Boston Flora

Month: August 2020

  • Monday, August 10, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Music Monday in Lucy’s Garden

    Join Berkshire Botanical Garden devotees among 24 whimsical topiaries for live music presented by local favorites as well as exciting new acts from outside the area. Bring a blanket and a picnic for an enjoyable evening soaking up some great tunes. Admission is free. Big Elm beer and non-alcoholic refreshments will be available for purchase.

    On August 10, we warmly welcome The Greg Hall Band, performing folk, bluegrass, and classic country music.

    In accordance with state regulations, masks and online admission ticketing are required. Click here to register.

    Dogs other than registered service animals, are not allowed on property or in the gardens.

  • Sunday, August 9, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm – Ornamental and Edible Native Plants Online

    Join horticulturists, garden designers, and artists Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano on August 9 from 11 – 1 to explore outstanding and edible native plants. They will share the magnificent diversity of American plants, showcasing highly ornamental and edible varieties that ought to be used widely in American gardens but are often not seen anywhere but botanical gardens and arboreta. This Berkshire Botanical Garden online program will include a lecture with visuals as well as a question and answer period. 

    Allyson Levy & Scott Serrano are two obsessed gardeners who garden all year long. Their goal has been to create a botanical garden that can serve as an educational resource for the public, as well as a “living textbook” of the diversity of plant life that can be grown in the Hudson Valley. Both are botanical artists who began buying plants for their artwork. When they realized they were buying and planting the same plants, they began to design a garden that is now the Hortus Arboretum & Botanical Garden.

    BBG members $10, nonmembers $15. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/ornamental-and-edible-native-plants-online

  • Through October, 2021 – Engulf, 2019

    The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy’s public art program has paved the way for The Greenway to become a premier destination to see contemporary works of art in downtown Boston. The public art vision is to bring innovative and contemporary art to Boston through free, temporary exhibitions, engaging people in meaningful experiences, interactions and dialogue with art and each other. The Conservancy gives artists unique opportunities to exhibit bold, new work that considers the possibilities of 21st century Boston.

    Now through October, 2021, view Juan Travieso’s Engulf. Juan Travieso creates visually complex worlds through combining realist painting techniques with surreal and geometric juxtapositions. Travieso presents the endangerment of species, such as the tiger pictured, as an allegory for the consequences of society’s shifting priorities and the pitfalls of issues from climate change to gentrification. Travieso’s imaginative scene presents a graphic topography and invasive plants intertwined with two tigers. A recently felled tree and overwhelming grid system evoke human involvement, suggesting a narrative of loss and isolation. His surrealist environment evokes questions of who can thrive, whose needs are prioritized, what values have created this dystopian scene, and at what cost.

    To locate this work on a map, visit https://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/engulf

  • Saturday, August 8, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Good Dogs Farm

    This Berkshire Botanical Garden behind-the-scenes look at great gardens explores Good Dogs Farm in Ashley Falls. A wise farmer who knew the value of the rich Housatonic alluvial plain built this simple farmhouse in 1811. Two hundred years later, Maria Nation is still reaping the benefits of that early settler’s appreciation of this sandy loam. Over the last two decades she has been designing, installing and maintaining the gardens with her own two hands. Because the gardens are hand-created rather than professionally designed, they reflect her own “personality, quirks, mistakes and changes of mind.” What was once an “exuberant” splash of perennial color has been replaced by glaucous greens and blues and the calming shapes of boxwood, yew, and shrubs. The  gardens have been featured in numerous magazines and various books, including Garden Wild, Private Edens, Great Gardens of the Berkshires, Growing the Northeast Garden, The Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook, among others. They have been open many times to Garden Conservancy Open Days, Mad Gardeners, the Lenox Garden Club, BBG Cocktails in Great Gardens and last year’s Trade Secrets garden tour.   The tour is on August 8 from 4 – 6, and is $45 for BBG members and $60 for nonmembers. Masks will be required. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/offsite-field-study-good-dogs-farm-ashley-falls-ma

    Maria Nation is a screenwriter; a California native; a baker; a lover of dogs, horses, donkeys, cats (and, well everything mammalian); a happy cook who thinks three-hour lunches in the garden is rushing things; a  self-admitted “slightly crazed” gardener and the sometimes-nagging partner of Roberto Flores, her strong fellow dirtmeister.

  • Saturday, August 15, 10:00 am – Contained Exuberance Walkabout Tour

    Each summer, Berkshire Botanical Garden brings together some of the region’s most talented designers and invites them to create individual container gardens displayed in an exhibit called Contained Exuberance. Tucked away in different spots throughout the Garden, the installations remain on exhibit through September. Signage listing plant names and describing the designers’ inspiration, accompanies each display.

    A walkabout tour of the installations with the designers is scheduled for Saturday, August 15 at 10 a.m. and departs from the Center House. Timed, admission ticketing is required, as are masks. Click here to register.

    This year, BBG is proud to feature the following designers in this year’s Contained Exuberance exhibition:

    Ashley Davidson
    Thistle ‘n Thorn Floral

    Gregory Greene

    Rebekah Lamphere
    Hartland Designs Inc.

    Katy MacDonald
    Lead Gardener, Viridissima Horticulture & Design

    Max Rivinus
    Penelope and Lloyd

    Madaline Sparks
    Madaline Sparks Garden Design

    Matt Turnbull
    Director of Horticulture, Berkshire Botanical Garden

    Wenonah Webster
    Design/Creative Director, Webster Landscapes

  • Friday, August 7, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Creative Floral Arranging on Zoom

    With this fun skillbuilding program sponsored by The Trustees on August 7 from 3 – 4, you will first pick up your class materials at Naumkeag in Stockbridge. In the comfort of your own home, you will follow along on Zoom with Horticulture Manager Catherine Martini and others as they teach the fine art of arranging flowers. Pre-registration required.  $40 for Trustees members, $50 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.thetrustees.org/things-to-do/berkshires/event-56962.html

  • Monday, August 3, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Music Monday in Lucy’s Garden

    New this summer in Lucy’s Garden at Berkshire Botanical Garden: Music Monday! Join us among 24 whimsical topiaries for live music presented by local favorites as well as exciting new acts from outside the area. Bring a blanket and a picnic for an enjoyable evening soaking up some great tunes. Admission is free.

    On August 3, we warmly welcome Boston’s The Late Risers, performing hot Jazz music of the 1920s-40s, covers of popular modern tunes and original compositions. Big Elm beer and non-alcoholic refreshments will be available for purchase.

    In accordance with state regulations, masks and online admission ticketing are required. Click here to register.

    Dogs other than registered service animals, are not allowed on property or in the gardens.