The Garden Club of the Back Bay will be holding a members only guided tour of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum nasturtium display on April 10, which is reason enough to join the Club today at https://gardenclubbackbay.org/
The nasturtium was one of Isabella Stewart Gardner’s favorite flowers. Long considered a symbol of freedom, strength and independence, this blooming vine has been appreciated as a food, medicine and work of art. A gifted gardener, Mrs. Gardner began growing the vines in her greenhouses in Brookline. What came next was the creation of a spectacle out of a fairytale that only a true visionary could have imagined.
In April 1905, to celebrate her birthday and mark the return of spring, Mrs. Gardner arranged for cascading nasturtium vines to spill down from the Venetian balconies of the Courtyard of her Fenway palace. Since then, the unique display of brilliant orange nasturtiums has become a renowned annual tradition, inspiring artists and visitors to her museum for over a hundred years.
The tour of the Museum will focus on the nasturtiums, as we learn about the process the Gardner’s team of horticulturists use to transform flats of seeds in June to nasturtium vines in lengths that would rival the locks of Rapunzel nine months later. We will view paintings inspired by the Gardner nasturtiums, and see other works of art that reflect Mrs. Gardner’s love of flowers, gardening and landscapes.
This program is for members only with a limit of only 25 people. However, we will keep a waitlist. If you sign up and can not attend, please let us know so someone may take your place. We will meet at 2:00 pm near the bookstore at the Gardner Museum located at 25 Evans Way. For more information email info@gardenclubbackbay.org
