Boston Flora

Month: March 2023

  • Thursday, May 18 – Thursday, May 25 – Nancy Lancaster & Nancy Astor: Virginia Belles Influence Great Britain Tour

    Just Ladies Traveling offers a specialized tour May 18 – 23, 2023 across the pond, following in the footsteps of Nancy Lancaster and Nancy Astor. Participants will visit the Wallace Collection in London with a specialist guide the morning after arrival. In the afternoon, take a walk through the History of Fashion with a specialist fashion guide, highlighting boutiques, followed by a docent-led tour of the Victoria & Albert, ending with a meeting with Princess Diana’s favorite designer Jacques Azagury at the Kensington Hotel for a private afternoon tea. Saturday features a morning luxury coach tour of London highlights, and in the afternoon a presentation and talk by the Political History professor who has headed up the Astor Archives. Sunday will start with service at the Chapel Royal at St. James’s Palace (not open to the public except for services) or an optional morning visit to Columbia Road Flower Market. Then on to the Chelsea Physic Garden and the Garden Museum. The next day, on to Cliveden House Hotel for dinner and overnight. There will be a full day excursion to visit two former homes belonging to Nancy Lancaster, niece of Nancy Astor and one of the founders of Colefax and Fowler. Kelmarsh Hall was built in the 1730’s, landscaped by Norah Lindsay and Geoffrey Jellicoe. Then, travel to Cottesbrooke Hall, a beautiful Queen Anne house with award winning gardens. The following day there will be a private boat charter on the River Thames, lunch in the Boudoir hosted by Jane Churchill and Emily Astor, who have recently published Entertaining in Style, and the following day you will head back to Heathrow. $7,200 per person, single supplement $2,500. For complete itinerary visit https://www.justladiestraveling.com/entertaining_lives/

  • Thursday, March 30 – Sunday, April 2 – Galleria – Living Artfully, an NGC Design Specialty Flower Show

    The Rhode Island Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc., Sheryl McGookin, President, invites you to Galleria- Living Artfully, an NGC Design Specialty Flower Show, on March 30 – April 2 at the Rhode Island Home Show, Rhode Island Convention Center, 1 Sabin Street in Providence. Hours are: March 30 – 31, noon- 9 pm; April 1, 10 am – 9 pm, and April 2, 10 am – 5 pm. Admission is free with ticket to the Rhode Island Home Show. Living artfully is how we express who we are through art in everyday life. An artful life, simply put, means it is a life that is filled with art – the art that we create, the art that we consume and the art that we share. By appreciating the world around us, by simplifying our lives, setting a mood, and creating things, we move closer to artful living. The Galleria highlights art, culture, travel, fashion, food, wine and more – the essentials to cultivating an artful way of life – through aesthetics, harmony and beauty. After a stroll down the promenade of floral designs, it is our hope that you leave feeling creative and serene. The complete schedule may be found here. If you are interested in exhibiting, advance registration is required – contact the Design Entries Chairman, Judy L. Gray at judy.gray123@gmail.com

  • Thursday, March 30, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Eastern – Standen and the Beales: an Expression of Arts and Crafts, Online

    Standen’s garden was created around the house designed by Philip Webb for the Beale family in 1894. Webb laid out the garden in keeping with the arts and crafts ethos of the house, but the planting reflects the middle-class artistic taste of Margaret Beale, an amateur gardener who recorded her successes and failures over nearly fifty years in her garden diary. This March 30 Sussex Gardens Trust talk will examine the origins of the garden and its development in the context of arts and crafts principles, and will consider the recent restoration of the garden by the National Trust.

    Dr Caroline Ikin is a Curator at the National Trust with a specialism in garden history. She has previously worked in museums and for the Gardens Trust and her research interest is in nineteenth century art, architecture and gardens. Caroline is author of The Victorian Garden (Shire, 2012), The Victorian Gardener (Shire, 2014), The Kitchen Garden (Amberley, 2017), and is currently working on a new survey of Victorian gardens to be published by Bloomsbury and the National Trust. Caroline has written for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Garden History, the National Trust Cultural Heritage Magazine, Museums Journal and various other publications, and was awarded the Mavis Batey Essay Prize in 2022. She has lectured widely, including for the Gardens Trust, V&A, Watts Gallery, Sussex Gardens Trust, Oxford University, and Furniture History Society, as well as presenting conference papers. Her PhD thesis, titled ‘Reading Ruskin in the Garden: the designed landscape at Brantwood 1871-1900’, explored John Ruskin’s garden through the lens of his late published works.

    The lecture will be presented on Zoom. Registrants will receive a Zoom link ahead of the lecture, and a recording will be available for one week following the talk. £5.00 Register HERE.

  • Saturday, April 1, 7:00 pm – Complex Interactions in Sarracenia

    The New England Botanical Society will hold its April meeting on Saturday, April 1 at 7 pm at Smith College in Northhampton. Dr. Jessica Stephens, Assistant Professor of Biology, Biology Department, Westfield State University in Westfield, will speak on Complex Interactions in Sarracenia: Implicationsfor Plant and Ecosystem Health. The meeting will be held in McConnell 103 in the Clark Science Center. For more information visit https://www.rhodora.org/meetings/upcomingmeetings.html

  • Thursday, March 30, 11:00 am GMT (but recorded) – C20 Garden: Icons of Twentieth Century Design, Online

    Created and re-created against the backdrop of cycle of war and peace with its accompanying social and economic impacts, the twentieth century garden pivots between tradition and modernism, informality and structure. The century sees a shift in both style and materials as concrete takes its place at the heart of new towns and spaces, whilst the country house garden struggles to survive and flourish again in a new order. Garden design increasingly reflects the needs of a wider range of society, whilst literary and artistic movements locate gardens at the very heart of the struggle for meaning in a world of change and aspiration. The Gardens Trust series reflects the continuity and change in garden design and understanding through the twentieth century highlighting specific gardens and designers and setting them within more contextual discussions. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us), and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week. Tickets £30 or £5 each. To purchase a ticket for the complete series through Eventbrite, visit HERE. The Gardens Trust has complete details on its website.

    The final lecture of the current series takes place March 30 on Icons of Twentieth Century Design with Katie Campbell. Created and re-created against the backdrop of cycle of war and peace with its accompanying social and economic impacts, the twentieth century garden pivots between tradition and modernism, informality and structure. The century sees a shift in both style and materials as concrete takes its place at the heart of new towns and spaces, whilst the country house garden struggles to survive and flourish again in a new order. Garden design increasingly reflects the needs of a wider range of society, whilst literary and artistic movements locate gardens at the very heart of the struggle for meaning in a world of change and aspiration. The Gardens Trust series reflects the continuity and change in garden design and understanding through the twentieth century highlighting specific gardens and designers and setting them within more contextual discussions.

    Katie Campbell is writer and garden historian. She lectures widely, has taught at Birkbeck, Bristol and Buckingham universities; she writes for various publications and leads art and garden tours. Her recently published Cultivating the Renaissance (Routledge, 2022) examines how the Medici’s Tuscan villas reflect the changing ideas of the Renaissance. Earlier books include British Gardens in Time (Frances Lincoln, 2014) which accompanied the BBC television series, Paradise of Exiles (Frances Lincoln, 2009), which explores the Anglo- American garden-makers in late nineteenth century Florence, Policies and Pleasances: A Guide to Scotland’s Gardens (Barn Elms, 2007), and Icons of Twentieth Century Landscape Design (Frances Lincoln, 2006). She is currently working on Virgil and the Bees; a social history of beekeeping.

    Garden of Cosmic Speculation, Scotland

  • Wednesday, March 29, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Eastern – Native Plants for Container Gardens, Online

    Many native plants make great choices for container gardens. From shade to sun, perennials to shrubs, spring to fall, there are options that will bring a host of beneficial insects and birds to your yard, patio, deck, or balcony. Berkshire Botanical Garden sponsors this online lecture, led by Duncan Himmelman, on Wednesday, March 29 from 5:30 – 7 Eastern time. $12 for BBG members, $15 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/native-plants-container-gardens

    Duncan Himmelman earned his doctorate at Cornell University and taught horticultural science at the college level for 24 years. He recently retired as the Education Manager at Mt. Cuba Center, a public garden in Delaware devoted to native plant advocacy. He continues to enjoy teaching, designing landscapes and promoting ecologically focused gardening practices. 

  • Wednesday, March 29, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Eastern – Lethal Tides: Mary Sears & The Marine Scientists Who Helped Win World War II, Live and Online

    When World War II began, the U.S. Navy was unprepared to enact its island-hopping strategy to reach Japan. Mary Sears, a marine biologist, was the expert they turned to, and she along with a team of quirky marine scientists were instrumental in turning the tide of the war in the United States’ favor. The Sears team analyzed ocean currents, made wave and tide predictions, identified zones of bioluminescence, mapped deep-water levels where submarines could hide and gathered information about the topography and surf conditions surrounding the Pacific islands and Japan. Sears was frequently called upon to make middle-of-the-night calculations for last-minute top-secret landing destinations and predicted optimal landing times and locations for amphibious invasions. In supplying these crucial details, Sears and her team played a major role in averting catastrophes that plagued earlier amphibious landings, like the disastrous Tarawa, and cleared a path to Okinawa, the last major battle of World War II.

    This hybrid Massachusetts Historical Society event is free for virtual attendees, $10 for in person attendees (but free for MHS members). Author Catherine Musemeche will be the speaker.

    Register to attend online

    Register to attend in person

  • Monday, March 27, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Eastern – Plant Hunting and Plant Transfers: Plant Hunting Today

    The stories of the individual plant hunters who operated between the mid-eighteenth and mid-twentieth century have often been told and told well. The aim of this online Gardens Trust series of lectures with Dr. Toby Musgrave, therefore, is to broaden the subject and to explore four complementary yet contrasting topics. It will also serve as an introduction to the whole topic of plant hunting, collecting and transfer round the world, which we are planning to cover in more depth in the autumn. The final lecture on March 27 is Plant Hunting Today. The series ticket costs £16 for the course of 4 sessions or you may purchase a ticket for individual sessions, costing £5. To register through Eventbrite, and for more information, visit HERE, or visit The Gardens Trust events page, https://thegardenstrust.org/events-archive/?events=gardenstrust. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us). A link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week.

    A century ago, George Forrest and Frank Kingdon-Ward were plant hunting in Western China. How different the landscapes and both the objectives and practicalities of plant hunting are today. This final lecture brings the story of plant hunting up to date with an analysis and assessment of how and why plant hunting is conducted today.

    Courtesy Emory University

  • Tuesday, March 28, 5:00 pm- 6:15 pm Eastern – Dakota Dreamin’: Precipitation & Commutation in the Age of Empire, Live and Online

    I confess to a special interest in weather and weather history. This Lecture is a hybrid event. The in-person reception at the Massachusetts Historical Society on March 28 will begin at 4:30 pm. Lecture with Sara M. Gregg, Indiana University-Bloomington will begin at 5.

    In the tumultuous years of the early twentieth century, the Great Plains were at the heart of the U.S. population boom.  As Indigenous reservations were systematically dismantled and new immigrants from northern and eastern Europe piled onto boats headed for Ellis Island, policymakers and migrants identified vast swaths of the northern and southern Plains as the most promising “next-year country.”  These were years of generous precipitation, and the fertile soils appeared prime for the new crops and machines promoted by the growing infrastructure of U.S. agricultural programs.  Bottineau County, North Dakota, reached a pinnacle of successful homestead proofs during this period, as the weather, migratory patterns, state programs, and global economic conditions all coalesced to support a boom in settlement in this region during this dynamic period of national and regional growth.  Here, North Dakota boomed for the first time, foreshadowing the patterns that emerged a century later as the Bakken Formation yielded oil and gas for a very different boom in this often-overlooked corner of the nation.

    The Environmental History Seminar invites you to join the conversation. Seminars bring together a diverse group of scholars and interested members of the public to workshop a pre-circulated paper. Learn more.

    Purchasing the $25 seminar subscription gives you advance access to the seminar papers of all seven seminar series for the current academic year. Subscribe at www.masshist.org/research/seminars. Subscribers for the current year may login to view currently available essays. 

    Register to attend in person

    Register to attend online

  • Friday, March 31, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Eastern – An Evening with Uli Lorimer and Rebecca McMackin, Live and Online

    Join Uli Lorimer, director of Horticulture at Native Plant Trust and author of The Northeast Native Plant Primer- 235 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden (Timber Press) and Rebecca McMackin, Loeb Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and former director of Horticulture, Brooklyn Bridge Park, for an evening of no-holds-barred discussion about native plants in horticulture from two of the leading experts in the field today. The event will be moderated by Barbara Moran, a correspondent on WBUR’s environmental team. For 25 years, she has worked as a science journalist covering public health, environmental justice, and the intersection of science and society. She has written for many publications, including the New York Times and the Boston Globe Magazine, and produced television documentaries for PBS and others. She was twice awarded the National Association of Science Writers’ highest honor, the Science in Society Award.

    This is a hybrid event: Live virtual and in person at Garden in the Woods, Framingham, MA. The talk is scheduled for March 31 from 6 – 8 Eastern.

    Attend in person: Tickets $30 (members)/$36 (non-members) 

    Click here to register to attend this event in person

    Attend live virtual: Tickets $15 (members)/$18 (non-members)

    Click here to register to attend this event virtually

    Please note: We at the Native Plant Trust do not make video or audio recordings of classes or programs available after the fact, because we believe education is interactive, with instructors and students building a community and culture of learning. Some programs may be recorded strictly for instructor-training purposes.