Boston Flora

Category: Author Book Signing

  • Saturday, April 17, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm – Cape Cod Horticultural Conference

    Come to the Barnstable High School Performing Arts Center, 744 West Main Street in Hyannis on Saturday, April 17, for a full day conference beginning at 8:00 am – 4:00 pm, sponsored by the Master Gardener Association of Cape Cod.  The program will feature:

    Rick Darke, The Wild Garden: A fresh look at the wild garden concept and will illustrate why it is the most enjoyable, sensible approach for livable, ecologically sustainable modern landscapes;

    Vincent Simeone, Wonders of the Winter Landscape: How to enhance the aesthetic value and interest of the garden by using horticultural treasures such as winter fruiting plants, broadleaved evergreens, conifers and trees with interesting bark;

    C.L. Fornari, The Top 25: 25 plants that she thinks you should know about, along with the 25 most interesting/amusing/useful bits of gardening information she has learned in over 25 years of gardening.

    Book signings with speakers, lunch, marketplace, and a raffle will be part of the day. MCLP and MCH professional credits are available.  The cost of $60 includes lunch.  For more information, call 508-375-6690, or email tramos@barnstablecounty.org.  You may also find information at www.capecodextension.org.

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  • Monday – Wednesday, April 5 – 7 – Edward O. Wilson Gives Prather Lectures

    The annual John M. Prather Lectures in Biology will be presented by Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino Research Professor Emeritus and Honorary Curator in Entomology at Harvard.  Dr. Wilson is one of the world’s leading voices for conservation of global biodiversity.  He is one of the most influential and accomplished biologists of the last half-century.  He is known for his groundbreaking research on the biology and behavior of ants, as well as his celebrated work in such broad fields as island biogeography, sociobiology, and conservation biology.  He is the author of two Pulitzer Prize winning books, On Human Nature (1978), and The Ants (1990, with Bert Holldobler), as well as the recipient of many fellowships, honors and awards. Wilson’s Prather lectures will encapsulate his remarkable 55 year career in biology at Harvard, and look forward to the challenges ahead.

    Monday, April 5:  “Biodiversity and the Future of Biology.”

    Global biodiversity is richer than thought even 20 years ago, but it and the ecosystems supporting it are disappearing at an accelerating rate–to the great and enduring loss to future humanity. Science is not well prepared to handle this issue. We live on a poorly explored planet: only a tiny fraction, probably fewer than ten percent, of species are known to science, when microorganisms are included; and of these, only a minute fraction have been studied at any depth. There are remedies to this ignorance, and when they are applied, a major new front of biology will open, equal and complementary to molecular, cellular, and developmental biology.

    Location: Sanders Theatre at Memorial Hall, 6:00 PM. (Reception and book signing to follow at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.) Lecture tickets are required, and can be obtained through the Harvard Box Office in Holyoke Center beginning on March 3. $10 – general public/ Free to Harvard University ID holders.

    Tuesday, April 6: “The Superorganism.”

    The study of insect societies is today one of the fastest growing major branches of evolutionary biology. It has revealed a great deal about the general principles of the origin and evolution of advanced social behavior, and has shed light on the enormous ecological success of the social insects (with ants and termites making up over half of the insect biomass around the world). The evolution from organism to superorganism has been the major transition between levels of biological organization, easiest to penetrate and understand.

    Location: Science Center, 4:00 PM. Free, advance tickets not required.

    Wednesday, April 7: “Consilience.”

    The boundary between science on one side and the humanities and humanistic social sciences on the other is not an intrinsic epistemological divide but a broad borderland of previously poorly understood causal relationships. The borderland is now being explored, and offers increasing opportunities for collaboration across three great branches of learning. A definition of human nature will be offered and examples from the borderland will be used to illustrate it.

    Location: Science Center, 4:00 PM. Free, advance tickets not required.

    For more ticket info, please call 617-496-2222, or visit the Harvard Box Office web site at http://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/cal/details.php?ID=40839

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  • Sunday, March 28, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Spring into Gardening with Bountiful Brookline

    Come to the Pierce School, 50 School Street, Brookline on Sunday, March 28 beginning at 5 pm for an event featuring a reading and book signing by Ben Hewitt, author of the forthcoming book The Town That Food Saved.  Learn about growing fruits and vegetables in tiny spaces, tall spaces, shared spaces, and very long skinny spaces.  Talk to growers and connect with a community of gardeners.  There will be a raffle, and you will have the opportunity to attend a wide choice of workshops as well.  You can register in advance on line at http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e2pfras3cd9f01ec, or email bountifulbrookline@gmail.com.

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  • Saturday, March 20, 8:30 am – 3:30 pm – The Changing American Flower Garden: Bringing Color, Fragrance and New Attitudes Home

    Attend a one day symposium sponsored by the Rotch Jones Duff House in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on Saturday, March 20, beginning at 8:30 am and concluding at 3:30 pm.  In celebration of the RJD landscape, this symposium, the first of a three year landscape series exploring changing tastes in gardening in the 19th and 20th centuries, will focus on flower gardens.

    Landscape designer and worldwide garden traveler Nan Sinton explores two centuries of the influences on American flower gardening as she shows how attitudes regarding spaces have evolved in her talk entitled “What Were They Thinking?”  Gardener, author, lecturer and long time instructor at New York Botanical Garden, Keynote Speaker Page Dickey, author of Dogs in Their Gardens,  invites gardeners to discover how the floral bounty of meadows and natural places can be brought home to even the tiniest space in her illustrated lecture, “Bringing Wildness into the Garden”, followed by a book signing.  Later, Joann Vieira, Director of Horticulture at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, who leads the planning and planting of the extensive gardens and dynamic indoor and outdoor container displays there, will reveal which flowers she chooses for an extended season of bloom in “Tradition Meets Experiment: The Best Plants for a Flourishing Flower Garden.”  Following these presentations, there will be time for informal questions with the speakers.  Registration at The Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Garden Museum, 396 County Road, New Bedford, Massachusetts, begins at 8:30 am, and the program cost of $65 per person (members of the sponsor Rotch Jones Duff House) or $75 (nonmembers) includes lunch.  For more information, or to purchase tickets, call 508-997-1401, or log on to www.rjdmuseum.org.

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  • Wednesday, March 10, 6:00 pm – The Weeping Goldsmith

    As part of the Globe Corner Bookstores Adventure Lecture Series, author W. John Kress will give an illustrated talk about and read from his latest book The Weeping Goldsmith: Discoveries in the Secret Land of Myanmar.

    The Weeping Goldsmith is a remarkable memoir of the over nine years that Dr. Kress spent exploring the wilderness of Myanmar in search of rare and beautiful plants, and how he came to appreciate Myanmar’s unique people and culture. The book contains past explorers’ archival photographs as well as 200 of the author’s color photographs of plants, people, landscapes, and temples. A 10-page portfolio includes photographs of 50 Myanmar plants, with botanical profiles and habitat detail.

    W. John Kress prefaces his book by explaining that it “is about the natural landscapes and people of Myanmar as interpreted through the eyes of a modern-day scientist and plant explorer…I surveyed the teak forests, bamboo thickets, timber plantations, rivers, and mangroves to document the plant diversity of this vast unknown land. Myanmar is one of the world’s great biodiversity hot spots in Asia, but because of its social isolation and reputation for political repression it has been off-limits and avoided by many biologists, conservationists, and environmentalists.”

    This event will take place Wednesday, March 10 at First Parish Church, 3 Church Street in Cambridge (Harvard Square), and is free and wheelchair accessible.  Reservations are recommended, and you may call 617-649-5700 x 21, or email events@gcb.com.

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  • Friday, April 23, 7:00 pm – Saturday, April 24, 4:00 pm – 7th Annual Great Gardens and Landscaping Symposium

    Reservations are steadily coming in for this premier symposium scheduled for April 23 & 24, 2010 at The Equinox Resort (www.equinoxresort.com). For all of you who attended that 2008 symposium, you will be blown away by the resort’s new look. It has undergone a $20-million restoration including new luxury amenities, accommodations, dining options and lounges. This four-star resort, providing world class service, has a unique blend of New England charm and contemporary luxury. The 13,000 square foot Spa puts the property over the top!

    Now insert the Seventh Annual Great Gardens and Landscaping Symposium into this setting and you’ve got one magnificent time. The programming kicks off on Friday evening, April 23 at 7:00 p.m. and runs through Saturday at 4:00 p.m. Overnight and day-only rates are available. Here is the extraordinary speaker line-up:

    Julie Moir Messervy is an internationally known landscape designer, speaker, and writer. With over three decades of experience, five books, and numerous high-profile lectures, Julie has emerged as an innovative leader in landscape and garden design theory and practice. Her newest book, The Toronto Music Garden: Inspired by Bach was just released. It’s an in-depth guide to the conception and creation of Julie’s award-winning three-acre public garden, designed in collaboration with eminent cellist Yo-Yo Ma.  Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love was released in 2009. She has lectured at distinguished venues such as the Smithsonian Institution, the National Geographic Society and the Getty Museum. Her imaginative landscape design work has delighted clients including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Marshall Field’s, Fidelity Investments, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. In 1999, Julie completed the award-winning Toronto Music Garden, a collaboration with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the City of Toronto to create a three-acre public park based on the “First Suite for Unaccompanied Cello” by J.S. Bach. In 2005, the Toronto Music Garden received a Leonardo Da Vinci award for innovation and creativity(See picture below).  For more about Julie, visit her web site at http://www.juliemoirmesservy.com/. Julie will be presenting two talks at the Seventh Annual Great Gardens and Landscaping Symposium:

    Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love. In this inspiring lecture, Julie demystifies the art and practice of landscape design for homeowners and professionals alike. Using beautiful images, together with helpful tips, case studies, befores and afters, diagrams, and plans, she walks you through the process of turning any property into the “home outside” you’ve always dreamed of. Julie highlights many of the ideas introduced in her book, Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love, illustrating that good landscape design does not have to be overwhelming or expensive.

    Gardening for Your Soul. Contemplate the transcendent power of landscape as seen through Julie’s eyes, an award-winning landscape designer and author. Julie explores the deeply personal process of designing a beautiful landscape and reveals how spirituality can inform garden design and the landscapes we create on the earth.

    Heather Poire from Proven Winners will speak on creating colorful spring containers and how to refresh tired looking containers for season long beauty. Heather has worked at Pleasant View Gardens (in New Hampshire), one of the founders of Proven Winners North America, for six years and currently works as a regional sales manager. Her expertise is broad, with a specialty in Proven Winners annuals and perennials. Heather graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a degree in Horticulture. She has been an avid gardener since 1997. Heather visits independent garden centers around the Northeast providing guidance, consulting, and garden inspiration.

    Charlie Nardozzi from the National Gardening Association will share his expertise about kitchen and vegetable gardening in his charming, easy to understand style. His talk is titled Edible Landscaping. Charlie has gardened for over 20 years, written articles for many magazines, and has authored several books including Vegetable Gardening for Dummies to be released soon. He presently is the senior horticulturist and spokesperson for the National Gardening Association. In 2005 he was the host of PBS’s Garden Smart, reaching more than 60 million households. He has also been a gardening expert on many nationally syndicated television shows, such as HGTV’s Today at Home and Way to Grow, Discovery Channel’s Home Matters, and DIY’s Ask DIY. He currently co-hosts In The Garden on a local CBS-affiliate television station in Vermont, does a weekly call-in radio show on WJOY-1230AM, and is a commentator on Vermont Public Radio.

    Joe Kunkel is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society (http://www.masshort.org/) in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Joe served as the president of the Perennial Plant Association in 2005 and also owned his own nursery, Akin’ Back Farm in Lagrange, Kentucky for fifteen years. This successful nursery sold herbs and perennials and featured 18 display gardens. In 2000, he met Adrian Bloom, the head of Blooms of Bressingham. Already considered one of Great Britain’s best-known plantsmen, Bloom was becoming known in the U.S. for his stint as host of the PBS series Victory Garden, as well as being the author of numerous books on gardens and contributions to horticulture. Working with Bloom, Joe helped build five demonstration gardens around the U.S., including spectacular ones in Ohio, New York, Kentucky and California. Each garden had the common elements of promoting horticulture and utilizing donated plants and volunteer labor. The fifth Adrian Bloom project was the one that brought Joe back to his native Massachusetts. Mass Hort saw the potential for a ‘wow’ kind of garden as a counterpoint to the adjoining, formal Italianate Garden at Elm Bank. Then in March of 2008, Joe oversaw the nearly 5-acre Garden on the Greenway project in Boston. Joe helped turn a sea of mud and construction scrap into a world-class urban oasis of greenery and color. Joe’s brilliance, passion for helping others, and leadership are inspirational. Joe will speak on top performing perennials and annuals that in the New England Trial Garden located at Elm Bank’s 36-acre hands-on horticulture center. Breeding companies from all over the world contribute the newest and best varieties of annuals to the New England Trial Garden  for viewing by amateur and professional gardeners. This garden also tests new and unreleased varieties competing for All-America Selections awards, displays previous winners, and grows hundreds of cultivars submitted for evaluation by commercial plant breeders.

    Kerry Ann Mendez’s talk, Make Me Beautiful…PLEASE is all about what your gardens are trying to tell you to make them more beautiful and lower maintenance. You would be surprised at the wisdom they want to share with you. Allow her to interpret for them. The lecture’s in-depth handout is filled with tips and tricks. You’ll be waving your garden hoe and magically turning your gardens into a wonderland.Kerry’s first garden book, The Ultimate Flower Gardener’s Top Ten Lists, will be released in March, 2010.

    For more about the speakers, agenda and topics, visit www.pyours.com/Symposium2010.html.

    The Equinox Resort was eager to have the symposium back and put together amazing packages. The one night package (Friday night) includes one night’s accommodation, the Friday evening lecture, full breakfast buffet, lunch, five lectures on Saturday, refreshment break, handouts, garden gift, and all taxes and gratuities. A single is $266.38 and a double is $384.26 ($192.13 per person). The two night package includes all of the above plus Saturday night’s accommodations, Sunday breakfast buffet, and all taxes and gratuities. A single two night package is $441.08 and a double is $585.15 ($292.58 per person).

    The day only rate for all Saturday’s program includes five garden lectures, coffee at registration, refreshment break, lunch, handouts and a garden gift is only $98 per person. Day only participants may attend the Friday 7:00 pm lecture at no charge. For overnight packages, please call The Equinox Resort at (877) 854-7625 Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Day only participants register through me, Perennially Yours by using the registration form at www.pyours.com/Symposiumregister.html or calling (518) 885-3471.

  • Friday, March 5, 7:30 pm – Parks, Plants and People

    The Spring Bulb Show at Smith College (March 6 – March 21, 10 – 4 daily) kicks off on Friday, March 5 at 7:30 pm in the Campus Center Carroll Room with a lecture by Lynden Miller entitled Parks, Plants and People, followed by a reception and booksigning at the Lyman Conservatory, with the Bulb Show illuminated.  Lynden Miller is an outstanding Public Garden Designer of international renown. She is Director of the Conservatory Garden in Central Park, which she rescued and rejuvenated in 1982.  Trained as a painter, Miller brings the artist’s sensibility to her work.  She received a Master’s in Studio Art at the University of Maryland and a BA in the History of Art at Smith College, and studied Horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden.  For 25 years, Lynden Miller has focused on the improvement of parks and gardens throughout New York City.  Believing that beautiful and well maintained public open green space can change city life, she has taken a new approach to public horticulture, creating rich plantings that provide interest year-round.  After 9/11, she secured a gift of a million daffodils, to serve as a living memorial to those who died.  In the spring of 2002 they bloomed to raise the spirits of New Yorkers and beautify parks everywhere.  The Daffodil Project continues with over 3 million daffodils planted.

  • Thursday, February 25, 6:30 – 8:00 pm – Art and the Gardener: Taking a Fresh Look at Your Garden through Art

    The Trustees of Reservations will sponsor a lecture by Gordon Hayward on Thursday, February 25, beginning at 6:30 pm, at Long Hill, 572 Essex Street in Beverly.

    Gordon Hayward first presented this lecture at The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1995; he has since been refining and presenting this slide illustrated lecture in art museums and garden organizations across the country.

    This one-hour lecture is about the visual language shared between painters and garden designers. By juxtaposing a painting and a garden image on the screen, Hayward explores the many levels of similarity between how the painter and garden designer construct their images.

    He begins by exploring style: romanticism, expressionism, pattern and decoration… and others. For example, he places Childe Hassam’s In the Garden next to an image from his own garden in Vermont to show what an impressionist passage in a garden looks like.

    He next explores many design principles you can put to work in your garden: defining depth, creating foreground/background, how light can be manipulated, the power of focal points, pleasing contrasts, framing, contrasting textures and forms and the many roles of trees in the garden.

    He closes with an exploration of color in paintings by Gauguin, Matisse, Bonnard and others, and how you can use paintings to inspire your color combinations in pots and beds.

    This is a lecture that enables you, through art, to take a fresh look at your garden from a new perspective.  The lecture is preceded by refreshments, served at 6:30.  Trustees of Reservations members $20, nonmembers $25.  To reserve, call 978-921-1944, x 4018, or email bzschau@ttor.org.  For directions, log on to www.thetrustees.org/longhill.