Boston Flora

Month: September 2021

  • How to Prune Wisteria, Online with The National Trust

    Try your hand at growing and caring for wisteria. One of the great treats of late spring and early summer is the spectacular blooming and sweet smell of wisteria. Wisteria is a gorgeous plant but it needs to be pruned twice a year to keep it looking its best. In this free, short video, National Trust gardener Andy Darragh shows Rebecca Bevan, the author of The National Trust School of Gardening, how he cares for the wisteria at Fenton House in London.  Access the video on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kaSSu2NAU8

  • Friday, October 1, 7:00 pm – 8:15 pm – Autumn in Washington: Arboreal Splendors, Online

    Springtime in Washington is legendary, but what about that other fabulous season, fall? Join Smithsonian Associates and author and tree expert Melanie Choukas-Bradley on a virtual tour through autumn in the capital and see why its arboreal splendors should be as celebrated as spring’s cherry blossoms.

    Washington’s beautiful fall lasts for several months, with a steady procession of seasonal colors starting in September and continuing beyond Thanksgiving and into December. Get primed for the coming season with a preview of botanical highlights in store, learn about the trees, flowers, and fruits in the city’s storied landscapes, and you’ll be ready to get out and enjoy this fall more than ever. The Zoom illustrated lecture is $25 for Smithsonian members, $30 for nonmembers, and you may register at https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/autumn-in-washington-arboreal-splendors

  • The Campaign to Save Moraine Farm: Revitalizing and Unifying an Olmsted Masterpiece

    Nestled on 175 acres along Wenham Lake in Beverly is Moraine Farm, a Frederick Law Olmsted masterpiece landscape designed in 1880. Moraine Farm is, “the finest existing example of Olmsted’s approach to planning a country estate,” according to pre-eminent Olmsted scholar Charles E. Beveridge.

    In the past 150 years, the estate has been fractured into parcels owned by different families, a private school, Project Adventure, and The Trustees. Remarkably, Olmsted’s design has remained largely unchanged over that time, making it a rare gem among the estates created by the father of American landscape architecture. According to Beveridge:

    “Moraine Farm was a forerunner for that greatest of Olmsted’s ventures in the designing of private estates and retains more of his spirit than any other residential design still in existence today.”

    The Trustees owns four small disparate parcels on the property, and today we have the opportunity to acquire the key central plot of land that includes scenic Wenham Lake access, the main estate house, tea garden, terrace, and areas most intensely designed by Olmsted.

    Acquiring this 66-acre parcel is the culmination of a decades-long effort by The Trustees to reunite and restore this historic property and open it to public access for the first time.

    Providing people with Moraine’s sweeping views, winding trails, and lush Olmsted landscape lies at the heart of our mission to create publicly accessible open space in iconic places.

    For the project details and purpose statement, and to learn how to contribute to this project (it’s Olmsted 200, remember!), visit www.thetrustees.org

  • Wednesday, October 27 – The Olmsteds and Campus Design Symposium

    Duke University and the National Association for Olmsted Parks will host a Symposium on October 27 on The Olmsteds and Campus Design.

    In the wake of the Civil War, American universities emerged as important national institutions.  Olmsted believed that the physical environment of learning – buildings and grounds – played a significant role in the success of education.  He planned campuses for Cornell and Stanford and successor Olmsted firms undertook projects at scores of institutions including Duke, Sewanee, Colby College, Harvard, Gallaudet, Wellesley, Swarthmore, and Johns Hopkins. 

    In this day-long symposium, practitioners and scholars will focus on the Olmsteds and Campus Design to discuss campus planning and how Olmsted principles can inform campus design today.    The roster of speakers includes: 

    • Cathy Blake, FASLA, University Landscape Architect, Stanford University: Rebuilding the Olmsted Framework at Stanford University
    • Mark Hough, FASLA, University Landscape Architect, Duke University: Uncovering the Olmsted Brothers Legacy at Duke University
    • Laurie Olin, FASLA, FAAR, Partner, Olin Studio and member Olmsted 200 Honorary Committee.  Keynote: The Olmsteds and the American Campus
    • Frederick Steiner, FASLA, FAAR, Dean and Paley Professor, University of Pennsylvania School of Design: Olmsted and Land Grant Institutions
    • Michael Vergason, FASLA, FAAR, Principal, Michael Vergason Landscape Architects: Adapting Olmsted Precedent in Contemporary Campus Design

    Continuing education credits will be offered and attendance is limited to 80 participants. For a small fee, breakfast and lunch will be served.  

    More details, including how to register, will be available at https://olmsted200.org/events/symposium-the-olmsteds-and-campus-design/. 

  • Tuesday, September 28, 9:00 pm – 10:30 pm – Lewis & Clark in Idaho, Online

    The Orton Botanical Garden is located on the northerly fringes of the Great Basin Desert near Twin Falls, Idaho, and is a not for profit focused on drought tolerant plants such as cacti and yucca, and on September 28 at 9 pm Eastern is hosting a free Zoom talk on Lewis & Clark in Idaho, examining the botanical discoveries made by the explorers in that region. To register, visit www.ortonbotanicalgarden.com

  • October 1 – October 31 – On Demand Webinar: Soil Tests – How to Interpret and Use Results for Better Tree Health

    Soil health can make or break the survivability of trees in your care. You have likely collected soil samples and sent them to a lab for testing. While you are able to interpret the results at a basic level, are you clear on what you can or should do with the detailed results? Join the Massachusetts Arborists Association during the month of October as we discuss the fundamentals of soil supplements, along with the proper way to collect a soil sample and interpret test results. We’ll examine the results of local soil tests and discuss appropriate action plans. Gain a better understanding of how to use soil testing to improve the wellbeing of trees. The speaker is Tom Akin, State Resource Conservationist with the USDA National Resources Conservation Services in Amherst, Massachusetts. You will receive a link to the webinar upon registration. To learn more, visit www.massarbor.org.

  • Saturday, October 2, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Enhancing Your Spring Garden with Bulbs

    From snowdrops to alliums, spring bulbs can enliven your garden, adding interest and splashes of color while taking little room. In this October 2 illustrated lecture at Hollister House Garden in Washington, Connecticut, Page Dickey will show and describe a succession of bulbs, some well loved, others little known, to consider and successfully plant.

    Page Dickey is a garden writer, lecturer, and designer. Her latest book, Uprooted: A Gardener Reflects on Beginning Again, was published in autumn 2020.  Page is on the Board of the Garden Conservancy and co-founded the Open Days Program in 1995.  She is also on the boards of Stonecrop Gardens, in Cold Spring, NY, and Hollister House Garden in Washington, CT.

    Page  lives and gardens with her husband, Bosco Schell, in the company of at least one beloved dog at Church House in Falls Village, CT. $25 for HHG members, $35 for nonmembers. REGISTRATION

  • Saturday, September 25, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Garden for Boston Harvest Celebration

    Saturday, September 25, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Garden for Boston Harvest Celebration

    Celebrate the closing of “Garden for Boston,” the Museum of Fine Arts Boston’s first living, growing exhibition, outside on the Museum’s Huntington Avenue lawn. Ann and Graham Gund Director Matthew Teitelbaum shares thoughts on the two installations comprising the exhibition, Radiant Community by Ekua Holmes (African American) and Raven Reshapes Boston: A Native Corn Garden at the MFA by Elizabeth James-Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag). Then the artists and their collaborators discuss their respective works and the big ideas behind them.

    This event is free. Tickets for general admission and to see “Monet and Boston: Legacy Illuminated” on the 25th are available now—buy yours today.

  • Friday, October 1, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Native Green Garden, Online

    Meet the authors! Native Plant Trust highlights top new publications about plants with the Author Book Talk series. Featuring some of the region’s most highly regarded botanists and horticulturists, this series offers you the opportunity to ask questions and interact with true experts. Books are available through our shop. All programs will be conducted virtually.

    Join author Ellen Sousa online on October 1 at 6 pm as she discusses her book Native Green Garden (an updated edition of her previous publication, The Green Garden), and will share how to create ecologically sound New England habitats with horticulture. She is a garden expert, nursery owner, teacher naturalist, and speaker. Native Green Garden is an illustrated guide to native plantings for the region’s microclimates that will increase ecosystem health and attract native pollinators. To reserve your spot for virtual author book talks, please visit www.NativePlantTrust.org.

  • Saturday, September 25, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – Garden Dialogues, Greenwich

    Located in the wooded terrain of Greenwich, CT, is the Slice House, a two-acre site re-imagined from the rocky ground up. The property was occupied by an older residence that the homeowner chose to remove in favor of a new construction to better suit their family.  Extreme variation in elevations across the property combined with an abundance of challenging, yet beautiful natural resources created an exciting opportunity for the design team, Joeb Moore & Partners and Kathryn Herman Design, to create an engaging and dynamic experience in the landscape while integrating a new contemporary home with the native character of the land. 

    The Cultural Landscape Foundation will host a Garden Dialogue at the Garden on September 25 from 1 – 2:30. A driving force of the design was to respect as many of the existing mature trees on site as possible, such as an incredibly large oak and a triple trunk hemlock – a particular favorite of the family. Other challenges included dramatically sloping topography leaving minimal level area to accommodate the house and pool, an abundance of stone outcropping, and wetlands that surround half the property. Working closely with the architectural team in siting the house to preserve and incorporate these existing natural features while reducing the envelope of disturbance was imperative. The main wing of the home was oriented parallel to the natural slope of the land – maintaining the existing higher grade on one side and lower on the other. The large glass walls of the contemporary house provided for a comprehensive dialogue between the interior and the exterior environments, allowing for unencumbered views of the terraced garden spaces, long slender pool, native plantings, and existing woodlands beyond.

    A T-shaped design creates three distinct outdoor spaces: an arrival court to the north, a pool and entertaining terrace bermed between the house and a high knoll at the east, and a stepped dining terrace perched above a rocky slope to the west looking towards a reservoir. 

    The house itself is organized into three wings: formal living, informal living and support spaces, anchored to the site by a masonry wall. The void space between these three wings utilizes light and reflection to connect vertically between each story of the house as well as laterally to each wing and to the landscape beyond. Apertures function as gaps or slices to reinforce the transition between the three wings of the house. Windows and openings are lined with reflective metal panels that bounce light and landscape views into the interior spaces, while indexing the surrounding temporal environment on the building facade. 

    All events will be subject to local guidelines on gatherings, including social distancing, wearing face coverings, and stay-at-home orders. Attendance is limited, not only to maximize the safety of those attending but to promote an intimate learning experience. If this event needs to be postponed to comply with local ordinances, registrants will be notified directly.   $125. Register HERE.