Boston Flora

Month: July 2025

  • Thursday, August 14, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – What is a Garden? Connection, Memory, & Creativity

    Join The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for an evening of creativity and community in celebration of Where We Meet: Imagining Gardens and Futures (on view at Pao Arts Center, July 18 – October 10) and Ming Fay: Edge of the Garden (on view at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, June 26 – September 21).

    Attendees will have the opportunity to select one workshop experience led by:

    Erika Rumbly, Director of Horticulture at The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Sarah Hutt, Co-Coordinator on the Berkeley Community Garden Leadership Committee

Mel Taing, Where We Meet, exhibiting artist and Neighborhood Salon Luminary at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Yu-Wen Wu, Where We Meet, exhibiting artist and Artist-in-Residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum


Pao Arts Center and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum invite you to enjoy an evening of conversation, workshops, and food exploring themes of community, creativity, and urban gardening. The event will take place at the Pao Arts Center, 99 Albany Street in Boston, on August 14 from 6 - 8. Register at https://www.paoartscenter.org/events/wherewemeet-what-is-a-garden



  • Genetically Engineered Chestnut Tree Controversy

    The USDA is accepting public comments on its proposal to deregulate the Genetically Engineered (GE) Darling 54 Chestnut Tree developed by researchers at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry (SUNY ESF). Deregulation would allow Darling 54 to be sold and planted anywhere in the United States despite significant known and disturbing problems with the tree.

    Send a message today opposing the approval of the Darling 54. If released on a wide scale, the trees could threaten our natural forests and put wild American chestnut trees at risk, for the sake of profit.

    In addition, chestnuts from the Darling 54 contain a wheat gene. There has been no safety testing of the chestnuts for allergenicity or toxicity. The potential impact on wildlife and humans who consume the nuts is unknown and concerning.

    READ MORE about why this GMO tree should ever see the light of day and speak up for our natural forests: tinyurl.com/StopGMOChestnutTrees

  • Sunday, August 24, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Garden Dinner: Flora Fete

    Indulge your palate with special dining experiences at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill that honor plants, local agricultural, and the craft of cooking. Enjoy thoughtfully curated, multicourse menus provided by Peppers Artful Events. Each dining experience in the series focuses on a different cuisine, reflecting seasonal themes and enhancing experiences at the Garden. Garden dining events are 21+ events. On Friday, August 24 from 6 – 9, savor creative, wholesome dishes that celebrate the bounty of the earth, offering a nourishing and delicious feast that’s as good for the planet as it is for your palate. Showcasing the finest seasonal vegetables, hearty grains, and delectable legumes, artfully prepared to highlight their natural goodness. Reserve your tickets and view complete menu at https://nebg.org/garden-dining-series/. $115 NEBG members, $125 nonmembers. This is a multi-course, family-style meal. Each guest will receive one complimentary beverage from a selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages including beer, wine, signature drinks, and soft drinks. Additional beverages may be purchased throughout the evening. This event is 21+ only.

  • Friday, November 7, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm Eastern – The Art of Jacques Pepin, Online

    GBH presents a national virtual event honoring chef/culinary personality, Jacques Pépin.

    Jacques sits down for a wide ranging discussion which will include: reflections on his career, his decades-long connection to public media, the important work he does with his foundation, and his enduring role as a culinary icon. There will also be time during the event where you can ask Jacques your own questions.

    Our virtual event occurs a few weeks in advance of Jacques’s 90th birthday, which occurs on Dec. 18, 2025. Join us to celebrate all things Jacques!

    More about Jacques Pépin: The winner of sixteen James Beard Awards and author of over thirty cookbooks, including The Apprentice, Essential Pépin, and Jacques Pépin Quick & Simple, Jacques Pépin is a chef, author, television personality, educator, and artist. He has starred in twelve acclaimed PBS cooking series. His dedication to culinary education led to the creation of the Jacques Pépin Foundation in 2016.

    Ticket price: $120 (includes a Zoom link to join the live 90-minute Zoom Webinar event on Nov.7. An autographed hard cover copy of Jacques’s newest book, The Art of Jacques Pépin, will be mailed to the ticket purchaser’s address. Photo courtesy of Milk Street

  • Tuesday, August 12, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm, & Tuesday, September 23, from 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm – Flower Arranging Classes at Wright-Locke Farm

    Wright-Locke Farm’s Flower Team is hosting flower arranging classes at the farm in Winchester this season. Two dates are scheduled – August 12 from 6 – 7:30, and September 23 from 5:30 – 7.

    Our flower team grows our flowers from seed starting in early spring, plants them as seedlings in the field in the late spring and harvests them in the summer and fall for our flower CSA, farmers market arrangements, special events and dried arts and crafts. We’d love to show you how to arrange the Wright-Locke Farm way. We also forage from the farm so arrangements are always different, like snowflakes, each one unique.

    We will start the class with a tour of the flower shed and flower field and the participants will have a hands on experience making one quart sized mason jar arrangement to take home. Bring your own scissors/clippers, a box to transport arrangements home in the car and a water bottle. Please dress appropriately for being at the farm (sunscreen, bug spray, hat, comfortable clothing, and closed toe shoes).

    Tuesday Aug. 12th, 6-7:30 pm – will be set up outside near squash house (in flower shed if weather not agreeable). Flowers in season: Joe eye weed, verbena, salvia, yarrow, amaranth, cosmos, statice, euphorbia, asters, celosia, ammi, zinnias, strawflower, scabiosa and more.

    Tuesday Sept 23rd, 5:30-7 pm – will be set up outside near squash house (in flower shed if weather not agreeable). Flowers in season:  sunflowers, gomphrena, dahlias, snakeroot, sweet Annie, marigolds, amaranth, cosmos, statice, euphorbia, celosia, ammi, zinnias, strawflower and more.

    Tiered pricing – Tier A $50 (pay it forward, Cummings Foundation match), Tier B $42 (cost to run the class), and Tier C $35 (reduced price). Register at https://www.wlfarm.org/adult-education-programs/

  • Wednesday, August 12, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Eastern – Botanical Revolutions, Online

    Join art historian and plant specialist Giovanni Aloi and the New York Botanical Garden online on August 12 at 6 pm Eastern as he presents his newest publication, Botanical Revolutions: How Plants Changed the Course of Art, a richly illustrated book that unearths the representation of plants and their vital impact on art. Through imagery and insights, he’ll share the crucial moments throughout history that signaled the formation of new movements, styles, and media that could not have occurred without the involvement of and interaction with plant life. $25. Register at www.nybg.org

    As a strong advocate for the legitimacy of the botanical world’s place in art history, Aloi will also present an alternative history of art that foregrounds the truly indispensable contributions of plants. Giovanni Aloi‘s research focuses on the Anthropocene and new conceptions of nature in art. He currently teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is the Editor in Chief of Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture.

    Aloi is the author of Art & Animals (2011), Speculative Taxidermy: Natural History, Animal Surfaces, and Art in the Anthropocene (2018), Why Look at Plants? The Vegetal Emergence in Contemporary Art (2019), Lucian Freud—Herbarium (2019), and Posthumanism in Art and Science (2020).

    He has contributed to BBC radio programs, worked at Whitechapel Art Gallery and Tate Galleries in London, and currently is USA correspondent for Esse Magazine. Aloi has curated exhibitions in the US and Europe and is co-editor of the University of Minnesota Press series ‘Art after Nature’.

  • Saturday, September 13, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Digging Deeper: Gardening to Create an Insect Sanctuary

    Contrary to what many people have traditionally believed, insects are at the heart of a successful garden. This two acre garden in Lincoln, forty years in the making, has from the start considered attracting – and providing for – insects as key to a successful horticultural venture. Birds, mammals, amphibians -and humans- have been the ancillary beneficiaries of this endeavor. The Garden Conservancy will host this two hour Digging Deeper event on September 13 beginning at 10 am. Registrants will be sent the exact address. Visit https://gardenconservancy.org/garden-directory/open-days/digging-deeper-gardening-to-create-an-insect-sanctuary

    $30 Garden Conservancy Members | $40 General. Digging Deeper events sell out quickly so early registration is recommended.

  • Sunday, August 10, 9:30 am – 2:30 pm – Mount Greylock Summit Tour

    Park at the summit and join Ted Elliman for a walk along the high-elevation trails of Mount Greylock on Sunday, Aug. 10, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., where we’ll explore the red spruce–balsam fir zone — an ecosystem rarely found in Massachusetts and most prominently represented here at the mountain’s peak. Along the way, we’ll examine a range of montane flora uniquely adapted to this environment, including mountain ash, Bartram’s shadbush, hobblebush, heart-leaf birch, large-leaf goldenrod, twisted-stalk, Labrador tea, mountain wood-fern, and many other species that thrive in the cool, spruce-fir forests of Greylock’s upper slopes. We will arrive at 10:30 a.m. and have an approximately two-hour field study, and then you are on your own for lunch (picnic or lunch at Bascom Lodge). We will depart at 1:30 p.m.

    Ted Elliman spent many years with the Native Plant Trust as a staff botanist, invasive species program manager and instructor in botany, ecology and conservation. Ted is also the author of “The Wildflowers of New England,” a widely used field guide to the region’s native plants, published by Timber Press in 2016. In addition to his work in New England, Ted founded and directed an environmental education and wilderness adventure center in the Berkshires and continues to lead natural history tours in southwest China, where he previously lived and worked as a teacher and forest ecologist.

    Register HERE for the trip without transportation. Register HERE for the trip with transportation

  • Wednesday, August 13, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Native Land Conservancy Bioblitz 2025

    Join the Native Land Conservancy’s fourth annual gathering of professional and citizen scientists on Wednesday, August 13 from 10 – 2 on Wampanoag Common Lands, 266 Bishops Highway in Kingston, Massachusetts. This annual survey helps NLC document and track ecological changes through time and assess the ongoing restoration efforts. Bring lunch, bug repellent, sun block, and your fully-charged smart phone to identify species using the free app, iNaturalist. Register online at bit.ly/NLCBioBlitz25

  • Saturday & Sunday, August 9 & 10, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm – The Grow Show

    Continuing a 54-year tradition of growing and showing at Berkshire Botanical Garden, the Grow Show is back! Floral designers and backyard gardeners are the celebrities at the Garden’s annual Grow Show on Aug. 9 – 10, where beautiful floral arrangements and the peak summer harvest are spotlighted in this upbeat, judged event featuring five design and nearly 80 horticulture classes on display in the Exhibition Hall. Details here.

    The Grow Show is free with Garden admission.