Boston Flora

Month: May 2021

  • Wednesday, May 26, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm – Growing Vertically with Edible and Ornamental Plants, Online

    Vertical garden systems offer a number of benefits, such as increased accessibility for people with restricted physical abilities, privacy, vibrancy, and many more. Frequently people think a vertical system is not feasible for a number of reasons, but in this online Ecological Landscape Alliance presentation on May 26 at noon, living wall designer Irene Barber will share a number of opportunities that will inspire the breakdown of preconceived limitations, including information about budget conscious options, plant and soil materials and creative vertical garden designs. Irene Barber is the Adult Education Program Manager and Horticultural Therapist, HTR at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, Maine where she designs and maintains vertical gardens in the universally accessible Lerner Garden of the Five Senses.  Irene is owner and landscape designer of Greenscapes Design LLC in Durham, ME specializing in therapeutic, accessible and ecological outdoor living environments for private and public settings. Free. Register at www.ecolandscaping.org.

  • Thursday, May 27, 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Pressed Flower & Framed Herbarium Workshop

    Students will construct their own flower press in the Tower Hill Botanic Garden classroom on May 27 at 1 pm, then go outside to pick some wildflowers to put the press to use. Students will come back inside to create a pressed flower, glass framed herbarium of their own design using pre-pressed leaves and flowers. All materials will be provided. This program will be held indoors in one of our well-ventilated classrooms. Group size will not exceed current state restrictions. Please note, there is currently construction happening at Tower Hill which may result in altered or obstructed walkways, parking lots, and parking spaces, in addition to some noise. $40 for THBG members, $55 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org


    Suzanne Hauerstein is a professional teaching artist and the Coordinator of Volunteer & Intern Services at Tower Hill. She has over 25 years of experience designing and facilitating art-based programs for informal learning environments. Suzanne is committed to creating programs that are accessible, positive, and enjoyable learning experiences for students of all ages and abilities.

  • Ducks on Parade

    Nancy Schön has just published a new book with Brandeis University Press: a photo collection of the many ways her duckling sculpture has been dressed and decorated over the years. This makes a great gift for children of all ages! The Garden Club of the Back Bay is a big fan of Nancy’s work and we congratulate her on this latest endeavor.

    Watch her video to learn more.

  • Sunday, May 23, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Lush Peonies, Online

    Sunday, May 23, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Lush Peonies, Online

    Choosing the right spot to plant your peonies is key to growing large, sumptuous blooms with little to no maintenance. Get tips for planting, cultivating, and propagating this springtime showstopper from Dan Furman of Cricket Hill Garden, affectionately known as Peony Heaven. After hearing tales of the cultivation history of the various types of peonies in the U.S., Japan, and China, you will take a virtual tour of Cricket Hill’s Peony Collection with over 100 mature specimens. This New York Botanical Garden session will take place online on May 23 from 10 – 1, and is $59. Register HERE.

  • Stoneman Playground Sculpture Update

    In 2012, the Esplanade Association commissioned Mitch Ryerson, of Ryerson Design, to turn the Stoneman Playground’s magnificent oak tree into a whimsical sculpture since the tree had died. During the 2020 renovation of Stoneman Playground, it was discovered that the foundation of the beloved structure was no longer structurally sound.


    Mitch Ryerson and his wife worked to safely remove the top pieces of the sculpture for future use at the end of February. The old oak stump is to be removed in March through DCR’s annual project to prune trees and remove dead, dying, and dangerous trees from the Esplanade.


    While we are sad to see the sculpture go, the Esplanade Association, DCR, and Mitch Ryerson will work through 2021 to determine the design and installation plans for a new sculpture to be placed nearby that preserves the spirit, and likely many of the pieces, of the old sculpture.

  • Through June 30 – Sign Up to Run the 2021 Boston Marathon for the Esplanade

    The Esplanade is the premier running trail in Greater Boston. Each year, the excitement builds for the Boston Marathon runners who turn to the Esplanade’s riverfront pathways and footbridges as the setting for their training runs. This year, 15 in-person runners will have the opportunity to support this beloved training route by joining TEAM ESPLANADE.
    The Boston Marathon is celebrating its 125th year and is offering a virtual marathon. You can be a part of TEAM ESPLANADE as a virtual runner too! If you or someone you know is passionate about the Esplanade, we hope you’ll consider running the 125th Boston Marathon on October 11, 2021 or the virtual marathon October 8-10, 2021 as part of the Esplanade Association’s Official Charity Team for the Boston Marathon! Register HERE. For complete details visit http://esplanade.org

  • Now Streaming Online: The Victorian Kitchen Garden

    The Victorian Kitchen Garden was a 13-part British television series produced in 1987 for the BBC.  It follows a master gardener, Harry Dodson, through his year-long attempt to revive the long-fallow walled garden of Chilton Lodge, a country estate in Berkshire, using entirely Victorian-era plants, tools, and methods.  Watch by visiting https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5mpc6t

    Harry James Dodson (11 September 1919 – 25 July 2005) was an English gardener who became a celebrity as a result of the BBC television documentary series The Victorian Kitchen Garden, which features his professional expertise and his reminiscences. Born in Byfleet, his father was a gardener and his uncle was head gardener to the Earl of Selborne.

    He left school at 14, and over the next six years worked his way up from garden boy to journeyman. In 1937 he started work at Stansted Park as a ‘young improver journeyman’ in the kitchen garden. When the Second World War started he served briefly in France, but was discharged on medical grounds. He was appointed general garden foreman at Leigh Park in Hampshire. The large house had been commandeered by the Admiralty and Dodson’s task was to grow enough food for several hundred people every day. After the war he moved to Nuneham Park, near Oxford, where he met his future wife, Jane.

    In 1947 he was appointed head gardener at the Chilton Estate, near Chilton Foliat, growing flowers and vegetables for the household in an extensive walled garden, with heated greenhouses and 200 yards of cloches. By 1981 the cost of maintaining the garden had become too high for its owner. He made it over to Dodson, who ran it as a commercial nursery.

    He was a successful exhibitor at the Royal Horticultural Society‘s shows, and in 1956 he joined the fruit and vegetable committee and served as a judge at its shows for nearly 50 years.

  • Friday, May 21, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Ecology and Conservation of Native Pollination Systems

    Join Dr. Robert Gegear, 2018 recipient of the (then) New England Wild Flower Society’s Regional Impact Award, to learn the skills needed to properly assess, conserve, and restore native pollination systems and the biodiversity they support. This Native Plant Trust class at Garden in the Woods in Framingham on May 21 from 1 – 4 provides foundational knowledge for the Community Science workshop and can be taken alone or in tandem with the workshop. $45 for NPT members, $54 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/ecology-and-conservation-native-pollination-systems/

    Morning glory pollen grains.

  • Monday, May 31, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – Other Voices in Garden History: Hearing the Voices from a Human Zoo, Online

    This eighth in a series of illustrated lectures sponsored by The Gardens Trust will explore the impact and legacy of empire, colonialism and enslavement on western garden and landscape history. Our aim is to bring back some of the voices usually absent from this history, to identify and fill gaps in our collective knowledge, and to explore new ways of engaging with the whole history of gardens, landscapes and horticulture.

    King Leopold II of Belgium ran the Congo as his own private colony from 1885 to 1908, treating the local people brutally. With the fortune he made from Congolese ivory and rubber, Leopold embarked on extensive building and landscape projects. The source of his funds was openly celebrated at the 1897 Brussels Worlds Fair, where exhibits included 267 people forcibly shipped from the Congo to be displayed in what were effectively human zoos.

    One of Leopold’s favorite designers was the French landscape architect Elie Lainé, whom Jill Sinclair has been researching for a number of years. Best known in the UK for his work at Waddesdon Manor, Lainé worked for the Belgian king from 1889. This lecture will explore some of the issues around interpreting landscapes funded by (and indeed designed to celebrate) colonialism and enslavement.

    This ticket costs £5, and you may purchase via the link here. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and a link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.

    Jill Sinclair is a garden and landscape historian based in Sheffield. She is a director of the Historic Gardens Foundation, edited its journal Historic Gardens Review, and teaches the University of Oxford’s online course in the history of the English Landscape Garden. Jill is the convenor of the ‘Other Voices in Garden History’ lecture series.

    Image credit: Part of the ‘Congolese Villages’ at the Brussels Worlds Fair, 1897. HP.1946.1058.1-21, collection RMCA Tervuren; photo A. Gautier, 1897. Shared under the CCA license: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 BE

  • Fridays, May 21 – June 4, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Urban Flora: Growing Between the Cracks, Online

    Urban flora can be found growing in unlikely places, from city sidewalks and highway medians to lawns, and other man-made structures. Most of these plants are introduced and many are considered weeds. We will hear more about their origins, life cycles, and benefits to the urban landscape while learning how to identify them in the field. This New York Botanical Garden online series of lectures will take place Fridays, May 21 – June 4, and is taught by Nancy Slowik. A dedicated naturalist for over 40 years, Nancy Slowik is the former director of Greenbrook Sanctuary, co-founder of the Greenbelt Native Plant Center, and author of two books on local flora. Currently, she consults with Restore Native Plants to provide guidance for a native plant propagation facility and restoration facility in Ramapo Mountain Park Preserve. $139. Register HERE.