Boston Flora

Month: January 2021

  • Wednesday, January 27, 10:00 am – Celebrating What Unites Us! Haley House Bakery Cafe, Online

    Join Age-Friendly Boston, Oldways, and Friends of Armenian Heritage Park on January 27 at 10 for a free special at-home cooking demonstration to keep us connected and coming together. This session will feature signature dishes from the Haley House Bakery Café in Boston, with Chef Brie Garner and Chef Alima Mbabzi. Celebrating What Unites Us! celebrates the immigrant experience while building community and cross-cultural understanding, and promoting healthy living. We are looking forward to resuming the program that begins at the Park when it is safe to do so. Register HERE.

    Infused with the rich diversity of the Roxbury neighborhood, since 2005 Haley House Bakery Café has offered made-from-scratch, delicious food, a vibrant, welcoming community space, and meaningful employment. As a social enterprise, Haley House Bakery Café’s mission is ambitious: to support the physical, economic and social well-being of the community, one meal at a time.

    (Roxbury, MA 2/1/20) Mayor Martin Walsh attends the grand re-opening of the Haley House Bakery Cafe. (Mayor’s Office Photo by John Wilcox)

  • Friday, January 22, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm – Grassroot Seed Propagation of Native Plants

    Growing native plants from seed is a different way to interact with our native flora and an inexpensive way to produce a lot of plants. The seeds of wild plants have a very different set of needs than those of garden and vegetable species. Timing is crucial and fall and winter are ideal times to sow the seeds of many species.

    In this Ecological Landscape Alliance webinar on January 22 from noon – 1, Heather will describe the reproductive life cycle of many different types of native plants and explain how we can change our landscape practices to help support wild plant reproduction and survival. Then she will describe simple outdoor seed sowing methods that anyone can use to grow their own seedlings. Be part of a grassroots movement to sow native seeds and increase the amount of native plants in the landscape with an abundance of genetically diverse seedlings. Free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/grassroot-seed-propagation-of-native-plants/

    Heather McCargo is the founder and executive director of Wild Seed Project, a Maine based 501(c)3 nonprofit that works to increase the use of seed grown native plants in all landscape settings. Wild Seed Project publishes an annual magazine Wild Seed, sells seeds of locally grown wild type native plants, and educates the public so that a wide range of people can participate in increasing native plant populations.

  • Saturday, January 23, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – An Introduction to Koji and Miso-Making at Home, Online

    Join Mark Phillips of @EarthCultures for an introduction to Aspergillus Oryzae, or Koji, the fungus responsible for miso, soy sauce, sake and other traditional Japanese fermented foods and beverages. Using Miso, Tempeh, Natto, and Other Tasty Ferments (Storey Publishing, 2019) as a guide, this workshop is a primer on home and restaurant-scale koji-making and its many uses in ancient foodways and contemporary culinary techniques. This Berkshire Botanical Garden online class will be held January 23 from 10 – 11:30, and is $20 for BBG members, $30 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/introduction-koji-and-miso-making-home

    Mark Phillips is a fermented food educator living in Great Barrington, MA. He has taught numerous workshops on the subject of vegetable fermentation, koji and miso and is a team member at Hosta Hill, a Berkshires-based producer of sauerkraut, kimchi, and hot sauce. Find him on instagram at @EarthCultures.

  • Thursday, January 21, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Botanical Latin: An Introduction, Online

    Botanical Latin becomes less intimidating once you understand the history and rationale for botanical plant names. Join Jennifer Bakshi for a brief history of botanical terminology from the time of the Roman empire through the development of binomial nomenclature by Carl Linnaeus. Jennifer will provide clarification on the meanings of botanical terms, genus, species and family, how the names are formed and the conventions for writing them. You’ll also learn the correct pronunciation of Latin plant names and explore the hidden meanings of favorite plant names that every gardener should know. This Berkshire Botanical Garden online class will take place January 21 from 6 – 7, and is $11 for BBG members, $16 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/botanical-latin-introduction

    Jenn Bakshi is a designer, manager and teacher. She has built a thriving landscape design business and teaches botanical Latin and botanical history at the New York Botanical Garden. Students appreciate her infectious enthusiasm and are put at ease by her method of breaking down complex ideas into logically simple components. She has lectured for garden clubs and the American Horticultural Society. She recently participated in a podcast on botanical Latin for Joe Gardener, host and producer of the PBS show, Growing a Greener World. Jennifer holds an MBA from Rutgers University, a BA from Beloit College and Certification in Landscape Design and Horticulture from New York Botanical Garden.

  • Through Sunday, February 7 – If Winter Comes … The Promise of Each Year in the Paintings of Anthony Apesos

    The Arnold Arboretum comes to life in Tony Apesos’s sensitive and expressive oil paintings. Working in his studio, he recaptures an essential essence derived from his frequent walks in the Arboretum. When elements of the landscape catch his eye, he interprets them with brush and spirit in accomplished works. His series of winter landscapes are especially vibrant, layered so finely that the cold and stillness of the land reverberate within the image.

    Apesos is a professor at Lesley University College of Art and Design and has been extensively represented in solo and group exhibitions. He has received many honors, been included in numerous publications, and lectured widely. You can visit his website.

    All rights of the images reside with the artist. For more information on making a copy, or reusing an image, please send your request to arbweb@arnarb.harvard.edu

    For information on the work itself, or to inquire about purchasing artwork, please also send your requests to arbweb@arnarb.harvard.edu We will put you in touch with the artist.

  • Galanthus Gala 2021

    The Galanthus Gala is an annual gathering of collectors and plant enthusiasts to kick off the spring growing season. Covid 19 has thrown a spanner into the works but there are possibilities being discussed of a virtual event for 2021. Follow the community on Facebook – @galanthusgala – and read a terrific article on the event at www.coldclimategardening.com

  • Monday, January 25, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Annual Winter Tea, The Virtual Details

    Monday, January 25, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Annual Winter Tea, The Virtual Details

    The Garden Club’s Annual Winter Tea is always our most popular member event and we’re going to hold it this year – virtually. Please join our club presidents Catherine Bordon and Tracey Cannistraro on ZOOM for a chance to say hello to old friends and meet our new members.

    Many of us are far away, in different states and towns. We will all come together for a short visit, then break out into small groups for more intimate conversations. After about 20 minutes, we’ll reshuffle so we can chat with other members. This will give us an opportunity to catch up with each other’s lives. 

    So pull out your finest tea cups and tea pots. Maybe wear a hat! Make some tea sandwiches and scones but don’t forget the clotted cream. Perhaps, in this time of Covid Cocktails, you’d prefer a glass of Champagne or a mug of hot mulled cider with bourbon … whatever makes it festive and special for you.

    rsvp to Mary Ryan by clicking here:
    ryansquad@gmail.com

    A link will be sent a few days before January 25th to members who respond.

  • Tuesdays, February 2 – March 9, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Botany for the Home Gardener

    In this six-session Massachusetts Horticultural Society course beginning February 2 from 7 – 8:30, join Master Gardener Gretel Anspach online to explore the fundamentals of plant structures and their function, reproductive and floral biology, introductory concepts in physiology and metabolism, and overall systematic organization and classification of major plant groups within the plant kingdom. Participants will better understand the world of plants and gain a far deeper appreciation for their wonder.

    Gretel Anspach is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, a Trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon. Gretel helped to establish and maintain two food production gardens that have provided fresh produce to the Marlboro Food Pantry for the last eight years. 

    Tuesdays, February 2nd – March 9th 7 – 8:30 pm

    $185 members $240 general admission Register at www.masshort.org.

  • Wednesday, January 13, 3:00 pm – Tree Mob: New Year, New Nest, Online

    Whoooo cares about New Year’s Eve when every evening in December and January is cause for celebration? Walk through the Arnold Arboretum during these winter months and you may hear a mating pair of great horned owls (Bubo virginianus) calling to one another as they prepare for nesting season. Will they use last year’s nest? Find a nook in a dead tree? Or repurpose a red-tailed hawk nest? Brendan Keegan will share a Powerpoint on the nesting habits of great horned owls as well as provide best practices for ethically observing these seldom seen raptors. Join us via Zoom on January 13 at 3:00 pm. Free, but registration required by clicking HERE.

  • Wednesday, January 13, 10:00 am – Celebrate What Unites Us! French Dinner Party with Catherine Katz, Online

    Join Age-Friendly Boston, Oldways, and Friends of Armenian Heritage Park on January 13 at 10 am for a free special at-home Celebrating What Unites Us! program to keep us connected and coming together. This session will feature French dinner party recipes from Chef Catherine Katz of Cuisinicity. Celebrating What Unites Us! celebrates the immigrant experience while building community and cross-cultural understanding, and promoting healthy living. We are looking forward to resuming the two part program that begins at the Park when it is safe to do so. The program is free, but registration is required at www.armenianheritagepark.org.

    Catherine is a French-born-and-raised foodie, and lover of luscious cuisine. But she also a scientist, earning her PhD in neuroscience at Princeton University. So, when her husband David presented her with the challenge of his very demanding nutrition standards, we realized that his passion for health and my love of French cooking also needed to be wed! And so our “marriage” of priorities resulted in 20 some years of methodical experimentation – but in a warm, lively home kitchen, rather than any neuroscience lab.