Native Plant Trust has partnered with staff at university herbaria throughout New England to offer a special inside look at the region’s most impressive plant specimen collections. All programs will be conducted virtually. On Monday, October 19 from 1 – 2, virtually visit the University of Vermont’s Pringle Herbarium, led by David Barrington. $12 for NPT members, $15 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/university-vermont-pringle-herbarium/
The Friends of Armenian Heritage Park, OLDWAYS, Age-Friendly Boston, and The KITCHEN at Boston Public Market invite you to Celebrating What Unites Us! This free Zoom series celebrates the immigrant experience, building community and cross-cultural understanding, and promoting healthy and active living. On October 7th at 10 am, following a greeting by Kathryn R Burton, Chief of Staff for Mayor Martin J. Walsh of the City of Boston, and member of the Gesgapegiag Mi’kmaq tribe in Quebec, Canada and the first indigenous person in a Cabinet-level position at Boston City Hall, we will hear from Chef Sean Sherman. Chef Sherman is a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe, co-founder of The Sioux Chef, a 2019 James Beard Leadership Award winner, and author of The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen. Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CwYOT20mT3eahARjZKtZ7g
Replays of all cooking demonstrations are available on the OLDWAYS Channel on YouTube. Recipes are available at https://oldwayspt.org/
Enjoy an in-depth conversation from 2 – 4 pm on October 10 at MoonCloud in Great Barrington, discussing the history, geography, medicinal origins and modern uses of the world’s beautiful cocktail modifiers. We will showcase the integral elements of amaro, vermouth and fortified and aromatized wines with the techniques of building and enjoying craft cocktails at home and abroad. Included will be a packet of information for guests to read along and take home and stories about some of the “essential botanicals” such as cinchona bark, gentian and wormwood. There will also be recipes and literature about the “Three Featured Cocktails,” which guests will build, mix and tip back. Our first hour, we will enjoy the seminar and fun-fact frenzy from Billy Jack, followed by an hour of guests hands-on building and mixing their own cocktails to enjoy in the yard. Held on the lawn behind MoonCloud, 47 Railroad St. in Great Barrington, MA. Sponsored by Berkshire Botanical Garden, fees $85 for BBG members, $90 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/botanicals-bitters-and-booze-botanical-fall-cocktails-presented-conjunction-mooncloud
Billy Jack Paul is a Berkshire native who has been bartending for 19 years all over Berkshire County and North Carolina, as well as some guest appearances in Boston, NYC, and Oaxaca, México. He is the bartender/owner of MoonCloud in Great Barrington, MA. With a passion for the true roots of the industry, Billy Jack has studied the history and geography, as well as the botanical and medicinal origins, of spirits and cocktails. In addition to sharing the great stories of classic cocktails, he enjoys telling many of his own stories through dynamic themes and historical and/or literary references that act as “characters” in any given drink. “A cocktail is worth a thousand words,” he says, as he develops flavors and layers within each sip.
This Native Plant Trust four part course provides a comprehensive introduction to spring-blooming native plants, including their identification, ecology, and conservation. We explore New England’s native plants in a field setting at Garden in the Woods by studying key identification features of flowers, leaves, and stems, family characteristics, growth patterns, pollinators, seed dispersers, and habitats. You will learn basic botanical skills and tools to identify wildflowers, pollination and coevolution of flower structure and design, habitats and ecology, and conservation concerns. Neela de Zoysa instructs on Wednesdays, October 7 – 28, 12:30 – 3:30. $216 for NPT members, $264 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/wildflowers-new-england-fw/
Do you throw away prunings from your woody trees and shrubs? Learn how to put them to work in bold indoor and outdoor arrangements. Participants will leave with their own beautiful, seasonal arrangement. The Mass Hort class will be held October 21 from 7 – 8:30 in the Putnam Building at The Gardens at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley.
Materials provided will be:
* A decorative pot or container
* Fresh greens
* Interesting woody materials
* Seasonal accent materials such as pine cones, dried pods, & berries
* A list of ideal woody arrangement materials
* A pruning trimmer (Feel free to bring your own if you have one)
Instructor Melissa Pace is an award-winning horticulturalist who competes in numerous garden and flower shows, from Philadelphia Flower Show to the Bolton Fair. She has been a University of Rhode Island Master Gardener since 2003. Melissa has been a presenter for numerous garden clubs and civic organizations throughout New England since 1995. Melissa holds a master’s degree in teaching from Bridgewater University, is an artist and art teacher.
Interested in becoming a Massachusetts Horticultural Society member, click here for more information.
$50/Mass Hort member $75/General Admission. Register at www.masshort.org
Rocks are excellent places to study lichen growth forms, biology, and ecology. Native rock walls, cement walls, and cemetery monuments made from different rocks boast a diversity of rock-colonizing lichens common to New England. During this Native Plant Trust class taught by Elizabeth Kneiper on October 10 from 10:30 – 3:30 at Garden in the Woods in Framingham, plus a field site, you will learn about lichen identification, reproduction and growth, and habitat interactions through a stereoscope workshop and field application at local cemeteries. Please note: This class has been rescheduled from its original date. Masks required. $75 for NPT members, $90 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/rock-lichens/
In this online Harvard Museum of Natural History workshop with artist and educator Erica Beade, participants will explore the versatile medium of colored pencil as they capture the form and beauty of botanicals. After discussing materials and techniques and looking at examples, each participant will experiment with drawing botanical subjects of their own choosing. Groups will be limited to 10, allowing ample time for individual feedback. All skill levels are welcome.
Class will be held over Zoom. The link to the class will be sent out to participants two days before the program date. Two date and time choices are October 7 from 1 – 3, and November 7 from 9:30 – 11:30.
Members $30/Nonmembers $35. Advance registration required. See also: Adult Classes
This Berkshire Botanical Garden online workshop will focus on using dry brush watercolor to replicate the colors and the form of mushrooms. “Dry brush” refers to the art of using only a small amount of paint to damp a brush. Learn the basics of the technique: color mixing and layering, working from light to dark, adding fine detail and using a dry brush with the “skin” of dried paint on the palette. This two-session class on October 9 and 15 from 5:30 – 7:30 pm led by botanical artist Anastasia Traina will include live instructional time and group critique. Attendees will be provided with a photograph and an outline of the same mushroom to work from throughout the class. These materials will be provided post-registration along with a required material list.
Anastasia Traina is a member of SAG, WGA, The Dramatists Guild, The American Society of Botanical Artists, the Tri-State Botanical Artists of NYBG, the SBA and Circle East. Ms. Traina is a graduate with honors from the NYBG botanical art degree program. She lives in upstate New York with her husband, dog, two rabbits and her 40,000 bees.
Join photographer Eduardo del Solar on October 3 at the Boston Nature Center in Mattapan to expand your compositional ability centered on fall color photography. Equipment recommendations for digital cameras, lenses, and accessories will be offered. We’ll discuss exposure, lighting, composition techniques, image critiques, and the ethics of nature photography. The class is from 1 – 4.
Participants must have either a digital point-and-shoot or digital SLR camera. Cell phone cameras will not suffice.
Mass Audubon Members $20, Nonmembers $25.
PLEASE NOTE: This program will be conducted in accordance with current Municipal, State, and Mass Audubon Covid-19 protocols. Groups are limited to 11 pre-registered adults. Participants are required to wear a face covering and follow social distancing guidelines. Mass Audubon cannot loan field equipment at this time. A detailed confirmation letter will be emailed 24 hours before the program.
In the event of inclement weather, participants will be notified of a make up date. Registration is required. Register now.
The northeast is home to over 70 different species of ferns. Leaving ferns out of your garden plans is to miss a lovely assortment of foliage, forms, and color. Ferns are tough and adaptable plants; many will thrive under a wide range of conditions. On October 7, from noon – 1, learn online about the diversity among ferns and how to use these plants in the garden. Although Leslie Duthie will focus on garden-worthy species, she will discuss the uses of some of the more aggressive species as well. She will also introduce fern terminology and basic fern biology – they reproduce by spores. Discover the important ecological role of ferns in the landscape and how they are affected by mammal populations and soil conditions.
Leslie Duthie is a lifelong gardener. She was formerly employed at the Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary where she was the horticulturist and plant propagator for over 38 years. An accomplished grower of ferns and wildflowers, Leslie’s love of ferns began when she first learned how to raise them from spore. Now retired, she continues to volunteer at various gardens and works to protect land for her local Conservation Commission and land trust.
Purchase tickets (free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers) at https://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-designing-with-ferns-the-dependable-and-the-divisive/
