Boston Flora

Month: March 2020

  • The Garden Club of the Back Bay Website – Features and Plans

    As you may have noticed, we continue to feature a number of wonderful classes, lectures, and events which have been either postponed or cancelled by the organizers due to the Covid-19 outbreak. We thought about simply deleting all these tantalizing and no longer possible activities, but decided to continue giving publicity to the many not for profits and individuals who had so carefully prepared to educate and entertain us. For those involved in scheduling their own organization’s programs, these will provide ideas for the future. In some instances, a book may be highlighted which will still be available to purchase and read.

    Our featured posts are prepared in advance, obviously. At the moment, posts are written and scheduled through mid-April. Going forward, we will make our best effort to bring you information on things you can actually do now – webinars, virtual tours, and travel plans set far in the future. We apologize for any disappointment this may cause, and encourage you to continue reading and checking back on the website for updated information.

    Many local institutions have announced closures and cancellations but there has been no general agreement on dates. Please always check before you go. A walk through a property managed by The Trustees could be a good solo activity, but be aware Visitor’s Centers may be closed (no bathrooms, people.) Use good judgment and maintain a six foot distance.

    Please, stay safe. Follow instructions. Err on the side of paranoia, but try to enjoy Spring. Our Instagram page is a great source for beautiful photos, so check it out.

  • Saturday, April 4, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – The Growth of Trees: A Journey Through Time – Postponed

    No single view of a tree is a fixed snapshot in time that tells the complete story. Join Michael Wojtech on April 4 from 9:30 – 12:30 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive, Boylston, for this combination indoor presentation and outdoor exploration and discover how trees grow, reproduce, and interact with their environment across days, weeks, seasons, and years and over varying scales-from the intricate details of buds, flowers, leaves, and bark that we use for species identification to the collaborative roles of trees in ecosystems. Learn more about the function and experience the beauty of characteristics such as peeling bark, overwintering buds, lobed or toothed leaves, flowers by the thousands, and seeds that fly on the wind.

    Michael Wojtech is the author of Bark: A Field Guide to Trees of the Northeast. As a naturalist and educator, Michael strives to share the science and wonder of trees in an accessible and compelling fashion. He writes, photographs, illustrates, and presents programs about the structure, growth processes, and ecology of trees-including their bark, buds, leaves, roots, and wood-for audiences at all levels of experience. He is especially interested in the process of discovery and engagement, and draws his greatest inspiration from sharing the sense of wonder, awe, and the recognition of beauty that result from these investigations.

    Tower Hill Botanic Garden members $42, nonmembers $56. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Friday, April 3, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Meadows 1-2-3 (Postponed)

    A successful meadow is an ecologically vibrant landscape, providing food and habitat to pollinators and wildlife, stabilizing soil, storing carbon, and more. In this Native Plant Trust one-day intensive with Kathy Connolly on April 3 from 10 – 4 at Nasami Farm in Whately, explore site selection, preparation, neighborhood factors and design, and what to expect in years 1, 2, and 3. Learn about grasses, flowering species, plant and seed sources, maintenance protocols, and more. Extensive plant lists and design resources included. $90 for NPT members, $108 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/meadows-1-2-3/

  • Smith College Bulb Show 2020 Online!

    We all know you are going a little stir crazy sitting at home, and reading post upon post of events that have been cancelled is supremely unsatisfying, so tune into this charming four minute video tour produced at Smith College’s Botanic Garden for a peek of spring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPjCy0iRSKQ&feature=youtu.be

  • Saturday, March 28, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Making a Garden for the Birds – Postponed

    “I always say the birds taught me to garden. And I thank them.” – Margaret Roach
    What started out decades ago as merely a semi-conscious wish to see more birds as she started a garden on a former blank canvas, ended up bringing about 68 avian species into Margaret’s garden each year, each in its own time, with a smaller but substantial number nesting in it or at its periphery. Margaret will share all her “if I knew then what I know now” aha’s about setting realistic aims (no, not every site is going to attract bluebirds, no matter how many boxes you buy!) and accomplishing them-all within the context of a visually pleasing home landscape. She’ll cover her top tips for making a garden that makes birds right at home, must-have resources, and much more.

    Margaret will be signing copies of her all-new version of A Way to Garden after the talk, which takes place at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on March 28 from 2 – 3:30. The book is available in Tower Hill’s Garden Shop. Margaret Roach, after 15 years at Martha Stewart Living and a decade each at Newsday and The New York Times, now writes the nationally acclaimed blog “A Way to Garden” and is author of the 2011 corporate-dropout memoir, And I Shall Have Some Peace There, about walking away from “success” for a quieter life lived closer to nature. The Backyard Parables (2013) blends garden memoir and how-to advice. An all-new version of her first award-winning book A Way to Garden was published in spring 2019, on its 21st anniversary. She has worked for more than 25 years to make her garden in the Hudson Valley-Berkshires area a visual treat every day of the year. It has been open for Garden Conservancy Open Days for more than 20 years.

    The lecture is $15 for Tower Hill Members, $18 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Friday, March 27, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Music in Bloom – Cancelled

    Arlington’s Robbins Library will host Music in Bloom on Friday, March 27 from 7 – 9, with hors d’oeuvre, beverages, music by the Jim Nicoloro Trio, and glorious floral displays depicting songs, musicals, CDs – music in any form. Tickets are $30 in advance, available through Eventbrite, at the Circulation Desk of the Robbins and Fox Libraries, at The Book Rack (781-646-2665), or email Patsy at Patsy@patsykraemer.com. Tickets are also available at the door for $35. The address is 700 Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington.

  • Friday, April 10, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm – Mass Timber: Beyond Instrumentality and Technology – Cancelled

    Wood is a material that has garnered many innovations over time including its original use to construct fire, providing two functions simultaneously, light and warmth. Similarly, wood has the agency to propel the social and political forward as seen in the deployment of controlling territories, crossing bodies of water, and the invention of the wheel. Additionally, no other material elicits such a Pavlonian or immediate response to warmth, beauty and aesthetics in the built environment. Fast forward several centuries to the latest cyclical innovation relating to wood—mass timber. From cross laminated timber blanks to glulam slabs, beams, and columns, topics on mass timber tend to center around sustainability and industry advancements. The aim of this symposium is move beyond default topics of instrumentality and technology in mass timber by collecting unique positions from a group of architects, engineers, developers, and manufacturers in contemporary design, while also underscoring the value of intellectualizing these topics from within academia.

    This free Harvard Graduate School of Design event acknowledges the recent acceleration of mass timber technology within the industry, coupled with the unprecedented challenges faced by human kind at the global scale, yet, demands new pedagogical approaches to learning and teaching design. For these reasons, we seek to combine research questions on mass timber within the context of an option studio with the format of a symposium. A public display of questions from within the studio will be combined with positions from invited professionals. Complete details may be found at https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/event/mass-timber-beyond-instrumentality-and-technology/

  • Sunday, March 29, 10:15 am – 3:15 pm – Macro Photography Workshop – Postponed

    The close-up world is a magical place full of pattern, color, and abstract imagery. This Tower Hill Botanic Garden course on Sunday, March 29, from 120:15 – 3:15 will show you ways to use your existing camera gear to make spectacular macro photographs. During this workshop you will learn to sharpen your awareness of light on the landscape. If you are an intermediate to advanced photographer looking to fine tune your skills and expand your knowledge of photography then this course is for you. This course is ideal for the photographer with some knowledge of manual camera settings that want to take their abilities to the next level.

    Instructor Steve McGrath is a professional freelance photographer and photography teacher who has been creating images for 20 years. Steve first began by shooting sports photography for local high schools, then weddings, and stock agencies. Then his love of the outdoors led him to focusing more on his true passion, “nature photography”. Steve was an active member of the Gateway Camera Club for many years, and has won many ribbons and awards at fairs and competitions through the group and on his own. Several of his images have been published in school text books. His favorite places to shoot are Acadia National Park in Maine, the Green Mountains of Vermont, and the Cape Cod National Seashore. THBG members $60, nonmembers $75. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Thursday, April 16, 2:00 pm – Seed Propagation Workshop Postponement

    Thursday, April 16, 2:00 pm – Seed Propagation Workshop Postponement

    The April meeting of the Garden Club of the Back Bay was to have taken place Thursday, April 16 at 2 pm at The First Lutheran Church of Boston, 199 Berkeley Street. The event has been postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak, but we plan to hold the event in the future, and you will be notified.

    Sean Halloran, Plant Propagator at the Arnold Arboretum, gives an interactive talk about sexual reproduction in plants and what that means in terms of agriculture, food security, horticulture, and also plant conservation. Using what they do at the Arnold Arboretum as an example, we will learn about seed propagation using jackfruit, an exotic fruit grown in tropical regions of the world. One unique aspect of jackfruit is its unusually large size, making it easy and fun to work with.

  • Wednesday, April 1, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Designing with Plant Communities – Postponed

    Grow Native Massachusetts is proud to present our 2020 Evenings with Experts lecture series. These talks at the Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, are free and open to all.

    Join us for this April 1 talk beginning at 7 pm with Dan Jaffe, Horticulturist at Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary.

    All too often, during the design process, we think of plants on an individual or species basis. Yet in the landscape, plants are constantly interacting with one another in intricate ways. What happens if we create planting plans focused on complete systems rather than collections of individuals?

    Join us to learn how to create healthy, resilient plant communities that are beautiful and ecologically vibrant. Dan Jaffe will discuss how to select and combine the right species for specific site conditions, and how this community-oriented approach can be applied to plantings of all sizes.

    Dan Jaffe is passionate about ecological horticulture, and enhancing the wildlife value of every landscape. Prior to joining Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary, he was the senior plant propagator at Garden in the Woods. He is the co-author of Native Plants for New England Gardens, which features his captivating photographs.

    Thank you to our community partners, the Cambridge Public Library, Mount Auburn Cemetery and the Boston Society of Landscape Architects, for their support of this series.