Boston Flora

Category: Volunteer Opportunity

  • Call for Volunteers – Friends of the Public Garden Docent Program

    The Friends of the Public Garden has just completed a Strategic Plan to guide its growth over the next five years. Executive Director Liz Vizza spoke to the Garden Club of the Back Bay at our Annual Meeting in May, introducing a new initiative. As part of FOPG’s goal to build a strong base of support for the three parks, they want to create a docent program to deepen the public’s connections with these greenspaces. People have a great interest in learning about park history, horticulture and sculpture. Better understanding can also lead to more effective citizen advocates for their care and protection.

    They plan to begin this year with a pilot program of tours of the Public Garden, and are seeking volunteers with an interest in the parks to be trained to lead tours. They anticipate training to be some time in August, and a modest pilot program to be launched in September. They are not expecting people to be able to lead a tour without notes, so no concern about that!

    Please contact Communications and Outreach Director Eileen Scafidi with any questions anyone may have about the program. Image from www.tripadvisor.com.

    E-MAIL FOR EILEEN – eileen@friendsofthepublicgarden.org

  • Friday, July 11 – Entry Deadline for Mayor Walsh’s Garden Contest

    Launched as part of Mayor Walsh’s citywide beautification initiative, the contest recognizes gardeners who have landscaped, planted flowers, trees, and shrubs, and, in the process, helped beautify Boston’s neighborhoods.

    First place winners in the garden categories will receive the coveted “Golden Trowel” award from Mayor Walsh and prize packages from the Parks Department, Mahoney’s Garden Centers of Brighton and other sponsors at an awards ceremony in August in the Public Garden. Grand Prize provided by JetBlue.

    Mayor Walsh will recognize Garden Contest Hall of Fame inductees this year. To be eligible to be in the Hall of Fame, a gardener must have won three or more times. Residents and businesses are encouraged to nominate their own or a neighbor’s garden, window box, or front, back, or side yard. Only gardens planted by amateur gardeners are eligible to take part in the contest. No professionally contracted work will be allowed to enter. Entrants are required to submit photographs of their garden along with an official entry form. Using these photos, judges will narrow the entrants to five finalists per category. Site visits by contest judges will determine the winners.

    Your photo(s) and completed nomination form must be received at our Boston offices by July 11, 2014 at 11:59PM to be eligible for competition.

    Entries without photographs will not be accepted.
    Online Entry Form – http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/gardencontest/gardencontest.aspx
    Complete the form online and upload up to 5 digital photos of your garden.
    For More Information call 617-635-4505 or email GardenContest@cityofboston.gov. Pictured below, last year’s first place senior garden in Roslindale.

  • Seed Savers Exchange Saving and Sharing Seeds Contest

    Seed Savers Exchange is finishing up a free resource for gardeners to teach folks how to save and share seeds. Though the text is pretty well set, they are reaching out to friends and followers for the graphics.

    To that end, they’re looking for original illustrations – instructional or inspirational – that encourage seed saving, seed sharing and seed sowing. Selected submissions will be featured in a new resource, and artists will be awarded SSE memberships, rare seeds, or other prizes.

    Details:

    Content: Original illustration (no photographs, please, but diverse styles and media encouraged) instructing or inspiring others to save and share vegetable seeds. (Think halved tomato fruits, onion flowers, bolting lettuce, cabbage flowers, fermenting cucumber pulp, isolation cages, hand-made seed packets, seed swaps, etc.)

    Submission: All entries should be sent via email or wetransfer.com to grant@seedsavers.org with the subject SEED ART before July 1, 2014. Submissions must be high quality, RGB color mode, JPEG format, and 72dpi. Digital files must be smaller than 5MB. Artists retain all rights to their works, but allow SSE to use in Saving and Sharing Seeds and also display via social media as part of the contest.

    Use: Selected submissions will be featured in Saving and Sharing Seeds, a free resource made available on our website and sent to seed libraries, seed swaps, and gardener gatherings across the country. Saving and Sharing Seeds will be published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, and will be made available Fall 2014. Estimated distribution is 25,000. All submissions will be displayed online in a gallery at exchange.seedsavers.org, and many will be displayed via social media. Work title and artist name will be included with each image in the book (if selected) and on social media galleries. Selected artists and descriptions of their piece will also appear in the publication as a separate section.

    Selection Process: All submissions will be reviewed by Seed Savers Exchange staff and local artists. Art will be selected on the basis of general quality as well as suitability for this publication. Requirements of Selected Artists: SSE staff will notify selected artists before July 31. Artists will be asked to provide some specific written information about their selected illustration(s) for inclusion in the publication. Selected artists will also be required to submit a 9” x 12” RAW file (RGB format, 300dpi) for the work to be published. For a list of selected artists, visit exchange.seedsavers.org/artists after August 1, 2014.

  • Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts Organic Garden Project with Franklin Park Zoo

    Last fall, the Board of Directors of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts agreed to participate with the Franklin Park Zoo in a special and unique garden initiative named the Organic Garden Project (OGP). The garden will raise food for the animals to offset the annual food costs. The Garden Club Federation’s role is to provide volunteers.

    • In April, the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston established their rotating horticulture garden at the zoo to grow varieties of nutritious greens and other crops to feed the gorillas, anteaters, giraffes, zebras, birds and more. Now volunteers are needed from June through August 2014 to sow seeds, water and harvest the crops.

    • The zoo needs a maximum of three volunteers each day to support this 50’ x 60′ garden.

    • Volunteers may sign up for two hour shifts from 10 am – 12 noon on Mondays and Wednesdays beginning June 2nd through August 27th.

    Please sign up to volunteer to help.  Organize a group to volunteer every Monday and Wednesday for a month this summer. If you belong to a club with a youth gardeners’ group, encourage them to volunteer as a summer activity (volunteers must be 14 years or older).

    It is so easy to sign up.
    To volunteer, go to: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0B4AACA72BA5FF2-zoonew and enter the information requested. For more information, contact Ali Fioretti, Volunteer Coordinator for Zoo New England. She can be reached by email (afioretti@zoonewengland.com) or phone at 617-989-2017 or 617-259-4360.

    This is an exciting and amazing opportunity for our members to help Zoo New England… and the animals that will be fed by your efforts!

  • Saturdays, June 7, July 19, August 2, September 6, and October 11 – Exploring Cambridge’s Urban Forest

    Earthwatch Institute invites you to join them for Exploring Cambridge’s Urban Forest on Saturday, June 7, July 19, August 2, September 6, or October 11.  You can be a citizen scientist by identifying and measuring Cambridge trees, and by recording tree health and locations.  Trees filter pollutants, mitigate climate change, improve human health, and more.  Together your research results will help shape policies to improve urban forests.  Go to www.earthwatch.org/expeditions/exploring-bostons-urban-forest or call 1-800-776-0188 for more information. You’ll note the website refers to Boston but the press release refers to Cambridge – let’s just call this the Metro Area.

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/EarthwatchMedia/GalleryImages/venicx-exploring-bostons-urban-forest-c-stephen-gorman-h-8_2547.jpg

  • Friends of the Public Garden Spring Membership Drive

    The Friends of the Public Garden has launched its second annual Spring Membership Drive. Members play an important role in supporting the care and protection of some of Boston’s, and America’s, most treasured green spaces and all are invited to join. The Friends is offering a limited-time incentive now through May 22 when anyone who joins will be entered into a drawing to win lunch for two at the Four Seasons Hotel’s Bristol Lounge. Join by stopping by the office at 69 Beacon, calling 617-723-8144, visiting the Friends website at friendsofthepublicgarden.org, or by attending a special “Meet the Friends” reception for prospective members at the office on May 22.

    The Friends of the Public Garden is a non-profit citizen’s advocacy group formed in 1970 to preserve and enhance the Public Garden, America’s first public botanical garden. Shortly after the group organized, its mission was broadened to include the adjacent Boston Common, America’s first public park, and the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, the central spine of the Back Bay neighborhood. The Friends has worked in collaboration with the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of Boston since its beginnings. It is the first public-private partnership of its kind in the region. Today is has more than 2,500 members from over 100 Massachusetts communities and 30 other states.

    Members receive the Friends newsletters and are invited to programs and events throughout the year, including the annual Members Reception. Leadership Friends, who join at the $1,000 or higher level, are also invited to an additional special annual reception and Public Garden sculpture tour.

    For more information or to RSVP for the reception write to info@friendsofthepublicgarden.org or call 617-723-8144.

  • Tuesday, April 22, 10:00 am – Earth Day Restoration with the New England Wild Flower Society

    Tuesday, April 22, 10:00 am – Earth Day Restoration with the New England Wild Flower Society

    Celebrate Earth Day by joining a group of New England Wild Flower Society volunteers to restore Arthur Morency Woods, a 15-acre parcel of conservation land in Framingham. These “habitat islands” in densely populated areas are of great importance to wildlife. Meet at the Arthur Street Extension in Framingham at 10 AM. Plenty of parking at the entrance on Arthur Street. For more information visit www.newfs.org, or call 508-877-7630.

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  • Sunday, May 4 – Prince River Preserve Bioblitz

    East Quabbin Land Trust (www.eqlt.org) will be hosting an ecological inventory day on its Prince River Preserve property in Barre, Massachusetts on Sunday, May 4, 2014. Stewardship Coordinator Caren Caljouw welcomes participation by any who might be interested. Expertise in other areas such as herpetology, mammalogy, ornithology, botany, etc. would be very helpful, too. Located to the east of Old Reservoir, off Flaherty Road, the property is 690 acres of hilly terrain dominated by mixed hardwood and conifer forest interspersed with wooded swamps. The date suggests that you’ll be encountering early invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles, spring ephemeral plants, and migrating birds. Habitats include moist woods and lake shoreline. Visit the website for additional details.

    http://maxcdn.supergreenme.com/data/files/25919/271b3c3b2562c4ae37d13cc6965d7c88-East%20Quabbin%20Land%20Trust.jpg

  • Bumble Bee Watch – Calling Citizen Scientists

    As the season warms up, take time not just to smell the roses, but to photograph the bees on the roses. Bumble Bee Watch is looking for citizen scientists across the U.S. to record sightings of bumble bees, those heavy lifters of pollination, and their nests. Set up an account now, and you’ll be ready to submit photos from your digital camera or cell phone as soon as you spot your first bee. Go to www.bumblebeewatch.org/ for lots more information.  Photo from www.publicdomainpictures.net.

    http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/pictures/20000/nahled/bumblebee-on-rose-1106612998540397b2.jpg

  • Saturday, April 26, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon – Muddy River Clean-Up

    This is the big one! Hundreds of volunteers make a difference in the parks and have fun, too. Register for the clean-up and select “Muddy River” as region: http://crwa.org/crcleanup/signup.html.  Representative photo from www.gazettenet.com.

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