Boston Flora

Month: September 2017

  • Saturday, September 16, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Flora of the New England Coastal Sand Dunes

    Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Newburyport is home to extensive sandy beach and dune habitat where many shore birds and wildlife flourish amid the varied flora of the area. Join Seed Bank Coordinator Michael Piantedosi, Seed Bank Coordinator of the New England Wild Flower Society, on Saturday, September 16 at 10 am to discuss the plants of the salt marsh and sand dune habitats that make Parker River so unique. $28 for NEWFS members, $35 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/flora-of-new-england-coastal-sand-dunes

  • Saturday, October 7 – Sunday, November 5 – 2017 Junior League of Boston Designer Showhouse

    JL Boston is thrilled to announce the 2017 Designer Show House will take place at the 1853 William Flagg Homer House in Belmont, MA just steps away from picturesque downtown Belmont. The house, located at 661 Pleasant Street, is currently owned and preserved by the Belmont Woman’s Club, and was previously owned by William Flagg Homer and his wife Adeline Wellington, uncle and aunt of American landscape painter, Winslow Homer. The house, an architectural combination of both the Bracketed Italianate and French Mansard style, is set on a hill, with sweeping views of the Boston Skyline, and more than twenty soon to be renovated spaces.

    We have a number of exciting dates and events to share: October 7, 2017 – Opening Day: The Designer Show House will be open to the public from Saturday, October 7th through Sunday, November 5th, with special events during this time. Learn all about it at https://www.jlboston.org/2017-designer-show-house/
    Tickets are $30 for JL members, $40 for nonmembers. Hours are Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 – 8, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10 – 5. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

  • Monday, September 25, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – The Liberated Landscape: Letting Nature Do the Work Webinar

    Over thousands of years plants have evolved to reproduce and proliferate on their own, yet we often go to great effort and expense to carefully place every plant in our designed landscapes. How can we capitalize on the reproductive abilities of plants and actively encourage planted as well as existing species to colonize our landscapes? In this lecture, well-known landscape designer Larry Weaner will discuss principles and protocols for creating dynamic, ecologically rich landscapes where nature does much of the planting.

    This Ecological Landscape Alliance September 25 webinar from 4 – 5 pm will include detailed case studies that demonstrate how practical plant proliferation strategies can be applied at diverse scales, from the intimate garden to large multi-acre landscapes. Larry Weaner has been creating landscapes focusing on native plants since 1977. His firm Larry Weaner Landscape Associates has a national reputation for combining ecological restoration with the traditions of garden design. The firm’s work has received numerous awards, been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Garden Design, and Landscape Architecture Magazine, among other publications, and been included on tours with The Garden Conservancy, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, and the American Horticultural Society. Larry lectures throughout the U.S., and in 1990, he founded New Directions in the American Landscape, a conference series with a national following. He recently coauthored Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change.

    Free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-liberated-landscape-letting-nature-work/

  • Tuesday, September 19, 1:30 pm – Botanical Artists of the USDA

    During the years 1886-1942, a small staff of professional botanical artists was employed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Division of Pomology to support the agricultural initiatives of the Division. The artists’ impressive body of work, known today as the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection, consists of more than 7,700 watercolor paintings, pen and ink drawings, and wax models of fruit specimens. Most of this work was produced by ten botanical artists during the years 1886 – 1920, although as many as fifty artists are known to have worked there. Pat Harrington will speak at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden on Tuesday, September 19, beginning at 1:30 pm, and will explore the origins, nature and scope of the work: why, where, and how it was done, and the artists themselves. Co-sponsored with the New England Society of Botanical Artists. Sponsor members free, nonmembers $10. Register at wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu, or call 781-283-3094.

  • Wednesday, September 20, 7:30 pm – A Closer Look at GMOs

    In the spirit of inspiring and facilitating conversation in a time where it is crucial that we stay informed about the world around us, the staff of Wright-Locke Farm invites you to their 2017 Speaker Series. Join them monthly in the beautiful 1827 Barn in Winchester for an evening of discovery and discussion. The Speaker Series is free and open to the public. They kindly ask you to RSVP by emailing kkneeland@wlfarm.org so they can save you a seat.

    Each presentation will begin at 7:30PM and allow for a follow-up Q & A session. On Wednesday, September 20, Timothy Griffin, Ph.D. and director of the Agriculture, Food and and Environment program and associate professor at Tufts’ Friedman School, will present on the most up to date information about Genetically Modified Organisms, and products that are already, or soon to be on the market.

  • Thursday, September 21, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Art & Spirit in the Garden: Incorporating Sculpture into your Outdoor Landscape

    Gather inspirations from Karin Stanley’s love of poetry art and sculpture and from her travels and musings in Ancient Ireland, Scotland and other countries in creating meditative spaces, areas for serenity, healing, reflection, dynamic impact, drama, humor and allegory. Karin Stanley is an artist/sculptor and garden designer and a graduate of the Radcliffe landscape design and history program. On Thursday, September 21 from 7 – 8:30 she shares some of her process and practical ideas and advice on how to use sculpture and artistic enhancements that will help inspire a deeper vision and impact for your own garden, community or public project. The class is sponsored by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and is $12 for Mass Hort members, $20 for nonmembers. You may register online at www.masshort.org.  Image copyright KMStanley.

  • Wednesday, September 27, 5:30 pm – 9:00 pm – Care For the Square

    Wednesday, September 27, 5:30 pm – 9:00 pm – Care For the Square

    The Friends of Copley Square invite you to help Care for the Square on Wednesday, September 27. The evening begins at 5:30 with Cocktails and hors d’oeuvre by The Catered Affair in the Courtyard Cafe in the Boston Public Library on Copley Square. Then, continue the evening with a special Farm to Table Dinner by Chef Sean MacAlpine in the Dome Room of the Lenox Hotel, from 7 – 9. Tickets are $175 per person (table for eight guests – $1,200). You may mail a check made out to Friends of Copley Square, PO Box 170124, Boston, MA 02117, or purchase online at   https://friendsofcopleysquare.org/

  • Saturday, September 16 and Sunday, September 17, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm – 11th Annual Cactus and Succulent Society of Massachusetts Show

    The CSSM’s annual plant show is a fantastic event! Here you will see many of the finest cacti and succulent plant specimens in New England. The world of cacti and succulent plants includes many rare, bizarre, and stunning specimens. Few people have seen the full breadth of this strange yet beautiful world.
    The selection of C&S plants on display at this event is the best you will find in Massachusetts. This year the show will take place September 16 and 17 at the Norfolk Public Library, 1 Liberty Lane in Norfolk, from 9 – 4 each day. Admission is free, and the first 50 visitors each day will receive one free plant.  Image from www.weekendnotes.com. For more information visit https://sites.google.com/site/cssmblog/annual-show

  • Tuesday, September 12, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Rhode Island Plant Communities Webinar

    There are many different plant communities in Rhode Island. Laney Widener, Botanical Coordinator at the New England Wild Flower Society, will discuss their distinguishing characteristics and explore the common species found in each. This September 12 webinar from 6 – 7 pm offers a great introduction to the diverse flora of New England. $10 for NEWFS members, $13 for nonmembers. Register online at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/rhode-island-plant-communities

  • Thursday, September 21, 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm – The Foundation of Our Landscapes: Understanding Site Analysis and Soil

    Soil is vital. Often geologic history can be seen in soil profiles, and in this lecture by John Swallow, we will be focusing in on the unique conditions present at our site, Great Hall Lodge at Cedar Hill Girl Scout Camp, 265 Beaver Street in Waltham. He will also outline the different types of organic matter that are present in soils, explain why different soils hold varying levels of moisture, and examine the impact of microbes on soil. This workshop will also include a review of proper techniques for collecting soil samples, instruction on how to interpret standard soil analyses, and an examination of the hidden history revealed by the profile of a soil pit dug at our garden. The class will take place on Thursday. September 21 beginning at 1 pm.

    John Swallow is a Principal and co-founder of Pine & Swallow Environmental, a renowned landscape-engineering firm that has created soils for Lusitania Field at Fresh Pond in Cambridge, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the High Line in NYC, and many other projects around the world. He holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    Grow Native Massachusetts members $38, nonmembers $48. For more information, visit us at http://grownativemass.org/programs/workshops, or call 781-790-8921.