Boston Flora

Month: March 2020

  • Wednesday, April 8, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm – Adventures with Oddities: Strange and Noteworthy Native Plants Webinar

    On Wednesdays at noon, beginning on April 8th, Ecological Landscape Alliance invites you on A Walk in the Garden, a virtual weekly diversion as we adjust to the restrictions that the COVID-19 virus has forced onto our lives.

    Presented as free webinars to gardeners everywhere, these presentations invite garden and landscape experts to share gardening tips, beautiful images, and inspiration. We hope anyone who is isolating, quarantining, or sheltering-in-place will find comfort and collective strength with a communal walk in the garden.

    On Wednesday, April 8 at noon EDT, join Dan Jaffe for Adventures with Oddities: Strange and Noteworthy Native Plants. Our native flora is full of amazing things! Did you know that big-leaf aster was once known as lumberjack’s toilet paper (now that’s a fact that we all might want to know more about) or that the berries of poison ivy are loved by birds? How about that the berries of chokeberry contain seven times more antioxidants than lowbush blueberries or that Jack in the pulpit can change sexes? From unique flavors to hilarious names to the oddest survival strategies, there are strange and noteworthy plants right outside our back doors if we simply know where to look. Dan offers insights into all of these oddities and more.

    Dan Jaffe is a photographer and author. He earned a degree in botany from the University of Maine, Orono, an advanced certificate in Native Plant Horticulture and Design from Native Plant Trust (formally New England Wild Flower Society), and has years of nursery management and plant sales experience. He is passionate about ecological horticulture, building both sustainability and wildlife value into every landscape, and the foraging and cultivation of wild edible plants. He is the Horticulturalist and Propagator for Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary and the staff photographer. Dan is the co-author of Native Plants for New England Gardens and has contributed photographs to many more horticulture books. Register (FREE) at www.ecolandscaping.org

  • Friday, April 3 – Sunday, May 3 – New England Society of Botanical Artists: Spring Blooms – Opening Delayed

    Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, hosts the New England Society of Botanical Artists: Spring Blooms exhibit from April 3 – May 3. Free with admission to the Garden. See the best botanical illustration in the region at this thematic exhibition exploring the intricacies of Tower Hill’s springtime collection of flowering plants.

  • Five Gardens You Can Tour, Virtually

    House Beautiful magazine has written a timely article on virtual garden tours. The list ranges from Claude Monet’s garden in France, to the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, to Waddesdon Manor in England. Enjoy these in the quiet of your home by visiting https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/gardening/g31746949/gardens-you-can-virtually-tour/

  • Wednesday, April 22, 7:00 pm – Seasonal Palette: Rosé Wines and Spring Greens – Postponed

    Join Stir on April 22 at 7 pm as they ritualize the advent of spring by celebrating its colors: pink and green! This 5-course dinner will feature first of the season spring fruits and vegetables paired along the new vintages of rosé wines that hit the shelves during this time of year. Every course will be a pop of color, with vibrant greens on your plate and beautiful pinks in your glass. While hearty, earth toned braises & full bodied red wines will always have a special place in our hearts, we are ready for ramps, morels, asparagus, fava beans, pea shoots, strawberries, rhubarb, fiddleheads, and rosé. Stir is part of the Barbara Lynch Gruppo, and is located at 102 Waltham Street in the South End. Only eight places are open as of today, so act now. $185 per person. Register at www.stirboston.com

  • Tuesday, April 14, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Nature’s Best Hope: A Talk and Book Signing with Doug Tallamy – POSTPONED

    Join Doug Tallamy at 6 pm at Garden in the Woods in Framingham for a talk and book signing for his newest publication, Nature’s Best Hope. Recent headlines about global insect declines, the impending extinction of one million species worldwide, and three billion fewer birds in North America are a bleak reality check about how ineffective our current landscape designs have been at sustaining the plants and animals that sustain us. Such losses are not an option if we wish to continue our current standard of living on planet Earth. The good news is that none of this is inevitable. Tallamy, author of the acclaimed Bringing Nature Home, will discuss simple steps that each of us can—and must—take to reverse declining biodiversity and explain why we, ourselves, are nature’s best hope. The talk will be followed by a book signing. $30 for Native Plant Trust members, $36 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/natures-best-hope-talk-and-book-signing-doug-tallamy/

  • Sunday, April 5, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Cultivating Mushrooms at Home: Winecaps, Oysters, and Shiitakes – Postponed

    Explore growing your own mushrooms in a class at Berkshire Botanical Garden, 5 West Stockbridge Road in Stockbridge on Sunday, April 5 from 1 – 3, with Willy Crosby. Willie Crosby is the owner of Fungi Ally, a mushroom company located in Montague, MA, focusing on mushroom research, education, and spawn production. Willie has received 6 research and education grants over the last 5 years to study and educate the public on mushrooms. Willie aims to create a world of balance and connection through revealing the power of mushrooms.

    Learn the lifecycle of mushrooms and the important ecological role that fungi fill. Focus on several methods of cultivating mushrooms.  Participants will leave with the tools and knowledge to start cultivating mushrooms at home and will be given their own inoculated mushroom log.

    This program is currently accepting names for a wait list.  Call 413-298-3926.  Image from www.ruralaction.org.

  • Saturday, April 4, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Handmade Filled Pasta for Spring – Postponed

    Join the chef/educator team of Stephen and Julie Browning of Prairie Whale restaurant on April 4 from 10 – 1 at Berkshire Botanical Garden for a garden-inspired, hands-on workshop making a variety of homemade filled pastas including tortellini, ravioli, and agnolotti. Pastas will be incorporated into dishes emphasizing local, seasonal ingredients. Selecting quality ingredients and pasta-making equipment will also be discussed.

    A native of Flemington, New Jersey, chef Stephen Browning trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Settling in New York City after graduation, Stephen cooked at esteemed Manhattan institutions such as Lutece and the “21 Club”, and at Bayard’s where he was Sous Chef before heading across the bridge to Brooklyn, becoming Executive Chef at Flatbush Farm, one of Brooklyn’s first farm-to-table restaurants, as well as Sous Chef at Marlow & Sons and Diner.  

    In 2012, Stephen left the urban confines of NYC to settle in the Berkshires, accepting an offer to launch Mark Firth’s “Prairie Whale” as its Executive Chef. Sourcing nearly all ingredients from local farms, Prairie Whale has lived up to its portly name as a giant success. Now, Stephen and his wife Julie Browning (a public school teacher) are combining Stephen’s love of cooking with Julie’s education background to share culinary techniques, stories, and seasonal local ingredients with a wider audience. Their small cooking classes assure an intimate, “hands-on” atmosphere and a winning recipe for culinary education.

    Sponsored by Guido’s Fresh Marketplace . BBG members $55, nonmembers $65. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/handmade-filled-pasta-spring

  • Saturday, April 18, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Tips and Techniques for Healthy Seedling Starts – ONLINE

    Healthy plants and gardens begin with healthy seedlings. Come online on April 18 from 10 – 1 and learn some basic yet critical propagation techniques for successful seedling starts. We begin with a brief overview of propagation terminology and science and continue in the greenhouse with hands-on demonstrations and experience. Plan to get your virtual hands dirty! Alexis Doshas will instruct this Native Plant Trust workshop, and the cost is $45 for NPT members, $54 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/tips-and-techniques-healthy-seedling-starts/

  • Thursday, October 29 – Sunday, November 8 – Ecuadorian Cloud Forest & Galapagos Islands

    Thursday, October 29 – Sunday, November 8 – Ecuadorian Cloud Forest & Galapagos Islands

    The Galápagos Islands were Charles Darwin’s “Living Laboratory of Evolution,” named for the tortoises that roam the lush landscapes of the small archipelago. This Pacific Horticulture Society active learning adventure is an opportunity to experience the islands’ highly specialized and endemic flora, fauna, and environments in a way that most visitors to the Galápagos seldom do—through fun activities like snorkeling, hiking, kayaking, and biking. You’ll learn about the natural and human history of the islands during visits to North Seymour, El Chato Tortoise Reserve, Mosquera Islet, Punta Carrion, Cerro Mesa, and a host of other highlights on the Enchanted Islands. The Ecuadorian Cloud Forest awaits; brimming with floral species of epiphytes, ferns, palms, and nearly 50 species of hummingbirds. The enormous biodiversity of this region is like none other! Land cost $6,580 per person, with single room supplement of $995. For complete brochure visit Holbrook Travel, https://www.holbrooktravel.com/where-we-travel/galapagos-islands/pacific-horticulture-society-20

  • Saturday, April 4, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm – Grow Spring! Expo – CANCELLED

    Visit the Proctor Elementary School, 60 South Main Street in Topsfield on Saturday, April 4 from 10 – 3 for Grow Spring! Expo, Farmers’ Marketplace, ,antique tractor exhibition, visits with horticultural experts, the Essex County Beekeepers, and giant pumpkin growers, plus baked goods and food trucks.  This popular event celebrates local agriculture, horticulture, and environmental preservation, and connects organizations with the wider community.  Free admission. Presented by the Topsfield Garden Club, and sponsored by the Proctor School, the Forest Foundation, and the Topsfield Historical Society.