Boston Flora

Category: Author Book Signing

  • Thursday, June 7, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Gardening for Us and Them: How Native Plants Can Feed Both Pollinators and Humans

    People typically begin to create gardens for aesthetic reasons. However, many soon find that they want more than simple beauty and look to incorporate plants that contribute on multiple levels. On Thursday, June 7 at 7 pm in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum, Dan Jaffe will address a current trend (one that we hope is lasting) for gardening with pollinator-friendly and edible plants. He’ll explain which flower shapes and colors attract insects, which edibles are more resistant to diseases and pests, and how to provide for pollinators across the growing season. Armed with a bit of knowledge and a selection of low-maintenance native plants, you can create a multi-tasking garden that nourishes the needs of both humans and pollinators. Dan’s book with co-author Mark Richardson, Native Plants for New England Gardens, will be available for purchase and signing. Fee is Free for Arboretum members; $10 nonmember. Register at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

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  • Tuesday, May 22, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Humane and Happy Gardening

    In this myth-busting talk on Tuesday, May 22, beginning at 7 pm in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum, learn how common growing methods divide the natural world into false dichotomies and perpetuate misperceptions about the wild species living among us. Discover practical ways to put humane gardening philosophies into action by protecting wild nurseries of animals large and small, eliminating unintended hazards to wildlife, nurturing plants that provide food and shelter, and humanely resolving conflicts with mammals and other commonly misunderstood creatures. Nancy Lawson will provide simple principles for both attracting wildlife and peacefully resolving conflicts with all the creatures who share our world. Nancy is the author of The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife and blogs at http://HumaneGardener.com. Fee $10 Arboretum member; $18 nonmember.

    A columnist for All Animals magazine, Nancy Lawson founded Humane Gardener, an outreach initiative dedicated to animal-friendly landscaping methods. Her book and garden have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, O: The Oprah Magazine, and other media outlets. Read Nancy’s recent post, Why Should I Car About These Animals.

    Register at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

  • Monday, May 21, 7:00 pm – The Guide to Walden Pond: An Exploration of the History, Nature, Landscape and Literature of One of America’s Most Iconic Places

    Porter Square Books, 25 White Street in Cambridge, welcomes Robert Thorson, author of The Guide To Walden Pond: An Exploration of the History, Nature, Landscape and Literature of One of America’s Most Iconic Places on Monday, May 21 at 7 pm for a talk and book signing. This is the first guidebook to Henry David Thoreau’s most defining place, visited by half a million people each year and widely known as the fountainhead of America’s environmental consciousness.

    Using this guide, both armchair readers and trail-walkers alike can amble around the pond’s shoreline, pausing at fifteen special places to learn about people, historic events, and the natural world. Thoreau will be a constant companion via quotes from Walden. Stop by stop, the place of his book will merge with the book of his place.

    Abundantly illustrated with photographs, drawings, and maps, this guide is a must-have for a meaningful, engaging tour of Walden Pond as well as a souvenir of a visit. For more information visit https://www.portersquarebooks.com/event/robert-thorson-guide-walden-pond

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  • Sunday, May 20, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – The Garden in Every Sense and Season

    Your garden could be so fulfilling, if you plug in. This Boot Camp for the Senses at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Sunday, May 20 from 1 – 2 explores the garden on all levels by attuning your nose to its scents and training your ears to listen. Learn to garden with eyes wide open, ears to the ground, and hands outstretched. Tailored to the current season, this lecture will awaken your senses and spark perceptions on all levels. Subtleties that you never noticed before will be uncovered and defined. We’ll share advice and ideas; we’ll explore a “Smellathon” to help get nostrils in gear. Want to broaden your horizons? After this presentation, your garden will be more savory, you will know its touch, smell its aromas, hear its voice, and see it anew.

    An avid (verging on obsessed) gardener indoors and outside, Tovah Martin is the author of many gardening books – most recently The Indestructible Houseplant (2015, Timber Press), The Unexpected Houseplant (2012, Timber Press) and The New Terrarium (2009, Clarkson Potter) as well as the popular Tasha Tudor’s Garden (1994, Houghton Mifflin). A freelance writer, her articles have appeared in publications throughout the country including Country Gardens, Garden Design, Traditional Home, Martha Stewart Living, O the Oprah magazine, Old House Interiors, Horticulture magazine, Yankee, Connecticut Cottages & Gardens and numerous others as well as The Daily Telegraph in Europe. In addition to being the 2012 Writer in Residence for the new Victoria magazine, she is an accredited Organic Land Care Professional through NOFA, an honorary member of the Garden Club of America and the recipient of their medal for outstanding literary achievement. In 2013, she received the Gustav Mehlquist Award—the highest honor bestowed by the Connecticut Horticultural Society. She has appeared on the Martha Stewart Show, PBS television series and the CBS Sunday Early Show as well as many other television and radio broadcasts. She speaks throughout the country and has lectured aboard the QE2. Tovah can be found at http://www.tovahmartin.com and she blogs at http://www.plantswise.com. $10 for THBG members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—the-garden-in-every-sense-and-season–talk–book-signing

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  • Wednesday, May 16, 6:30 pm – Michael Pollan

    Harvard Book Store welcomes renowned writer Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, for a discussion of his latest book, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. He will be joined in conversation by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind. The event will take place at the First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge on Wednesday, May 16.

    When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction, and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life, he decided to explore the landscape of the mind in the first person as well as the third. Thus began a singular adventure into the experience of various altered states of consciousness, along with a dive deep into both the latest brain science and the thriving underground community of psychedelic therapists. Pollan sifts the historical record to separate the truth about these mysterious drugs from the myths that have surrounded them since the 1960s when a handful of psychedelic evangelists catalyzed a powerful backlash against what was then a promising field of research.

    A unique and elegant blend of science, memoir, travel writing, history, and medicine, How to Change Your Mind is a triumph of participatory journalism. By turns dazzling and edifying, it is the gripping account of a journey to an exciting and unexpected new frontier in our understanding of the mind, the self, and our place in the world. The true subject of Pollan’s “mental travelogue” is not just psychedelic drugs but also the eternal puzzle of human consciousness and how, in a world that offers us both struggle and beauty, we can do our best to be fully present and find meaning in our lives.

    Tickets, $28.75, includes a book, and will also be available at Harvard Book Store and over the phone at 617-661-1515. Unless the event is sold out, any remaining tickets will be on sale at the door of the venue when doors open. Tickets are non-refundable and non-returnable.

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  • Tuesday, May 15, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Horticulture Morning with Kelly Orzel

    The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts is excited to host Kelly Orzel, the owner at Bowery Beach Farm in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, on Tuesday, May 15 at 10 am. Want to know the secret to a garden bursting with flavor or how to design and plan your fantasy heart garden to suit your kitchen needs while composing a beautiful outdoor space? Kelly will highlight how she grows the top 12 culinary herbs and some of her lesser know favorites. She will discuss modern-day herb gardening and how it evolved from those first grown within monastery walls and formal knot gardens. You’ll get to learn how to create those intricate loops and hedges and determine which herbs will lend their scents and colors to your own backyard. It’s a jam-packed presentation that will also cover container and companion herb plantings, as well as how to create gardens for Italian, French and other cooking styles. Kelly will also be selling and personally sign copies of her new book! Location: Espousal Center (554 Lexington Street, Waltham, MA) Cost: $5.00 Contact: Misty Florez: mistyfloral@yahoo.com

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  • Thursday, May 3, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Foodscaping

    More and more gardeners are wanting to grow some of their own vegetables, herbs and berries but don’t have room or want to sacrifice their flowers, trees or shrubs. The solution is edible landscaping or Foodscaping. Foodscaping is selecting attractive edibles that will enhance the beauty of your landscape while yielding delicious food. On Thursday, May 3 at 7 pm in the Parkman Room of the Education Building at the Gardens at Elm Bank, garden writer Charlie Nardozzi will talk about some basic garden design techniques, unusual places to grow edibles in your yard, good edible substitutes for common ornamentals and my favorite vegetables, herbs and berries for creating an edible landscape. His book, Foodscaping, will be available for sale and signing.

    Charlie Nardozzi is a nationally recognized garden writer, speaker, radio, and television personality. He has worked for more than 25 years bringing expert gardening information to home gardeners through radio, television, talks, tours, on-line, and the printed page. Charlie delights in making gardening information simple, easy, fun and accessible to everyone. Learn more about Charlie at www.GardeningWithCharlie.com.

    This Massachusetts Horticultural Society evening is $12 for Mass Hort members, $20 for non members. Sign up at http://www.masshort.org/eventdetail/657/foodscaping?filter_reset=1

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  • Thursday, May 3, 6:00 pm – Apples: A New England History

    Rowan Jacobsen, author and Knight Science Journalism Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will speak in the Geological Lecture Hall of the Harvard Museum of Natural History on Thursday, May 3 at 6 pm on Apples: A New England History.

    No other fruit embodies the horticultural and cultural range of the apple. Originally from the mountains of Kazakhstan, apples have seduced bees, intoxicated monks, nourished colonists, and inspired artists, from Paul Cézanne to Rudolf Blaschka, who created Harvard’s collection of botanically precise glass apples (now on view in the Glass Flowers gallery). James Beard Award- winning author Rowan Jacobsen will discuss his book, Apples of Uncommon Character, and will explore the surprising ways in which the apple has shaped New England history. A tasting of heirloom ciders from Vermont’s Eden Specialty Ciders will follow the talk.

    Advance registration required at https://hmnh.harvard.edu/Apples.   Free and open to the public. Free event parking at 52 Oxford Street Garage. Reception sponsored by the Harvard Chapter of Sigma Xi
.

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  • Monday, April 23, 7:00 pm – Native Plants for New England Gardens

    Porter Square Books, 25 White Street in Cambridge, will host Mark Richardson and Dan Jaffe on Monday, April 23 at 7 pm for a talk and book signing. This is the essential gardener’s guide to growing native in New England. Plants native to New England evolved to thrive in local conditions and survive harsh seasons. Native Plants for New England Gardens culls the expertise of the New England Wild Flower Society to help anyone create lovely, hardy gardens that will tolerate drought, resist disease and encourage biodiversity. This handy guide to 100 great native flowers, ground covers, shrubs, ferns, and grasses that will thrive in New England gardens features practical information accompanied by beautiful color photography. Find and nurture the native plants that your garden is missing–the planet will thank you.

    New England Wild Flower Society Director of the Botanic Garden Mark Richardson studied ornamental horticulture at the University of Rhode Island and holds a master’s degree from the University of Delaware’s Longwood Graduate Program. Native Plants for New England Gardens is a product of his passion for public horticulture. Photographer and author Dan Jaffe earned a degree in botany from the University of Maine, Orono, and has years of nursery and plant sales experience. He is the official propagator and stock bed grower of the New England Wild Flower Society.

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  • Wednesday, April 11, 7:00 pm – The Lyme Solution

    Lyme disease is one of the fastest-growing infectious diseases in the United States, and millions of people worldwide, especially gardeners, suffer from its shape-shifting symptoms. Now, in The Lyme Solution, Dr. Darin Ingels shares his revolutionary approach to treating and healing acute and chronic Lyme. Drawing on his experience as a naturopathic physician who has treated thousands of cases, and as a patient, Ingels reveals that Lyme is an autoimmune disease as much as it is an infection. Conventional treatments too often rely on toxic doses of antibiotics that weaken your body and worsen symptoms, instead of boosting your ability to fight for your health. Including the latest research about the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme, Ingels’s uniquely holistic approach provides a path to wellness by fortifying the microbiome, enhancing the immune system, and strengthening the body’s ability to heal from within. The Lyme Solution offers a simple, five-step plan, including:

    1. The most effective early treatment and prevention measures to avoid contracting the disease or stop it in its tracks;
    2. An immune boosting diet and list of herbal supplements that will increase immunity and reduce inflammation;
    3. Guidelines for when and how to use antibiotics as an effective part of your treatment plan;
    4. Tools to identify and eliminate conditions that mimic Lyme disease or exacerbate your symptoms.

    Darin Ingels, ND, FAAEM, is a respected leader in natural medicine with numerous publications, international lectures, and more than twenty-six years of experience in the healthcare field. He received his bachelor of science degree in medical technology from Purdue University and his doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr University in San Diego. He has worked as a clinical microbiologist/immunologist at Lutheran General Hospital, and is board-certified in Integrative Pediatrics. He is also one of the first Naturopathic Physicians to receive a Fellowship with the American Academy of Environmental Medicine.

    Dr. Ingels will speak at Porter Square Books, 25 White Street in Cambridge, on Wednesday, April 11 at 7 pm, and will be available to sign copies of his book. Lecture is free, but rsvp at http://www.portersquarebooks.com/event/darin-ingels-lyme-solution

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