruitlands Members, $45 Nonmembers. Image from www.flowermeaning.com.

  • Fridays, June 10 – 24, 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm, and Saturdays, June 11 & 18, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – New England Plant Communities

    For a relatively small region, New England boasts an astonishing variety of plant communities, ranging from freshwater and tidal wetlands to coastal dunes, grasslands, forests, and montane. Learn how soil, topography, moisture, geological conditions, glaciation, and historical use affect the vegetation of each community. We will study dominant canopy, structure, range, and characteristic species of each community, and then apply this knowledge in the field. This five session class, sponsored by New England Wild Flower Society and led by Ted Elliman, will take place at Garden in the Woods in Framingham, the Susan B. Minns Wildlife Sanctuary in Princeton, and at Sly Ponds in Plymouth (below). Times are Fridays, June 10, 17 and 24, from 6:00 – 8:30, and Saturdays, June 11 and 18 from 10 – 2. $238 for NEWFS members, $280 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/new-england-plant-communities

  • Friday, June 17, 7:00 pm – Glow in the Park

    Quickly becoming a favorite annual event in Boston, Glow in the Park is back. Hosted by the Greenway Young Leaders program, with proceeds benefiting the non-profit Greenway Conservancy, this is one event unlike any other in Boston! Spend a summer Friday night (June 17, beginning at 7) in one of Boston’s most beautiful and contemporary green spaces while enjoying live music, your Greenway food truck favorites, beer, wine, and more! This year’s event will be held on The Greenway at High Street.

    Tickets include: Live Band – Greenway Food Trucks – Beer & Wine – One Year Membership in Greenway Young Leaders Program – Afterparty at Trade Restaurant – Other Entertainment ‘To Be Announced’ – Tax-Deductible Donation to the Greenway Conservancy. Tickets are LIMITED and sold out last year – go to https://tickets.ruggedraces.com/event/GreenwayGlow to register ($95 per person.)

    Glow-in-the-Park-Logo

  • Saturday, June 4, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Wildflower Walk

    Whether you are new to native wildflowers or a long-time enthusiast, there is no better way to learn about regional flora than in the field. In this New England Wild Flower Society program, co-sponsored by Mass Audubon’s South Shore Sanctuaries, participants will learn to identify native flora in a variety of habitats. The walk will take place Saturday, June 4 beginning at 10 am in Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary in Marshfield, and will be led by Ted Elliman. Members of sponsor organizations $15, nonmembers $20. Register online at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/wildflower-walk

  • Tuesdays, May 31 and June 14, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm, and Sunday, June 5, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon – Designing Gardens for Small Spaces

    Small garden spaces often present the designer with the challenge of how to realize big ideas in tight quarters. Yet small sites don’t mean the garden must lack interest. This hands-on New England Wild Flower Society design workshop with Cheryl Salatino will tackle the garden as a composition by exploring enclosed space, lighting, plant characteristics, and personal expression. We will visit Cambridge gardens on June 5 to inspire your designs. The other classes will be held at Garden in the Woods in Framingham. $120 for NEWFS members, $144 for nonmembers. Register on line at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/designing-gardens-for-small-spaces.

  • Wednesday, June 1, 1:30 pm – Ginkgo Tree Celebration at Clarendon Street Playground

    Wednesday, June 1, 1:30 pm – Ginkgo Tree Celebration at Clarendon Street Playground

    The planting of sixteen new ginkgo trees along Clarendon Street by the Garden Club of the Back Bay is certainly cause for celebration.  On Wednesday, June 1 (rain date Thursday, June 2) our generous tree sponsors, Club members, and volunteers will join with the neighborhood in the Clarendon Street Playground on the corner of Clarendon Street and Commonwealth Avenue to enjoy cookies and lemonade while admiring the newly fenced trees.  Earlier in the morning, with the assistance of students from The Learning Project Elementary School, the tree pits will be planted with hundreds of vinca plants.  All are invited to share our excitement – no rsvp necessary.

    Gingko

  • Saturday, June 11, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm – The 23rd Annual Northampton Garden Tour

    Come visit eight delightful gardens on display Saturday, June 11 from 10 – 3, rain or shine, for the 2016 Northampton Garden Tour, a fundraiser for the Friends of Forbes Library, Inc. The Garden Tour is intended to inspire and educate everyday gardeners with plantings in a variety of appealing and unique landscaping styles and creative use of hardscape. At each garden, there are descriptions of the plantings and garden guides are on hand to answer questions. Tickets come with directions to this self-guided tour of gardens within easy driving distance of the library. The terrain of this year’s tour broadly circles Northampton, making gardens accessible by car and a pleasant bicycle ride for the recreational peddler comfortable with 20+ miles.

    Tickets for the Tour are $15 in advance at Forbes Library, Bay State Perennial Farm, Cooper’s Corner, Hadley Garden Center, North Country Landscapes and State Street Fruit Store. And $20 on the day of the tour at the library only.

    The Friends of Forbes Library, Inc. Northampton Garden Tour also includes a raffle – Win organic compost, gift certificates, garden supplies, a landscape consultation and more. Raffle tickets are 2/$5 or 5/$10 and are available at Forbes Library through the day before the tour as well as at one of the gardens on the day of the tour.

    All proceeds benefit the Friends of Forbes Library, Inc. to support programs, events, and projects for the library that could not otherwise be funded. For details: www.forbeslibrary.org. For more information, contact: Lyn Heady 413-584-7041.

  • Thursday, June 2, 5:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Grow Your Own Meadow

    Interested in establishing a meadow or caring for an existing one? On Thursday, June 2 from 5 – 8:30 Kathy Connolly will explain what a meadow is and teach you about the role of native species in a meadow, the basics of meadow ecology, site selection, low-impact site preparation techniques, and steps you can take right now to get started. After the New England Wild Flower Society lecture, you can purchase books and native plants grown by the Society’s Nasami Farm Nursery. The program will take place at Nasami Farm in Whately, Massachusetts, and the fee is $40 for NEWFS members, $48 for nonmembers. Register online at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/grow-your-own-meadow