Boston Flora

Category: Author Book Signing

  • Saturday, June 12 – Sunday, June 13 – Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers

    The final weekend of The New York Botanical Garden’s exhibit Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers will take place Saturday and Sunday, June 12 and 13.  On Saturday, from 10:00 am – 6:00 pm, in the Perennial Garden, there will be an all day program entitled Death, Bees, and Roses. Participate in a thematic reading of Emily Dickinson’s poems.  Select some of your favorite Dickinson poems relating to death, bees, or roses and join in celebrating the life and works of this great American poet.  Or, also in the Perennial Garden on Sunday from 10 – 6, the same program will be held, but with the title and topics Flowers, Birds, and Trees.

    Then, on Sunday, from 4 – 5 in the Ross Lecture Hall, Judith Farr, professor of English Emerita at Georgetown University and author of The Gardens of Emily Dickinson, presents a lecture and slide show that delves into the topic of Dickinson’s habit of referring to her own two acre garden as “my Eden” or “Eden in Amherst” and how this image of Eden that prevails in her poems and letters corresponds to the images of Eden that appear in the works of the American Hudson River School and Impressionist painters.

    For complete information, log on to www.nybg.org.  $20 adult ticket price, $18 seniors and students with valid ID, and $8 children 2 – 12.  Co-presented with The Poetry Society of America.

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  • Friday, June 18 – Sunday, June 20 – The Maine Gardeners and Artisans Festival

    The three-day Garden Fair at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens June 18 – June 20  features an amazing array of merchandise by vendors from many areas of the U.S. Each day will bring new entertainment, tours, and talks – all free to those who attend. In addition, Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman will present the keynote lecture Eating from the Garden Year-Round, Even in Maine from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm on Saturday, June 19. See a display of container gardens created by professionals and amateur gardeners, with some of the containers available for sale. Garden Fair media sponsors are WHOM and Down East Magazine, Books & Online.  Free with Gardens admission.  For a complete schedule and directions to Boothbay, Maine, log on to www.mainegardens.org, or call 207-633-4333.

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  • Monday, June 7, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Novella Carpenter

    Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge, will host author Novella Carpenter on Monday, June 7, from 7 – 9. Carpenter, who grows greens and raises livestock on a dead-end street in the ghetto, is the author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer. For the past decade, the 38-year-old has cultivated land in the city, the last six years on GhostTown Farm, the sunny, squat lot in Oakland, California next to her rundown, coral-colored flat — complete with a back porch covered in goat poop — where she lives with mechanic boyfriend Bill and a menagerie of her so-called edible pets, including rabbits, chickens, and, on occasion, a turkey or two.

    The ‘hood is also dotted with long-shuttered businesses, drug dealers, prostitutes, multiethnic neighbors, and what Carpenter affectionately refers to as “fellow freaks.” She feels right at home there. “The neighborhood had a whiff of anarchy,” she notes in her memoir. “Spanish-speaking soccer players hosted ad hoc tournaments in the abandoned playfield. Teenagers sold bags of marijuana on the corners. The Buddhist monks made enormous vats of rice on the city sidewalk…And I started squat gardening on land I didn’t own.”

    A child of back-to-the landers, Carpenter has received stellar reviews, most notably in the New York Times, for chronicling her exploits in the urban jungle.  She’s been featured everywhere from mainstream outlets like Time, foodie circles, like Culinate, and eco-green arenas like Grist. Log on to www.portersquarebooks.com for more information.

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  • Wednesday, June 16, 10:00 am – Trade Secrets of a Master Designer

    The Ruth Wallack Floral Design Program will take place this year on Wednesday, June 16, and will feature Rene Van Rems, internationally renowned floral designer, educator, lecturer and author, presenting “Trade Secrets of a Master Designer.”  The presentation will begin at 10:00 am at Regis College, 235 Wellesley Street in Weston. For more information, and to register, log on to www.gcfm.org.

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  • Thursday, June 10, 6:30 pm – An Evening with National Expert Douglas Tallamy

    Douglas Tallamy’s book, Bringing Nature Home, has captured the nation’s attention since it was first released two years ago. Since then, he has been in demand all over the country, speaking to more than 600 different audiences—at venues ranging from the American Society of Landscape Architects National Conference, to the Hummingbird Festival in Mississippi, to the Tyler Arboretum in Pennsylvania, and many more. He also has been featured on National Public Radio’s Science Friday and on other media programs.

    As Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, he has done groundbreaking work on the role of insects as intermediaries in the food web, discovering the extent to which exotic plants, even if they are not invasive, host relatively few insects. His work reveals how important it is to restore native plant communities, if we are to reverse the declines in migrating songbirds, butterfly populations, and biodiversity as a whole. Tallamy makes an urgent plea about the importance of native plants to our landscapes, and indeed, to our survival. And he embraces the importance of land stewardship throughout urban and suburban America as critical components of this effort.

    This event, taking place Thursday, June 10,  is co-sponsored by the Cambridge Plant & Garden Club, the Ecological Landscaping Association, and the Friends of the Cambridge Public Library. The talk will begin at 6:30 at the Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway in Cambridge, and will be followed by a reception at 8 pm with book signing. The event is free and open to all. For more information, log on to www.grownativecambridge.org.

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  • Friday, June 11 – Sunday, June 27 – GardenFest

    The Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme Street in Old Lyme, Connecticut, has planned an exciting series of special events to take place in and around its historic gardens.  All events are free with Museum admission, unless noted.

    June 11, noon:   Garden Luncheon
    Third annual garden luncheon featuring Pauline Lord of White Gate Farm. Lord speaks about the importance of eating locally grown food for both health reasons and to support local agriculture.  $100, reservations required.

    June 11 and 12, 9am-3pm:  Plant Sale
    The Museum’s volunteers, the Garden Gang, host a plant sale. The heirloom perennials and unusual annuals range from $5 to $50. Proceeds benefit the Museum’s garden projects.

    June 13, 1-5pm:  Make-A-Painting Sunday
    Visitors can pick up all the painting supplies necessary to make their own masterpieces in garden or down by the river. No experience necessary. In addition to the painting activity, visitors of all ages can enjoy garden-related fun. Today you can also make a painting using flowers, leaves, and twigs as brushes.

    June 15,  11am: Demonstration by the Garden Gang in the Landscape Center on
    The World of Composting.

    June 16, 11am- 3pm:  Guy Wolff Demonstration and Flower Pot Sale
    Meet the man Martha Stewart hails as the maker of her favorite flower pots. Guy Wolff, the master potter from Litchfield, known for creating functional art based on historic designs, demonstrates how he makes his hand-thrown pots. A selection of Guy Wolff Pottery will also be available to purchase.

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    June 17, 11am:  Demonstration by the Garden Gang in the Landscape Center of
    Flower Arranging.

    June 18 & 19, and June 25 & 26, 11am:  The Painted Garden, a Guided Tour in the Griswold House, and at 2pm, a walking tour of the gardens and grounds

    June 20, 1-5pm: Make-A-Painting Sunday.
    Visitors can pick up all the painting supplies necessary to make their own masterpieces in garden or down by the river. No experience necessary. In addition to the painting activity, visitors of all ages can enjoy garden-related fun. Today you can also make a T-Shirt for Father’s Day.

    June 22, 11am: Demonstration by the Garden Gang in the Landscape Center entitled Selecting and Caring for Roses.

    June 23, 11am:- Family Day Award-winning children’s author Page McBrier will read her book The Chicken and the Worm and teach kids how to make a worm farm for great garden composting.  Then, from 2pm – 4pm, kids learn to create a flower arrangement. Bring your own water-proof container.

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    June 24, 11am: Demonstration by the Garden Gang in the Landscape Center on
    Planting and Caring for Vegetable Gardens.

    June 27, 12pm – 4pm: Connecticut Historic Gardens Day, with expert tours of the gardens and refreshments.

    Museum admission is $9 Adults, $8 Seniors, $7 Students, children 12 and under free.  Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 – 5, and Sunday 1 – 5.  For more information call 860-434-5542, or log on to www.florencegriswoldmuseum.org.

  • Thursday, June 17, 7:30 pm – Birdology: From Hens to Hummingbirds – And One Big Living Dinosaur

    In her new book, Birdology, award-winning wildlife author Sy Montgomery explores questions such as: Do hawks show emotion, like anger, sympathy and frustration? Are birds actually living dinosaurs? Is there a secret emotional life to birds that we are only beginning to discover? Montgomery will explore these intriguing questions and others in this lecture and book signing on Thursday, June 17, at 7:30 pm at The Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge. Free with museum admission. For more information, log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu, or call 617-495-3045.

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  • Thursday, June 3, 7:00 pm – Spirit of a New Garden

    The Arnold Arboretum and Trinity Church are pleased to present programs on the intersections of gardens, spirit, health, environment, and healing. On Thursday, June 3, at 7:00 pm, Dominique Browning will speak on the topic Spirit of a New Garden.

    For over a decade, Dominique Browning brought gardening expertise to readers around the country as editor-in-chief of House & Garden magazine. But one Monday morning in 2007, the magazine folded and she was told to pack up her office. She also packed up the house where she had raised two children and had lovingly tended her own garden. After losing the job that defined her and the garden that inspired her, Browning started to cultivate a new garden, beginning a journey of self-discovery and reinvention. Join Browning, author of Slow Love, as she shares how the spirit of a new garden helped her to love the unexpected, unanticipated life.

    Fee $20 Arboretum and Trinity members, $25 nonmember.  This lecture takes place at Trinity Church, 206 Clarendon Street in Copley Square, Boston.

    Register online at arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617.384.5277 (Arboretum) or 617.536.0944 x225 (The Shop at Trinity) to purchase tickets over the telephone. Questions? Contact Kathy Acerbo-Bachmann 617.536.0944 or by email at kacerbobachmann@trinitychurchboston.org.

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  • Friday, June 4 – Saturday, June 5, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Cape Cod Rhododendron Festival and Garden Tours

    A new event on Cape Cod this spring is a two-day Rhododendron Festival on Friday, June 4 and Saturday, June 5, from 10 – 4, co-sponsored by Heritage Museums and Gardens and the Thornton W. Burgess Society.

    Private homes in Sandwich, Cotuit and Osterville open their gardens to the public. *(Garden tour locations noted after ticket purchase.)*

    The festival also offers a rare rhododendron auction, plant sale, book signings, exhibits and lectures.  The auction, plant sale, and lectures will be held at Heritage Museums and Gardens, Pine Street, Sandwich, Massachusetts.

    Tickets at $30 may be used both days and may be purchased at Heritage Museums or at Green Briar Nature Center.

    For further information, call 508-888-3300 or 508-888-6870, or email info@thorntonburgess.org. You may also log on to www.heritagemuseumsandgardens.org.

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  • Friday, May 21 – Sunday, May 23, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm – Tomatomania

    White Flower Farm, at 167 Litchfield Road in Litchfield, Connecticut will have over 100 varieties of tomato seedlings available, along with fertilizers, stakes, ties, containers, and a selection of herbs and vegetables to make this year’s garden the best ever, on Tomatomania weekend, May 21 – May 23, from 9 – 5 each day.  Scott Daigre, noted tomato expert and author, will give straightforward advice about growing his favorite subject.  For more information, log on to www.whiteflowerfarm.com.

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