Boston Flora

Month: September 2023

  • Tuesday, October 10, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Online

    The Gardens Trust has created a seven part series on Tuesdays, beginning September 12, to mark 50 years of UNESCO World Heritage, £5 each or all 7 for £28. Starting with an overview of World Heritage values and the changing nature of the UK list, the series will aim to enthuse people about individual sites around Great Britain, highlighting what makes each one exceptional, the advantages and challenges of being inscribed on the list, and the issues around sustainable future management of these global assets. 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 for the complete series HERE, or follow the links on that page to sign up for individual sessions.

    The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew tells the story of our relationship with plants, from innovative landscape design to global exploration, scientific endeavor and conservation action. The resulting rich and diverse cultural landscape is of national and international significance, spanning over 260 years. Kew Gardens was inscribed onto the World Heritage List in July 2003, acknowledging the value of its unique history, diverse historic landscape, rich architectural legacy, botanic collections and its position as one of the world’s leading botanic gardens for scientific research and education.

    Since the botanic gardens were first established by Princess Augusta in 1759, the site and collections have continued to grow and evolve through the work of RBG Kew’s scientists, horticulturists, educators and many volunteers. Over this time, RBG Kew has remained faithful to its original purpose, with botanists continuing to collect specimens and exchange expertise internationally. RBG Kew’s landscape, buildings and plant collections combine to form a unique testimony to developments in garden design, horticulture and botanical science that have subsequently diffused around the world.

    Georgina Darroch is Kew Gardens World Heritage Site Manager. Georgina has worked at Kew for 10 years, starting out as a student on the Kew Diploma in Horticulture before going on to work in Kew Science and then on several high-profile projects including the Hive and the Temperate House restoration. Georgina took on the management of Kew’s World Heritage Site responsibilities in 2019, leading the development of Kew’s current WHS Management Plan and engaging in several Planning Inquiries. Georgina has a background in archaeology and heritage management.

    Simon Toomer is Kew Gardens Curator of Living Collections, a new role that he took on in 2022 to lead the delivery of Kew’s Living Collections Strategy and develop Kew’s Landscape Succession Plan. Simon has been a forester, arboriculturist and horticultural botanist with previous roles including Director of Westonbirt Arboretum, Senior Consultant for Plant Conservation with the National Trust and Chair of PlantNetwork, the primary support and advisory network for holders of living plant collections throughout Britain and Ireland. He is also the author of several books on topics about trees and plant collections, including Trees for the Small Garden (Timber Press, 2005) and Planting and Maintaining a Tree Collection (Timber Press, 2010).

  • Tuesday, October 10, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Frederick Law Olmsted Lecture: The Blue Hills – Charles Eliot’s Design Experiment (1893 – 1897)

    Portrait of Anita Berrizbeitia, who wears glasses and a black shirt.

    Anita Berrizbeitia is a Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She served as Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture between 2015-2022 and as Program Director of the Master in Landscape Architecture Degree Programs between 2012-2015. Her research explores nineteenth and twentieth-century public realm landscapes, with interests in material culture, urban political ecology, and the productive functions of landscapes in processes of urbanization and climate adaptation. Her research on Latin American cities and landscapes focuses, in addition, on the role of large-scale infrastructural projects on territorial organization, climate adaptation, and on the interface between landscape and emerging urbanization.

    A licensed landscape architect, she has worked on a broad range of projects and competitions, including urban design, campus planning, public parks, and residential gardens. She is a consultant for national and international landscape architectural firms and has served on juries of multiple design competitions in the US and abroad, including Chair of the Jury of the Rome Prize at the American Academy in Rome, and design competitions in Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, Spain, and the Middle East.  At Harvard, she serves on the university’s Design Review Board, the Harvard University Committee on the Arts and the Radcliffe Institute Public Art Competition.  She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Landscape Architecture (JoLA). Before joining the GSD in 2009 she was a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania.

    At the GSD she has taught core Landscape Architecture studios and core Urban Design studios. Her option studios have focused on urban and territorial scale infrastructures, on emergent urbanization, and climate adaptation. She has also taught design theory in both the core and elective curricula.

    Berrizbeitia is editor of Urban Landscape—Critical Concepts in Built Environment Series; editor of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates: Reconstructing Urban Landscapes (Yale University Press), which received an ASLA Honor Award; author of Roberto Burle Marx in Caracas: Parque del Este, 1956–1961 (Penn Press), awarded the inaugural J.B. Jackson Book Prize in 2007 from the Foundation for Landscape Studies; and co-author with Linda Pollak of Inside/Outside: Between Architecture and Landscape, which won an ASLA Merit Award. Her essays have been published widely in journals and anthologies, including the Journal of Landscape Architecture (JoLA); Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes; Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts (National Gallery of Art); Cultural History of Gardens (Berg Publishers); Sao Paolo: A Graphic Biography (University of Texas Press), Cerros Islas Santiago (Fundación Cerros Islas); Recovering Landscape (Princeton Architectural Press); CASE: Downsview Park Toronto (Prestel); Large Parks (Princeton Architectural Press); and Retorno al Paisaje (Evren) among others. With Diane Davis, she co-edited Harvard Design Magazine 49: Publics (2021).

    Berrizbeitia received a BA from Wellesley College in Studio Art and an MLA from the GSD. She was awarded the Prince Charitable Trusts Rome Prize Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome in 2006.

    This lecture explores how developments in the earth sciences—specifically geology, evolutionism, and biogeography—ushered in advances in design methodologies for large public–realm landscapes in late nineteenth-century Boston.  

    In her earlier work on Charles Eliot’s Metropolitan Park System of 1892, she argued that geology had provided a framework for re-envisioning what had become a fragmented territory as a unified whole. Eliot proposed the region’s formative processes and the thick and unseen strata underlying the visible and varied topography in and around Boston as the foundation for a new political geography for a rapidly expanding city. For the Blue Hills, the largest of the reservations of the park system, Eliot turns his attention to the surface, proposed as a mantle of vegetation that drapes over the hills’ granitic foundation. Eliot introduces methods of biogeography to fieldwork, of forestry and conservation, and of what today we call restoration ecology. However, Eliot also prompts us to reconsider the role of the wild and wilderness, and of aesthetics in relationship to a growing public. Rather than being the product of a singular or unified framework, his proposal shows us the intertwining of multiple design methods and ways of knowing that join notions of the “wild” and of the “urban.” 

    Harvard Graduate School of Design is proud to host this October 10 Frederick Law Olmsted free lecture at Gund Hall’s Piper Auditorium beginning at 6:30 pm. For complete details visit www.gsd.harvard.edu

  • Saturday, September 30, 10:30 am – 11:30 am Eastern – Clever Design Tips for Everblooming, Low-Maintenance Gardens, Online

    This inspiring Berkshire Botanical Garden online lecture on September 30, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. will surprise you with creative, easy-to-implement strategies for extending the blooms of popular plants for weeks! Also showcased are time-saving design tips including distinctive plant combinations that provide unstoppable color spring through fall, as well as groundcover tapestries that smother weeds and delight pollinators. You will also learn valuable lessons from before and after design projects to avoid costly landscape mistakes.  

    Kerry Ann Mendez has over 25 years of professional and personal garden experience with special interest in low-maintenance gardening. Kerry Ann is a garden author and lecturer who incorporates humor, abundant excitement, knowledge, and above all a passion for low-maintenance garden and landscape design.

    $20 for BBG members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/clever-design-tips-everblooming-low-maintenance-gardens

  • Wednesday, October 18, 2:00 pm – Art in Bloom On The Road

    The October meeting of The Garden Club of the Back Bay will be held at The Chilton Club, 152 Commonwealth Avenue, on October 18 at 2 pm. This is a members only meeting, but if you’d like to join the Club, visit their website at https://bostonflora.com/store to take advantage of the full year of activities planned for 2023 – 2024.

    The MFA Boston was the first museum in the country to host Art in Bloom — a magnificent pairing of flowers and art.  The Art in Bloom Roadshow brings the Art in Bloom experience to you with an informative PowerPoint presentation of the art and flower arrangements that wows visitors. 

    The PowerPoint will be presented by an engaging MFA art guide who has been trained by the museum.  It is followed by a live floral demonstration by an MFA trained Associate.  The floral arrangement is inspired by an art object from the MFA’s collection.  

    The Art in Bloom Roadshow offers a compelling “guided tour” and an up-close look at the stunning flowers and art that make Art in Bloom the busiest weekend of the year at the MFA Boston. If you have any questions about GCBB programs, feel free to contact Program Committee co-chairs, Jackie Blombach or Christine Hirshland.

  • Wednesday, September 27, 2:00 pm Eastern – Munstead Wood: Gertrude Jekyll’s Home and Garden, Online

    In June 2023, the National Trust in the UK announced the new acquisition of a Grade I listed house and garden—Gertrude Jekyll’s home and garden, Munstead Wood. Gertrude Jekyll was one of the most important garden designers of the early 20th century, a prolific writer, and skilled businesswoman. She often collaborated with architect Sir Edwin Lutyens and both worked on Jekyll’s own home in Surrey. Jekyll lived at Munstead Wood from the 1890s until her death in 1932. During that time, she created a woodland garden and designed seasonal gardens, such as the Spring Garden, the Hidden Garden, the June Garden, and the 200-foot-long colorful herbaceous border. Jekyll once spoke of Munstead Wood “My garden is my workshop, my private study, and a place of rest.” 

    Landscape historian and author Judith Tankard will discuss Jekyll’s home and garden, and talk about the designer’s theories on color, planting and design. She will show some of Jekyll’s own photographs and scrapbooks to demonstrate Jekyll‘s lasting influence on garden design. Andy Jasper, Head of Gardens at the National Trust, created a video for Royal Oak Foundation members to explain the upcoming restoration plans and Munstead Wood’s opening to the public. Ms. Tankard is a member of The Garden Club of the Back Bay.
    Watch LIVE on Wednesday, September 27 at 2:00 p.m. (ET) or RENT the recording!
    $15 Royal Oak members; $25 non-members
    LIVERENTAL

  • Wednesday, October 4, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Eastern – Conversations with Great American Gardeners: Claire Sawyers, Online

    The American Horticultural Society is pleased to share the final session in the 2023 Great American Gardeners free webinar series, featuring the 2023 Liberty Hyde Bailey Award recipient, Claire Sawyers. This October 4 live virtual program will be hosted by Holly Shimizu, former executive director of the United States Botanic Garden and AHS board member, who will lead an engaging conversation tapping into the awardee’s knowledge and experience.

    Claire Sawyers has served as the Director of the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College for more than 30 years, where she has transformed the Arboretum into one of the leading examples of campus gardens in the country. Her prolific, award-winning publications include The Authentic Garden: Five Principles for Cultivating Place, as well as four texts of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Handbook series, for which she was a guest editor. In addition to the AHS 2023 Liberty Hyde Bailey Award, Sawyers is the recipient of a 2009 Professional Award and 2008 Book Award from AHS. Register at https://ahsgardening.org/lifelong-learning/conversations-with-great-american-gardeners/

  • Wednesday, October 4, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Eastern- Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman: A Creative Kinship, Online

    American novelist Edith Wharton’s first published work was not a novel but a design manual that she coauthored with the Codman Estate‘s Ogden Codman Jr. Their book, The Decoration of Houses, was destined to become an interior design classic. Using original letters from Historic New England’s Codman Family Manuscript collection, this October 4 Historic New England illustrated virtual talk with Camille Arbogast, Codman family scholar, offers an inside peek into Wharton and Codman’s artistic friendship, which spanned more than forty years.

    Tickets are free; donations are encouraged. Become a member today to help us continue to offer free programs for all to enjoy.

    Please call 617-994-6678 for more information, or visit https://my.historicnewengland.org/17425/wharton-and-codman to register. The link for the webinar will be included in the order confirmation for this program.

  • Friday & Saturday, October 6 & 7 – Forum 2023: Harewood House and the Walled Kitchen Gardens of North Yorkshire

    Fancy a quick trip across the Pond? The Walled Kitchen Gardens Network is hugely pleased to announce Harewood House as our venue for 2023, with thanks to Trevor Nicholson, Head of Gardens & Grounds, and the Trustees at Harewood. The theme this year will look at the historic relationship between the Kitchen Garden and the Kitchen – a vitally important collaboration for the management of Estates and their households historically, many again recognizing and enjoying the benefits and working together.

    The first day, Friday 6th October, will be at Harewood House, where we will meet from 9 am, with talks during the morning, from our speakers; Trevor Nicholson, Steffie Shields, Claudio Bincoletto and Bent Varming. After lunch, we will spend the afternoon in the 18thC walled kitchen gardens with Trevor and his team and return to the Courtyard with time for discussions, Q&A and tea.On Saturday 7th, we will visit other  Walled Kitchen Gardens in North Yorkshire.

    Harewood sits in the heart of Yorkshire and is one of the Treasure Houses of England. The House, built during the mid-18th century, has over 50 ha (100 acres) of landscaped gardens laid out by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, set within a wider estate of over 350 ha. Trevor Nicholson oversees this landscape, including of course, the Walled Garden, which sits at the far side of the Lake. It is the oldest garden at Harewood, already under construction when building at Harewood House began in 1759. Its purpose – to provide the kitchens with the finest fresh fruit and vegetables.

    Susan Campbell writes: The kitchen garden at Harewood was designed by Lancelot Brown between the years of 1758 and 1781 for the owner, Edwin Lascelles. It is unique in that it looks like an island in the lake created by Brown, but in fact it is built on a promontory jutting into the west side. The lake was created by damming the Stank Beck that flows through the western part of the estate. A watercolor by Turner, painted in 1797, shows how well the kitchen garden melts into the wider landscape. It is also noticeable that the lake can be seen from the mansion, but not the kitchen garden. Complete registration materials can be found at www.walledgardens.net

  • Sunday, October 1, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Bog Plants

    One of Thoreau’s beloved landscapes, referenced often in his writings, Gowing’s Swamp is a rare and beautiful bog in a kettle hole below a glacial ridge in Concord, Massachusetts. Neela de Zoysa of the Native Plant Trust will walk the loop around the bog and explore the thriving community of northern bog plants such as pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea), bog rosemary (Andromeda polifolia), bog laurel (Kalmia polifolia), small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos), large cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon), and black spruce (Picea mariana). The field trip takes place Sunday October 1 from 1 – 3 at Gowing’s Swamp, a Sudbury Valley Trustees Property. $30 for NPT members, $36 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/bog-plants/

  • Wednesday, October 4, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Eastern- Head Gardeners at Historic Sites: John Wood at Hinton Ampner, Online

    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.

    Hinton Ampner is a 14-acre National Trust garden set amid the rolling Hampshire countryside. Laid out from the 1930s as a series of distinctive garden rooms, it is seen as a masterpiece of 20th-century garden design, with a mix of styles and glorious views across the South Downs. The garden has an exceptional framework that is complimented by a great variety of plants including dahlias, roses and salvias. Since 2000 the Walled Garden has been restored, and the garden team continues restoring many of the large beds and borders. Visitor numbers have grown from 25,000 a year to over 170,000, which poses growing challenges in the garden.

    John Wood is head gardener at Hinton Ampner. He has worked for the National Trust for 25 years, starting at Mottisfont, assisting David Stone with the restoration of the renowned Rose Garden containing the national collection of historic roses. It was here John developed his love of roses. Having worked at Hinton Ampner since 2000, he is moving to become head gardener at Hampton Court Castle in Herefordshire this autumn. In his spare time John is working on his own garden project, experimenting with border design and planting combinations.