Boston Flora

Category: Author Book Signing

  • Monday, October 25, 7:00 pm – Running Dry

    The New England Aquarium has been providing free lectures and films by scientists, environmental writers, photographers and others since 1972. The Aquarium Lecture Series is presented free to the public through the generosity of the Lowell Institute, which has been providing funding for free public lectures at universities and museums since 1836.

    On Monday, October 25, join author and photographer Jonathan Waterman as he speaks about the subject of his book Running Dry: A Journey from Source to Sea Down the Colorado River. Feats of engineering and human ingenuity have made it possible for the Colorado River to irrigate 3.5 million acres of farmland and support 30 million people on arid lands throughout the western U.S. and northern Mexico.

    Distant cities, including some of the fastest growing in the nation—L.A., Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, and Albuquerque—depend upon its waters and have transformed it into one of the most diverted and litigated rivers in the world. The Colorado now reaches the sea only in the wettest of years and the Delta, once one of the greatest desert estuaries in the world, has been reduced to a veritable wasteland.

    Jon’s unprecedented paddling journey down the 1,450 mile Colorado River, is detailed in his book, Running Dry, as he deposits his mother’s ashes in the headwaters then investigates the remains of the west’s most iconic waterway. A starred review in Booklist calls it “An evocative and bold take on a river and what winning the West really means….”

    Lectures are free and open to the public. Registration is requested. All programs start at 7 p.m. in the Aquarium’s Harborside Learning Lab. Programs last approximately one hour followed by a reception.  To register, call Amanda Kelley at 617-269-7171, or log on to www.neaq.org.

  • Saturday, October 30, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Greening with Moss Workshop

    Learn all about moss and how to use this wonderful plant in the home setting at this Berkshire Botanical Garden workshop on Saturday, October 30, from 2 – 4. Moss has become increasingly popular for use in shady areas of gardens instead of grass or ground cover. It can be used indoors as well; for decoration and as a way to bring the woodland inside for the winter months. Learn how to use this fascinating plant in terrariums, at the base of potted plants, for creating wreaths and even as moss covered garden table. This workshop will cover the collecting, care and conditions of working with moss either dry or wet as well as growing your own moss. Participants will construct a beautiful moss wreath and decorate it with bits of the outdoors.

    Marlene Marshall is a painter/collage artist, arts educator, designer, and author of Making Bits and Pieces Mosaics (Storey, 1998), Shell Chic (Storey 2002) and Woodland Style (Storey 2010). She frequently teaches at museums, and art schools along the East Coast. Marshall has appeared on both the Home and Garden and DIY networks. Her work has been exhibited and sold in galleries and museum shops throughout North America. She lives and teaches in Sheffield, MA.  All materials are included in the cost of the workshop, which is $40 for BBG members and $45 for non-members.  To register, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org, or call 413 -298-3926.

  • Saturday, October 30, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Energy-Wise Landscape Design

    Learn how to design your landscape so it saves energy and contributes to a healthier environment. Join Sue Reed, a landscape architect with 23 years of experience in ecological design, at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge on Saturday, October 30, from 10 – 12, for a practical presentation that will help you: lower your home’s heating and cooling costs, minimize fuel used in your landscape construction, and consider maintenance and everyday living products and materials with lower embedded energy costs. Our landscapes are full of opportunities to reduce our consumption of energy. Most of them involve little or no cost, and some will actually save you money.

    Sue Reed is a registered landscape architect who has helped hundreds of homeowners create comfortable, livable and beautiful landscapes that save energy. She has worked in western Massachusetts for nearly 25 years, including twelve years as an instructor at the Conway School of Landscape Design. Her new book, Energy-Wise Landscape Design, was published in April 2010 by New Society Publishers and her recent article, “Sustainable Landscape,” appears in Volume II of the new Encyclopedia of Sustainability from Berkshire Publishing.  The lecture will cost $20 for BBG members, $25 for non-members, and you may register online at www.berkshirebotanical.org, or call 413-298-3926.

  • Thursday, October 21, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Climbing the Mango Trees

    Madhur Jaffrey, the seven-time winner of the James Beard Award, is coming to the Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street in Brookline, on Thursday, October 21 beginning at 6 pm  to share her new cookbook, At Home with Madhur Jaffrey, and discuss her memoir, Climbing the Mango Trees. There are few better places to be than Madhur Jaffrey’s kitchen. The actress-turned-cooking-guru has won five James Beard Foundation awards and is a world authority on Indian cuisine. Come to the Coolidge Corner Theatre for a taste of her new book, which includes simple South Asian recipes perfect for time-pressed cooks. Tickets for this event are just $5 dollars. Purchase tickets by calling  617-566-6660.

  • Thursday, October 28, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Conifers for Gardens

    Conifers are usually thought of as plain green blobs used to hide the foundations of homes or occasionally grown as solitary pyramidal accents in an expanse of grass.  This lavishly illustrated talk with conifer enthusiast Dr. Richard L. Bitner will introduce the great diversity of shapes, textures and colors in this plant group and promote integrating conifers in the landscape with other woody and herbaceous plants, rather than isolating them.  Slow-growing selections for small gardens along with the best choices for larger landscapes will be presented as well as suggestions for difficult sites.  The goal is to help the beginning or avid gardener, landscape designer, nursery tradesperson or horticulture student make better plant choices.

    Dr. Bitner is a practicing board-certified anesthesiologist and currently teaches at the Penn State School of Medicine/Hershey Medical Center.  He studied horticulture at Longwood Gardens where he now teaches.  His best selling book, Conifers for Gardens: An Illustrated Encyclopedia was published by Timber Press in 2007 and his Timber Press Pocket Guide to Conifers was issued in June, 2010.  A book on designing with conifers will be published in April, 2011.  This program is offered in collaboration with Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture.  Members of either organization will pay $25, non-members $30.  Log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH to register.

  • Saturday, October 30, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm – Conifer ID with Richard Bitner

    Do you know the differences between pines, firs, and spruces?  How about arborvitae, junipers, cedars, and false-cedars?  Some of these are easily distinguishable, while others require close observation of needle patterns and a deeper understanding of reproductive structures.  By the end of this session with Dr. Richard L. Bitner, you will have a clearer understanding of conifers.  Dress in layers so that you are comfortable both in the classroom as well outdoors among the Arnold Arboretum’s outstanding conifer collection.  The lecture/tour will be held Saturday, October 30, from 9 – 2, and will begin in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum.  The fee ($70 for members of the Arboretum or the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture, $80 for non-members) includes a copy of Dr. Bitner’s book Timber Press Pocket Guide to Conifers. Register at www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

  • Tuesday, October 12, 6:00 pm – Honeybee Democracy

    As they face the life-or-death problem of choosing and traveling to a new home every year, honeybees employ a complex decision-making process that includes fact finding, vigorous debate, and consensus building. Thomas Seeley, world-renowned animal behaviorist and Professor of Biology at Cornell, will explore what these incredible insects can teach us about collective wisdom and democracy on Tuesday, October 12, beginning at 6 pm. Free and open to the public. The venue will be the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Cosponsored with the Cambridge Entomological Club. For more information, log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Saturday, October 2, 4:00 pm – Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging and Mating

    On Saturday, October 2 at 4 pm authors Leslie Brunetta and Catherine L. Craig will speak at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, giving a lecture and book signing of their recently released book Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging and Mating. Spider webs didn’t just suddenly appear, they evolved step by step over hundreds of millions of years. Join science writer Leslie Brunetta and Catherine L. Craig, evolutionary biologist and research associate at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, to learn about the many different ways spiders use silk and why they can help us understand how evolution really works. Whether you’re a gardener, Charlotte’s Web or Spider-Man fan, or an amateur arachnologist of any age–you’ll find much to appreciate in the amazing story of spider silk. Free with museum admission.  For more information log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Thursday, September 30, 12:00 noon – Chestnut Hill Garden Club Luncheon with Julie Moir Messervy

    The Chestnut Hill Garden Club will present a luncheon talk by Julie Moir Messervy on September 30 at noon in the clubhouse of the Putterham Meadows Golf Course, 1281 West Roxbury Parkway, Brookline.

    Ms. Messervy is an innovative leader in landscape and garden design theory and practice, the author of six books, and the principal of Julie Moir Messervy Design Studios in Saxtons River, Vermont. Her studio is currently working with the Arnold Arboretum in the redesign of the Bradley Rosaceous Collection. The title of her talk is “Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love.”

    Tickets for the luncheon and lecture are $75.00, a portion of which will be contributed to the GCA’s Corliss Knapp Engle Scholarship. For more information, please contact Jean Mongan at 617.731.9092 or email jmongan1@partners.org.

  • Saturday, October 9, 9:30 am – 3:30 pm – Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East

    For gardeners of all levels, this program, taking place Saturday, October 9 from 9:30 am – 3:30 pm in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, provides a comprehensive foundation for garden design using regionally native plants.  Carolyn Summers will present topics including wildlife benefits, sustainable design and maintenance, and strategies for “safe sex in the garden” to reduce the spread of non-native invasive plants.  Participants will learn how to apply basic ecological and design principles in all their gardening endeavors.

    Carolyn Summers is the author of the recently published Designing Gardens with the Flora of the American East and is an adjunct professor for continuing education at Westchester Community College.  She provides technical assistance to the Native Plant Center, an affiliate of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.  Please bring your own lunch.  A book sale and author signing will follow the class.  This program is offered by the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, the New England Wild Flower Society, and the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture.  $60 for members of one of the affiliated sponsors, or $70 for non-members.  You may register at www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.