Boston Flora

Category: Author Book Signing

  • Saturday, July 31, 10:00 am – The Global Migration of Ornamental Plants – How the World Got Into Your Garden

    Learn about the history of how the world got into your garden in this Horticulture in History program sponsored by The Berkshire Botanical Garden, 5 West Stockbridge Road, West Stockbridge, on Saturday, July 31 at 10 am. Consider the horticultural endeavors of plant explorers in the far reaches of the globe and how the plants that they brought back with them have impacted our everyday lives. This is a lively account of some of the characters and their intriguing explorations in India, China, Japan, and beyond.

    Judith Taylor is an Oxford educated retired physician with a keen interest in horticulture and history. Dr Taylor has published three books on the history of horticulture, including The Global Migration of Ornamental Plants; How the World Got into Your Garden. The cost of this lecture, where books will be available for purchase and signing by the author, is $20, and you may register on line at www.berkshirebotanical.org, or by calling 413- 298-3926.

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  • Thursday, July 22 – Saturday, July 24 – Nantucket Garden Festival

    The Nantucket Garden Festival is back. Events are located downtown, under the tent at the Dreamland Theater Lot, at the Nantucket Lighthouse School, 1 Rugged Road, and in private island gardens. Complete details and registration opportunities may be found at www.nantucketgardenfestival.com.

    Thursday, July 22, 2010

    * A guided tour of four different ways to keep chickens
    * A hands-on workshop with Amy Pallenberg on late summer container gardening
    * Back by popular demand: A tour of three notable but very different vegetable gardens
    * A late summer container competition, judged by the Nantucket Garden Club
    * Opening Night Preview and Party featuring the many wonderful vendors in our Garden Marketplace !

    Friday, July 23, 2010

    * Early Bird Garden Marketplace with continental breakfast
    * The Garden Marketplace
    * An early morning tour of a very special seaside garden, hosted by Stephen Orr
    * A talk by Noel Kingsbury on the ‘natural garden’
    * A talk by Dean Riddle on context in gardening
    * A hands-on Obelisk workshop with Janice Shields of Cut It Out
    * A tour of three contemporary West End gardens with marvelous views
    * A garden based workshop with Noel Kingsbury, from a rabbit’s point of view
    * “Know your Geophytes!”: Russell Stafford’s talk about creative ways to use bulbs
    * A Monomoy Garden Tour in the late afternoon with wine and cheese
    * Dinner Alfresco and talk with Russ and Marian Morash

    Saturday, July 24, 2010

    * The Garden Marketplace
    * A hands-on Trellis workshop with Janice Shields of Cut It Out
    * A composting workshop with Katie Hemingway
    * An interactive discussion with David Berry of Nantucket Honey Bee Co. on keeping bees
    * Small group tours of island bee hives with David Berry
    * Tracy DiSabato-Aust’s luncheon lecture on the Well-Designed Mixed Garden
    * A garden tour focused on contrast, ending in a rarely visited garden where guests will linger over wine and cheese

    Children’s Workshops:

    Friday, July 23, 2010

    * Create a Garden Fairy House (Kinderclass teacher Barrie Sanders)
    * Make a Garden Mobile with found items (Primary teacher Erin Dancik)

    Saturday, July 24, 2010

    * Make a Mosaic Flower Pot (Kinderclass teacher Monika Geerling with ceramicist Nell Van Vorst)
    * Birds of the Garden: stitch and adorn a colorful bird for your garden (Lighthouse School co-founder, Lizbet Carroll Fuller)

  • Sunday, July 25, 7:00 pm – Thomas Jefferson, Gardener

    Peter Hatch is responsible for the efforts to restore and maintain the landscaping, vegetable gardens, vineyard and orchards of Monticello in the spirit of Thomas Jefferson’s own practices. He has lectured nationally and written a number of books and articles on gardening at Monticello (see image below.) Peter will share with you his knowledge of Jefferson’s curiosity about the natural world and Jefferson’s love of science that shaped his love of nature and his experimentation with seeds and grafting. Jefferson poured part of his formidable energy into cultivating 270 varieties of fruit and 150 varieties of vegetables! Come and learn more about this Founding Father and his astonishing relevance to our natural world today. Highfield Hall in Falmouth is excited to have Peter be the keynote speaker of its Glories of the Garden season at this event on Sunday, July 25 at 7 pm, not only for his prominence in an historically important organization, but also because he has family ties to earlier Hatches of Hatchville.

    A ticket for an evening with Peter Hatch is $15. Purchase your ticket online now at www.highfieldhall.org or call 508-5495-1878, x313.

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  • Thursday, July 22, 4:00 pm – Herbs in History: The Practice and Lore of Medicinal Botany

    The Berkshire Botanical Garden, 5 West Stockbridge Road, West Stockbridge, continues its Horticulture in History series on Thursday, July 22 at 4 pm with a lecture, book sale and signing by author Judith Sumner. Beginning in prehistory, plants were known as the most reliable sources of essential medicines. Learn about traditional herbs and their many uses from ancient to modern times. Consider the best known herbal families, such as the mints and the mustards, and examine the basis for their efficacy. Traditional lore such as the Doctrine of Signatures, will provide historical context and breadth. This is an herbal adventure, spanning the medicinal botany practiced by the Greeks and Romans to the herb gardens of colonial America, herb use during wartime, herbs in the New England landscape, and modern herbal practices.

    Judith Sumner is a popular lecturer for botanical and horticultural organizations, including the Arnold Arboretum, New York Botanical Garden, and Garden in the Woods. She is the author of several books including The Natural History of Medicinal Plants and American Household Botany.  To register ($20), log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org, or call 413-298-3926.

    http://www.globalherbalsupplies.com/herb_information/images/aloe-vera.jpg

  • Friday, August 20 – Sunday, August 22 – In the Garden Weekend

    The American Horticultural Society is once again teaming up with the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia, for the In the Garden Weekend, held August 20-22. The 12th annual event will include presentations by André Viette, nurseryman and host of the “In the Garden” radio show; Kerry Mendez, owner of Perennially Yours in upstate New York; Paul Meyer, director of the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania; Holly Shimizu, executive director of the U.S. Botanic Garden; and Forrest Lee, the Homestead’s grounds superintendent. In addition to the presentations, tours of the Homestead’s gardens, meals, and accommodations are offered as part of the weekend package. All attendees receive a free year of membership in the AHS. Visit www.ahs.org or call 703-768-5700 for additional information.  To register, visit the Homestead’s website, www.thehomestead.com.

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  • Friday, July 2, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – The Colonial Meetinghouses of New England

    Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington Street, hosts author and photographer Paul Wainwright on Friday, July 2, from 1 – 4, for a book signing and author talk.  Paul’s elegant book A Space for Faith: The Colonial Meetinghouses of New England, contains photographs and essays of New England’s Colonial meetinghouses, which were an important part of American history.  This book is sure to please readers of history and lovers of architecture and fine photography. When built in the 1700s, colonial meetinghouses were the center of both religious and civic life – concepts not at all separate in colonial New England. Paul Wainwright has collected a wealth of images of New England’s surviving colonial meetinghouses that go beyond mere documentation of what these buildings look like – they explore the feeling of “presence” that exists in them. An accompanying essay by noted colonial historian Peter Benes elaborates on the communities that built and used these meetinghouses, and traces a narrative rich in the history and architecture of New England. $35.  Call 603-362-6589 for more information, or log on to www.aspaceforfaith.com.

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  • Saturday, July 10, 11:00 am – Suzy Bales Lecture and Luncheon

    A special treat awaits gardening enthusiasts on Saturday, July 10, beginning at 11 am at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum at the corner of Commercial and Bangs Streets in Provincetown.  You will have the chance to meet renowned gardening expert Suzy Bales.

    Bales has published thirteen popular books on the topic of gardening and won the Garden Writer of the Year Award from the American Horticultural Society in 1995. She has twice been awarded the Quill and Trowel Award by The Garden Writers of America. Fellow gardeners may recognize Bales from her frequent TV appearances on ABC and NBC as well as her series of garden spots on Good Morning America. She travels and lectures constantly and has been the featured speaker at Epcot, the Williamsburg Garden Symposium and other flower shows across the country including Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco, Boston, St. Louis and Atlanta. Suzy has twice been a featured speaker at the Disney Institute and was a judge and the headline speaker at the Northwest Garden Show in February 2004. PAAM is pleased to host Bales, who will offer an informative lecture at the museum, followed by a luncheon hosted by Ricki Nenner at her Charles Zehnder modernist house and garden in Truro.  Tickets are $50 ($20 if attending the lecture only), and may be obtained by calling PAAM at 508-487-1750.

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  • Wednesday, June 30, 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm – Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes

    Beatrix Farrand was one of the foremost landscape designers of the early 1900s. Born into a prominent New York family, Farrand eschewed the traditional social life of the Gilded Age to pursue her passion for landscape and plants. Many of her “high society” clients were had estates in Newport, the Berkshires, and Maine, but ultimately Farrand became the landscape designer for university campuses and public gardens. Join past Garden Club of the Back Bay speaker, landscape historian, author, and Vineyard gardener Judith Tankard for a look at the life and work of Farrand.  Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes, published in 2009, is Tankard’s seventh book on landscape history. This lecture, taking place Wednesday, June 30 at the Polly Hill Arboretum, beginning at 7:30 pm, is sponsored by Middletown Nursery and the Polly Hill Arboretum.  $10 admission, $5 for PHA members.  For more information, log on to www.pollyhillarboretum.org.

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  • Thursday, July 8, 4:00 pm – Beatrix Farrand, Private Gardens, Public Landscapes

    Judith Tankard continues her book tour with a stop at Berkshire Botanical Garden, 5 West Stockbridge Road in West Stockbridge,  on Thursday, July 8 at 4 pm. Beatrix Farrand (below) was one of the foremost landscape architects of the early 1900s and one of the earliest women to take up the profession. She studied privately under the renowned horticulturist Charles Sprague Sargent and learned about garden design through extensive travel abroad. Many of her clients were members of high society, with estates in Newport, the Berkshires, and Maine. Learn about this remarkable woman and her lasting influence on the field of landscape design.  $20.  To register, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org, or call 413-298-3926.

    Judith B. Tankard is an art historian specializing in landscape history. She is the author of seven books and has taught for over twenty years at the Landscape Institute of the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University.

    http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/cedarchives/images/farrand2.jpg

  • Tuesday, June 29, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging, and Mating

    Porter Square Books, 25 White Street in Cambridge, welcomes Leslie Brunetta, a freelance writer whose articles have appeared in the New York Times, Technology Review, and the Princeton Alumni Weekly, as well as on NPR, on Tuesday, June 29, beginning at 7 pm.  Her wonderful new book, co-authored with Catherine L. Craig, Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging, and Mating “cures arachnophobia for any lucky reader…”, according to Simon Levin, author of Fragile Dominion.  For more information, log on to www.portersquarebooks.com.

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