Boston Flora

Month: July 2018

  • Wednesday, August 15, 7:00 pm – Grow What You Love: Twelve Food Plant Families to Change Your Life

    Grow What You Love is designed to be a simple guide to growing vegetables, herbs and more that will add to the flavor and variety of fresh produce choices throughout the year. Aimed at novice and experienced gardeners alike it will be an image-driven, how-to adventure from an expert gardener and communicator with an enthusiasm for an authentic life.

    The colorful book begins with an exploration of author Emily Murphy’s approach to gardening and how it can fit into modern life with little time and effort. She goes on to give advice on how best to choose food plants that readers love, or can discover, and follows with simple methods for garden-to-table growing, including a selection of her favorite seasonal recipes. The result for readers is a garden-fresh bounty for any time of the year.

    Emily Murphy is the author of the foodie-centric garden blog Pass The Pistil, and one of Garden Design Magazine’s “most loved” blogs of 2015. Emily is a web series host, a contributor to Better Homes and Gardens, a garden design and organic gardening consultant, and a teacher of organic gardening. Emily holds a degree in Ethnobotanical Resources from Humboldt State University where she also studied botany and environmental science. She will appear at Porter Square Books, 25 White Street in Cambridge, on Wednesday, August 15 at 7 pm. More information may be found at www.portersquarebooks.com.

  • Monday, August 20, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – New England Heritage Gardens

    The Bidwell House Museum’s extensive ornamental gardens are designed to showcase historical, native, and pollinator-friendly plants, as well as herbs used by 18th century settlers. The main garden bed highlights the shrubs and perennials common to New England gardens of the era.The Heritage Garden gives visitors a look at the likely design and crops the Bidwells would have grown to feed their family and many community members.The Museum plants vegetable varieties that were present in New England in the mid-18th century, including Hubbard True Green squash, Red Wethersfield onions and Blue Pod Capucijners peas.The Museum has also started a collection of heirloom apple varieties that originated in Massachusetts in the same period, including Hightop Sweet and Westfield-Seek-No-Further.The four-square layout of the garden would have reminded the Bidwells of English garden design, a feature that was common throughout New England at the time.

    Berkshire Botanical Garden will host a field trip to the garden in Monterey, Massachusetts on Monday, August 20 from 9:30 – 12:30 pm. Transportation to and from BBG included in price and time. $35 for BBG members, $45 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/new-england-heritage-gardens-offsite-field-study

    Ruth Green owns Green Arts Gardens, specializing in organic landscape and edible garden design and installation. She is an accredited organic landscape care professional and holds a masters in landscape architecture. Ruth has been head gardener at the Bidwell Museum since 2009.

  • Sunday, August 12, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Meditations in Ink: Asian Brush Painting – Orchids

    Students in this Massachusetts Horticultural Society workshop on August 12 from 10 – 4 will learn the art of Asian Brush Painting and focus on the orchid. This workshop is for those interested in learning and using the traditional tools and techniques of Asian Brush Painting (aka “sumi-e” in Japan). Through step-by-step instructor demonstrations and hands-on brushpainting projects using the “Four Treasures” (bamboo brushes, handground ink, inkstone, and rice paper) you will explore this ancient and elegant art and leave class with two completed works.

    NO ART EXPERIENCE NECESSARY. Against a backdrop of meditative music, this workshop is your doorway to the exciting yet contemplative world of Asian art!

    Bruce Iverson is an artist who has specialized in Asian Brush Painting since 1972 with master brush painters Jean Shen, Ning Yeh, and I-Hsiung Ju. He has exhibited in group and juried shows throughout the United States and has had several one-man shows in New England. He has traveled to China for a deeper understanding of the context of brush painting and is a juried member of the New Hampshire Art Association. His work is grounded in a three thousand year old tradition in which the tools, techniques and philosophy of this Asian art form have had a lifelong resonance. Additional information about Bruce can be found at his website http://www.iversonarts.com

    Instructor will provide supplies. Students must provide their own lunch and beverages.

    $160 Mass Hort members, $200 general admission. The class will be held in the Putnam Building at the Gardens at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley. Register online at http://www.masshort.org/eventdetail/676/meditations-in-ink-with-bruce-iverson?filter_reset=1

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  • Tuesday, August 21, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm – Northeast Regional Perennial Plant Symposium

    Tuesday, August 21, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm – Northeast Regional Perennial Plant Symposium

    The Northeast Region Perennial Plant Association Symposium is presented by Massachusetts Horticultural Society & the Perennial Plant Association. This year’s symposium includes four presentations led by some of the perennial industry’s best: CL Fornari, Nancy Lawson, Bobbie Schwartz, and Deb Trickett. Pre-registration required. Early Bird: $99; After August 12: $125. The event will take place Tuesday, August 21 from 9 – 3 at The Gardens at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley. Register by calling 617-933-4973, or visit www.masshort.org.

    C.L. Fornari is a creative gardening expert (aka plant geek) who transitioned from artist to garden communicator in 1995. She is the author seven books including her latest, The Cocktail Hour Garden, published by St. Lynn’s Press. C.L. is the host GardenLine, heard on WXTK, and co-host of Plantrama, a podcast produced by Zachos and Fornari. She speaks to audiences at horticultural trade shows, garden clubs, botanical gardens, master gardener symposiums, alumni/women’s groups and neighborhood associations. In addition to speaking, radio, and writing, C.L. blogs and runs a consultation service for Hyannis Country Garden, an independent garden center on Cape Cod. In 2017 her book The Cocktail Hour Garden won awards from ASJA and GWA. She also won a GWA award in 2017 for writing on her website. In 2012 C.L. was awarded the Garden Communicator Of The Year from the Perennial Plant Association and in 2013 won three awards from the Garden Writers Association. In 2015 C.L. launched the first annual Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival, a ten-day regional celebration of open gardens. In its third year, 2017, the Hydrangea Festival raised over $43,000.00 for local non-profits.

    Nancy Lawson is the author of The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife. In this eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, journalist and gardener Nancy Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards. Through engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the country, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists, Lawson applies the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces.

    Bobbie Schwartz is the author of Garden Renovation: Transform Your Yard into the Garden of Your Dreams. Gardens, just like houses, sometimes need makeovers. The changes can be as minor as replacing a shrub or as major as pulling everything up and starting from scratch. No matter the size of your space or the scope of the project, the sage advice in Garden Renovation will help you turn a problem-filled yard into a paradise. Bobbie Schwartz draws on her years of experience as a garden designer to teach gardeners how to evaluate the plants and features present in their yards, determine what to keep and what to remove, choose the right plants and design plans for successful remodels, and how to know when to hire help. A gallery of before-and-after photos provides ideas and inspiration for turning a tired garden into an enlivening retreat.

    Deborah Trickett, owner of The Captured Garden, is an award-winning container garden designer whose work has been featured in The Boston Globe, Garden Gate magazine, New England Home magazine and on the TV show New England Dream Home. She is a Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist and a frequent lecturer on container gardening at the Boston Flower and Garden Show, as well as the Philadelphia International Flower Show. She also teaches classes and workshops at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston.

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  • Saturday, August 11, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Native Botanical Cyanotype Workshop

    In this hands-on New England Wild Flower Society workshop at Nasami Farm in Whatley on Saturday, August 11 from 10 – 2, we will explore the history and methodology of botanical cyanotype prints and create our own. Cyanotypes are an early photographic process using light-sensitive materials and sunlight to create unique and striking ‘blue prints’ or ‘sun prints.’ The process lends itself beautifully to the documentation of botanical specimens, both scientifically and artistically. The class will be led by Alexis Doshas and is $53 for NEWFS members, $64 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.newenglandwild.org/learn/our-programs/native-botanical-cyanotype-print-workshop

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  • Saturday, August 11, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Beecology Basics

    Native pollinator diversity is declining at an alarming rate in many areas of Massachusetts at for unknown reasons. The New England Beecology project aims to fill this critical knowledge gap by training ‘beecologists’ from across the state on how to use our newly developed iPhone and Android phone apps to collect ecological data on different bumblebee species and then send it to our central database where it can be used to identify key factors driving species decline. This workshop will cover the major issues associated with wild pollinator decline, provide training on how to use our smartphone technology, and give you information on how to incorporate ecological pollinator conservation strategies in your own backyard. The August 11 Tower Hill Botanic Garden presentation at 10 – 12 will be followed by a walk in the gardens to look for bumblebees and practice using the app. Free with admission to Tower Hill. To register, visit www.towerhillbg.org.

    Dr. Robert J. Gegear is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biology and Biotechnology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Director of the New England Beecology Project.

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  • Saturday, August 11, 11:00 am – Historic Walking Tour of Jamaica Pond

    Please join The Jamaica Plain Historical Society for our 23rd season of historic walking tours. All JPHS tours are free to the public. All tours are held on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. sharp. Tours last between 60 and 90 minutes and are canceled in case of heavy rain. No reservations are required, just meet the guide at the location listed. On August 11, the tour will feature Jamaica Pond. Once a district that only included the houses of Boston’s elite, the Pond later was put to industrial use as tons of ice were harvested there each winter. Learn about the movers and shakers such as Francis Parkman and James Michael Curley who made their homes on the Pond’s shores. Discover how the Pond was transformed from private estates and warehouses into the parkland we know today.

    Leaves from the Bandstand, Pond St. and Jamaicaway. For a complete list of other tours and dates, visit https://www.jphs.org/2018-walking-tours/

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  • Tuesday, August 7, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm – Dining Out in Victorian Boston

    Explore the history of drinking and dining in Victorian Boston on a Tuesday evening in August at Otis House, 141 Cambridge Street in Boston. Come early (5:30) for a reception in the courtyard, followed by lecture at 6 pm. Historian Jim O’Connell analyzes historic menus from the Parker House, Union Oyster House, Durgin-Park, Locke-Ober, Café Marliave, Jacob Wirth, and some long-forgotten eateries to explore how nineteenth-century Boston restaurants reflected Victorian culture. Topics include the influence of French and British cooking, ostentatious multi-course banquets, working-class oyster bars and eating houses, ladies’ tea rooms and ice cream parlors, and the emergence of ethnic eateries.

    Cosponsored with the Victorian Society of America/New England Chapter.

    $12 Historic New England and Victorian Society members
    $17 nonmembers

    Advance tickets recommended. Please call 617-994-5920 or buy online at http://shop.historicnewengland.org/HGO-TWILIGHT-8055/  Victorian Society members must call to receive discount.

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  • Wednesday, August 8, 11:00 am – The Intersection of Past & Present: Contemporary Sculpture in Historic Places

    Whether presented as an exhibition, as part of a permanent installation or as a singular focal point in the landscape, sculpture has always been an important element of the design of private and public outdoor spaces. Today, more and more institutions and historic house museums around the country and the world are integrating contemporary sculpture exhibits into their programmatic offerings. Ms. Kelley will share her research into the variety of outdoor sculpture exhibitions and installations which today include an unlimited range of media and physical expression and tend towards the experiential or sensorial with the goal of further enlivening and activating the landscape for visitors to historic sites.

    The Hartfield Foundation 2018 Research Fellows Lecture will take place on Wednesday, August 8 at Rosecliff, 548 Bellevue Avenue in Newport. Tanya Kelley is a designer with thirty years of experience and is the founder and Principal of PLACEstudio Landscape Design in Newport, RI. She received a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from the City College of the City of New York and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from The Rhode Island School of Design.

    Following Ms. Kelley’s talk, there will be an additional lecture on Rivalry and Friendship: The Contrasting Decorative Art of Robert Winthrop Chanler and Howard Gardiner Cushing. Complete information is available at http://www.newportmansions.org/learn/adult-programs or by calling 401-847-1000, Ext 178. Preservation Society members free, general public $5.

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  • Saturday, August 4, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon – OSIMA Summer Ikebana Workshop

    Saturday, August 4, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon – OSIMA Summer Ikebana Workshop

    In this Ikebana Workshop at The Gardens at Elm Bank, Parker House, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley on Saturday, August 4 from 9 – 12, you will create 2 Ikebana arrangements, Moribana and Heika, with Instructor and OSIMA President Hiroko Matsuyama.

    Attendees should bring an Ohara Moribana container, a rectangle kenzan, a 1 x 1/4 pie kenzan, an Ohara Heika container, skewers, floral wire, floral tape, cloth and ikebana scissors. If you need to borrow any of the required items, please make arrangements with the instructor. Admission is $60. OSIMA Members receive a $30 discount code. To get your code, email russ@oharaschoolma.com. Member discounts are only available for OSIMA members. To sign up for OSIMA Membership, go to http://oharaschoolma.com/osima-membership.html  Yearly membership is $25.

    Register for the workshop at http://www.japansocietyboston.org/event-2997753

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