Daily Archives: June 14, 2020

Wednesday, June 24, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm – GARDEN WAYS: Professional Tips on Design and Plant Selection Webinar

by

Methods of design and ways of selecting appropriate plant material for a landscape vary. Karen Howard will share some techniques she uses to create a garden space, and structure a landscape design. This Ecological Landscape Alliance online presentation will take place June 24 at noon.

Enclosing space, using specimen plants, and plants in drifts, will be explored.   Karen will also discuss the sequence she uses to choose plants, and how she locates them. Examples of many plants that she uses in designs will be shown, and she will discuss how and when she uses specific types of plants.

Karen Howard comes from a long line of artists including painters, a ceiling muralist, a furniture maker and a garden designer. Karen followed in their footsteps.  Her company, Howard Designs, is a full service residential architectural and landscape design firm that combines Karen’s interest in houses and gardens.  She has lectured for the Ecological Landscape Alliance, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association, the New England Spring Flower Show and many local garden clubs.

Karen is a registered architect in New York and Massachusetts, a landscape designer, and a Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist.

Free, but registration required at https://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-garden-ways-professional-tips-on-design-and-plant-selection/

The Emerald Necklace Chamber Symphony

by

We were first made aware of Andrew List’s composition by Jared Bowen on WGBH radio. To shamelessly quote from Microsoft News, “The Emerald Necklace” is a chamber symphony that spans 15 minutes and is broken up into three movements, each named for a portion of the 1,100-acre park system. The piece came together as a commission from the Boston Symphony Orchestra as part of its BSO in Residence Composers Project, a project started in 2017.

The first movement, titled “Man and Machinery Create the Jamaicaway,” relates to the idea of compression, employing a fast tempo and a fanfare of instruments. The second movement is titled “Evening at Jamaica Pond,” and embodies just that: a feeling of serenity as told through flute, clarinet, and other instrumental solos. To end the composition, the third movement, named “The Ancient Hunting Party At Spring Brook Village,” in what is now part of the Arnold Arboretum, depicts the long history of the land in terms of archaeological discoveries of materials used by indigenous peoples there. Each movement of the chamber symphony is available to listen to and download for free through a link on the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s website.

Though the Emerald Necklace system remains open at this time, its website (www.emeraldnecklace.org) urges visitors to practice social distancing in accordance with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control. The parks can also be explored virtually.