Boston Flora

Category: Archives

  • From the Archives: Focus on Herbs

    In 1978 two Garden Club of the Back Bay programs were scheduled with herbs as a primary topic. October’s meeting featured Mary Hickey giving a hands-on workshop on dried herb flower arranging. In November, Betsy Williams and Jane Schuettner conducted An Herbal Morning, a program featuring herbs for the holidays, their stories and legends, ways to use them in decorations, and recipes. Betsy Williams remains active as a presenter, notably at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Massachusetts. The Garden Club of the Back Bay programs continue to feature an annual theme, and this year our focus is The Prehistoric Garden, with lectures on ancient plants such as cycads, ferns, and gingkos.  Image from www.weddingwindow.com.

  • From the Archives: Hands-On Gardening

    In April, 1977, then-President Patsy Boyce called on members for a variety of tasks. Tickets for an upcoming neighborhood garden tour were sent out to be sold (you know the drill: sell them or buy them yourself), and a sign up sheet for hostessing during a tour shift was circulated. Everyone was to contribute 60 cookies (up from 50 the previous year) and a Library Courtyard planting was scheduled.  In addition, members were asked to contribute ten plants to the Garden Club table at the Neighborhood Street Fair  in June.  While these requests seem modest, we all know how difficult corralling volunteers can be. Currently, we have a brigade of “Dirty Girls” willing to step to the plate for hands-on projects in the neighborhood, from cleaning out window boxes at Hale House to planting around a statue on the Mall. Below is a picture of the Sarmiento statue, with our plants circling the base.  If you are not already on the Dirty Girls email distribution list but would like to be added, contact us at info@bostonflora.com. You don’t even have to be a Garden Club member, just a willing volunteer with access to a trowel or clippers (although even these can be provided.)

  • From the Archives: Needlework Workshops

    Back in 1976, gardens weren’t the only thing on the minds of our members.  The late Esther Gaum, a long time member and an accomplished needlework teacher, conducted a series of needlepoint workshops in her home.  Activities such as this, which expanded the social connections among our neighbors, was a precursor to the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay’s Friends and Neighbors Programs,  started by another early Garden Club of the Back Bay member Marian Ullman in the 1980’s.  Today, NABB and The Garden Club work together on many green issues in the neighborhood, especially in the area of zoning and maintenance of the architectural integrity of the Back Bay.  Image from www.thelinenlavoir.com.

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  • From the Archives: Money Problems

    Today, The Garden Club of the Back Bay is fortunate to have a comfortable financial cushion to support our ongoing Boston-based horticultural, environmental, and educational projects, but this wasn’t always the case.  In September 1971, our original Treasurer Irene Pitz, who served in that capacity for over 25 years, wrote a plaintive letter to the then President of The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay concerning a verbal undertaking by NABB to help fund the budget in recompense for our forfeiture of Garden Club receipts from that year’s House and Garden Tour.  At the time, our dues were $5 per year, $.90 of which was remitted to the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts.  The balance was insufficient to cover general expenses, since we had only 60 members at the time.  Irene pointed out that our club’s activities were a substantial asset to the neighborhood and that raising the dues to $10 per year would restrict our membership, especially among younger residents.  The following January NABB voted to remit $350 to The Garden Club, which helped balance our budget that year.  Our expenses included such line items as chair rentals for six meetings at $.25 per chair, donations of floral arrangements to neighborhood functions ($45), and fees for speakers, along with the costs for Project HUB Box, which taught children in the Boston Public Schools how to grow plants.

  • From the Archives: Dining Out

    On May 15, 1976, The Garden Club of the Back Bay presented a City Garden Tour in support of the planting of the Courtyard of the Boston Public Library.  Tickets were $3.50 in advance and $4 on the day of the tour.  Eleven gardens were featured, and in future From the Archives posts we plan to revisit some of those addresses and see how the gardens have fared.  What most interests us today, however, was the list of suggested restaurants for a “pleasant lunch.”  Not one of them currently exists (although some have transformed), but perhaps you remember them: Cafe Florian at 85 Newbury, the Cafe Vendome at 160 Commonwealth, The Magic Pan at 47 Newbury Street, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel at 15 Arlington Street, The Stockpot at 119 Newbury Street, and Whimsey’s at 165 Dartmouth Street.  Back Bay changes, and today you are more likely to find sushi and Thai food than crepes and Viennese coffee.

  • From The Archives: Tree Booklets

    In April of 1974, the first neighborhood tree survey by The Garden Club of the Back Bay was underway.  Members were asked to do their own block, with the understanding that in some cases they might have to wait until the leaves were out to aid identification.  The object was to identify trees that were growing, assess their condition and approximate age, and to indicate vacant tree pits.  The Club hoped to condense this information and publish it into a booklet to be sold as part of a walking tour of the area.  We have no record of any such booklet having been printed, but this year we published an informational brochure on Ginkgos, in connection with our planting of sixteen such trees on Clarendon Street, and if you are interested in a copy please email info@bostonflora.com.

    Gingko Brochure

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  • From the Archives: Fancy Cookies

    On Saturday, May 15, 1976, the Garden Club of the Back Bay sponsored a Garden Tour, and although that tour has been mentioned in previous posts, one member requirement that was not described was the contribution by each member of 100 “fancy cookies” for the tea.  Refreshments were to be served in the courtyard at the Boston Public Library.  With 38 members, that should have produced 3,800 cookies, but looking over the member list (and naming no names) we can say with some authority that the likelihood of such a cookie harvest was slim indeed.  If any member has a baking recollection to share, please email info@bostonflora.com.

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  • From the Archives: Garden Club of the Back Bay Plant Sale

    This is the season for plant sales, a major fund raising component for many Garden Clubs.  Here in the City of Boston, such sales are far more difficult.  We often don’t have gardens large enough to support plant communities which produce many suitable divisions.  So many neighbors now have their front and back gardens professionally planted, there is little demand for “home grown” plants.  However, in June of 1974, we did hold a Plant Sale at the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay’s Street Fair, held on Marlborough Street between Berkeley and Clarendon Streets.  There were suggested plants for both sunny and shady sides of the street, and plants suitable for indoor gardening.   Each member was asked to start at least 24 small plants, and peat moss pots were suggested.  Marigolds were recommended, and children were to be charged only a nominal fee.

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  • From the Archives: Letter Writing Campaign

    From the Archives: Letter Writing Campaign

    In October, 1973, then Mayor Kevin White was in the process of selecting a new Commissioner of Parks and Recreation.  The Garden Club of the Back Bay took the stand that the best way to go forward was to appoint a different person for each category.  Members were asked to write the Mayor and state their opinion that the maintenance of the park areas had been sadly neglected, and that the hiring of a qualified landscape architect would be the most satisfactory solution. We wish we could report the campaign was successful, but we cannot. Below is the hardly inspiring view of City Hall Plaza, c. 1973.

    CityHallPlaza_Boston_1973

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  • From the Archives: Front Yard Demonstration Gardens

    From the Archives: Front Yard Demonstration Gardens

    In January, 1973, The Garden Club decided to replant one-half block in the Back Bay to use as a front yard demonstration. The area chosen was the north side of Beacon Street, between Fairfield and Gloucester Streets. The planting date was set for May, 1973, and the plan included selling the Club’s window boxes.

    The Boston Globe reported that five gardens were planted, and low maintenance shrubs and trees were chosen in consultation from Joseph Hudak of Olmsted Associates. Crabapples and cherry trees were picked because they bloomed for several weeks, were wide spreading to relieve the height of the town houses, and had shallow root systems, solving the problem of buried oil tanks. Dundee juniper, Japanese yew, Kaempferi azaleas were included, which thrive in sun and partial shad and are resistant to auto fumes.

    Pictured below are Sue Norris (left), Mrs. Charles Normandin, and John Relyea, in the dirt!

    Beacon Planting

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