Boston Flora

Month: July 2017

  • Thursdays, July 27 and August 31, 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Native Herbaceous Plant Materials: Late Season

    Discover numerous native perennials suitable for New England gardens. We’ll look at native herbaceous plants that bloom in late summer and fall, focusing on their characteristics and environmental preferences, and how they can be used in landscapes and gardens. Be prepared to walk in the Garden each day. This class is appropriate for landscape professionals and avid home gardeners. Instructor Jessie Panek, landscape designer, will conduct the class at Garden in the Woods in Framingham on two Thursdays, July 27 and August 31, from 1 – 3:30. $77 for NEWFS members, $91 for non-members. Register online at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/native-herbaceous-plant-materials-late-season.

  • Wednesday, July 26, 5:30 pm – Global Environmental Threats: How Medical Models Can Help Us Understand Them

    On Wednesday, July 26 at 5:30 pm at the Polly Hill Arboretum, 809 State Road in West Tisbury, Dr. Eric Chivian, founder and former director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, will present a talk on recognizing and addressing global environmental threats. His lecture will also touch on Lyme and other tick-borne diseases, a topic of great importance to the Island community. In 1980, Dr. Chivian co-founded the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. During the past 26 years, he has worked to involve physicians in the United States and abroad in efforts to increase public understanding of the potential human health consequences of global environmental change, and in 2008 was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Dr. Chivian is the senior editor and author of Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity, named “Best Biology Book of 2008” by Library Journal. He currently directs a new nonprofit, the Program for Preserving the Natural World. The lecture is co-sponsored with the Vineyard Conservation Society. $10 / $5 for PHA and VCS members.

  • Wednesday, July 26, 10:00 am – 11:00 am – Beneficial Bugs at Nasami

    Wednesday, July 26, 10:00 am – 11:00 am – Beneficial Bugs at Nasami

    Tour the greenhouses at Nasami Farm in Whately, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, July 26 at 10 am, to see how common pests are successfully managed with biological controls—intentionally released insects, mites, nematodes, and micro-organisms—instead of pesticides. Scout for some of these beneficial bugs and their prey. Learn about the grisly fate of an aphid that encounters a predatory wasp. Bring a hand lens and sun protection. This New England Wild Flower Society excursion is sponsored by New England Wild Flower Society, led by Kate Stafford, and is $13 for NEWFS members, $16 for nonmembers. Image from www.biologicalcontrol.info. Register at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/beneficial-bugs-at-nasami

  • Thursday, July 20, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm, or Sunday, August 6, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Celebration of Color

    New to acrylics as a medium? This Tower Hill Botanic Garden program on Thursday, July 20 from 10 – 1 (repeated Sunday, August 6, 1 – 4) is designed to boost your confidence. You will be guided with fun exercises and expert instruction to capture the shapes, textures, forms and colors of the flowers and foliage of Tower Hill’s summer gardens. All materials included.

    Instructor Suzanne Foxwell has trained at the Worcester Center for Crafts, Worcester Art Museum and with private instructors. Her work has been featured in several galleries on the South Shore and locally. She has always been attracted to color and has never met one she did not like! Tower Hill member price $45, nonmembers $60. Register online at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—celebration-of-color

  • Wednesday, July 26 and Friday, July 28, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Tree Identification

    “I think that I shall never see/A poem lovely as a tree.” The trees of New England are both beautiful and an essential part of our flora. This two-session course will introduce you to 25- 30 common New England trees, emphasizing tree identification as well as natural history. Bring a hand lens and a bag lunch. The first class, on Wednesday, July 26 from 10 – 2, will be held at Garden in the Woods in Framingham; the second, on Friday, July 28 from 10 – 2, at an off-site location. Roland “Boot” Boutwell will lead, and the New England Wild Flower Society class is $106 for NEWFS members, $128 for nonmembers. Co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions.  Photo from www.lockeheemstra.com. Register online at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/tree-identification

  • Thursday, July 20, 5:30 pm – Unraveling the Mysteries Behind Plant Names

    Botanical names hold great power for gardeners; they offer insight for plant identification, cultural growing requirements, and botanical trivia, and allow a means for communicating with gardeners around the world. Still, Latin names can be intimidating to learn, understand, and pronounce. This July 20 talk by new Polly Hill Arboretum Curator Todd Rounsaville will help to simplify the challenging subject of plant names: where do they come from? What do they mean? Why do they change? The lecture will begin at 5:30 at the Arboretum, 809 State Road in West Tisbury. $10 / $5 for PHA members.

  • Wednesday, July 19, 6:00 pm – Springtime Tulip River Cruise Travel Presentation

    On Wednesday, July 19 at 6, come to Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston for an information session for Tower Hill’s Springtime Tulip River Cruise, April 5-13, 2018. Please pre-register for the session at www.towerhillbg.org.

    Travel to the Netherlands and Belgium for a relaxing 9 day river cruise April 5 – 13. Highlights include Amsterdam, Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp, Kinderdijk Windmills, and more than seven million tulips and other flowers on exhibit at Keukenhof Gardens. Prices begin at $3,569 per person. For more information and an itinerary, please visit: https://gateway.gocollette.com/link/788112

  • Sunday, July 23, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Garden Conservancy Berkshire County Open Day

    The Garden Conservancy has arranged an Open Day at Black Barn Farm in Richmond, Massachusetts on Sunday, July 23, from 10 – 4. Admission is $7. After being greeted by a pair of fantastical topiary birds, guests pass by the East terrace entry with its collection of container plantings and espaliered Fuji apple. Proceeding past the collection of dwarf evergreens and through the doors of the first hedged room with its gazing-ball-capped topiary columns, stroll down the allée of Wyman crabs, (checking out the young hornbeams being trained into topiary on the right) through the Chinese red gates to the Pool Garden, where containers of tropicals decorate the neo-classical pavilion, with its collection of furniture inspired by branch coral. A new addition is the bronze fountain “Sculpture Andata, Sculpture Storna”, a unique collaboration between Italian artists Enzo Cucchi and Sandro Cucchi. Leaving the pool you can stroll through a collection of large topiary in several stages of development. Look for the elephant, the ibis, a rhino, and more fantastic animals amongst the more traditional geometric topiary forms. As you head toward the rustic pergola and teahouse, surrounded by boxwood topiary large and small, take a peek into the woods at the Stumpery which features a collection of toxic and poisonous plants, our Garden of Discomfort is an homage to the end cycle of life. The Ornamental Hermit Hut is a new addition. The pergola leads into the main kitchen garden, enclosed by a mature beech hedge, which provides fruit and vegetables for the owners and friends. As you pass by the moss-covered garden shed don’t miss the West Terrace ahead which features raised bluestone and steel beds planted with vegetables and herbs close to the kitchen. The garden encompasses a little more than three acres.  For advance tickets visit https://www.gardenconservancy.org/open-days/garden-directory/black-barn-farm

    Three additional gardens will be open in nearby Columbia County, New York on that day, which include Steepletop – Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Garden.  For complete details on these attractions visit https://www.gardenconservancy.org/open-days/open-days-schedule/columbia-county-ny-open-day-3

  • Saturday, July 22, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm, and Sunday, July 23, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Lily Show

    Enjoy hundreds of lily flowers at the 58th Annual Lily Show presented by the New England Lily Society. The show will include hundreds of flowers and varieties such as Asiatic, Canadense, Longiflorum, Trumpet Lily, hybrid American species, and the giant Orientpets. The event takes place July 22 and 23 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, and is free with admission to the garden.

    Saturday, July 22
    2pm, Lily Classification Presentation with David Chase: Martagons, Asiatics, Orientals & Hybrids (in the theater)

    3pm, Lily Propagation & Scaling Demonstration: Hands-on demo for adults and children with Patty Stewart (in Classroom C)

    Sunday July 23:
    1pm, Lily Hybridizing 101 Presentation with Jim Daniel (in the theater)

    3pm, Lily Judging Criteria Presentation with Robin Van Liew (in the exhibit area)

  • Sunday, July 30 – Saturday, August 5 – STIHL Tour des Trees

    The STIHL Tour des Trees, an annual week long, 500 to 600-mile cycling adventure, is the primary public outreach and engagement event of Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund (TREE Fund). Since 1992 Tour riders have cycled to communities in the U.S., Canada and the U.K, planting trees, educating children and shining a light on the work done by arboriculture professionals and the importance of science-based tree care. The Tour serves to advance TREE Fund’s mission to support scientific discovery and dissemination of new knowledge in arboriculture and urban forestry.

    Full-Tour cyclists commit to raising at least $3,500 for TREE Fund, and 100% of what they raise supports research grants, scholarships and arboriculture education programs administered by TREE Fund. TREE Fund researchers have discovered better ways to propagate, plant and care for urban trees, making them more resilient, more resistant to pests, and less prone to failure. Supported education programs connect young people with the environment and career opportunities in green industries. The legacy of the STIHL Tour des Trees includes an ever-expanding urban forest planted by its cyclists and a growing legion of civilian tree stewards in the communities along the route. The Tour des Trees, held this year July 30 – August 5 in the Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia area, is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2017!

    Get details on this year’s ride and find out how YOU can get involved at http://stihltourdestrees.org/.