Boston Flora

Category: Connecticut

  • Saturday, May 20 & Sunday, May 21 – Trade Secrets

    Project SAGE presents Trade Secrets, a beautiful gathering for a great cause. Garden tours and community events will take place Saturday, May 20, and on Sunday, May 21, there will be the famous Trade Secrets Rare Plants and Garden Antiques Sale at Lime Rock Park, 60 White Hollow Road in Lakeville, Connecticut.

    • Project SAGE (formerly Women’s Support Services), a non profit domestic violence agency serving Northwest Connecticut and the surrounding communities in New York and Massachusetts, delivered 194 educational programs to schools throughout the region and has 255 sessions scheduled for this school year
    • Project SAGE responded to more hotline calls and crisis requests than ever before – nearly 1,500 calls were answered last year.
    • Project SAGE has significantly expanded options to shelter families in crisis and assist with interim and long-term housing – including the shelter of beloved family pets.

    Garden tours include Michael Trapp’s West Cornwall Garden and Hollister House Garden. Bunny Williams and John Rosselli’s tour is currently sold out but to be added to a waitlist, please email tsassistant@project-sage.org In Millbrook, the gardens of Christopher Spitzmiller & Anthony Bellomo are featured, as well as Innisfree Garden. Complete details of these gardens, and a purchase link, may be found at https://www.tradesecretsct.com/garden-tours-community-events-1 Tickets to each garden range from $10 to $20.

  • Saturday, November 12, 10:00 am – 3:30 pm – Seasonal Woodland Scene

    A very special art class will take place at Hollister House Garden, 300 Nettleton Hollow Road in Washington, Connecticut, on November 12 at 10 am. Create a “gift from the heart” with this simple woodland watercolor scene, just in time for gift-giving or a holiday card! All skill levels welcome in this workshop filled with step-by-step demonstrations of a variety of fun watercolor techniques and plenty of individual instruction.

    The watercolor workshops at Hollister House Garden are taught by Betsy Rogers-Knox. Betsy received a Certificate in Botanical Illustration from NYBG in 2006. Her work has been widely exhibited in the United States and at the Royal Horticultural Botanical Art Show in London where she was awarded the Silver Gilt Award.

    Open to all skill levels. Materials List. Hollister House Garden Members $95 Non-Members $120 Register HERE.

  • Saturday, October 8, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Cutting Gardens Revisited

    Join flower farmer Elisabeth Cary at Hollister House Garden in Washington, Connecticut on October 8 at 10 am and learn about her successes and failures on her 5 year journey to develop her home cutting garden into a micro flower farm for fun and profit.  She will share practical information including selecting the best plants, scheduling a growing sequence, and balancing annuals, perennials and biennials for a long seasonal bloom. Elizabeth will touch on layout, pest and weed control, industry sources for seeds, plugs and bulbs, harvesting, storage and garden wrap up. This program is for anyone crazy enough to start a flower business or a “mad” home gardener in love with flowers. Now is the time to plan your 2023 cutting garden!

    Elisabeth Cary was formerly the Director of Education at the Berkshire Botanical Garden and has been gardening for over 30 years. She is the owner and founder of Cooper Hill Flower Farm, a micro flower farm in Sheffield, Massachusetts.

    Advance reservation is suggested. Hollister House follows all state and local guidelines for Covid-19 at our events.

    HHG members $25 Non-members $35 Register HERE

  • Saturday, October 1, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Unearthing the Secret Garden

    Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic The Secret Garden has inspired generations of readers to cultivate their own bits of earth. Author Marta McDowell still remembers the thrill of reading about Mary Lennox turning the key in the door to the locked garden for the first time. This engaging and illustrated lecture on October 1 at 10 at Hollister House Garden in Washington, Connecticut explores Burnett’s life, work, and the passion for flowers and gardening that inspired her book.

    Marta McDowell teaches landscape history and horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden and consults for private clients and public gardens. Her latest book is Unearthing The Secret Garden, about the inspiration for the classic children’s book. Timber Press also published Emily Dickinson’s Gardening Life, The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder, New York Times-bestselling All the Presidents’ Gardens, and Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life, now in its seventh printing. Marta’s new book about garden themes in murder mysteries, is due out from Timber Press in 2023. She was the 2019 recipient of the Garden Club of America’s Sarah Chapman Francis Medal for outstanding literary achievement.

    Advance reservation is suggested. Hollister House will follow all state and local guidelines for Covid-19 at our events.

    HHG members $25 Non-members $35 Register HERE.

  • Saturday, September 24, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm – Propagation by Cuttings with Adam Wheeler

    Come join Adam Wheeler, Horticulture and Container Production Manager at Broken Arrow Nursery for this fun-filled, hands-on workshop focused on the propagation of plants from stem cuttings. Participants will be given a brief lecture that examines the techniques and skills required to grow plants from cuttings. Following the lecture, participants will construct their own home propagation systems and stick a selection of cuttings. The class will take place September 24 at Hollister House Garden, 300 Nettleton Hollow Road in Washington, Connecticut (Berkshires).

    Adam started work at Broken Arrow in 2004 after completing his BS degree in Urban Forestry and Landscape Horticulture at the University of Vermont. Adam manages plant propagation, container production and the acquisition and development of new plants. He is a past recipient of the Young Nursery Professional Award from the New England Nursery Association. He loves to share his passion for plants through photography and educational outreach. As a result, he lectures widely on a variety of subjects and is also an adjunct lecturer at Naugatuck Valley Community College and the Berkshire Botanical Garden. With his spare time he enjoys cultivating his eclectic collection of rare and unusual plants, rock climbing and competitive giant pumpkin growing.

    Advance registration required.Limited to 15 participants. HHG members $40 Non-members $50 Register HERE.

    Abies koreana

  • Saturday, October 1, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm – Garden Dialogues 2022: Roxbury, Connecticut

    The Cultural Landscape Foundation will host a Garden Dialogues event on October 1 from 11 – 12:30 at Woodland Pond in Roxbury, Connecticut. Nestled in the hills of Litchfield County, the 11-acre property was the vacation destination for family members and friends. With retirement and extended visits on the horizon, it was time to modernize a deteriorating house and landscape to suit the needs and desires of the homeowners, their kids, and grandkids.

    The pond and adjacent wetland areas greet the visitors upon arrival as they ascend to the new house. The landscape architect embraced the existing woodland natural aesthetic in developing the overall landscape site plan. Traditional lawn expanses were planted out with native species and meadow zones, while lawn terraces were selectively incorporated for designated play areas.

    Initial design conversations with the clients revealed their love and appreciation for the property, but frustration for the current lack of accessibility. The existing multi-level house required ascending a flight of steep steps, and the driveway was difficult to navigate in New England winters. The outdated pool and pool cabana a top another hill, was impossible to ascend by certain older family members.

    Selective site grading and siting of the main residence by the landscape architect resulted in a better fit, taking advantage of the mature existing trees, and providing ample space for the pool and entertainment terraces atop the main flat plateau. Positive collaboration with the project architect helped modify the overall house footprint and eliminate the need for a separate pool cabana. The lawn play terrace was reallocated to the upper old pool area and surrounded by meadow and plantings.

    This Garden Dialogue will be led by Louis Fusco from Louis Fusco Landscape Architects. All events will be subject to local guidelines on gatherings, including social distancing, wearing face coverings, and stay-at-home orders. Attendance is limited, not only to maximize the safety of those attending but to promote an intimate learning experience. If this event needs to be postponed to comply with local ordinances, registrants will be notified directly. To purchase tickets, click HERE.

    Photo by Louis Fusco, 2021

  • Saturday, September 17, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – The History and Development of Hollister House Garden

    On September 17 at 10 am, join George Schoellkopf as he tells the story of how he started the garden at Hollister House over forty years ago and how he has shaped its growth through the intervening years. Old photographs show the garden at every stage of its development, as new sections were added and the original garden was improved and reimagined. George will illustrate how conditions in the garden have changed over the years, and how newly available hybrids and plant species offered the opportunity to create exciting new horticultural scenarios.

    George Schoellkopf was born in 1942 in Dallas, Texas, where he battled as a child against the harsh Texas climate to make his first garden. He was educated in Connecticut at The Hotchkiss School and at Yale University. He also holds a master’s degree in Art History from Columbia University in New York City, where for many years he ran a gallery specializing in 18th and 19th century American antiques and folk art and was thus only able to garden on weekends. He now divides his time between Hollister House and Santa Barbara, CA. George has written articles on gardening in Town & Country, House & Garden, House Beautiful, Fine Gardening and Rosemary Verey’s The American Man’s Garden. George is a member of the Board of Directors of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and Lotusland in Santa Barbara California and an honorary member of the Washington, CT Garden Club.

    Advance reservation is suggested. Hollister House will follow all state and local guidelines for Covid-19 at our events.

    HHG members $25 Non-members $35 Register HERE.

  • Sunday, June 26, 12:00 noon – 4:00 pm – Connecticut’s Historic Gardens Day

    Celebrate the nineteenth annual Connecticut’s Historic Gardens Day at Historic New England’s Roseland Cottage, chosen by Connecticut Magazine as Connecticut’s Best Public Garden. Amanda Shaw, Roseland Cottage’s gardener, will be on site to discuss our formal parterre garden, including the history, significance, and theory behind the garden layout and design; how Andrew Jackson Downing’s theories are reflected in that design, and any other questions you have about our historic garden. Visit https://my.historicnewengland.org/13915/ros-hist-garden

    Free. Please call 860 928-4074 for more information.

  • Saturday, April 30 & Saturday, July 23, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – The Garden of Bunny Williams

    The Garden Conservancy announces a special in-person event in April and July at the Falls Village, Connecticut home of Bunny Williams.

    Interior designer and garden book author Bunny Williams’s intensively planted fifteen-acre estate has a sunken garden with twin perennial borders surrounding a fishpond, a seasonally changing parterre garden, a year-round conservatory filled with tender plants, a large vegetable garden with flowers and herbs, a woodland garden with meandering paths, and a pond with a waterfall. There are also a working greenhouse and an aviary with unusual chickens, an apple orchard with mature trees, a rustic Greek Revival-style poolhouse folly, and a swimming pool with eighteenth-century French coping. Garden is partially accessible.

    Open Days 2022: Saturday, April 30 and Saturday, July 23
    Hours: Two sessions, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. (But April 30 early session already sold out) https://www.gardenconservancy.org/open-days/garden-directory/bunny-williams

    REGISTRATION
    Members $5 per person; General admission $10. Children 12 and under free.

    Photo: John Hall

  • Thursday, February 24 – Sunday, February 27 – 40th Annual Connecticut Flower & Garden Show: Rhythm & Blooms

    Spring 2022 will arrive early in Southern New England when the “40th Annual Connecticut Flower & Garden Show” blossoms from Thursday, February 24 through Sunday, February 27 to the Connecticut Convention Center, 100 Columbus Blvd. in Hartford, Conn. Hours: Thursday, Feb. 24 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday, Feb. 25 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 26 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Feb. 27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

    The prestigious yearly event will be New England’s only 2022 major flower exhibition and show, covering almost two acres, offering ideas for house, apartment, and condo dwellers. “Rhythm & Blooms” is the theme of this year’s show that features expansive live gardens, a nonstop schedule of seminars and demonstrations, the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut’s annual Standard Flower Show, and hundreds of vendors displaying and selling all types of items.

    As soon as attendees step into the Exhibition Hall, they are welcomed by more than a dozen live gardens in full bloom by professional landscape designers and nonprofit organizations, including naturalistic, low maintenance, native, containers, vegetables, organic, herb, and pollinator gardens.

    Over 70 hours of seminars and demonstrations will be presented by horticulturalists, landscapers, and industry professionals, and are free with admission. Every day, Mar Jennings, America’s Top Lifestyle Expert and a 10-time Emmy-nominated and Telly Award-winning TV host and best-selling author, tells How to Best Increase Your Home’s Value. An impressive roster of expert speakers includes Bob Buettner, Karen Bussolini, Pamm Cooper, Jeffrey Eleveld, Len Giddix, Dr. Nick Goltz, Trish Manfredi, Laurie Masciandaro, Thomas Mickey, Charlie Nardozzi, Dawn Pettinelli, Jen Plasky of Sam Bridge Nursery & Greenhouses in Greenwich; Paul Split, Rob Townsend ;George Trecina, and Steve Walowski. [Full list and schedule of events at www.CTFlowerShow.com]

    The Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut’s annual Standard Flower Show features over 12,000 square feet of beautiful design, horticulture, botanical arts, and photography competition with entries from members across the state – all themed “Rhythm & Blooms”.

    Always popular are the hundreds of booths of displays, activities, shopping: artisans, handcrafted gifts, fresh flowers, plants, garden ornaments, metalwork sculptures, herbs, bulbs, seeds, fertilizers, soils, gardening books, patio furniture, lawn and garden tools, equipment and more. Bring 1/2 cup of soil for free testing at the UConn Co-op booth.

    Discounted online tickets are $16 for Adults and Seniors are on sale now at www.CTFlowerShow.com.

    General admission at the door: $20 Adults & Seniors; $5 Children 5-12; Free for Children Under Age 5.