Daily Archives: October 16, 2022

Thursday, October 27, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm – 2022 Season’s End Summit, Live and Online

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Our goal as both professionals and home gardeners is to create habitat for all. In order to achieve this, we must design with an ecological sensibility, implement with an ecological sensibility and manage our landscape with that same ecological sensibility. Over time all landscapes evolve and we try to set a path for the design to follow, to create the palette we envision, but it could also take a surprising and scenic turn depending on plant/animal/insect/human interactions. The way we care for our designs can have a pretty significant impact on that design and considerations such as light, noise, and carbon emissions should be part of our plans. Our goal is to create habitat, a functioning ecosystem for all. So, are we getting it right?

This Ecological Landscape Alliance fall conference on October 27 at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill has engaged five professionals to tell their stories of landscape interaction of plants, the environment, the management and the creatures that rely on them (including humans). Two Landscape Architects will talk about projects over time – what surprises they found, whether maintenance or management impacted their design and what accommodations they felt were necessary. We also have speakers who will address plant selection, the function of native, nativar and non-native plants in the landscape and importance of the plant selection on pollinator and insect/plant interactions. Does our plant selection affect the wildlife that uses it and do certain plant groups create greater impact. All of these stories also rely on the way that we manage and its implications on the landscape. Learn about new directions in management and the difference they can make to your design.

Attend Season’s End in person and get the value of visiting New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill and its acres of varied landscapes. Or attend virtually from anywhere in the country and get the benefit of hearing these great stories from experienced professionals.

Sam Hoadley will present Knockout Natives. Sam is the Manager of Horticultural Research at Mt. Cuba Center where he evaluates native plant species, old and new cultivars, and hybrids in the Trial Garden. Sam earned his degree in Sustainable Landscape Horticulture from the University of Vermont.

Next comes Fostering Pollinator Populations: New Ideas and Other Ecological Perspectives with Pawel Pieluszynski. He specializes in ecological horticulture at Brooklyn Bridge Park with a keen interest in entomology and native plant communities. He is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Biology at CUNY College of Staten Island.  The talk is followed by Mark Richardson and Robert Graham on Making the Move to Green Equipment.

Finally, Toby Wolf speaks on Designing for Change at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Toby Wolf is the owner of Wolf Landscape Architecture, whose designs connect people with the natural world. He has developed master plans, site designs, and planting designs for Wellesley College, the Native Plant Trust, Cornell Botanic Gardens, Colby College, Mount Auburn Cemetery, and homeowners throughout the Boston area. Mr. Wolf is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University. He has taught at Cornell, RISD, and SUNY ESF and has served as President and board member of the Ecological Landscape Alliance and the Horticulture Committee of the Friends of the Public Garden.

$149 for nonmembers of ELA, for either virtual or live attendance. Register at https://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/ela-summit-2022/

Saturday, October 22, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Before the Flood

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Have you ever wondered where your water comes from? Today, roughly three million people in Massachusetts enjoy water from the Quabbin Reservoir, but that has not always been the case. In Before the Flood, author Elisabeth C. Rosenberg explores the story of the Quabbin, the people who built it, and the residents who were displaced to make way for its construction.

Please join the Waterworks Museum on October 22 in welcoming Rosenberg for a discussion of this fascinating history, which will be followed by a book signing. This program will take place live at the museum, 2450 Beacon Street in Boston, and is free of charge. Doors open at 6:30pm. Masks are currently recommended but not required. Reserve your free ticket in advance to secure your place HERE. If seats are still available, walk-ins will be welcome on the day of the program.

Elisabeth C. Rosenberg is a writer and editor who focuses on the interplay between individuals, demographic groups, and disruptive technology. She has contributed to The Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, Fast Company, Harvard University Press, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center. She divides her time between Washington, DC, and Amherst, MA.

Free Admission. The Garden Club of the Back Bay enjoyed a wonderful tour of the Museum during our “Water” year of programming, and we think everyone will enjoy the venue and the talk.

Tuesday, October 25, 5:00 am – 6:30 am – Garden Designs Around the French Riviera: Modernism and the Counterblast to White, Online

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The Gardens Trust will offer a four part online series exploring contrasts, conflicts and harmonies in French Riviera garden design on Tuesdays, beginning October 25. The live webinar begins at 10 British Standard Time, which is really, really early in the morning, but a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session ends and will be available for one week. The registration link HERE is for the entire course of 4 sessions, for £16 through Eventbrite, or you may purchase a ticket for individual sessions, costing £5. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk.

This is a series that moves inland from the coast but never far from Mediterranean blues whether from the sky or the sea. Fertility was created in these ancient landscapes by forming terraces or restanques which can still be seen planted with vines, olives, fruit or vegetables. The gardens that surround many of the villas we will explore have used these terraces to decorative and productive effect. Renoir understood that you don’t paint the leaves on olive trees but the play of light between them, Mediterranean light has inspired artists in every sphere. We can appropriate Homer and the Odyssey to take a journey from this landscape’s classical roots to its challenging contemporary art by way of impressionism and surrealism. The tastes are eclectic and the plantsmanship glorious set within an array of architecture and arboreal canopies.

We set the scene in the first session in the 1920s with Comte Charles de Noailles and his wife Marie-Laure who were painted by Picasso following their marriage in 1923. They commissioned Robert Mallet-Stevens to build a summer Modernist villa in the hills above Hyères, an innovative modernist response linking the gleaming white house and garden – the Villa Noailles. The gardens were designed by Gabriel Guevrekian. Edith Wharton was a neighbour and good friend to both the Noailles and Lawrence Johnston. In contrast writer, designer, caricaturist, decorator, painter, ironworker, landscaper and French lithographer Ferdinand Bac argued that architecture should look to the colours of the ancient Mediterranean cultures. From 1919-1927 he designed his masterpiece across 6 hectares at Les Colombieres above Menton for the Ladan-Bockairy’s. From 1995 the house and gardens were restored by Michael and Margaret Likierman.

Presenter Caroline Holmes is an experienced and accomplished lecturer working for a wide range of organisations including leading tour and cruise operators. She is an Accredited Lecturer of The Arts Society and is also a Course Director for the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education. Her own gardens are open to the public and have featured in many magazine articles and on television in both Britain and Japan. Since the 1990s she has been researching, writing about and lecturing on the Riviera. Caroline is author of 12 books, her latest being Where the wildness pleases – the English garden celebrated (2021).