Boston Flora

Month: May 2022

  • Wednesday, June 1, 11:00 am – National Rededication Ceremony of the Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial, Live and Online

    The Partnership to Renew the Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial invites you to celebrate the successful completion of the restoration of the Memorial on June 1. The Partnership to Renew the Memorial has created a model for the nation for the use of a preservation and restoration project to be a catalyst for a broad conversation on race, equity, and social justice. The heroes of the glorious 54th inspired us to move forward, just as they proclaimed as they headed into battle: Forward 54th Forward.

    This free event is open to all. View the live event via Jumbotron on Boston Common. Enter lawn seating area via Tremont Street entrance (by Park Street T station). Feel free to bring your chairs & blankets. Masks and social distancing encouraged. The event will be available for viewing via livestream on Facebook and YouTube.

    Please sign the digital Witness to History book to commemorate the unveiling of the completed Robert Gould Shaw and
    Massachusetts 54th Regiment restoration project. The National Park Service has compiled an online database of the 54th Regiment soldiers and officers as part of their “Faces of the 54th” project. View the database here. If you are a descendant of the Shaw Mass. 54th Regiment, fill out the form here. Read the Bay State Banner article about the project.

    The work began in the summer of 2020, and was initially planned to take 5-6 months. Due to a combination of factors, including the COVID pandemic, the restoration project ended up taking over a year and a half to complete. All of the bronze and stone was removed from the plaza level up, taken offsite to two different conservation studios, with the bronze bas-relief meticulously restored locally. New waterproofing was installed under the plaza’s brick, and a new concrete foundation has been built under the bronze, and everything replaced, pinning the bronze to the marble structure that surrounds it. Also,the team installed a new stainless-steel frame between the bronze and the marble, designed to stabilize the entire monument.

    The plaza substructure has been protected by installing a system called “cathodic protection” into the concrete under the plaza. This protects the steel support beams from corrosion by introducing another metal known as sacrificial. Through the use of an electrical current, the corrosion is drawn to the sacrificial metal instead of the steel beams. Read all about it at https://friendsofthepublicgarden.org/shaw54th/

  • Wednesday, May 18, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Tasty Tomatoes Workshop, Online

    Tomatoes are the diva/divo of the garden – they demand tons of attention, but it’s not a party without them! Join Boston Community Gardens and the Trustees on Zoom on May 18 at 6 pm for a deep dive into choosing and growing the most delicious tomato varieties. We’ll share some of our favorite varieties–from tasty heirlooms to compact patio tomatoes to disease resistant hybrids–and discuss planting, trellising, diseases, pests, and harvesting.

    This workshop, like many others this season, is supported by TD Bank’s Ready Commitment. Free, but please consider supporting our educational programming through the optional program fee when you register. Register at https://thetrustees.org/event/71779/

  • The Trustees CSA Offers Now Available

    Purchase Trustees Grown certified organic vegetables and pastured meat and poultry. In addition to being the largest private owner of farmland in Massachusetts, the Trustees operate multiple production farms where visitors can learn about the land and the natural cycles we depend on, share experiences, and enjoy farm fresh products. Partial payment options are available.
    Please Note: Our CSAs are only open to Trustees members. If you are not yet a member sign-up here. There are options from Appleton Farms in Ipswich, including a fruit CSA share, Chestnut Hill Farm in Southborough, Powisset Farm in Dover, Weir River Farm in Hingham, and more. Read all about it at https://shopthetrustees.org/pages/trustees-farms

  • Tuesday, May 24, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Sea to Soil: Using Kelp as a Soil Amendment, Online

    Native to the East Coast, sugar kelp may become an important tool to sustainably maintain plant health, given it is rich in important micronutrients and powerful bio-stimulating compounds. Take a deep dive into the many ways kelp-based fertilizers can dramatically strengthen root zones and improve soil health while also removing carbon from the atmosphere and combating climate change. This New York Botanical Garden online lecture takes place May 24 at 6 pm Eastern time, and speakers are Don Gabel and Sean Barrett. NYBG members $35, nonmembers $39. Register HERE.

  • Tuesday, May 17, 5:00 am – Forgotten Women Gardeners: Maud Grieve, Online

    Maud Grieve was born in London in 1858. She spent her early married life in India, on their return at the end of the 19th century the couple built a house, The Whin’s in Chalfont St Peter where Maud established a beautiful garden. At the outbreak of World War One she transformed her garden into a herb farm to meet the urgent need for medicinal plants by the pharmaceutical industry. She was also involved in setting up the ‘Herb Growing Association’. She supplied plants and seeds and pamphlets on their cultivation and established a training school for women and ex-servicemen from the colonies. In 1918 she let out her drying shed to the war artists Paul and John Nash where they accomplished some of their finest war commissions. Maud is probably best remembered for her book The Modern Herbal, which was published in 1931, is still relevant today.

    Claire de Carle is the chair and a trustee of Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2022. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Trust’s Research & Recording project in 2013 which has produced reports on around 100 locally important historic gardens. She enjoys researching and writing about little known historic landscape gardens and more recently she has set up two other projects: Artists and their Gardens and Public Parks in Buckinghamshire. She lectures to local groups about Buckinghamshire gardens and Maud Grieve, the herbalist who was the subject of her MA dissertation. Claire lives in Oakley a small village on the Bucks/Oxon border, in her spare time she works on her garden that she and her husband have created over the last seven years.

    This Gardens Trust lecture takes place May 17 at 5 am Eastern, but a recorded link will be sent to watch over the following week. Register HERE

    The Whin’s

  • Thursday, May 19, 5:00 am – The Nineteenth Century Garden: Joseph Paxton, Online

    This Gardens Trust talk on May 19 is the third in the Gardens Trust’s 2nd series on Victorian Gardens on Thursdays @ 10.00 GMT. £5 each or all 6 for £30. 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

    Sir Joseph Paxton (1803-1865) is remembered for designing large-scale public works, including parks, cemeteries and buildings, most notably the Crystal Palace. These sites were intended to be used and enjoyed by everybody, but Paxton’s inspiration came from the more exclusive environment of the country house. Among his achievements at Chatsworth, where he was employed as head gardener to the 6th Duke of Devonshire, he created one of the tallest water fountains in the world, brought the Victoria Regia (Amazonica) water lily to flower, and built an enormous glasshouse called the Great Stove. These Chatsworth projects were not only horticultural, engineering or aesthetic endeavours. Paxton was also driven by a belief in the moralising influence of gardens and gardening. With the agreement of his employer and the support of his wife Sarah, he opened Chatsworth’s gates to tens of thousands of tourists every year. As his success increased, so did his reach – the Crystal Palace and its gardens were visited by millions. This talk will draw on correspondence from the Devonshire Collections archive to shed light on how Joseph Paxton understood the social impact of his work, as it grew in scale and traversed the boundaries of private and public.

    Lecturer Dr Lauren Batt recently completed a PhD with the University of Sheffield in collaboration with the Collections Department at Chatsworth. Her thesis examined power and authority on the Chatsworth Estate between 1811 and 1877, focusing in particular on servants and estate workers. She subsequently worked with the image and ephemera collection at Derby Museums, in preparation for the opening of the Museum of Making, and as a Project Curator for the National Trust at Hardwick Hall. Lauren now works in the Curatorial Department at Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire, and continues to research topics including historic graffiti, domestic service and model architecture on nineteenth-century country estates. At home, she is an enthusiastic but woefully inept gardener.

  • Wednesday, May 18, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – Unforgettable Gardens: Edibles and the World Food Garden, Online

    The Gardens Trust is delighted to partner once again with London Gardens Trust, this time to look at some slightly more unusual Unforgettable Gardens which highlight the value of gardening with all the senses. This ticket is for this individual session and costs £5, 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 one week) will be sent shortly afterwards.

    Paul Kettel invites you to join him for a taster tour of the RHS’s new World Food Garden – where you can immerse yourself in a palette of edible delights. The Garden, which opened in 2021 is already proving to be very popular with garden visitors. It demonstrates the cultivation of new and unusual vegetables, fruit, flowers and herbs, some of them exotic that will inspire the amateur gardener to grow at home. Paul will explore new tastes that can be found in the produce grown in the World Garden as some may become more commonly grown.

    Paul Kettell, formerly the Royal Horticultural Society’s School’s Development Officer, is now the Edibles Team Leader at the RHS Garden Wisley in charge of the new World Food Garden.

    Copyright: Oliver Dixon/RHS

  • Saturday, May 21, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Allen C. Haskell Public Gardens Spring Plant Sale

    Those of us who have been around a while fondly remember the knowledgeable but sometimes cantankerous Allen Haskell in New Bedford, whose nursery was a treasure trove of out of the ordinary plants. His legacy continues under the management of The Trustees, and you have a rare opportunity to order online now, with pickup at the garden on Saturday, May 21, from 10 – 2. There are kits for pre-order, expertly curated by the Haskell Public Gardens horticultural team. All purchases directly benefit the Allen C. Haskell Public Gardens and The Trustees. Order now at www.shopthetrustees.org The Native New England Pollinator Kit and Shade Woodland Northeast Natives Kits are already sold out!

  • Saturday, May 14 and Sunday, May 15 – Ramble Opening Weekend

    New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill celebrates the opening of The Ramble, its brand new children’s garden. Come play, invent, and create in a space made just for the young and young at heart. This weekend will feature live music, face painting, fairy and princess characters, drop-in activities, and more. The event is included with General Admission but purchasing tickets online in advance is advisable, to secure your preferred date. For more information visit www.nebg.org.

  • Saturday, December 31, 2022 – Monday, January 9, 2023 – The Galapagos Islands

    Fly to the Galápagos Islands for a 7-night cruise aboard a 20-passenger premium-class Relais & Chateaux yacht, the 142-foot M/V Theory. Accompanied by an Harvard Alumni Association study leader and superb staff of resident naturalists, observe Giant Galapagos tortoises, flocks of frigate birds and blue-footed boobies, Darwin’s finches, and Galapagos penguins, colonies of marine iguanas and sea lions, along with other fascinating sea life. Conclude with a tour of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, and its lovely riverfront. An optional pre-trip to Guayaquil offers a visit to a charming hacienda and cacao plantation and New Years’ Eve dinner in the city. An optional post-trip extension to Machu Picchu offers an excellent introduction to the rich cultural and archaeological wonders of Peru. The itinerary and pricing (not for the faint hearted) may be found HERE. But we only live once.