March 27, 2019 - Boston Flora

Saturday, April 13, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Growing a Cutting Garden at Home

March 27, 2019 by Boston Flora

Cutting gardens are lovely to view, provide fresh-cut flowers and keep your perennial borders from being raided for indoor display. Learn how to grow a small, highly productive cutting garden as an addition to the vegetable patch or as a stand-alone garden. Consider all aspects of growing cut flowers, including designing and constructing an efficient but beautiful garden using select flower varieties that hold up best as cut flowers. Included in the Berkshire Botanical Garden April 13 (from 1 – 3) talk will be tips on sowing, planting, transplanting, cultivating and preparing flowers for indoor use. This program is designed for the home gardener. $25 for BBG members, $35 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/growing-cutting-garden-home

Elisabeth Cary is the former Director of Education at the Berkshire Botanical Garden and has been gardening for over 30 years. She specializes in perennial, vegetable and mixed-border gardens. She is currently embarking on her new adventure, Cooper Hill Flower Farm, a micro flower farm located in Sheffield, Massachusetts.

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Saturday, April 13, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Grow a Meadow, Large or Small

March 27, 2019 by Boston Flora

A native meadow is an ecologically vibrant landscape, providing food and habitat to native pollinators and other wildlife. The deep, undisturbed roots of mature meadow plants capture and store carbon. Meadows rarely need visits from lawnmowers or leaf-blowers, thus reducing air pollution and neighborhood noise. But meadows are not simply lawns or perennial beds gone wild. Understanding why meadows are different is critical to success. Designer Kathy Connolly will lead this intensive Grow Native Massachusetts seminar on April 13 from 10 – 4 at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street in Watertown, covering everything from the definition of a meadow, to site selection and preparation, the relationship of grasses and flowering species, and useful maintenance protocols. Class enrollment includes Kathy’s extensive plant lists and design resources. This is a great course for anyone, from home gardeners to professional landscapers, looking to take a deep dive into the ins and outs of meadow-making. Registration: https://connect.clickandpledge.com/w/Form/e435c942-ec37-4963-a706-b774bfce8d55

Kathy Connolly is a landscape designer, writer, and teacher, who brings over 20 years of experience in creating and tending meadows. She works with a range of clients, from homeowners to state parks, to develop meadows and other naturalized plantings, and has taught workshops throughout New England. Kathy has a Master’s degree in landscape design from the Conway School.