Boston Flora

Category: Cape Cod & Islands

  • Friday, November 6, 10:30 am – 12:00 noon – Virtual Hydrangea Success Series: Winterizing Webinar

    Hydrangea macrophylla plants are the least cold-hardy of hydrangea species and bud hardiness is especially sensitive to harsh Cape Cod winters. In this Heritage Museums and Gardens online webinar on Friday, November 6 from 10:30 – noon, Heritage Hydrangea Curator, Mal Condon, will discuss the best techniques he has developed for protecting hydrangeas from the ravages of winter and will provide information on the necessary materials and their sources. The live webinar will feature a detailed slide presentation, and a chance for questions and answers with Mal. All program webinar registrants will receive a PDF of the slide presentation, via email, after the presentation. Advance registration is required and registration for this program ends at 6 am on Thursday, November 5.

    A lifelong gardener, Mal has been collecting, propagating, and growing hydrangeas for more than 40 years. He and his wife Mary Kay owned and operated Hydrangea Farm Nursery on Nantucket Island for many years. Early in 2014 they relocated to Yarmouth Port on Cape Cod and have been busy establishing a significant garden in their new location. Mal is known as “the hydrangea whisperer” at Heritage, and is committed to ongoing maintenance of all existing hydrangea plantings as well as to the continuing expansion of Heritage’s hydrangea gardens.

    Click here to register

    Fee:  $17 Heritage Members, $27 Non-Members

    FREE Benefit Package Program Passes may be used for this program. Add your discount code during check-out, or contact the Development Department at membership@heritagemuseums.org or call us at 508-888-3300 x119 or x159.

    Please note, if you are unable to join us for this live webinar, this program will be recorded and made available through our website later this season. Interested viewers will be able to “rent” this recorded webinar, for a fee, to watch on-demand.

  • Cape Cod Museum of Natural History to Acquire Thomas W. Burgess/Green Briar Nature Center

    The boards of trustees of the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster and The Thornton W. Burgess/Green Briar Nature Center in Sandwich have voted unanimously to approve the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History’s acquisition of the renowned Sandwich nature center, creating a coalition of distinguished nature centers from Sandwich to the Outer Cape. 

    The acquisition formally will take effect once legal documents of the Asset Purchase Agreement are complete. Talks have been underway between the two boards of trustees since the winter of 2014. 

    “Generous donations from the Bilezikian Foundation and Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank Charitable Foundation made the due diligence process possible,” said Robert Dwyer, President and Executive Director of the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History. Under the terms of the agreement, the names, identities, and signage of both organizations will be preserved in an effort to enrich existing programs and integrate new programs on the Sandwich and Brewster campuses. 

    The Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, founded in 1954, owns 80 acres of prime open space off Route 6A near Cape Cod Bay in the placid Stony Brook Valley and surrounded by another 300 acres of conservation land, including historic Wing Island, site of one of the earliest Paleoindian settlements. The Museum offers a variety of year-round programs, walking trails, and exhibits, including a seasonal butterfly house where Monarchs, one of the most beautiful and majestic of butterflies on earth, can be observed up-close in spring and summer. 

    The Thornton W. Burgess Society, the Green Briar Nature Center & Jam Kitchen, founded in 1976, sits on two and a half acres off bucolic Route 6A, surrounded by 57 acres of Town of Sandwich owned land with springs, hills and walking trails. Burgess—a Cape native, an internationally renowned 20th century children’s author and conservationist—wrote more than 15,000 newspaper columns, numerous books and stories in periodicals chronicling the tales of Peter Rabbit and his animal friends, Jimmy Skunk, Old Mother West Wind, Grandfather Frog, Johnny Chuck, Sammy Jay, Reddy Fox, Hooty Owl, and many others. 

    Under the terms of the acquisition, members of the Burgess Board of Trustees will join the existing Cape Cod Museum of Natural History (CCMNH) board. The acquisition brings together the contributions of two of America’s finest nature writers, Burgess and Cape Cod Museum of Natural History co-founder John Hay, whose writings have been compared to the venerable Henry David Thoreau. The contributions of both Burgess and Hay—coupled with educational displays, programs and trails at both museums—offer an extraordinary range of discovery for children and adults on Cape Cod and beyond. 

    “This is an historic moment in the history of the Museum and the Burgess Society,” said CCMNH President and Executive Director Dwyer. “The acquisition allows us to integrate and expand programs to create one of the finest regional nature centers in New England.” 

    Added Michael Pierce, President of the Burgess Society/Green Briar Nature Center, “It was a careful, thoughtful journey for us. A bright and exciting future exists. I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish as a single group.”

  • Saturday, September 12, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Botany in the Salt Marsh

    Barnstable Great Marsh is an integral part of the ecologically significant 3,800-acre Sandy Neck salt marsh and barrier beach system. Join Director of Conservation Michael Piantedosi to explore this critical coastal ecosystem and learn about its resident flora. The Native Plant Trust session takes place September 12 from 10 – 1, and is $45 for NPT members, $54 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/botany-salt-marsh/ As with all in person classes held during the present pandemic, please reconfirm prior to the day of the session, and wear a mask,

  • Wednesday, July 15 and Saturday, July 18, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Oglesby House Garden Tour

    The Oglesby House Garden began in 2003 with clearing of overgrowth. Goshen stone patios and walkways were laid in 2004. The garden, at 20 Benjamin Nye’s Land in North Falmouth, is anchored by specimen trees planted to suit the climate and the aesthetic: Katsura, Japanese Stewartia, Japanese Umbrella Pine, Japanese Maple, Seven Son Flower, Crabapple, Kousa Dogwood, Birch and Yoshino Cherry Herbaceous borders flow across the gentlesloping garden. Several varieties of hydrangea: macrophilla, lace cap, quercifolia, paniculate, petiolaris ground the beds and straddle the woodland edge. Other shrubs include viburnum, azalea, lilac, forsythia, weiglia, spirea, and rhodies. Roses, iris, dahlia, montbretia, lavender and Russian Sage take their turns blooming in the sunny beds while hosta, ferns and astilbe bring texture and color into the shade. The entrance to the lower garden is a large moon gate; a sculpture of St. Francis beckons on the back patio where there is a small fountain. There is comfortable garden seating allowing rest while walking the discretionary landscape.

     Directions: Benjamin Nye’s Lane is off of Old Main Road in North Falmouth. It can also be entered from Wild Harbor Road. Garden Instructions: Park along Benjamin Nye. Please do not park on Needles Lane which is a private road. Accessibility:  Discretionary

     The proceeds from the garden tours will benefit the Falmouth Chorale. Admission: $5. Rain or Shine. The garden is open for tours July 15  &  18.

  • Friday, July 17 and Sunday, July 19, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – The Original Cocktail Hour Garden

    Dan and C.L. Fornari are pleased to open their flower-filled landscape on Lawrence Pond on July 17 and July 19 from 10 – 4 as part of the Cape Cod Hydrangea Fest. The address is 2 Lawrence Pond Lane in Sandwich. Find ideas for dry gardens in the bed along the road. See the organic vegetable garden that provides most of their produce from June through December. Discover “Annual Alley” where different combinations of colorful annuals are planted every year. C.L.’s test garden contains new varieties of shrubs and perennials, and the front-door garden is filled with a mix of perennials, annuals and shrubs. Visit the rain garden, a magical stumpery, many Hydrangeas and the Cocktail Hour Garden that inspired one of C.L.’s books. $5 entrance fee benefits the Barnstable Education Foundation,

  • Saturday, July 11, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Driftwood Garden, Orleans, Garden Tour

    The Cape Cod Hydrangea Society welcomes you to Driftwood Garden in East Orleans on July 11 from 10 – 4. This garden is the outer Cape’s only Nationally Registered American Hemerocallis (Daylily) Display Garden, with 700 different varieties of labeled current and modern daylilies. Wander past the tiered bank of perennials and then relax in the huge shade garden, where over 350 labeled varieties of Hosta are interspersed with Heuchera, Ferns, and Solomon’s Seal. Special beds have been created for small and miniature Hosta. After leaving the shade garden, enjoy the Hydrangea garden with over 100 labeled varieties. Located throughout the gardens are 15 specimen trees, including Stewartia, Heptacodium, (Seven Son Flower), Heritage Birch, Tricolor Leaf Beech, and Harry Lauder’s walking sticks, green and crimson.Ample parking is available on the street in front of the house. $5 admission. For more information on this tour visit HERE.

  • Saturday, July 11 & Monday, July 13, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Barnstable Garden Tour

    Six gardens will be open to the public on Saturday, July 11 and Monday, July 13 in Barnstable, as part of the 2020 Cape Cod Hydrangea Fest. They include the Genest’s Garden at 116 Scudder’s Lane, Maggie Crowley’s Garden at 4181 Main Street, and the Parke’s Garden at 56 Deacon Street, all benefiting Sturgis Library. The Lisa Tulis Blair Memorial Garden at 3087 Main Street will donate the proceeds between the Barnstable Historical Society and the Sturgis Library, and the St. Mary’s Episcopal Church Gardens at 3055 Main Street will split the proceeds with the Sturgis Library also. Benefiting the Whelden Memorial Library is the Howe’s Home Garden, 1124 Old Stage Road in Centerville. For complete descriptions click HERE.

  • Friday, July 10 & Sunday, July 12, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm- A Little Bit of Everything Yarmouthport Garden Tour

    A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING: 8 Village Lane, Yarmouthport Tour, benefiting Barnstable Education Foundation. See why this garden was recently featured in Country Garden Magazine. You will discover an outdoor fairy garden, new gnome and pocket gardens, and the Bodacious Cutting Garden, filled with dahlias, perennials and annuals. This garden features hydrangeas and a greenhouse where it all begins…you’ll get to peek into where the treasures sleep in the winter. Take photos of water features and you-can-do-this-too garden rooms, plus many handmade birdhouses. Open for tours: July 10 and 12.

    Parking: Short, dead end street. Parking limited in cul-de-sac. Park around playground on 6A, a very short walk to the garden. Directions: Go to Great Western/N. Main St and turn right. Take the first left onto Whites Path and drive to the light at Station Ave. Make a right onto Station Ave and go up to Route 6A. Just before 6A you will see Village Lane on the left. Because the street is so short, please park by the playground on 6A. $5 entrance, Cash Only Day-Of at the Garden.

  • Friday, July 10 – Sunday, July 19 – Cape Cod Hydrangea Fest

    Friday, July 10 – Sunday, July 19 – Cape Cod Hydrangea Fest

    We are happy to announce that Cape Cod Hydrangea Fest will take place July 10 – July 19. Cape Cod residents and visitors will have opportunities to enjoy beautiful gardens and virtual learning events. Those touring gardens will wear masks and practice safe social distancing. Visit capecodhydrangeafest.com for schedule of garden tours and events.

  • Now Through July 1 – Polly Hill Arboretum Online Plant Sale Pre-Order

    Click on to https://polly-hill-arboretum.square.site/, add plants to your cart, and submit your payment. Watch your email inbox! The Arboretum will contact you after your order is processed regarding your pickup date and time. Please do not call or email to arrange pickup – you will be contacted.

    Once a PHA staff member has contacted you and set up a pickup window, come to the visitor center parking lot during. your designated time to pick up your order at the contactless delivery area. Clear signage in the parking lot will lead you to the pickup area. There are three numbered bays – you will have been assigned a number and your plants will be waiting for you in the corresponding bay with your name on them.

    Customers MUST wear a mask and gloves during pickup. Please maintain social distance of at least 6 feet and absolutely do not touch others’ plants. If you see something in someone else’s bay that you’re interested in, please check the on-line shop.

    Plants will not be delivered to your pickup bay early. Please refrain from gathering in the parking lot before your designated pickup time. Customers assume all responsibility for plant health once your order is delivered to the pickup area. We will require 48 hour notice to reschedule your pickup time. If you are late, PHA is not responsible for any wilt, theft, or other damage done to plants.

    As always, PHA members will receive a 10% discount. Members may use code “STEWARTIA” to receive a discount. If you are unsure of your membership status, please email info@pollyhillarboretum.org with your name and mailing address to request confirmation PRIOR TO placing your order. We cannot apply a discount after your order has been placed. If you would like to renew or purchase a membership along with your plants, you may select “Membership” from the products listed in the online store.

    If for some reason we cannot fulfill part of your order, we will issue a refund for that portion. We will not make automatic substitutions. All sales are final.

    Polly Hill Arboretum thanks you for your support during this unprecedented time.