Plants provide a medium for the creative expression of individual identities, shared narratives, and collective memories, yet they are also inherently political, and never more so than in the midst of our rapidly warming climate. As changes to the climate become more volatile, how are designers, gardeners, and others who work directly with plants developing adaptive strategies to changes both environmental and social?
This September 14 conversation at 7 pm in Calderwood Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum will convene landscape architect Rosetta S. Elkin of Pratt Institute, Stephanie Morningstar of the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust, and Erika Rumbley, and the Gardner’s Stanley P. Kozak, Director of Horticulture, in dialogue with Charles Waldheim, the Gardner’s Ruettgers Curator of Landscape and Irving Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Together they will consider the cultural, social, and political meanings of plants, and share approaches to adaptive strategies, particularly as these relate to seed-keeping and sharing. This program is organized in connection with the current exhibition Presence of Plants in Contemporary Art. Tickets may be purchased at https://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/seeding-change-politics-plants
In June of 1889 in San Francisco, John Muir—environmentalist, writer, and philosopher—meets, for the first time, his longtime editor Robert Underwood Johnson, an elegant and influential figure at The Century magazine. Before long, the pair, opposites in many ways, decide to venture to Yosemite Valley. Upon their arrival they confront a shocking sight: predatory mining, tourism, and logging industries have plundered and defaced “the grandest of all the special temples of Nature.” While Muir is consumed by grief, Johnson, a champion of society’s pressing debates through the pages of the nation’s most prestigious magazine, decides that he and Muir must fight back. The pact they form marks a watershed moment, leading to the creation of Yosemite National Park and the launching of an environmental battle that captivates the nation and ushers in the beginning of the American environmental movement.
Join the Massachusetts Historical Society either live or online on September 21 for a talk with author Dean King. This is a hybrid event. FREE for MHS Members. $10 per person fee (in person). No charge for virtual attendees or Card to Culture participants (EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare). The in-person reception starts at 5:30 and the program will begin at 6:00.
The gardens at Beauport at the Sleeper-McCann House in Gloucester are extensions of Henry Sleeper’s decorative, interior rooms. Join Historic New England on September 6 for a tour of Beauport’s historic Arts and Crafts landscape, learn how the gardens evolved over time, the philosophy behind the 2011 landscape restoration, and how the exterior of the house and the landscape play together. This half-hour outdoor tour will take place after the 11:30 a.m. house tour finishes, and before the 1:00 p.m. house tour begins. House tour tickets are purchased separately, and space is not guaranteed.
Members $10; Nonmembers $15. Log in or join now to have your discount applied at checkout.
Boston Harbor Now presents Spectacle on Spectacle, a celebration of Boston’s waterfront and Islands, on September 14. This is Boston Harbor Now’s premiere fundraising event on Spectacle Island. Ticket and sponsorship details may be found at www.bostonharbornow.org. The event features cruises to and from Spectacle Island, delicious food and drinks prepared by local vendors, lively musical entertainment, and a scenic sunset over the Boston Skyline. Funds raised allow Boston Harbor Now to ensure that Boston Harbor and its waterfront and Islands are accessible and inclusive while advocating for expanded climate resiliency measures that protect our neighborhoods from the impacts of climate change.
Boston Harbor Now is proud to invite more than 50 representatives from community partner organizations and entities to Spectacle on Spectacle. Community ticket recipients collaborate with Boston Harbor Now and other waterfront partners to bring local families and cultural groups to Boston’s waterfront and the Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park. We are grateful for their activation of our beloved park spaces and are honored to host them at Spectacle on Spectacle annually.
Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll will be the keynote speaker. She will share the administration’s vision on the preservation and protection of our shared harbor and its future. The Lieutenant Governor has been a critical ally in Boston Harbor Now’s work to epand water transportation, develop climate adaptation strategies for our shoreline, attract new visitors to Boston and the Commonwealth, and support our state’s blue economy and working ports.
Join The New England Botanical Garden at Tower Hill as they celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and the two weeks of Pride Worcester with an evening of lively entertainment and fun, family-friendly festivities. Enjoy gardens of beautiful blooms and a Beer Garden serving craft drinks and light bites. Show your support by shopping local from talented LGBTQ+ artisan vendors and connect with community organizations providing valuable resources. The celebration continues with a themed Decades Dance Party and a spectacular Drag Show. Dress as your favorite decade to match the theme and come ready to dance the night away. The event is free but admission tickets MUST be reserved online in advance HERE.
The Gardens Trust will focus on head gardeners working at historic sites. Split into two 5-week series on Wednesdays, the season will kick off with an exploration of the head gardener role over the past two centuries, followed by talks exploring how individual head gardeners are balancing the heritage of their site, the wishes of its owner(s) and their own interests and experience. We’ll hear about the role from both seasoned head gardeners and those more recently appointed. Join us to learn about the challenges they face, including climate change, as well as the joys of horticulture and heritage.
At the end of the first series, we will also be offering a FREE roundtable discussion on the different career paths available to head gardeners, and ways of encouraging more people to enter or progress in the profession. Please register separately for this.
You may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 5 sessions at a cost of £20 via the link here. [Gardens Trust members may use their promo code for a discount.] Please register separately for the roundtable discussion, or for individual sessions by following the links HERE. Ticket sales close 4 hours before the talk. 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.
The first talk is titled: Real Virtues and Exasperating Foibles: The Fraught Relationship between Landowner and Head Gardener, 1823-2023. Drawing on personal experience as a head gardener as well as archive material and contemporary diaries, Ben Dark examines the often tense, occasionally combative and sometimes staggeringly productive relationship between an estate’s most unusual servant and their employer.
Starting in 1823, when Joseph Paxton met the 6th Duke of Devonshire, and ending in 2023 with the return of ‘the celebrity head gardener,’ this talk will examine how professional horticulturalists and wealthy landowners have responded to changing garden fashions, social structures and ways of life. It will end by drawing on two-centuries’ worth of conflict and collaboration to make a prediction about how gardeners and their employers will be getting on (or not) fifty years from now.
Ben Dark is a gardener and writer. After reading History at university he trained in horticulture, working his way up to head gardener level while completing an MA in Garden and Landscape history. In November he was named Journalist of the Year at the Garden Media Guild Awards and his book, The Grove: A Nature Odyssey in 19 ½ Front Gardens(Mitchell Beasley, 2022) a mixture of garden history, biography and nature writing, has been widely praised in the gardening and general press.
Registration is open for Historic Deerfield’s Fall Forum focused on the history of the Arts and Crafts movement in Deerfield and the Northeast. Visit the forum forum event page to see the program schedule and learn about a great scholarship opportunity provided by the The Decorative Arts Trust. Please note that the scholarship application deadline is August 28th.
Artists and architects in America’s northeast made significant contributions to the burgeoning Arts and Crafts Movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, producing work that is still keenly studied. Arts and Crafts communities flourished not only in urban centers such as Boston and New York City, but also in regional communities including Rose Valley, Pennsylvania; East Aurora and Woodstock, New York; and Marblehead, Gardner, Worcester, and Deerfield, Massachusetts. In many of these locations, artists looked for inspiration not only in the work of their domestic and international contemporaries, but also in the early American or colonial past. In doing so, they produced original works of art that expanded the corpus of American Arts and Crafts design.
Historic Deerfield’s 2023 Fall Forum, The Arts and Crafts Movement in America’s Northeast, aims to address and celebrate this rich history by exploring the variety of artwork—from woodworking to metalwork—produced by urban and rural crafters of the northeast. The program features an impressive group of lecturers who will share new insights and information on a variety of topics, from the Marblehead Pottery of Marblehead, Massachusetts, to the Elverhoj Arts and Crafts colony of Milton-on-Hudson, New York. Keynote speaker Dr. Jonathan Clancy, Director of Collections and Preservation at The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms, will discuss the rise of Arts and Crafts metalwork. The forum will also offer optional special demonstrations in the areas of metalwork and bookbinding. Register at https://www.historic-deerfield.org/events/2023/fallforumartsandcrafts
Join Wright-Locke Farm for a “Party with a Purpose” to say goodbye to summer and welcome the season when New England really shows off. Enjoy live music and gourmet appetizers as you enjoy the farm during the golden hour. This celebration has tiered pricing, and there will be an opportunity to help with some upcoming projects. Click HERE for tickets.
The Annual Meeting of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay will be held on Monday, September 18 at 7 pm at Fisher College. A reception will follow the business part of the meeting. For more information visit www.nabbonline.org
Enjoy delicious food, wine, and craft beers, bid on items in a silent auction, and support the biggest fundraiser of the year for The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay. The party will be held on Thursday, November 9, from 6 – 9 at The Women’s Lunch Place, 67 Newbury Street. Click the link for more information and donation opportunities: https://womenslunchplace.org/nabb
