Boston Flora

Month: February 2022

  • Tuesday, March 15, 6:45 pm – 8:45 pm – Charles Darwin in Context: Evolution of Dangerous Ideas, Online

    Charles Darwin has long been put on a pedestal and idolized as an objective, rational thinker who challenged the theist views of his day and changed for the better how we see the world. The truth, however, is a lot more complicated. Not all of Darwin’s ideas are as original or unique as was widely believed. Many are drawn from the false assumptions and prejudices of his (Victorian) era, and then restated as factual scientific observation. They helped buttress racist and sexist worldviews in ways that continue to haunt us to this day.

    Rui Diogo, an evolutionary biologist and associate professor of anatomy at Howard University’s College of Medicine, has extensively reviewed Darwin’s books, diaries, notebooks, and letters. Diogo shares an unflinching look at how the acclaimed naturalist’s racism and sexism undermined his work.

    The goal is not to completely jettison Darwin’s work: He was in fact right about some important things. Instead, Diogo seeks to offer a more complete, nuanced, and clear-eyed assessment of his work that might better equip us to reject prejudices and false assumptions and evolve in our own thinking. This Smithsonian Associates online event will take place March 15 beginning at 6:45, and is $25 for Smithsonian Associates members, $30 for nonmembers. Register at www.smithsonianassociates.org

  • Wednesday, March 16, 7:00 pm – 8:15 pm – Close Encounters with Nature: Native Design in the Residential Landscape, Online

    Few home landscapes can provide the stunning vistas of a Yosemite National Park, a vast midwestern prairie, or an ancient Appalachian mountain range. They can however, provide a far more intimate and interactive natural experience than visits to those landscapes ever could. In this March 16 New Directions in the American Landscape online session Larry Weaner will interweave a series of practical, ecologically-interactive landscape techniques, with the rich experiential rewards that applying those techniques can engender. $25. Register at www.ndal.org.

    It is time for native landscapes – and knowledge about how to foster them – to become mainstream. As we spend more time at home, gardeners who understand the ecologies of their home landscapes will be better equipped to make those landscapes both ecologically beneficial and aesthetically beautiful. Schools can similarly benefit, where administrators and educators can weave ecological gardening and landscaping principles into the curriculum.

  • Saturday, March 12, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm – The New Naturalism in Garden Design, Online

    In this era of purposeful and thoughtful gardening, planting is a powerful verb. Planting gardens inspired by nature promotes authentic connections with land, environment and humanity. Why not make a garden that works and looks good doing it? Landscapes at home and in the public realm can be beautiful and ecologically functional if we deepen our understanding of plants and place. In this lecture especially tailored to garden enthusiasts with eye-catching examples for every garden, plantsman and author Kelly D. Norris challenges audiences to plant the world a more beautiful, functional place.

    This Mt. Cuba Center program is part of its Winter Lecture Series and takes place online Saturday, March 12 at 11 am. $25. Register at https://mtcubacenter.org/event/the-new-naturalism-in-garden-design-online/

    About the Instructor:
    Kelly D. Norris is one of the leading horticulturists of his generation. An award-winning author and plantsman, Kelly’s work in gardens has been featured in The New York Times, Organic Gardening, Better Homes and Gardens, Martha Stewart Living, Fine Gardening, and Garden Design and in numerous local and regional media appearances. His passion for planting at the intersections of horticulture and ecology has culminated in the book New Naturalism: Designing and Planting a Resilient, Ecologically Vibrant Home Garden which debuted in 2021. Kelly also presents plants for Cottage Farms Direct on QVC and lectures widely to consumer and industry audiences.

  • Monday, March 7, 1:00 pm Eastern – An Uncharted Network: John Bradby Blake’s Botanical Drawings and the Chinese Court

    As one of the earliest locally commissioned set of botanical drawings in Canton, John Bradby Blake’s four volumes of Chinese plants at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation show not only unprecedented quality in the most up-to-date Linnaean system but also an uncanny resemblance to the new trend of depicting plants in the eclectic style at the Qing court. This Gardens Trust March 7 lecture with Dr. Yu-chih Lai, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taiwan attempts to navigate and weave the uncharted network that linked the foreign community in Canton and the court, and to explore how the eclectically mimetic style in Bradby Blake’s drawings was made possible by hiring local Chinese painters to work with him. £5. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards. Register through Eventbrite HERE.

  • Wednesday, March 2, 6:45 pm – 8:00 pm – Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing

    Smithsonian Associates, in collaboration with the National Museum of Natural History, presents Katharine Hayhoe on March 2 in an online lecture.

    Despite the fires that raged across the western United States and severe hurricanes and flooding that threatened the South and the East Coast, the tragic pushback against climate action continues. Katharine Hayhoe, a leading expert on the science, impacts, and communication of climate change, is committed to transforming the way we think about this urgent issue. Over the past 15 years she has found that the most effective way to talk about climate change is not by focusing on the facts, but on shared values and common ground.

    In her new book, Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, Hayhoe draws upon interdisciplinary research and personal stories to demonstrate that climate change affects someone or something you care about, which means you already have power to act for change. Eschewing doomsday scenarios, Hayhoe ‘s approach is optimistic and inclusive. She argues that climate action doesn’t depend on what type of person you are or how you vote. It’s about how each of us connects with our communities based on the values we already have, to inspire collective action.

    In conversation with Carla Easter, Broh-Kahn Weil Director of Education at the National Museum of Natural History, Hayhoe discusses how climate change became one of the nation’s most polarizing topics; how being a person of faith shaped her perspective on climate change and climate action; and important goals to consider when it comes to climate change going forward.

    Saving Us (One Signal Publishers/Atria Books), is available for purchase.

    • Purchase your copy of Saving Us by Katharine Hayhoe here.
    • SPECIAL NOTE: Politics and Prose is offering a 10% discount to Smithsonian Associates ticket-holders. To claim your discount, enter the code SPECIAL10 (no space between letters and numbers) in the “Coupon discount” section on Politics and Prose’s check-out page.
    • If you register multiple individuals, you will be asked to supply individual names and email addresses so they can receive a Zoom link email. Please note that if there is a change in program schedule or a cancellation, we will notify you via email, and it will be your responsibility to notify other registrants in your group.
    • Unless otherwise noted, registration for streaming programs typically closes two hours prior to the start time on the date of the program.
    • Once registered, patrons should receive an automatic email confirmation from CustomerService@SmithsonianAssociates.org.
    • Separate Zoom link information will be emailed closer to the date of the program. If you do not receive your Zoom link information 24 hours prior to the start of the program, please email Customer Service for assistance.

    $20 for Smithsonian Associates members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at www.smithsonianassociates.org.

  • Tuesday, March 1, 5:00 am Eastern Time (recording sent to watch for 7 days) – A Teardrop on the Face of Time: The Mughal Gardens of Northern India

    In the fifteenth century a new dimension was added to the Persian tradition when the Mughal dynasty emerged from Central Asia. While Timur Leng – Shakespeare’s fearsome Tamburlaine- amazed Europe’s ambassadors with his splendid gardens in Samarkand, it was his teen-aged great-great-great-grandson, Babur, who swept through the Hindu Kush to establish himself in ‘dusty Hindustan’. In an effort to entice his marauding army to settle the barren plains Babur created seductive gardens, damming rivers, straightening streams, importing fruit trees and planting flowers to remind his soldiers of their homeland in the mountains and meadows of Afghanistan. Combining Persian symmetry and formality with the plants and architecture of the indigenous Hindus, the Mughals evolved a unique style of tomb garden, of which the Taj Mahal is the most famous. Though Islam required its adherents to be buried in earth mounds open to the sky, the imperial tomb gardens reflected the staggering wealth of the Mughal emperors. More modest gardens of the era provided sensuous parks for the living and consoling resting places for the dead. While the Mughal tradition inspired Lutyens and Jekyll, Nora Lindsey and Geoffrey Jellicoe, its influence can be felt as far afield as northern Quebec. This Gardens Trust online talk takes place March 1, live at 5 am, but a recording link is sent to enjoy over a seven day period. £5 through Eventbrite. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gardens-of-delight-a-teardrop-on-the-face-of-time-tickets-258602626417

    Humayun’s tomb garden, Delhi

  • Wednesdays, March 2 – March 30 – Unforgettable Gardens of Yorkshire, Online

    In this series of five Gardens Trust online talks the speakers will introduce a variety of landscapes and gardens, both historic and contemporary, enjoyed by Yorkshire Gardens Trust members throughout Yorkshire and in neighboring County Durham. This ticket costs £20 for the entire course of 5 sessions or you may purchase a ticket for individual sessions, costing £5 via the links below, through Eventbrite. Please note that Daylight Savings time will alter the East Coast start time of the final two lectures, but recorded links are sent to registrants immediately following each live presentation, which can be enjoyed anytime during the following seven days. Complete descriptions of each individual lecture may be found by clicking on to the hyperlinks below.

    Week 1. 2 March. Castle Howard: A Landmark in the Mind and the Eye: First in a series of 5 online lectures, £5 each or all 5 for £20.

    Week 2. 9 March. Three Yorkshire Gardens: Second in a series of 5 online lectures, £5 each or all 5 for £20.

    Week 3. 16 March. Old Durham Gardens in the context of early Durham gardens: Third in a series of 5 online lectures, £5 each or all 5 for £20.

    Week 4. 23 March. Some of Mr. Aislabie’s other places: Fourth in a series of 5 online lectures, £5 each or all 5 for £20.

    Week 5. 30 March. The Future of Memory at Castle Howard: Fifth in a series of 5 online lectures, £5 each or all 5 for £20.

    Image: ©Will Roberts

  • Monday, February 28, 1:00 pm Eastern – The Life and Work of John Bradby Blake: Unspoken Questions

    The next lecture in The Gardens Trust series on the extraordinary life and work of John Bradby Blake continues February 28 at 1 pm Eastern with Professor Winnie Wong, University of California, Berkeley, entitled If Not This? – Unspoken Questions and the Pleasures of Substitution. This paper examines several instructional moments in which Chinese and European merchants and naturalists asked questions of Canton’s painters, apothecaries, herbalists, gardeners, street sellers, shopkeepers, and books. While they never seemed to get a proper answer, this paper interrogates their questions: why they were asked, and why they were so often unspoken and unrecorded. £5. Register through Eventbrite by clicking HERE. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.

  • Thursday, March 3, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Composting in the City Virtual Event

    Join Mothers Out Front for Composting in the City, a virtual event on March 3 at 7pm featuring a conversation with Aaron Chism, lead farmer and soil expert from Bootstrap Compost. Learn why composting is important to our city, our health, and Mayor Wu’s Green New Deal. Learn how easy it is to be part of the solution. Learn more and register here. The program will be held on Zoom.

    Courtesy Fine Gardening Magazine

  • Wednesday, March 9, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – Craft, Conservation, & Cattle

    Frequently, the side tangents that presenters don’t have time to explore are as enlightening as their core material. In this New Directions in the American Landscape online session, landscape designer Larry Weaner will conduct an informal interview, conversation, and “note comparing” session with landscape architect Thomas Woltz (pictured below). Given his education in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, fine arts, and architectural history, it is not surprising that Thomas takes a broad approach to designing landscapes. Throw in a love of “working lands’’ and “wild places” derived from growing up on a North Carolina farm and you have an individual who defines landscape architecture much more expansively than most. In this March 9 session we will explore the many paths that intersect at Nelson Byrd Woltz, a firm that received 11 ASLA awards in 2020 alone. Cosponsored by Wild Ones – Native Plants, Natural Landscapes, the American Horticultural Society, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. $45. Register at www.ndal.org.