Boston Flora

Month: April 2021

  • Thursday, April 29, 2:00 pm – A Year at Clove Brook Farm, Online

    In his first book, A Year at Clove Brook Farm, Christopher Spitzmiller invites us to explore his ultimate country retreat, where he has created an idyllic lifestyle of the weekend farmer. Christopher’s gardens and home are a reflection of his varied passions and intense creativity.

    Join the Garden Conservancy for this April 29 webinar at 2 pm, as Christopher takes us into his beautiful home and gardens. Christopher Spitzmiller’s lamps, tableware, and other ceramics are found in every chic A-list interior, including the White House, and are regularly featured in celebrated publications, including Architectural Digest and The Wall Street Journal. He is on the Garden Conservancy board of directors, and his gardens at Clove Brook Farm are regularly featured on Open Days, including this year on Saturday, September 18.

    Please note that registration will end 24 hours prior to this webinar.
    $5 Garden Conservancy members – webinar only
    $15 General admission – webinar only
    $35 Webinar and one copy of A Year at Clove Brook Farm book

  • Saturday, May 1, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Thinking Outside the Box: Using Excellent Plants in Creative Ways

    On Saturday, May 1 at Hollister House & Gardens in Washington, Connecticut, Adam Wheeler of Broken Arrow Nursery in Hamden, Connecticut will share knowledge of  trees, shrubs and conifers that are often overlooked by gardeners and landscape designers when planning gardens.  This expert plantsman will present creative and unique approaches to using these plants. Gain insight into the development of unusual plants, the value and use of foliage color and texture, and creating unexpected accents though and assortment of pruning and training techniques.   Using a strong theme of diversity, Adam will showcase some of the unique varieties and cultivars available to gardeners….many of which should be new to the audience.   In addition, he will emphasize creative ways to utilize more familiar species.  Learn to develop a thought process around the plants we choose to build our gardens with and to reinforce an attitude that gardening is fun and should be as much about the process as the end result.

    Adam will bring a selection of plants from Broken Arrow available for purchase after his talk.

    Adam started playing with plants at Broken Arrow in 2004 after completing his BS degree in Urban Forestry and Landscape Horticulture at the University of Vermont. His favorite responsibilities at the nursery include plant propagation and the acquisition and development of new plants. He is a past recipient of the Young Nursery Professional Award from the New England Nursery Association and is the current Vice President of the North American Maple Society. He loves to share his passion for plants through photography and educational outreach.

    Limited seating. Reservations are required for all Barn Talks. Masks mandatory in the Barn.

    HHG Members $25, Non-members $35. Register at https://hollisterhousegarden.org/ or call 860-868-2200

  • Tuesday, April 27, 5:00 am – 6:30 am – The Water Garden at Packwood, Online

    How to dismantle a dam, a Garden Trust program of investigation and restoration at Packwood House, Warwickshire, and an examination of the English water garden, will take place online at April 27 at 5 am Eastern.

    Remedial work to the dam below the Great Pool at Packwood House enabled, over the course of four years, a detailed account to be prepared of the construction and functioning of the dam together with a wider consideration of the part that water played in the early garden there, Documented features included an Elizabethan moated garden, important seventeenth century timber drains and relics of the wild parties from the early twentieth century.

    This ticket is for this individual session and costs £5, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 5 sessions at a cost of £20 via the Eventbrite link here.

    Stephen Wass is a researcher, about to complete his D. Phil. on the subject of seventeenth-century water gardens. In addition, he works as a commercial archaeologist. In this capacity most of his projects involve historic gardens and he is currently occupied with a series of archaeological investigations connected with the latest program of restoration at Stowe Landscape Gardens near Buckingham. He is also working to set up a new research program alongside the Oxfordshire Gardens Trust into the ‘lost’ Tudor and Jacobean gardens in the county.

  • Tuesdays, April 27 and May 4, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Eco-Restorative Garden Design

    What does it take to create a conservation and restoration landscape project in your own backyard?
    In this two session Ecological Landscape Alliance workshop on April 27 and May 4 from 2-4, we will explore the principles underlying these small-scale projects and outline specific steps to keep you engaged and confident while completing them. You will learn tips, techniques, and a well-defined process for transforming a small plot of land to a native plant landscape. Topics cover everything from removing invasives to analyzing the site, conserving resources, and enhancing aesthetics and wildlife habitat. Held at Garden in the Woods in Framingham, and taught be Staci Jasin.

    Tickets: $60 Members  –  $72 Non-Members

    Please register through co-sponsor Native Plant Trust.

  • Wednesday, April 28, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Decolonizing Botany: From the Herbarium to the Plantarium, Online

    Join The Native Plant Trust and Professor Banu Subramaniam online on April 28 at 1 pm as she shares how the foundational language and theories of modern botany are rooted in the violence of its colonial pasts. The complex biologies of plants and animals shaped agricultural labor practices. The plantation was a global enterprise, where botanical knowledge and practices circulated across the globe; where humans went, their flora and fauna quickly followed. Using case studies on such topics as invasion biology, biogeography, and plant reproductive biology, we will explore how the sciences of gender, race, class, and sexuality were shaped by the global circulations of colonialism. We will also consider strategies for decolonizing our knowledge of the botanical and the human. $24 for members of NPT, $30 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/decolonizing-botany-herbarium-plantarium/

  • Thursday, April 29, 11:00 am – 12:00 noon – Invasive Insects In Our Urban Forest, Online

    Thursday, April 29, 11:00 am – 12:00 noon – Invasive Insects In Our Urban Forest, Online

    Invasive insects not only impact our naturalized areas, but our urban forests and managed landscapes as well. Insects including the Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) and emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) have had striking impacts in Massachusetts and beyond. Relatively new non-native species, like the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula), continue to threaten our shade trees, ornamentals, and agriculture. This online presentation will discuss how to identify these organisms and the damage they cause, their biology, and where to report suspicious insects so you can help protect the Commonwealth. The event is co-sponsored by The Garden Club of the Back Bay and Speak for the Trees, Boston, on April 29 at 11 am, with speaker Tawny Simisky, Extension Entomologist, UMASS Extension.

    To register please click here: https://bostonu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUrf-6vrT4tE9c6Zv6Pg8vQzMToDHdZUUzA

  • Friday, April 30 – Massachusetts Arborists Association Arbor Day of Service

    Mark your calendar now and watch for details about the Massachusetts Arborists Association’s Arbor Day of Service celebration on Friday, April 30, 2021.  MAA’s popular community service event will be held at the historic Ames Estate and Community Park in Easton, MA. Details will be found at https://massarbor.org/Arbor_Day_Home_Page_2021

    First settled by Oliver Ames, 35th Governor of the Commonwealth, this 36-acre bucolic estate is now a well-loved green space regularly enjoyed by community members under the stewardship of The Trustees. The property has a significant number of full-growth specimen trees that reflect the ongoing commitment of the Ames family members to arboriculture. Dramatic examples include Kentucky coffee tree, magnolia, cucumber magnolia, Stewartia, beeches, sweet gum and columnar maple. 

  • Through May 1 – Pre-order Organic Seedlings from Wright-Locke Farm

    Each year Wright-Locke Farm sells organic seedlings during the spring season to help you start your gardens off on the right foot. We are selling seedlings until May 1st on a PRE-SALE basis using our Farm to Go™ online order system. Login to your account (or make one if you don’t have one yet!), select “Seedling Presales” as your shopping period and start adding to your cart:

    • Greens
    • Flowers & Herbs
    • Cherry tomatoes
    • Heirloom & Slicing Tomatoes
    • Cucumbers
    • Beans
    • Summer Squash
    • Eggplant
    • Melons & MORE!

    Once you confirm your order, we’ll send you followup information about scheduling a pickup time in May for your seedlings. Happy Growing!
    Questions about the seedlings? Email farmer@wlfarm.orgQuestions about your account/ordering seedlings? Email farmstand@wlfarm.org

  • Wednesday, April 28, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm – Going Underground: Unearthing the Role of Soil Organisms in Plant Health, Online

    There are an estimated nonillion (1030) microbes on the planet and these organisms play a critical role in plant health. This presentation will take you below ground to explore the microorganisms beneath our feet and the role they play in the nutrient cycles critical to plant growth and ecosystem sustainability. How global change is altering the Earth’s microbiome will also be discussed.

    In this April 28 Ecological Landscape Alliance online presentation, Dr. Serita Frey will explore how the quality of the soil determines the capacity of land to support natural ecosystems and human society. As humanity becomes increasingly urbanized, the researchers have observed that fewer people have close contact with the soil, and individuals tend to lose sight of the many ways in which they depend on soils for their prosperity and survival. This presentation will explore the roles soils play in ecosystems, with a focus on how they affect plant health.

    Dr. Serita Frey is a microbial ecologist with over 30 years of experience studying microbes in the environment. She received her Ph.D. in Ecology from Colorado State University and is currently a professor in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of New Hampshire where she teaches and advises in the environmental sciences program. Her research examines how environmental change is altering the structure and function of forest ecosystems, with an emphasis on soil microbial communities and nutrient cycling processes. She is specifically interested in how anthropogenic stressors (e.g., climate change, nitrogen deposition, invasive species) affect the composition and diversity of soil microbial communities and microbial-mediated carbon and nitrogen cycles. Her research group works at the interface between ecosystem science, microbial ecology and global change biology, combining microbiological and -omics tools with stable isotope analysis and a variety of soil physical and chemical approaches to examine structure-function linkages.

    Free for ELA members, $10 nonmembers. Register at www.ecolandscaping.org

  • Thursday, April 22, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Sponge Landscapes

    This Native Plant Trust webinar on April 22 at 6 pm introduces sponge landscapes as an accessible method for managing water in urban and suburban areas. Using layers and combinations of native trees and groundcovers, we can put the sponge back into our developed spaces—intercepting, absorbing, and retaining rainwater before it floods or pollutes the landscape. Learn how to rewild and soften the hardscape with durable native plants, creating a sponge landscape. Led by Anna Fialkoff the fee is $12 for NPT members, $15 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/sponge-landscape/