Boston Flora

Month: July 2019

  • Friday, August 9, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Flower Arranging in the Garden

    This Hollister House Garden workshop on August 9 from 1 – 4 will explore the joys of creating a seasonal floral design foraged from one’s own garden, the fields and woods. Horticulturalist and landscape designer Deborah Munson will begin by introducing you to her work and reviewing the tools of the trade. She will then lead a walk through Hollister House Garden discussing floral design, structure and color. Following your time in the garden the group will return to the barn to create a design on your own.

    Please bring your own glass or ceramic container. All floral material will be provided. This workshop is strictly limited to 15 participants.

    Deborah Munson is a horticulturalist and landscape designer working here in the northwest corner. Deborah combines her passion for garden history and ecological and sustainable design into the projects and properties she designs and oversees. She has co-chaired and consulted on Trade Secrets for many years.

    HHG members $75 Non-members $85 . Register at http://www.hollisterhousegarden.org. Hollister House is located at 300 Nettleton Hollow Road in Washington, Connecticut, in the Berkshires.

  • Saturdays and Sundays, through early October, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – PYO Bouquet from the Cutting Garden

    Every Saturday and Sunday through early October from 10am-4pm, the Cutting Garden is open at The Stevens-Coolidge Place in North Andover. In addition to pick-your-own favorites like zinnias, cosmos and rudbeckia, visitors will find new varieties to add pop and flair to their bouquets. The garden is fun for all ages and there is always something new to learn. Please note there is a fee to cut flowers and picking is only available at the Cutting Garden during PYO hours.  Be sure to stop by the tent to pick-up your scissors, cup, and water before starting your 10-stem bouquet. Extend your visit and explore our other gardens including a French Potager Garden, Rose Garden, and Perennial Garden, borrow a blanket and a book to read under a tree or play a game of checkers in the lawn.

    This is a drop-in program. No registration required. Trustees members $5, nonmembers $10.

  • Saturday & Sunday, August 3 & 4, 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Shakespeare in the Park

    Enjoy a free performance of William Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well at Francis William Bird Park in Walpole on Saturday or Sunday, August 3 and 4, beginning at 5 pm. One of William Shakespeare’s great comedies, All’s Well That Ends Well is brought to life by the glorious Gazebo Players of Medfield. Sit back and enjoy this talented troupe as they perform the bard’s hilarious tale of a young woman who saves a king and is granted a wish in return. Her desire to marry the man of her choosing is granted, though against the will of her chosen love.

    The 2.5-hour revelry takes place at the Music Court (stone stage) on both SATURDAY, AUGUST 3 and SUNDAY, AUGUST 4. Seating is informal, so please bring blankets or chairs for your comfort. Picnics welcome! Plan to arrive a few minutes early. Largest parking lot is on Polley Lane (use “135 Polley Lane” for GPS).  If weather is inclement, the performance moves to the Walpole Footlighters Playhouse (2 Scout Road, East Walpole). 

    The Gazebo Players’ production is made possible by grants from the Medfield Cultural Council and the Walpole Cultural Council, both of which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and by the Walpole Footlighters. The sound system is provided courtesy of MEMO.

  • Wednesday, August 7, 5:30 pm – Deer, Ticks, and Tick-borne Illnesses on Martha’s Vineyard

    Richard Johnson, Director of the Martha’s Vineyard Tick Program will present the latest data on deer and ticks on the Vineyard, in a free lecture on August 7 at 5:30 at the Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury, Martha’s Vineyard. The presentation will start with a review of the three common ticks on the Island and their ecology, life cycles and the diseases that they carry. Then we will briefly review the role of the white tailed deer on the Island’s tick population. Next we will discuss personal protection and how to make your yard safer. Finally, Dick will present the latest information on the spread of the lone star tick and efforts to reduce the deer population on Martha’s Vineyard.

  • Tuesday, September 3 – Sunday, September 8 – American Begonia Society National Convention

    Tuesday, September 3 – Sunday, September 8 – American Begonia Society National Convention

    The American Begonia Society will hold its 2019 National Convention September 3 – 8 in Sacramento, California. Registration ($45) and complete information is available at http://www.begonias.org/events/events.htm

    There will be an incredible lineup of speakers, over twenty optional private tours, a judged show, begonia sale, and an awards banquet. Speakers include Ross Bolwell from Australia, Mike Flaherty from Santa Barbara, Ernesto Sandoval from UC Davis Botanical Conservatory, Stephen Maciejewski, Cochair of ABS Conservation Committee, Dr. Daike Tian, fellow at Shanghai’s Chenshan Botanical Garden, Victor Dawn of Beijing Florascape, and Wisnu Ardi, Bogor Botanical Garden in Indonesia.

    Discounted hotel arrangements may be made with the Crowne Plaza Sacramento NE, and the deadline for the group rate ($134 plus tax per night) is Monday, August 5.

  • Friday, November 15 – Monday, November 18 – ASLA SAN2019 Conference on Landscape Architecture

    The 2019 ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture will offer more than 120 education opportunities, allowing attendees to fulfill their professional development requirements in four days, November 15 – 18 in San Diego, California. There will be ecological restoration sessions such as Raising Resiliency: From Lagoon Restoration to Environmental Stewardship at San Elijo Lagoon, Balboa Park: Past, Present, and Future, Tijuana: The Past, Present and Future of Design in a Border City, and so many more that it will take a while to scroll through the entire schedule at www.aslaconference.com. There will also be an Expo where hundreds of new products, services, technology applications, and design solutions. Registration is now open.

  • Wednesday, July 31, 7:30 pm – Offshore Entomology: Bees, Moths, and the Hidden Diversity of Vineyard Pollinators

    Visit The Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury on July 31 at 7:30 for a free lecture by Paul Goldstein, research entomologist with the USDA Systematic Entomology Laboratory in Washington, DC, where he is curator in the Lepidoptera (moth) collection at the Smithsonian. This presentation will showcase some of the highlights of 30 years of work devoted to the Island’s insects, and the unique diversity of its native bees, moths, and other pollinators. Featuring vivid images of these insects and their Island habitats, Dr. Goldstein will describe the fascinating biology of some of our most unusual, colorful, and beneficial insect residents, and their importance to understanding our environment.

  • Friday, August 9, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Cocktails in Great Gardens: Livingston House Garden

    Located on four acres overlooking the magnificent Churchtown Dairy, the garden at Livingston House has been a labor of love for the owner for over a decade. After caring for the beautiful, natural garden left by the previous owner, Peter Bevacqua was engaged in 2012 to imagine and design a new vision for what the garden could become based on a love of classic English gardens such as Great Dixter and Hidcote Manor (albeit on a much smaller scale!). The garden was laid out as a pattern of different rooms for the visitor to discover, each dedicated to a different concept connected with pebbled paths lined with hydrangeas and navigated with a large wall of red tumbled brick. The generous raised bed vegetable garden borders the small orchard of plums, apples, pears and peach and leads to an Italianate terrace planted with a wonderful weeping ginkgo, roses, lilacs, clethra and buddleia. Here you can enjoy a view of the tree lined tennis court with its magnolias and arborvitaes and extensive field of wildflowers. A path along the lawns and the space around the pool takes you to a different place entirely. High grasses, cool limestone, potted citrus and crisp green lawn evoke a deliberately contemporary space. From here you can disappear through a gate cut through towering viburnums to the tree filled field where the owner’s dogs run along paths and roll in the natural vegetation. 

    Join Berkshire Botanical Garden on August 9 from 5 – 7 for Cocktails in Great Gardens. BBG members $40, nonmembers $55. Directions to the Hudson, New York property will be provided upon registration. Visit www.berkshirebotanical.org.

  • Thursday, August 1, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm and 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm – Hydrangea Propagation

    Mal Condon, Heritage Museum and Garden’s Curator of Hydrangeas, will share the details of plant propagation techniques developed specifically for the home garden. The class will be held twice on August 1, one session from 10:30 – noon and from 1:30 – 3. Propagation is a pleasurable pursuit and a most enjoyable way of producing more plants. While hydrangeas will be the main focus of this demonstration, these practices can be applied to many other woody ornamental genera. During this hands-on experience, participants will prepare and “strike” their own cuttings and take them home to nurture and develop into well-rooted plants. Advance registration is recommended as space is limited and these programs often sell out! Fee:  $17 Members, $27 Non-Members. Register at www.heritagemuseumsandgardens.org.

  • Saturday, August 3, 10:00 am – 11:00 am – Water-Wise Gardening

    Learn to conserve water in the garden through soil care, watering practices, and crop selection. The Trustees will hold a Water-Wise Gardening session at El Jardin de la Amistad, 403 Dudley Street in Boston, on Saturday August 3 at 10 am. We’ll cover when and how to water, building your soil for water retention, and mulching. We’ll go over the water requirements of various crops at different stages in their life cycles. This Spanish-English bilingual workshop is free and open to all

    Registration isn’t required but it helps us plan and get in touch with you if anything changes. Sign up at http://www.thetrustees.org/things-to-do/metro-boston/event-48217.html