Join The Mount for an enchanted evening in celebration of The Mount’s historic beauty and bright future. At 4:30, begin with cocktails and jazz in the garden, followed at 6 by dinner in the forecourt. Seating is limited. Individual ticket pricing begins at $500. Details may be found at https://www.edithwharton.org/calendar/gala-2024/
Join Berkshire Botanical Garden for a unique opportunity to tour Church House, Page Dickey and Bosco Schell’s gardens and surrounding 17 acres of fields and woods located in Falls Village, Conn. Ideally situated with a view of the Berkshire Hills, it is a gardener’s classroom with groves of shadblow (Amelanchier), a saltwater pool accented by hydrangeas and flowering shrubs, and a small cottage garden surrounding the house. Meadow paths rich in native flowers lead to a lime rock-strewn woodland and ravine with a vernal pool. $45 members, $55 nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/cocktails-great-gardens-june-19
Join in the celebration of the 350th Anniversary of North Kingstown and find out how Casey Farm fits into the local history of the seaside village of Saunderstown with farm tours at your own pace between 8:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. See the farmhouse museum gallery, Casey family cemetery, markers honoring African American and Indigenous peoples, and barnyards, gardens, and fields on this extensive farmland. Be sure to arrive between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to shop with the excellent local vendors of the Casey Farm Market in between touring. The highlight of the day is performances by Rhode Island Black Storytellers under the large market tent between 9:30 a.m and 12:30 p.m. Artists Marlon Carey, Sidy Maiga, Raffini, and Valerie Tutson of RIBS will make cultural connections through the power of music and storytelling. Free. The program takes place on flat lawns and gravel farmyards with some uneven surfaces. Storytellers will have amplified voices through a sound system. Written materials and a virtual tour are available to interpret historical features at Casey Farm. Accessible parking and restrooms are available. Casey Farm is located at 2325 Boston Neck Road in Saunderstown, Rhode Island. For more information visit www.historicnewengland.org
Bloomsday is a celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce. Observed annually in Dublin, the day will be celebrated at Rotch-Jones-Duff House with Rick Finneran, Lead Gardener. Rick will give a 45-minute tour in the RJD’s garden followed by a walking tour to explore nearby gardens, church bells, and the literary history of the neighborhood. The group will visit Our Lady of Assumption, The Friends Meeting House, and The Unitarian Church among others. Join for either, or both tours. This event is free as part of AHA night. The Museum and Garden’s address is 396 County Street in New Bedford. More information at https://rjdmuseum.org/calendar/
Bees are part of the biodiversity on which we all depend for our survival, but some of their activity has been unexplainable—until now. Discover how small observations led to big breakthroughs revealing the secrets behind puzzling honey bee behavior.
Cornell University biology professor Thomas D. Seeley provides an up-close account of how he and his colleagues solved mysteries about honey bee nature. In deciphering their communicative movements, Seeley reveals insights into these remarkably intelligent insects.His research illuminates how worker bees function as scouts to choose a home site for their colony, furnish their home with beeswax combs, and stock it with brood and food while keeping tens of thousands of colony inhabitants warm and defended from intruders. This Smithsonian Associates lecture takes place on Zoom on June 18 at 6:45 pm. $20 for Smithsonian Associates members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/abuzz-about-bees
Seeley’s latest book is Piping Hot Bees and Boisterous Buzz-Runners: 20 Mysteries of Honey Bee Behavior Solved
Join the Museum of Science Boston on June 11 at 7 for a special screening of Inundation District in the Mugar Omni Theater. In time of rising seas and intensifying storms, one of the world’s wealthiest, most highly educated cities made a fateful decision to spend billions of dollars erecting a new district along its coast – on landfill, at sea level.
Unlike other places imperiled by climate change, this neighborhood of glass towers housing some of the world’s largest companies was built well after scientists began warning of the threats, including many at its renowned universities.
The city, which already has more high tide flooding than nearly any other in the United States, called its new quarter the Innovation District. But with seas rising inexorably, and at an accelerating rate, others are calling the neighborhood by a different name: Inundation District.
The film, a production by The Boston Globe, premiered in the fall of 2023 as the closing night film of the GlobeDocs Film Festival. See more about the film here. Free with pre-registration at www.mos.org
This special film screening is part of the Museum’s Year of the Earthshot, an exploration of the climate solutions and the actions we can take now to live sustainably on Earth.
2024 is an especially special year for the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club. It is celebrating the Club’s Centennial and hopes you will join the members at one of its upcoming events! “We have both historic and celebratory happenings coming up, with several nods to recounting the Club’s stunning history. Several fundraisers and some members-only events will be sprinkled in, and it all promises to be a lovely tribute to all the founding members and Garden Club members who followed have contributed to the Island over the past 100 years. The Club’s perennial fundraiser, Blooming Art. is slated for June 14, 15 and 16, so we hope you will join us to celebrate the diverse art of Island artists and the talent of its Garden Club members with this annual art and floral event. This year the work of over 35 Vineyard artists will be exhibited with all art available for purchase. The art sold at Blooming Art will benefit the Club. A portion of the proceeds is donated by the artist to the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club’s charitable projects.”
Blooming Art Event will be open to the public on Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15 from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm and on Sunday, June 16 from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm. No pre-registration is necessary, an admission fee of $15.00, will be taken at the door and all art will be available for purchase. For more information and a list of participating artists, visit https://www.marthasvineyardgardenclub.org/blooming-art—preview-2024.html
The Trustees are delighted to welcome tulip expert Polly Nicholson to celebrate The Tulip Garden, a new, lavishly illustrated tribute to tulips. In this book, Nicholson, a specialist flower grower and holder of the National Collection of Tulipa (historic), introduces the art of growing and collecting tulips against the backdrop of her beautiful English country garden. Join her as she delves into the rich cultural history of the tulip, one of the world’s most popular flowers.
Specialist flower grower and tulip expert Polly Nicholson is the owner of Bayntun Flowers in Wiltshire, England – growers of organic flowers cultivated in walled gardens and a one-acre field at the foot of the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire. Nicholson holds the National Collection of Tulipa (Historic) with Plant Heritage, and has featured on BBC Gardener’s World, Radio 4, in Gardens Illustrated, Country Life, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, The World of Interiors, and House & Garden.
The event takes place at Long Hill, 576 Essex Street in Beverly, on June 16 at 2 pm, and is $30 for Trustees members, $35 General Admission, and $60 for members, $65 for nonmembers, which will include a copy of the book.
Lecture by Polly Nicholson takes place at 2 p.m. on the events terrace at Long Hill (approximately 1 hour) followed by a wine reception and book signing from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Participants who purchase the book bundle can pick up their copies the day of the event. Copies will be available for purchase the day of the event.
This event is presented in partnership with The Garden Conservancy in support of its mission to preserve, share, and celebrate America’s gardens and diverse gardening traditions for the education and inspiration of the public. To sign up, visit https://thetrustees.org/event/419090/
Using a selection of potted plants from Berkshire Botanical Garden’s greenhouse, Ann Getsinger will demonstrate the act of combining perspectives to create a cohesive connection between near and far, foreground and background, to create engaging compositions. This class, held on Saturday, June 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., will examine ways to create the appearance of space and relationship using light and dark forms, repeated shapes and colors, shadows, soft and hard edges, and chromatic layering. The emphasis will be on experimentation, imagination and play. A materials list will include colored pencils or a water-based medium of your personal preference (watercolors, acrylics or gouache); a surface to paint on; a palette; a variety of brushes, including a small mop brush; and a fine pointed brush. Bring along any materials that you enjoy working with.
Using traditional realist skills, Ann Getsinger observes various natural objects, placing them life-size in landscapes, often of the imagination. Her solo exhibits include Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, Maine; Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, N.Y.; and Koussevitzky Art Gallery in Pittsfield, Mass. Her work was recently featured in Orion Magazine and on the Laurel Hill Association’s online series, Artists on Nature. Ann’s home and studio for the past 33 years is in New Marlborough, Mass. She studied at the San Francisco Art Institute.
BBG members $100, nonmembers $120. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/plant-and-place-integrating-botanical-still-life-foreground-and-background
The Friends of the Public Garden invite you to the public launch of the Henry Lee Fund for Boston Parks, on Tuesday, June 11 at 11 am at the Parkman Bandstand in the Public Garden. Learn more at https://friendsofthepublicgarden.org/leefund/
The Henry Lee Fund for Boston Parks will provide small grants for tree and sculpture care and support special projects in public greenspaces in underserved neighborhoods throughout Boston. At the heart of the Lee Fund is a commitment to equity in the quality of our public greenspaces. Henry led the charge to ensure that the Public Garden, the Boston Common, and the Commonwealth Avenue Mall are healthy and vibrant public spaces. Yet beyond these greenspaces, his civic vision of the health of all of Boston’s parks will inspire our outreach to community groups, advocates, and other nonprofit organizations to ensure that Lee Fund grants will spread his impact to the citizens and neighborhoods that need it most.
