The Esplanade Association announces the 2016 Moondance Gala on Saturday, September 24, celebrating 15 years of making life better in the park. Thanks to the public’s incredible generosity, the Charles River Esplanade is today, and will continue to be, a treasured urban oasis for all to enjoy. Event chairs are Lori and Matthew Sidman. For more information, and to learn about sponsorship opportunities, contact info@esplanadeassociation.org, or call 617-227-0365, ext. 402.
Together, the United States and Mexico support one-third of the freshwater turtle species on Earth. Over 137 terminal taxa—species, subspecies, and evolution-significant lineages—occur in diverse habitats across the continent.
Most species of North American turtles are of conservation concern, threatened by a range of factors including forest and wetland fragmentation, pathogens, and collection of adult turtles for pet markets. In order for viable, functional populations to persist, it is necessary to incorporate the best available science into cooperative conservation planning.
American Turtle Observatory is a network of scientists, researchers, agencies, communities, and landowners responding to conservation opportunities in focal landscapes and developing conservation strategies for widespread species of concern and restricted-range species. On Wednesday, May 11 at 7 pm, Mike Jones and Liz Willey will discuss their work on turtles. The program will be held at the Millers River Environmental Center, 100 Main Street in Athol.
Dr. Willey serves on the faculty in the Environmental Studies Department at Antioch University New England in Keene, New Hampshire. Dr. Jones is a biologist in the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and is the lead author and co-editor (with Liz Willey) of Eastern Alpine Guide: Natural History and Conservation of Mountain Tundra East of the Rockies, and lead author of Status and Conservation of the Wood Turtle in the Northeastern United States. Image by Mike Jones.
Free and open to the public. For directions visit www.atholbirdclub.org.
On Monday, May 16, beginning at 6 pm in the Boston Public Library Central Library in Copley Square, 700 Boylston Street, hear a Bee Keeping Panel with Joseph Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carrill, authors of The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America’s Bees, and Thomas Seeley, author of Following the Wild Bees: The Craft and Science of Bee Hunting.
In The Bees in Your Backyard, Joseph Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carril provide an engaging introduction to the roughly four thousand different bee species found in the United States and Canada, dispelling common myths about bees while offering essential tips for telling them apart in the field. In Following the Wild Bees, world honeybee authority Thomas Seeley reintroduces readers to the lost pastime of bee hunting, explaining not only the “how-to” but the “how-come” of the sport. Requiring no costly equipment or prior experience, bee hunting offers anyone—whether beekeeper, naturalist, layman, adult, or child—a way to understand nature on a deeper level through an outdoor craft that many people once knew but few practice today. Free admission.
The Trustees of Reservations has announced that The FARM Institute, a beloved and established Martha’s Vineyard based nonprofit, has become its newest reservation. The Trustees is Massachusetts’ largest conservation and preservation nonprofit and the world’s first land preservation nonprofit celebrating its 125th Milestone Anniversary this May. The Trustees currently owns and operates six other properties located on the island, including Cape Poge Wildlife Refuge, Wasque, Long Point Wildlife Refuge, Menemsha Hills, Mytoi Gardens and The Brickyard. It also manages and operates Norton Point Beach for Dukes County.
As an official new reservation of The Trustees, The FARM Institute will continue offering the same, dynamic year-round and summer camp and school-based programs, as well as the robust livestock operation island residents and visitors have grown to love and support over its last 11 years of operation. As part of The Trustees it will receive the added benefits of a new endowment created by both organizations, as well as access to additional stewardship and program engagement resources to ensure the organization’s continued success, growth, and longevity for years to come. Both organizations have been working toward the steps needed to complete the integration since March of 2015. The FARM Institute was established in 2000, has a decade long success story of providing year-round, farm-based educational programming, including a dynamic camp that attracts nearly 1,000 children from all over the country each summer who are interested in learning about agriculture. Thanks to the foresight and contributions of so many island residents, concerned neighbors, community members and supporters, The FARM Institute has been integral in protecting the historic Katama plains property with its rich legacy of farming from development.
David Cannistraro, past President of the New England Rose Society, will discuss a selection of rose types, and how to properly plant them, prune them, and protect them through the winter, at The Gardens at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley on Thursday, May 19 beginning at 7 pm. He’ll also review the best methods to deadhead and fertilize, and include a comparison of natural and over-the-counter sprays. A fun program to make rose growing easy, this program will be hands-on with potted rose demonstrations.
Current Rose Society President Teresa Mosher, will also be on site, selling and signing her book, A Year In My Rose Garden.
$12 Mass Hort members, $20 nonmembers. Register at 617-933-4973 or email kfolts@masshort.org.
The American Horticultural Society’s 2016 Landscape Design Award will be presented to Carol R. Johnson, founder and chairman emeritus of Carol R. Johnson Associates of Boston, Massachusetts. The award is given to an individual whose work has demonstrated and promoted the values of sound horticultural practices in the field of landscape architecture. Carol has been a landscape architect for more than 50 years. Among her notable projects are the redesign of the Mystic River Reservation and the creation of urban parks such as John Marshall Park in Washington, DC. She taught landscape architecture at her alma mater, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and has lectured at other universities in the US and abroad. She is a trustee for the Hubbard Educational Trust, founded to further education in landscape architecture throughout the United States.
The award will be given on Thursday, June 2 during the Banquet at River Farm, the AHS headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. To attend, visit www.ahs.org/awards, or call 703-768-5700.
This Tower Hill Botanic Garden sponsored tour will meet in Wellesley on Monday, May 16 from 10 – noon (rain date Tuesday, May 17.) This is a rare opportunity to tour this privately owned estate on the shores of Lake Waban in Wellesley, containing over 500 species of woody plants in 53 species, distinctive 140-year-old topiary garden, and many singular mature specimens. Tower Hill members $45, nonmembers $60. Register online at www.towerhillbg.org, or call 508-869-6111. ext 124.
Adding native plants to your garden is the best way to support biodiversity in your neighborhood, including bees, butterflies, birds, and much more. Grow Native Massachusetts will be selling a wide variety of native plants, including
Perennials, Ferns, Grasses, Shrubs and Trees, on Saturday, May 14 from 9 – 4 at the UMass Waltham Field Station, 240 Beaver Street in Waltham.
They source their plants from more than ten nurseries around New England, to bring together a range of species rarely found in one location. Sale proceeds support Grow Native Massachusetts programs.
Ask the Experts: Experienced landscape professionals will answer your questions and help you find the plants best suited to your landscape needs and conditions. This is a tremendous resource! For more information phone 781-790-8921 or visit www.grownativemass.org.
On Wednesday, May 11, in the Putnam Building of Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley, Ellen Duarte, member of the NE Society of Botanical Artists, will lead a six-hour introductory workshop meant for any skill level. Participants will be given an overview of botanical art, and be guided through the process of planning and beginning a botanical painting. Class time includes instruction, demonstration, and working time to cover botany, drawing, color theory, painting techniques, and observatory skill building. Paper and paints will be supplied, students will need to bring other materials and lunch (list will be mailed out to registrants). Mass Hort members $85, nonmembers $110. Preregistration required at www.masshort.org.
The Massachusetts Horticultural Society is now Partnering the Stockbridge School at UMass to offer classes at The Gardens at Elm Bank for UMass credit.
Introduction to 50 common native and non-native ornamental species in landscape architecture, horticulture and urban forestry in New England. Plant identification from a horticultural perspective covering plant morphology and botany. Horticultural and environmental requirements of each plant will be discussed.
Class will meet in Wellesley twice a week for four weeks.Tuesdays and Thursdays May 17 – June 9, 6:30 – 8:30 pm.
Pre-registration required, register now at www.umassulearn.net. $450 for Mass Hort members, $660 for nonmembers. Photo from www.allianceforwaterefficiency.org.
