Dress in your most colorful and dreamy attire for this enchanting evening marking the beginning of Fitchburg Art Museum’s four-year Centennial celebration. Over five-hundred artworks from the museum’s Permanent Collection in immersive floor-to-ceiling art displays will serve as the backdrop for mingling.
Savor the evening with specially curated signature cocktails as well as culinary creations catered by Finicky Fork in collaboration with Victor’s on Main and Mera’s Cake Inc. — a vibrant celebration of local flavor! The party takes place March 7 from 6 – 9.
Experience a kaleidoscopic journey through the decades with live jazz performed in the galleries by local musicians, the Earthtones Trio. Then keep the celebration alive at the after-party with an energetic DJ set by Fitchburg’s own Young Coff33 Productions.
Tickets in advance (before March 5) – $40 for FAM members, $50 for nonmembers. At the door – $50 for FAM members, $60 for nonmembers. After party tickets (8-9) $15/$20. More information and ticket puchase link are at https://fitchburgartmuseum.org/eleanors-dream-a-100th-birthday-soiree/
For centuries, the beauty of fireflies has evoked wonder and delight. Yet for most of us, fireflies remain shrouded in mystery: How do fireflies make their light? What are they saying with their flashing? And what do fireflies look for in a mate?
Join Sara M. Lewis, PhD, of the Evolutionary and Behavioral Ecology Department of Tufts University on Wednesday, March 4 at 6:30 pm at Clark University for a presentation as she dives into the fascinating world of fireflies and reveals the most up-to-date discoveries about these beloved insects. Hear dramatic stories of birth, courtship, romance, sex, deceit, poison, and death among fireflies. The event is sponsored by the City of Worcester Office of Sustainability and Resilience, and Clark University.
Sakonnet Garden invites you to The Art of Biodiversity Gardening: A Gardening Symposium, on Saturday, March 28, featuring speakers Hanna Packer, Uli Lorimer, and Fergus Garrett. The Symposium will take place at Wilber & McMahon Schools, 28 Commons Street in Little Compton, Rhode Island.
This year’s symposium brings you three speakers who will open a conversation about the art of biodiversity gardening. Our goal in selecting these diverse and complimentary individuals is to foster thought about your own gardens and your own gardening aspirations. Perhaps you will learn that the nurturing of biodiversity is more complex than merely selecting natives over non natives, and that design and beauty in a garden can encourage biodiversity as a direct result or a by-product. In a world where we seem to have little control, Sakonnet Garden hopes that you take away something from this day which will encourage you to be more deliberate in how as gardeners you can make a difference in however small a way intention leads you in the garden.
Humphry Repton is generally regarded as the third of the great landscapers who led the English Landscape Movement. Indeed many books have been written about him – and a very good one by the London Gardens Trust. So how come he has the reputation of a second-rate failure?
The huge contribution made by the farmland he designed to what we might call environmental ecology has been strangely overlooked by the scholarly consensus, but could still serve as a template for eco-friendly design and it makes a nonsense of the idea that old ‘historic’ landscapes are somehow at odds with the interests of bio-diversity. This March 10 London Parks and Gardens online talk will anatomize Darlands Park, Totteridge, and inspect the entrails for proof of his importance, but there will be lots of pictures of other places as well.
John Phibbs is Principal of Debois Landscape Survey Group. He is also the author of Humphry Repton, Designing the Landscape Garden; Place-making: The Art of Capability Brown and Capability Brown: Designing the English Landscape
Join The Gardens Trust for a new four part series wandering through allegorical gardens with Dr David Marsh
In a garden, art, science, nature and the mind collide. It is no surprise then, that many stories in ancient religions and philosophies are set in gardens. Christians believe that the Garden of Eden once existed before Adam and Eve were expelled from it, while the Hanging Garden of Babylon has captivated the creative imagination of humans for centuries, as have legends about the Gardens of the Hesperides in the ancient Mediterranean world. Like ancient Chinese stories about the magical gardens on Mount Kunlun and its counterpart Mount Penglai, they all reflect the complex interaction between the human and divine worlds. In this series we will not only be looking be looking at the myths themselves but also, where possible, the reality that lay behind them and their impact on gardens more recently. This ticket costs £28 for the entire course of 4 sessions, or you may purchase a ticket for individual sessions, costing £8 [Gardens Trust members £21 or £6 each]. Register at www.eventbrite.co.uk. 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 2 weeks) will be sent shortly afterwards.
The garden of the Hesperides belonged to the queen of the gods – Hera in Greek [Juno in the later Roman version] and lay somewhere at the western edge of the known Mediterranean world. It became the setting for several well-known myths including the story of tree [or maybe an orchard of trees] which bore golden apples said to give immortality to those who ate them. These stories date back to at least the 7th century BC, and there are at least 15 different retellings in Greek texts over the next thousand years and at least six more in Latin. Then, in the 17th century it was picked up and reinvented by artists and garden writers writing about “golden apples” of a different sort.
Gardening in the shade can be very rewarding! On March 5 at 6 pm Eastern, we will discuss a variety of plants that will brighten and add color to your cool shady retreat. N.C. Cooperative Extension – Guilford County Center and our N.C. State Extension Master Gardener program invite you to join us for:
Grow with Us- Made in the Shade: Great Gardens in Lower Light (Virtual)
This is an ONLINE SEMINAR via ZOOM, presented by our Extension Master Gardener volunteers. The same program will be presented in-person at the Kathleen Clay Edwards Family Branch Library in Greensboro, NC on a different date.
An abundance of large trees and shady areas in the yard is an exciting challenge to the creative gardener, not an obstacle. Gardening in the shade can be very rewarding! We’ll discuss a variety of shrubs, annuals, perennials, and woodland plants that will brighten and add color to your cool shady retreat.
The talk is free – but capacity is limited. Please register through Eventbrite HERE to reserve the Zoom link.
This session will not be recorded. A program handout providing links to abundant resources and in-depth information will be made available to registrants via the email address provided in a reminder email 24 hours before the program.
The Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Annual Bulb Show returns to the Fitzpatrick Greenhouse now through March 20, from 9 – 4. Creating this burst of color begins quietly in late summer, when our horticulture staff selects and orders the season’s bulbs. Planting begins in the fall in the Lexan Greenhouse — tulips first, then daffodils and finally the smaller bulbs that round out the collection.
From there, the bulbs spend weeks in cool rooms beneath the Center House, where temperatures remain close to 42°F to simulate winter. Tulips need about 15 weeks of chilling, daffodils 12, and grape hyacinths 10. Staggered planting ensures a steady succession of blooms throughout the month-long show.
As their chilling period ends, the bulbs move back to the Lexan Greenhouse to “wake up.” Over several weeks they send up shoots, leaf out and eventually burst into color. Before they’re displayed in the Fitzpatrick Conservatory, each pot is topped with moss, pine needles or nut shells, and the display team adds finishing touches, including succulents, branches, even small stumps, to create depth and contrast.
When the show opens, the conservatory becomes a bright, fragrant haven. Its intimate scale invites visitors to lean in close for a fully immersive, “face-in-flowers” moment. For more information visit https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/bulb-show-2026
Stories of horticulture and garden-making are often bound up with stories of empires. From the global trade in plants and the economic imperative behind botanic gardens to the acquired status and symbolism of certain plants and the realities of human exploitation, this series will explore the myriad ways in which economic and political power has influenced the seemingly commonplace activities of gardeners.
This January 8-part online series from The Gardens Trust picks up themes and ideas from the Gardens and Empires conference presented in June 2025 by English Heritage and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in association with the British Library. Some of the speakers from the conference will be expanding on the topics they presented, and additional researchers have been invited to share their perspectives. The series will focus on European empires and will examine their global impact and influence on plants and gardening. We will explore issues from the perspective of both the coloniser and the colonized, of individuals and institutions, of the past and continuing legacies today – and will see both the triumphs and cruelties inherent in the stories around empires, plants and gardening.
This ticket link is for the series of 8 talks at £56 or you may purchase a ticket for individual talks, costing £8. (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 8 for £42). There will be an opportunity for Q & A after each session. Ticket holders can join each session live and/or view a recording for up to 2 weeks.
The seventh talk takes place March 3. One of the proudest legacies of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is its role in broadening the range of plants grown in British gardens. However this is a history interwoven with British colonial expansion and exploitation, a fact that has not been fully acknowledged in past discussion or interpretation. Over the last 5 years, RHS Lindley Library has been working with archival papers relating to the Society’s most active period of plant collecting in the early 19th century. As part of this work, the RHS commissioned an external review of the papers from Drs Sarah Easterby-Smith and Elena Romero-Passerin (School of History, University of St Andrews). This talk will look at the insights gained from this work and how we can invite new perspectives on the archive, for instance drawing on other disciplines like ethnobotany, to develop a more inclusive understanding of the factors that shaped our gardens and gardening.
Fiona Davison is RHS Head of Libraries and Exhibitions based at the RHS Lindley Library in London. She has a background in museum curatorship and management. She has written two books on 19th- and 20th-century garden history: The Hidden Horticulturists (Atlantic Books, 2019) and An Almost Impossible Thing (Little Toller, 2023). She gives talks and lectures about the RHS collections and the history of gardening.
Dr Sarah Easterby-Smith is Senior Lecturer in Modern History at the University of St Andrews. She researches and teaches the social and cultural history of science in the 18th and 19th centuries; in 2017 she published Cultivating Commerce: Cultures of Botany in Britain and France 1760-1815 (Cambridge University Press). Alongside her university work, she has acted as historical consultant for the Royal Horticultural Society and, currently, is working for UNESCO on a project about botany and world heritage sites.
This session will be chaired by Dr Louise Crawley of English Heritage.
The first program in Morven Museum & Garden’s 2026 Grand Homes and Gardens series, Freedom at Home: Telling the Full Story of America’s Founding Homes & Gardens, features the William Paca House in Annapolis, Maryland with speaker Glenn E. Campbell, Historian Emeritus, Historic Annapolis. The program will be available to watch online on March 5 beginning at 6:30 pm Eastern, and may be reserved at https://www.morven.org/events/grandhomes-william-paca. $10 Morven members, $20 general public.
Glenn E. Campbell earned degrees in history from the U.S. Naval Academy and University of Maryland, College Park. Following his naval service, he joined the staff of Historic Annapolis in 1997 and was named Senior Historian of the non-profit historic preservation and education group in 2008. Since retiring in 2022, Mr. Campbell has pursued his passion for international travel while remaining engaged in public history as an independent scholar.
Blackland Collaborative is an ecology-based consulting group with over 40 years of collective experience in restoring, creating, and conserving functional ecosystems. This American Horticultural Society online program on March 6 will discuss some of the Collaborative’s Texas-based landscape projects, such as the Headwaters at the Comal and the George W. Bush Presidential Center, to examine ecological design for native grasslands, riparian restoration, urban ecology, native prairie green roofs, landscape restoration plans at multiple scales, and pocket prairies.
John Hart Asher has over sixteen years of experience designing and building functional ecosystems within urban conditions. He has conducted basic research in ecological engineering, ecological restoration, and land management, offered workshops to professionals and the public, and provided fee-supported ecological consulting expertise to clients across Texas. As part of the consulting team, John Hart works with integrated design teams composed of engineers, architects, landscape architects, and developers to integrate sustainable design, practices, and philosophies into projects. He specializes in translating sustainable design into successful projects that provide varying layers of ecosystem services. His home pocket prairie has recently been featured in the newly released books: Gardens of Texas: Visions of Resiliencefrom the Lone Star State and Gardenista: The Low Impact Garden: A Guide to Creating Sustainable Outdoor Spaces.
