Boston Flora

Category: Author Book Signing

  • Thursday, March 14, 6:00 pm – Drinking Boston: A History of the City and its Spirits

    From the revolutionary camaraderie of the Colonial taverns to the saloons of the turn of the century; from Prohibition—a period rife with class politics, social reform, and opportunism—to a trail of nightclub neon so bright, it was called the “Conga Belt,” Drinking Boston pays tribute to the fascinating role alcohol has played throughout the city’s history. Includes book sale at the event, which will take place Thursday, March 14 beginning at 6 pm in the Rabb Lecture Hall of the Main Branch of the Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston Street in Boston.

    Stephanie Schorow serves up a remarkable cocktail representative of Boston’s intoxicating story: its spirit of invention, its hardscrabble politics, its mythology, and the city’s never-ending battle between personal freedom and civic reform—all told through the lens of the bottom of a cocktail glass.

    Stephanie Schorow wasn’t born in Boston, but the day she moved here in 1989, she knew she had come home. Ms. Schorow is the author of six books on Boston, including, with co-author Beverly Ford, The Boston Mob Guide: Hit Men, Hoodlums & Hideouts, published in December 2011, by the History Press and Drinking Boston: A History of the City and Its Spirits, published by Union Park Press on November 1, 2012.

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  • Saturday, March 16, 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Late Winter Mushrooms

    Join mycologist Lawrence Millman on Saturday, March 16, from 1 – 3:30 at Garden in the Woods in Framingham to discover what fungi can be found in New England at the end of winter.  Learn about survival strategies of these species, then walk through the Garden in search of some of them.  The underside of a log is the equivalent of a nice cozy chair in front of the fire for many fungi.  Copies of the instructor’s new book, Fascinating Fungi of New England, will be available for purchase.  $21 NEWFS members, $25 nonmembers. Register at www.newfs.org.

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  • Thursday, March 7, 7:00 pm – Farm to Lectern Speakers Series: Brian Donahue

    In association with the exhibition, The Greatest Source of Wealth: Agriculture in Concord, the Farm to Lectern Speakers Series brings nationally-recognized agrarian activists to Concord.  On Thursday, March 7, 2013, the Concord Museum welcomes Brian Donahue, an environmental historian, farmer, and collaborator on the New England Good Food Vision 2060. Donahue is Associate Professor of American Environmental Studies at Brandeis University and author of The Great Meadow: Farmers and the Land in Colonial Concord and Reclaiming the Commons: Community Farms and Forests in a New England Town. He co-founded and for 12 years directed Land’s Sake, a nonprofit community farm in Weston, Massachusetts.  In his talk, Nourishing New England: A Vision for Local and Regional Farming and Healthy Food, Donahue shares a bold vision that calls for our region to build the capacity to produce up to 80% of clean, fair, just and accessible food for all New Englanders by 2060.

    The event will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Concord Museum. The speakers series is free, but reservations are requested, 978-369-9763 ext. 216.

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  • Thursday, March 14, 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm – Seeds of Change: Reclaim the Legacy of Seed Saving

    On Thursday, March 14, Thoreau Farm, The Concord Seed Lending Library (Fowler Branch), Gardening for Life, and ConcordCAN will present Seeds Of Change: Reclaim the Legacy of Seed Saving, at Thoreau Farm, 341 Virginia Road in Concord, beginning at 7:30 pm.  Speaker Bryan Connolly, noted field botanist, homestead farmer, FEDCO seed saver, and author of The Wisdom of Plant Heritage, will address the history and utility of seed saving within the context of climate change, plus give practical advice for most common garden products.  If Concord Schools are closed due to bad weather, the program will be canceled.  Free, but donations are always welcomed.  For more information, visit www.concordfood.ning.com.

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  • Monday, March 11, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Plastic: A Toxic Love Story

    The next Director’s Lecture Series event at the Arnold Arboretum will take place Monday, March 11, from 7 – 8:30 in the Hunnewell Building.  As coal fueled the industrial revolution, one could say that plastic built the modern world. But a century into our love affair with plastic, we’re starting to realize it’s not such a healthy one. Plastics draw on dwindling fossil fuels, leach harmful chemicals, litter landscapes, and destroy marine life. And yet each year we use and consume more; we’ve produced as much plastic in the past decade as we did in the entire twentieth century. Journalist Susan Freinkel will speak about our dependence on this material, guiding us through history, science and the global economy to assess the real impact of plastic in our lives. She’ll present a new way of thinking about a substance that has become the defining medium—and metaphor—of our age. Her book, Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, will be available for purchase and signing.  Free, but registration requested at www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

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  • Saturday, April 27 – Monday, April 29 – Art In Bloom

    Once again, garden clubs (including The Garden Club of the Back Bay) and professional designers from around New England will create floral arrangements inspired by works of art.  Art in Bloom 2013 includes the transformed William I. Koch Gallery with its collection of 16th and 17th century European paintings and Hanoverian silver as well as a spectacular new display of the Museum’s prized Korean collection.  Special events include an illustrated lecture and floral demonstration as well as flower arranging master classes presented by Shane Connolly, the heralded British floral designer and author.  Space is limited.

    The Shane Connolly Master Classes will take place Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28, from 10:30 – 12:30.  These are hands-on workshops, and are priced at $200 each.  Mr. Connolly will also present, on Monday, April 29 at 10:30 am, the lecture and demonstration entitled A Year in Flowers: Inspiration for Everyday Living, followed by a book signing ($55.)

    For those who missed her at our Club’s March meeting, Maureen Bovet will present The Gardens of New York on Sunday, April 28 from 3 – 4, and past GCBB lecturer Suzanne Mahler will present Designing a Garden for All Seasons on Monday, April 29, also from 3 – 4.

    Ikebana International Boston Chapter #17 will demonstrate floral creations from three Ikebana schools on Saturday, April 27, from 3 – 4.  For complete information and ticketing, visit www.mfa.org/artinbloom, or call 1-800-440-6975.

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  • Tuesday, March 12, 6:00 pm – From the Big Bang to Broadway: How Things Evolve

    Robert Hazen, Research Scientist, Carnegie Geophysical Laboratory and Professor of Earth Sciences at George Mason University, will speak at the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street in Cambridge on Tuesday, March 12, beginning at 6 pm. The concept of evolution by natural selection has long been a lightning rod for anti-science rhetoric. Such attacks are usually aimed at the biological realm, but Darwin’s opponents must now face evidence that complex evolving systems also drive phenomena beyond life science, such as the diversification of minerals on earth. Part of the Evolution Matters Lecture Series, supported by a generous gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit. Free and open to the public. Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free event parking for evening lectures in the 52 Oxford Street garage.

  • Saturday, March 2, 2:00 pm – Narwhals: Arctic Whales in a Melting World

    Natural history writer Todd McLeish explores the science and mythology of the increasingly rare narwhal whale, known as the “sea unicorn” for its seven-foot long spiral tusk, on Saturday, March 2, from 2 – 3, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Regular Museum admission rates apply. Free for HMNH members. For complete information visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Wednesday, March 6, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Meadowscaping in Urban & Suburban Spaces

    Grow Native Massachusetts is sponsoring a public lecture series through June, 2013, from 7 – 8:30 on the first Wednesday of each month at the Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway in Cambridge. The next in its series of Evenings With Experts will take place Wednesday, March 6, with Catherine Zimmerman, author of Urban & Suburban Meadows, speaking on Meadowscaping in Urban & Suburban Spaces.  Join us to learn why meadow and prairie habitats are so beneficial, both economically and environmentally. Then, consider the benefits of meadowscaping.  Ms. Zimmerman is passionate about getting Americans to forgo their devotion to monocultures of pesticide-ridden lawns. She will give us a step-by-step primer on reducing lawn size and installing a beautiful meadow garden in its stead. No space is too small. Join the movement to bring back native habitat for wildlife and human life! Ms. Zimmerman is a filmmaker, author, and founder of the Meadow Project.  The event is free and open to all.

  • Saturday, March 2, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Two Lives, Two Books, and Some Common Themes

    Join two beloved authors, Katrina Kenison and Margaret Roach, on Saturday, March 2 at 1 pm at the Berkshire Botanical Garden for readings and conversation inspired by their much-anticipated new books, Magical Journey: an Apprenticeship in Contentment and The Backyard Parables: a Meditation on Gardening, and Life. Katrina has spent 25 years nurturing a marriage, raising two sons to adulthood and tending to the myriad demands of home and family life. Margaret has spent precisely the same amount of time nurturing countless plants in the garden—a generous plot that has proven to be as worthy and complicated a life partner as any human mate. Now, despite different paths and charges, they find themselves in much the same spot, asking “What next?”—even as they learn to let go of what was, clearing space for new growth. Come connect with two authors, two friends, two lives, two books—and some common themes for discussion by all.

    Margaret Roach is the author of A Way to Garden and the memoir, And I Shall Have Some Peace There. She has been an editor at The New York Times, fashion editor and garden editor at Newsday, the first garden editor for Martha Stewart Living and the editorial director of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Margaret is now a consultant and avid gardener, keeping fans up to date on her website, awaytogarden.com.

    Katrina Kenison is the author of The Gift of an Ordinary Day and Mitten Strings for God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry, and, with Rolf Gates, Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga. Her writing has appeared in O: the Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, Family Circle, Redbook, Woman’s Day and Health. From 1990 until 2006, Kenison was the series editor of The Best American Short Stories, published annually by Houghton Mifflin. She co-edited, with John Updike, The Best American Short Stories of the Century. A certified Reiki master and Kripalu yoga teacher, Katrina lives with her family in rural New Hampshire.

    Register on line at www.berkshirebotanical.org.  $15 for BBG members, $20 for nonmembers.