Boston Flora

Month: August 2019

  • The Best Gardening Podcasts

    We recently came upon a website that featured an article called The 4 Best Gardening Podcasts, and although the list is now old (published in 2017, and does not include a recently featured American Horticultural Society podcast we highlighted in a past post), we thought the list worth sharing. The complete article, with links to each podcast, is available at www.podcastpals.net.

    Gardener’s Question Time, from BBC Radio 4, is ranked number one, followed by The Gestalt Gardener with Felder Rushing (author of Passalong Plants, Bottle Trees, Slow Gardening, and Tough Plants for Southern Gardens, among other titles). Number three is Journey with Jill and The Beginner’s Garden Podcast, and finally, the Royal Horticultural Society podcast. Check them out!

  • Saturday, August 24, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Fall Hive Management for Successful Overwintering of Beehives

    Join 6th-generation beekeeper Ken Warchol on August 24 from 10 – noon at Berkshire Botanical Garden for an in-depth program on fall hive management of honeybees. This lecture and demonstration will focus on how to prepare your beehives to survive the winter, including hive preparation, feeding, and pest control. Ken will provide beekeepers with critical information and most especially timing of important management techniques to prepare hives for the cold. Weather permitting, he will do a hive inspection in the BBG apiary. Bring protective equipment. $10 for BBG members, $15 for nonmembers. Register at www.berkshirebotanical.org

    Ken Warchol is a long-time beekeeper and former teacher whose lectures are enjoyed by expert and novice beekeepers alike. He has served as a Massachusetts State Bee Inspector. His lectures are enjoyed by expert and novice beekeepers alike.

  • Sunday, August 25, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Saving Summer

    You’re loving how your annuals are looking in the late summer, so you’re wondering if there’s a way to save these plants over the winter. This August 25 Tower Hill Botanic Garden class explains how to save commonly planted annuals and tropical plants. Learn which plants are worth devoting indoor space to, which ones can be dormant in a cool location, and what plantings you shouldn’t try to save. Discover how to take cuttings, save tubers, and enjoy some flowering plants all winter. Come with questions about the plants you have and hear how to keep them for next summer. $30 for THBG members, $44 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

    C.L. Fornari is the author of seven books and numerous articles. She’s currently the host of GardenLine, on WXTK and co-hosts the Plantrama podcast. C.L. speaks to horticultural trade shows, gardening groups and public gatherings. She writes and runs a consultation service for Hyannis Country Garden, an IGC. Her not-so-secret mission is to start a gardening revival and promote all aspects of the horticultural industry… in the meantime she cultivates plants at Poison Ivy Acres on Cape Cod and blogs at www.GardenLady.com.

  • Thursday, August 22, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Hop Varieties in Homebrews and Craft Ales

    Thursday, August 22, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Hop Varieties in Homebrews and Craft Ales

    On August 22 from 6 – 9 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Massachusetts, learn in a very relaxed interactive classroom setting the types of hop varieties and how to use them in home beer brewing recipes. The home brewer has an abundance of hops available today and finding new ingredients and new tastes is one of the most satisfying aspects of home brewing. Learn what type of hops work best in beer categories based on the Beer Judging Certification Program (BJCP) and American Homebrewers Association (AHA). Compare homebrew and craft ale types and the hops used in their recipes in a comfortable taste testing experience. Leave with a packet of information of how to use hops in a homebrew for bittering, flavoring, aroma and sweetness.

    Samantha Ambrose has been home brewing since 1978 and is one of the original members of American Homebrewers Association (AHA) since 1979. The most fundamental aspect of a hop plant is that it is a flower and in recognizing that, the complexities of the hop and its involvement in the home brewing process will be better understood. Warm, vibrant and engaging Samantha is at home on the community theater stage or presenting, facilitating and mentoring on a variety of gardening and home brewing topics. Must be over 21 to register. $39 for Tower Hill members, $47 for nonmembers. Visit www.towerhillbg.org to sign up.

  • Pest Alert: Leaf Damage to Oaks Caused by the Oak Shothole Leafminer and Oak Anthracnose

    A dramatic and possibly widespread outbreak of the oak shothole leafminer (Japanagromyza viridula synonym Agromyza viridula) and oak anthracnose (Apiognomonia errabunda) has occurred this season. To date, samples and observations of the outbreak have been made in western and eastern Massachusetts, coastal Rhode Island, southern New Hampshire, eastern New York and eastern Pennsylvania. The oak shothole leafminer is a small fly in the family Agromyzidae. Not much is known about this particular species, although very short-lived outbreaks of this insect on ornamental oaks have been recorded in New England in the past. The oak anthracnose pathogen appears to be readily colonizing foliage damaged by the leafminer. The anthracnose damage appears mostly minor to moderate in severity (leaf spots and blotches). However, for some trees the disease has been far more damaging (leaf wilting, death and premature shedding). Infected leaves may have tan to brown-colored spots and blotches or appear blackened and wilted.  To read the complete article, visit https://ag.umass.edu/landscape/news/leaf-damage-to-oaks-caused-by-oak-shothole-leafminer-oak-anthracnose

  • Wednesday & Thursday, October 16 & 17, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, & Friday, October 18, 8:30 am – 12:00 noon – Flower Show School Course I

    The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts presents Flower Show School Course I: Growing, Staging, Exhibiting and Judging, on October 16 – 18 at the DoubleTree by Hilton, 11 Beaver Street in Milford. There is a required reading list including Handbook for Flower Shows, 2017 revised edition, Chapters 1, 3 – 10, and 14, along with Outlines of Period Floral Arrangement by Frances Hannay, available on Amazon.com, and Horticultural Exhibiting and Judging. There is also a recommended reading list found by clicking here. Instructors include Mary Huntoon (Design) and Sandra Joyce (Procedure and Horticulture.) Full course, with exam, is $140 per person, which includes box lunches, and the two day course without exam is $135. You may also take only the Wednesday or the Thursday instruction for $75, but box lunches are $24 additional. Full registration form is available at link above, or email Jill Malcolm at jillyjill07@comcast.net. September deadline for registration.

  • Wednesday, August 21, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – 2019 Intern Showcase

    The Native Plant Trust invites the Conservation Circle, Sustainers, Supporters, Contributors, and Life Members to the 2019 Intern Showcase on Wednesday, August 21, from 2 – 3:30 pm at Garden in the Woods in Framingham. This rain or shine event is a special afternoon with the next generation of horticulture and conservation professionals. Interns spend three to six months with the Native Plant Trust gaining pratical, hands-on experience and completing an educational project. They look forward to sharing their work with you. A garden tour with Uli Lorimer, Director of Horticulture, will follow the interns’ presentations. To find out how to become part of this wonderful afternoon, call 508-877-7630, x 3801, by August 14, or email specialevents@NativePlantTrust.org.

  • Tuesday, August 13, 4:00 pm – A Picturesque Paradise: Kingscote and Early 19th Century Landscape Design in Newport

    In the mid-19th century, landscape design emerged as a professional field in America, promoted by tastemakers such as Andrew Jackson Downing and drawing upon European precedents of the previous century. These trends coincided with early estate development on Newport’s famed Bellevue Avenue and were particularly reflected in the landscape design of one of its first cottages, Kingscote. Join The Preservation Society of Newport County for the Jacalyn and William P. Egan Lecture on August 13 at 4 pm at Rosecliff, followed by a 5 pm reception. Jenn Robinson, Research Fellow, will be the lecturer, and the event is $5 for Preservation Society members, $10 for the general public. Reserve by phone at 401-847-1000, ext. 178.

    Kingscote circa 1840

  • Sunday, September 8 – Deadline for Submission to 40th Anniversary Blue Hills Photo Contest

    The Friends of the Blue Hills is turning 40, and you can help celebrate 40 years of caring for the Blue Hills!  Submit photos which help show why we all treasure the Blue Hills.  Enter up to four photos at no cost.  

    You could win one of two $250 gift certificates to L.L. Bean … and your photo may be included in a special Blue Hills calendar. One $250 gift certificate to L.L. Bean will be awarded to the photographer with the photo that has the most electronic votes.  Another prize of a $250 L.L. Bean gift certificate will be awarded by a panel of judges. Photo submittal deadline: Sunday, September 8, at 5pm. Thanks you to sponsors Dedham Savings Bank and L.L. Bean. For complete rules and submission link, visit https://friendsofthebluehills.org/photo-contest/

  • Saturday, August 24, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon – Build Your Own Cold Frame

    Cold frames are great season extenders, allowing vegetables to be planted 2-4 weeks earlier than unprotected plants as well as extending the growing season in the fall. They can also play a key role in the transition of seedlings of all kinds from the sheltered windowsill or greenhouse environment to the outdoors.

    Build your very own cold frame which disassembles for easy transportation and storage, in this Tower Hill Botanical Garden workshop on August 24 from 9 – noon with Gretel Anspach. The cold frame’s footprint is 2′ x 4′, and slopes from 24″ at the back to 16″ at the front. All tools will be supplied (though you can bring your own drill or power screwdriver if you like), and no experience with woodworking is needed. Fee includes materials.

    Gretel Anspach is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, a Trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon. Gretel helped to establish and maintain two food production gardens that have provided fresh produce to the Marlboro Food Pantry for the last eight years.