Boston Flora

Wednesday, March 5, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm Eastern – Seed Starting & Growing From Seed, Online

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Growing plants from seed is a rewarding and cost-effective way to cultivate a diverse and healthy garden. Whether you’re starting vegetables, herbs, or ornamental flowers, understanding the basics and techniques will make all the difference in your success. 
In this Massachusetts Horticultural Society virtual lecture on March 5, we will cover everything you need to know to get started, including choosing the right seeds, creating an ideal growing environment, and selecting the correct materials and supplies. We will discuss ways to develop a timeline for germination and transplanting, ensuring your seedlings are strong and ready for the season. Whether you’re brand new to seed starting or looking to refine your process, this lecture will provide practical tips, DIY solutions, and the knowledge to help you grow with confidence.

This lecture will be recorded and sent to registrants following the class date. Instructor Gretel Anspach is a retired systems engineer for Raytheon. She is a trustee of Massachusetts Horticultural Society and a lifetime master gardener with MMGA. Gretel enjoys the elements of science & math involved in horticulture. For nine years she oversaw the Food Pantry Garden at Raytheon. In 2016 she won the MMGA Lifetime Achievement award. Gretel has gone on to establish and maintain a 20,000 square foot food production garden that has provided fresh produce to the Marlboro and Maynard Food Pantries for the last fourteen years. MHS members $26, nonmembers $32. Register HERE.

Thursday, March 13, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm Eastern – Reclaiming the Edith Farnsworth House, Live and Online

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This is the third program in the Morven Museum’s 2025 Grand Homes and Gardens Speaker Series, The Quality of Doing: Mid-Century Modern Grand Homes & Gardens, featuring four scholars who will look at the work of Mid-Century Modern architects and designers through the lens of landmark homes and gardens across the United States. Learn more about the series and purchase series tickets.

A careful balance of humanity, art, and nature, the iconic Edith Farnsworth House was built as a weekend retreat for its namesake, prominent Chicago nephrologist, musician, and poet Dr. Edith Farnsworth. The house was the first domestic project in America for architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and would serve as a pivotal moment for his long career. This talk with Nora Wendl, Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of New Mexico, will examine the design influence and direction of Dr. Farnsworth in artistic and professional partnership with van der Rohe, drawing from her forthcoming book Almost Nothing: Reclaiming Edith Farnsworth (University of Illinois Press, publication date May 20, 2025). 

All talks begin at 6:30 p.m. in Morven’s Stockton Education Center. Doors and the virtual waiting room open at 6:00 p.m. A Zoom link will be sent to all virtual participants upon registration. Light refreshments inspired by each site will be provided for in-person attendees. Please note our speaker will be joining this program via Zoom and streamed live for our in-person audience in the Stockton Education Center.

Nora Wendl is a writer, artist and educator who uses disciplinary strategies drawn equally from literature, visual art, historiography and architecture to amplify overlooked or suppressed narratives within the built and unbuilt environment. She holds the position of Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of New Mexico.

She has also held residencies at Jack Straw and Coast Time, and has exhibited and lectured widely, including at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Venice Biennale, and TU Delft (Netherlands). She is at work on a book that revises the history of the Dr. Edith Farnsworth House (Plano, Illinois, Mies van der Rohe, 1951) through an embodied, feminist lens, as well as an exhibition that reflects on her engagement with the artifacts of this history. Toward this end, she has workshopped the book at Tin House (Portland, Oregon, 2017), and has exhibited the visual component of it at Albuquerque-based galleries Central Features Contemporary Art and Sanitary Tortilla Factory in 2018—most notably in the exhibition Beautiful Test Sites/Now I am become death with artist Mitchell Squire.

Wendl is co-author of Ave Maria (Savannah: A-B Editions, 2016), with photographer Rylan Steele, with whom she was named a finalist for the 2015 Lange-Taylor Prize from the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies. Wendl is also co-editor of Contemporary Art About Architecture: A Strange Utility (Ashgate, 2013) with Dr. Isabelle Loring Wallace. She is published in 306090, Architecture and Culture, Forty-Five, Journal of Architectural Education, Offramp, On Site: Review, Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes, and Thresholds.

This program is sponsored by Mrs. G Appliances. The 2025 Grand Homes and Gardens series is sponsored by Bryn Mawr Trust.

Saturday, April 12, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm – Boston Parks & Recreation’s Duck Boat Pull

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Get ready for an unforgettable challenge at the Boston Parks and Recreation’s First Annual Duck-Boat-Pull —a brand-new event taking place in the heart of the Boston Common on Saturday, April 12, where teams of 10 will race against the clock to pull a 21,000-pound duck boat across a designated course. Think you’ve got what it takes to out-pull the competition?

This exciting event isn’t just about muscle—every pull you make directly benefits local youth sports and fitness programs that keep our kids active, healthy, and thriving. All proceeds go toward funding essential sports leagues, tournaments, and fitness initiatives managed by the Boston Parks and Recreation Department for all of Boston’s youth.

This event is in partnership with the Boston Duck Tours. The event is free to watch, and teams of ten will pay $1,000 in support of Boston’s Youth Sports. To sign up contact Tiffany Clark at 617-233-2305, or send an email.

Wednesday, March 19, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Eastern – Artists’ Gardens: Monet at Giverny, Online

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Plants and gardens have long served as a creative inspiration for artists. They are places of color, structure and changing light, representations of memories and emotions, expressions of the cycle of life and the passing of time. When the garden is one created by the artist themself, the scope for exploration and engagement intensifies and, whether garden-lover or art-lover, we are drawn in to their stories and meanings. In this four-part series, The Gardens Trust will explore a range of gardens created and celebrated by their artist owners. 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. Register through Eventbrite HERE.

The first session takes place March 19. In 1883 the painter Claude Monet moved into a new home, Le Pressoir in Giverny. Below the house he created gardens whose colours vibrantly or contemplatively evolved under the Normandy skies. Initially he painted the rural motifs of the poplars and grain stacks and then, until his death in 1926, he devoted himself to the floral canvas of his own making. Botanically and horticulturally skilled, Monet grew the latest in irises and water lilies, watching them as the day reflected its course in their shapes, moments captured for eternity in over 500 paintings. The landscapes of Japanese ukiyo-e (floating world) woodblock prints fed into Monet’s sense of perspective and use of plants. The meticulous restoration of Giverny in the 1970s provides the canvas to explore the man, his paintings and his gardens. We will also briefly compare these gardens with Le Jardin Monet Marmottan in Japan.

Caroline Holmes is a University of Cambridge ICE Academic Tutor and Course Director; has lectured in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Europe and Japan as well as for cruises crossing the Baltic, Caribbean, Mediterranean and Red Seas, and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Author of 12 books including Monet at Giverny, Water Lilies and Bory Latour-Marliac, the genius behind Monet’s water lilies; and Impressionists in their Gardens, she is a consultant designer specialising in evoking historic, artistic and symbolic references, and contributes to Viking TV. Her website is https://horti-history.com

Tuesday, March 11, 6:00 am – 7:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – William Robinson: The Horticultural John Ruskin

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The Arts and Crafts Movement sought a return to vernacular traditions in the face of increasing industrialization. It thrived for two decades or so around the turn of the twentieth century, although its effect is still obvious today in many decorative arts. In the garden, the movement was most clearly articulated through the work of William Robinson (1838-1935) and Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932). Their example was followed by a plethora of British architects and designers into the middle of the 20th century and beyond, and their influence spread to Europe, the US and further afield. What we today identify as Arts and Crafts gardens are perhaps typified by a geometric layout of compartments in close relationship with the house, alongside the use of architectural features in local materials and abundant, color-themed planting.

In this series, we will examine the origins of the Arts and Crafts garden, consider the work of Robinson and Jekyll in detail, and survey some of the many other British garden-makers who were influenced by the movement. The series will end with an international flavor, exploring the work of an American designer who was a life-long admirer of Robinson and Jekyll.

This ticket is for this individual talk (Click HERE) costs £8, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire fifth series of 5 talks in our History of Gardens Course at £35 via the link here. (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 5 for £26.25). Ticket holders can join each session live and/or view a recording for up to 2 weeks afterwards. 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 (If you do not receive this link, please contact us). A link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 2 weeks.

Talk 2 is entitled William Robinson: The Horticultural John Ruskin. Born in Ireland, Robinson moved at the age of 23 to work in the Royal Botanic Society’s Garden in Regent’s Park, then on the edge of London. A great admirer of, and later correspondent with, Ruskin, he drew a direct analogy between the ‘bedding system’ which he hated, and Ruskin’s description of the industrial world. In his talk, Richard will outline Robinson’s gardening and prolific writing career and discuss the ways in which he hoped to improve the lives of the poorer members of society, becoming, as a 1931 Country Life article declared, ‘England’s greatest gardener’.

Richard Bisgrove has degree in Horticultural Science and Landscape Architecture. As a lecturer in horticulture and landscape management at Reading University his main research interests were the management of species rich grasslands (the flowery mead!) and garden history, with particular emphasis on Gertrude Jekyll and William Robinson. He was for many years a member of the Council and Conservation Committee of the Garden History Society and of the Gardens Panel of the National Trust. His publications include The Gardens of Gertrude Jekyll (Frances Lincoln, 1992; University of California Press 2000) and William Robinson: the wild gardener (Frances Lincoln, 2008).

Image: Gravetye Manor, William Robinson’s house and main terrace, photo ©Richard Bisgrove

Thursday, March 6, 7:00 pm Eastern – Art or Science? The Co-Construction of Botanical Illustration, Online

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“How has the history of botanical illustration influenced the way we perceive plants, gardens, nature, and environment in the present day?” Join Tracy Qiu as she explores the complex stories unearthed from botanical renderings and colonial plant collection during her doctoral research at the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew and Edinburgh. This New England Botanic Garden free webinar on March 6 at 7 pm Eastern is in celebration of Black History Month and Women’s History. The Speaker Series at New England Botanic Garden features a dynamic range of authors, experts, and thought leaders sharing their insights on topics such as horticulture, gardening, conservation, and environmental sustainability. These engaging talks and lectures offer valuable knowledge for both seasoned gardening enthusiasts and those new to the world of plants and ecologically-minded horticulture. Each event provides an opportunity to learn from leading voices in the field and connect with a community of individuals passionate about the natural world. Register at https://nebg.org/speakers-series/

Wednesday, March 12, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Eastern – Places to Play: South Shields’ Marine Park

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Designed landscapes are typically defined as places laid out for artistic effect or aesthetic purposes, somewhere to contemplate and admire. Yet many people have a much more active relationship with outdoor spaces, engaging with them for jogging, cycling, ball games, playgrounds and carnival rides. They are places to play.

This Gardens Trust series will examine the relationship between historic designed landscapes and organized recreation. We’ll be exploring children’s outdoor play, a world-famous theme park set among a Grade 1 Regency landscape, a Premier League football stadium that was once a Victorian pleasure ground, an early 18th-century estate that is now a golf course, and a Victorian public park which was opposed by local workers despite its claimed recreational and health-giving benefits.

This ticket (register HERE) is for this individual session and costs £8, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 5 sessions at a cost of £35 via the link here. (Gardens Trust members £6 or £26.25). 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.

Final Week: The 19th century saw significant growth in the creation of public parks. Increased urbanization in this period led to greater calls for green and open-air spaces to mitigate the perceived dangers of air pollution and poor sanitation, and a micro-history study of one park can provide broader historical understanding of these medical, social, and cultural contexts that led to their creation. Taking the case study of South Shields’ Marine Park, this talk will explore its history in relation to these main themes: the idea of the coast as a restorative place; nineteenth-century understandings of air pollution and urbanization with respect to public health; the role of ‘rational recreation’ in public parks (such as tennis and bowls) as a form of explicit social control; and class differences in popular understandings of health. In this way it will extend our understanding of the local as well as national contexts within which landscape decisions were made by intersecting the historiography of public parks with that of health and medicine.

Abigail Carr was the recipient of the Gardens Trust’s 2023 Mavis Batey Essay Prize for her work on South Shields Marine Park, the subject of this talk. A celebration of new historians that have excelled in the field of garden history, this prestigious award was named after Mavis Batey (1921-2013), the pioneering garden historian, conservationist and President of the Garden History Society from 1985-2000. Abigail is now in the first year of her Midlands-4-Cities-funded PhD at the University of Leicester, researching the 18th-century conceptualization of the English wet nurse.

Image: Marine Park, ©Abigail Carr

Saturday, March 8, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Introduction to Succulents

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In this interactive talk at Berkshire Botanical Garden on Saturday, March 8, from 1 to 3 p.m., Rob Gennari of Glendale Botanicals will include considerations such as seasonal water needs, temperature ranges, air movement from dry to wet periods, growing mediums, sun exposure, flowering and fruiting patterns, and succulent enemies: insects, bacteria, fungi, animals, and others. Learn how these considerations relate to your succulents and their overall growing environment. Members $30, nonmembers $45. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/introduction-succulents

Rob Gennari has been the owner of Glendale Botanicals since 1994, and has designed, installed and maintained unique and choice landscapes using his wide variety of rare and uncommon plants.

Tuesday, March 11, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm Eastern – Landscape, Garden, and a Colonial Legacy, In Person and Online

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The Harvard Graduate School of Design presents the 2025 Aga Khan Program Lecture with Jala Makhzoumi entitled Landscape, Garden, and a Colonial Legacy, on March 11 at 6:30 in the Piper Auditorium in Gund Hall, and also streaming online (the link will be available at https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/event/jala-makhzoumi-landscape-garden-and-a-colonial-legacy/ when the event begins.) Free. Registration not required.

The speaker says: “My search for a grounded language on landscape architecture relies in great part on the search for Arabic terms that capture the complexity of the layered English meaning of “landscape.” Until then, we must contend with inadequate translations—and sometimes transliterations—that reduce “landscape” to scenery and narrow the professional scope of the landscape architect to urban beautification. Moving away from the “borrowed” landscapes in cities, we encounter “rooted” conceptions in rural cultures. These ideas have endured over time and are in tune with the regional ecology and cultural values. Here, we find many iterations of “landscape,” even if they can’t be captured in a single word. For example, the traditional house garden typology, the hakura, which originated in the eastern Mediterranean, combines production and pleasure and is grounded in a love of nature and caring for the land. Can these examples inform and inspire a contextualized landscape architecture in the Middle East and beyond?”

Jala Makhzoumi is an adjunct professor of landscape architecture at the American University of Beirut, and Acting President of the International Federation of Landscape Architects, the Middle East Region. Teaching and practicing in a region where landscape architecture is still an emerging profession has brought many challenges but freed Jala to engender a definition of landscape architecture that is responsive to the ecological, socio-cultural, and political context of the region. She applies this contextual landscape approach to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage, to framing human rights and citizenship and in her approach to postwar recovery.

Her publications include Ecological Landscape Design and Planning: The Mediterranean Context, co-author Pungetti, The Right to Landscape: Contesting Landscape and Human Rights, co-editors Egoz and Pungetti, and Horizon 101, a collection of paintings and prose, reflections on landscape and identity. Jala is the recipient of the Tamayouz Women in Architecture and Construction Award (2013), was profiled by the Aga Khan Women Architects (2014), received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools (2019) and is the 2021 laureate of the IFLA Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award for her outstanding contribution to education and practice in landscape architecture.

This event is co-sponsored by the GSD and The Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University.

Wednesday, March 12, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm Eastern – A Natural History Road Trip: Badlands to Yellowstone, Online

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Join naturalist Keith Tomlinson on a virtual Great Western adventure from South Dakota into Wyoming and the mighty heights of Yellowstone. He highlights geology, biogeography, wildlife, conservation initiatives, native peoples, and recreational opportunities along the way.

The Smithsonian Associates Zoom journey on March 12 begins at the colorful Badlands National Park, moves on to Mount Rushmore, and then to the grand volcanic monolith of Wyoming’s Devils Tower. Adventuring farther west, take in the remote Cloud Peak Wilderness, crown jewel of the often-overlooked Big Horn Mountains. Tomlinson concludes with a discussion of Yellowstone National Park and its extraordinary ecology balanced delicately atop one of the world’s largest volcanic calderas. $25 Smithsonian Associates members, $30 nonmembers. Register at https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/programs/badlands-to-yellowstone