Boston Flora

Month: April 2023

  • Sunday, April 16 (Rain Date April 23), 7:30 am – Annual Reconfiguration of the Abstract Sculpture at the Armenian Heritage Park

    Beginning at 7am on April 16, a crane will lift, pull apart and reconfigure the two halves of the Abstract Sculpture, made of steel and aluminum, to create a new sculptural shape, at the Armenian Heritage Park on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway in Boston. The annual reconfiguration is symbolic of all who pulled away or were forced to pull away from their country of origin and came to these Massachusetts shores, establishing themselves in new and different ways. Supported by the Park’s Endowed Fund for the Annual Reconfiguration of the Abstract Sculpture, a gift of Charles and Doreen Bilezikian. For more information email hello@ArmenianHeritagePark.org

  • Tuesday, April 18, 6:45 pm – 8:45 pm Eastern – The Sun: Front and Center, Online

    The Smithsonian’s Grand Tour of the Solar System, a three part Zoom lecture series, begins with the 4.5-billion-year-old star at the center of the solar system, the Sun. As the most massive object around, the sun’s gravity is the glue that holds the solar system together, keeping everything from the biggest planets to the smallest bits of debris in orbit around it. The sun’s activity, from powerful eruptions to the steady stream of charged particles it sends out, influences the nature of space throughout the solar system and provides a protective bubble that shields the planets from damaging galactic radiation. A hot, glowing ball of mostly hydrogen and helium, the Sun emits its own radiation—mainly visible, ultraviolet, x-ray, and infrared. It is the most important source of energy for life on Earth. George Mason University astrophysicist and cosmologist Hakeem Oluseyi shines a light on what astronomers already know about the sun and what they are still trying to understand.

    Each lecture may be purchased separately for $25 (Smithsonian members) or $30 (nonmembers). The Sun will be discussed on April 18 at 6:45 pm Eastern. Future episodes are Mercury, Small but Mighty Interesting (May 9) and Venus, Shrouded in Clouds (May 30). Register at https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/solar-system-sun

    Photo: NASA/JPL

  • Wednesday, April 26, 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Twilight Garden Party: Think Spring

    There is still time to purchase tickets for the Garden Club of the Back Bay’s major fund raiser, the Twilight Garden Party. The event is on April 26 at 6 pm at the St. Botolph Club, 199 Commonwealth Avenue. $220 – $5,000. Sign up through Eventbrite HERE.

  • Saturday, April 15 – Saturday, April 22 – 90th Historic Garden Week in Virginia

    Please join The Garden Club of Virginia April 15-22, 2023, for tours throughout Virginia and celebrating 90 years of Historic Garden Week. For one week in April, visitors will tour inspired private landscapes, public gardens and historic sites across Virginia, enjoying our beautiful state at the peak of spring. In addition, more than 1,000 world-class floral arrangements created by Garden Club of Virginia members will enhance tour properties. This beloved statewide event will include 29 unique tours organized and hosted by 48 member clubs located from the foothills of the Shenandoah Valley all the way to the beaches of Tidewater.

    In 1929 the first Historic Garden Week was held and the funds were dedicated to restoring the grounds at Kenmore in Fredericksburg. This year we celebrate our 90th Historic Garden Week and the proceeds from the nation’s only statewide house and garden tour continue to fund the restoration and preservation of Virginia’s historic public gardens as well as a research fellowship program in landscape architecture. Many of these restoration sites are on the tour or listed in the Places of Interest section in the guide book for each tour, and are open for tours throughout the year. Go to https://www.vagardenweek.org/ to access the guidebook, view details on all 29 tours, and to order your tickets.

  • Saturday, April 8, 10:00 am – 11:45 am – Floral Design: It’s a New Day

    Join Lorraine and Mary Lou from Artistry Floral on April 8 at 10 am for in this Massachusetts Horticultural Society workshop and create your own floral display to take home or give away. We always look forward to a change of seasons –The holidays of early spring are associated with life and the rebirth of nature back into full = blossom. Of course Spring is about traditional daffodils, tulips and Iris – but there’s definitely more to inspire this vibrant time of year. You will take home an arrangement suitable for your home.

    In 2016, Lorraine Walsh and Mary Lou Ashur met as floral associates at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. There, studying fundamentals of floristry and working in teams, they designed and executed a variety of art inspired floral arrangements for certain museum locations as well as the restaurants, special events, and holiday installations. Now in the marketplace, they are committed to producing artistic floral creations, using only the highest quality flowers and plants, from local growers and flower producers around the world. They are also focused on sustainable floral design and eco-friendly floral purchases from wearables to table arrangements, bouquets, and large installations. They are inspired to produce arrangements that are unique and designed to honor their clients’ significant events respecting their individual styles, while sourcing seasonal flowers, and respecting the environment.

    The class will take place at the Garden at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley. $75 for Mass Hort members, $95 for nonmembers. Register at www.masshort.org

    https://www.artistryfloral.com/our-work

  • Saturday, April 15, 11:00 am – 1:30 pm – Cultivating Mushrooms Outside

    Start spring early with a dive into the fungal kingdom with Berkshire Botanical Garden. Learn how to inoculate logs, wood chips and stumps for mushroom cultivation in your backyard. We will cover the basic information everyone should know about fungi and get hands-on experience doing these easy to replicate growing methods. By the end of class you will be familiar with six different wild mushroom species, three cultivation techniques and have loads of new fungal lore to share with your friends. The class takes place at Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge on April 15 from 11 – 1:30.

    Willie Crosby is the owner of Fungi Ally. He has been growing mushrooms indoors and outdoors for over nine years and works to reveal the power of mushrooms by educating people how to incorporate mushrooms into their gardens and lives. Willie teaches online for Stockbridge School of Agriculture and Cornell as well as in person at his farm in Hadley, Mass., and for UMass-Amherst. $35 for BBG members, $45 for nonmembers.

    Courtesy Freshcap.com

  • Tuesday, April 11, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm – À la Belle Époque

    The Friends of the Gibson House Museum invite you to “À la Belle Époque,” a fun and festive party with a French theme. The evening includes drinks, a light supper, a raffle, and French music performed by singer Angela Rossi, pianist Lefteris Kordis, and accordionist Sonny Barbato. The event takes place April 11 from 6 – 9 at the St. Botolph Club, 199 Commonwealth Avenue.

    Join us in honoring the French Library, our Back Bay neighbor, for its many years of providing high-quality French-language instruction and cultural programs that inspire our community. We recognize, too, the library’s dedication to preserving Boston’s architectural history with a recent renovation of its 1867 brownstone headquarters that sensitively balances future needs with a respect for the building’s original charm and character. 

    All proceeds will support the preservation and operation of the Gibson House Museum. Festive attire, French flair optional!

    Tickets are $150 and may be purchased by clicking HERE, or by sending a check with the names of your guests to the Gibson House Museum, 137 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02116. 

    Dancer Loïe Fuller (1862–1928) performs Danse serpentine in 1902

  • Saturday, April 15, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm – Hydrangea Success for Northeast Gardens

    “Why isn’t my hydrangea flowering?” is the number one question asked of Northeast Master Gardeners. Answers are complicated, but Chris Ferrero and Berkshire Botanical Garden will simplify things by showing you the six beautiful hydrangea species that thrive in the Northeast. Your challenge will be to limit your choices to your available space! The class will take place Saturday, April 15 from 11 – 12:30 at Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. $20 for BBG members, $25 for nonmembers. Register HERE.

    Chris Ferrero is a Cornell Master Gardener from Dutchess County, N.Y., where in addition to speaking and teaching classes, she has led demonstration garden renovations, organized regional events and served on teams as a perennials specialist known for particular expertise in shade gardening, flowering shrubs, pollinator-approved planting designs, and native plants as alternatives to invasives.

  • Wednesday, April 12, 7:00 pm – The Guests of Ants, Online

    The Athol Bird & Nature Club will host Christina L. Kwapich, PhD, on April 12 at 7:00 pm, both in person and online. This talk will explore the hidden biodiversity inside ant nests, and the behavioral mechanisms diverse parasites employ to infiltrate ant societies. Some intruders tickle ant mouth parts to steal regurgitated meals, while others use specialized organs and glandular secretions to entice ants or calm their aggression. Once able to “speak the language,” these outsiders can masquerade as ants. Suddenly colony members can no longer distinguish friend from foe.

     
    Christina L. Kwapich, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Ecology at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and the co-author of the book The Guests of Ants: How Myrmecophiles Interact with Their Hosts (2022, Harvard University Press). Her laboratory examines the organization of labor in seed harvesting ant societies, subterranean ant nest architecture, and ant guests. In person at MREC 100 Main Street Athol 01331 or by Zoom You are invited to a Zoom webinar. Topic: The Guests of Ants – Christina L. Kwapich, PhD Register in advance for this webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Z-Y4dR2sTkS3Ta-8BeGBng After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

  • Wednesday, April 12, 3:00 pm Eastern – Culture & Place: The Art of Process-led Design, Online

    Pacific Horticulture will sponsor a Zoom presentation on April 12 at 3 pm Eastern, 12 noon Pacific, on Culture & Place: The Art of Process-led Design, with Xanthe White.This webinar is part of the Multidisciplinary Approaches to Resilient Landscapes Event in collaboration with Garden Masterclass.

    Xanthe White is a New Zealand designer second to none in her ability to articulate design issues. She uses the process of design itself as a key to her work. Pacific region gardeners and designers will appreciate White’s passion for connecting people to nature and sense of place and for integrating native plants of conservation importance into garden spaces.  

    “The art of garden design is always interwoven into the context of culture and place. It is these unique parameters which define the infinite variable outcomes of a garden. While these infinite possibilities might make the creation of a garden seem endless and overwhelming design is a process which guides us through a site to find the limitations and parameters. It is within the creation of these boundaries that a garden emerges. Process lead design can be applied to any place or situation to guide you to a destination woven with the unique magic of the occupier and the place of occupation.” 

    The one hour presentation will be directly followed by a 30 minute live Q & A. $15 for Pacific Horticulture members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at https://pacifichorticulture.org/events/culture-the-art-of-process-led-design-with-xanthe-white/