Boston Flora

Sunday, June 15 – Application Deadline: 2025 New England Leopold Conservation Award

The Leopold Conservation Award Program recognizes and celebrates achievement in voluntary conservation by agricultural landowners. Sand County Foundation, our national sponsor American Farmland Trust, and conservation partners across the U.S. present the prestigious honor, which consists of $10,000 and a crystal award, in settings that showcase the landowners’ achievements among their peers.

The Leopold Conservation Award program widely shares the stories of these conservation-minded farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners to inspire countless other landowners to embrace opportunities to improve soil health, water resources and wildlife habitat on their working land. Finally, the program builds bridges between agriculture, government, environmental organizations, industry and academia to advance the cause of environmental improvement on private land. The New England award is presented in partnership with American Farmland Trust and the New England Forestry Foundation. The nomination deadline is June 15, 2025. Apply at https://sandcountyfoundation.org/our-work/leopold-conservation-award/application-info

Monday, May 19 – Deadline for Comments on Proposed Weakening of Endangered Species Act

Tim Johnson, CEO of the Native Plant Trust, has issued a statement and call to action on a proposal from the US Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service, both institutions “under new management”, set forth below. Clicking on to to the Share Your Comments link brings you to the Federal Register site, and comments need not be lengthy or complicated, but the more people adding their objections to the bill, the better. Comments close on May 19, so take a moment now to support the environment:

In April, the US Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service announced their intention to weaken the power of the Endangered Species Act by no longer recognizing the harmful effects of changing or destroying the habitat of endangered species. Those of us in the conservation community fear that such a change will mean that federal regulators will ignore the impact of habitat loss–the number one cause of species extinction–when considering mining, logging, and development on ecologically sensitive lands.
The Endangered Species Act was voted into law by Congress in 1973. It is designed to protect and conserve endangered and threatened species and their habitats so that these species can be spared from extinction. To state the obvious, a species cannot survive without its habitat. A forest cannot survive in a parking lot. Fish cannot survive in a drained pond. This change to the Endangered Species Act would be catastrophic for endangered species everywhere. Excluding damage to habitat when considering the impact of human activities on endangered species unravels the very fabric of the law and its intent.
At present, there are 944 species, varieties, and subspecies of plants on the endangered species list, including the globally rare Astragalus robbinsii var. jesupii (Jesup’s milk vetch) a species Native Plant Trust has worked hard to protect from climate change-induced habitat loss and flooding through seed banking, reintroduction, and invasive species control for more than 20 years. Without the habitat protection afforded this species through the Endangered Species Act, the habitat this species occupies could be destroyed. Without that habitat, Jesup’s milk vetch will go extinct in the wild. The same goes for hundreds of other species.
Your voice matters. I ask you to use it now on behalf of endangered species across the country. Sharing your opinion about this proposed change before the public comment period ends on May 19. Tell those in power that biodiversity matters to you and that you are paying attention to the plight of endangered and threatened plants and animals.

Share Your Comments

Saturday, May 17, 11:00 am – 1:30 pm – Free Plants BOS

Join Emerald City Plant Shop on May 17 from 11 – 1:30 at the Boston Public Library at 1350 Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan for a free tropical plant giveaway. Limit two plants per person, first come first served while supplies last! Phone 617-298-9218 for more information.

Tuesday, May 20, 12:00 noon Eastern – Tumult in the Vase: Radical Florists in Conversation, Online

Emily Thompson, Wagner Kreusch, Frida Kim, Françoise Ozawa & John Lim of This Humid House will be in conversation with Shane Connolly at The Garden Museum in London on May 20 at 12 noon Eastern time, during the week of the Chelsea Flower Show. All are playing a part in the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025, where their radical floral installations showcase the future of floral design.

These artists are connected by a shared commitment to the natural world, and are led by nature to create designs that embrace the sometimes chaotic, aggressive, and subtle aspects of the living world, turning the flower vase on its head. Still, they are rooted in the great traditions of floristry.

Hear them discuss their work, the exhilaration and challenge of the medium, and their aesthetic connections with one another, and be inspired. Book the livestream (£10) at gardenmuseum.org.

Tuesday, May 20, 12:00 noon Eastern – Babylon, Albion, Online

Whoever said nature is still has not borne witness to the migration of the seasons. Join The Garden Museum and debut author Dalia Al-Dujaili in conversation on May 20 to celebrate the launch of her debut book, Babylon, Albion. In this striking exploration of identity and place, Dalia Al-Dujaili considers what it means to belong in your land. Tracing the rich heritage of both the oak and the date palm, Iraqi marshes and Loch Ness monsters, Al-Dujaili marries Arab and Islamic mythology with the English and Christian pastoral. She draws from a rich array of sources to consider in a new light the communal lush, wild – and, at times, dark – places we share.

Dalia Al-Dujaili is an Iraqi-British writer, editor and producer based in London. She is the online editor of The British Journal of Photography. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, Dazed, GQ, WePresent, Aperture, Atmos, It’s Nice That, Elephant Art and more. She is the founder of The Road to Nowhere Magazine and in 2023 she was the Producer of Refugee Week. Dalia holds an MA Hons in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh.

A love song to Britain, Iraq and the body of earth we hold in common, Babylon, Albion is an urgent reimaging of what it means to be native. £10 Livestream. Register at gardenmuseum.org.uk

Monday, May 19, 7:00 pm – Cheese Board Arranging Workshop with Life.Love.Cheese

It’s time to grab a blanket, some pals and a whole lot of snacks! This summer, WBUR’s Field Trip meetup series is dedicated to helping you create the perfect picnic with classes on cheese board making, wine tasting, floral arranging and more.

With Memorial Day right around the corner, now is a great time to learn some tricks and tips for making a beautiful and shareable cheese board arrangement. Join us on May 19 at 7 pm for a grazing board arranging workshop led by Life. Love. Cheese.

Life. Love. Cheese. focuses on American artisanal cheese. You’ll begin the workshop with a brief cheese tasting to introduce you to some amazing American cheese makers. Your instructor will also demo some tips and tricks for making a beautiful cheese board arrangement. Then you’ll take a crack at making your own cheese board to take home!

About your cheese instructor

Kimi Ceridon received her MSME from MIT in 2001. She spent over a decade in tech before saying “Goodbye” to the cubicle and going to culinary school. She has a MLA in Gastronomy and an artisan cheese certificate from Boston University. She’s also trained in cheesemaking at Sterling College alongside Jasper Hill and now she is an artisan cheese instructor at BU. Her company Life. Love. Cheese. focuses on highlighting American cheese makers and artisans with a special emphasis on the Northeast. She was named to Culture Magazine’s hot list of cheese professionals to watch.

Tickets are $45, and may be purchased through Ovationtix HERE. Cheese board below from Thyme & Honey.

Friday, May 16 – Sunday, May 18 – Plant Sale Weekend at The Farm at Gore Place

Fill your garden with vegetable transplants, locally grown on the Farm at Gore Place. Choose from many varieties of hard-to-find heirloom and hybrid tomatoes, as well as peppers, eggplants, and herbs. Back this year: customer-favorite marigolds! This year’s sale takes place in-person, on-site at our Farm; there will be no online sales this year. The dates and times are May 16, 9 – 3, May 17, 9 – 5, and May 18, 9 – 12.

It’s not just the great plants that make this sale special: Farmer Scott has been growing vegetables for almost 50 years. He has deep knowledge of these varieties and is onsite and ready to share! According to Scott, “We get lots of return customers. They count on us to provide the rare varieties that commercial nurseries don’t carry.” To see the plant list, visit https://goreplace.org/whats-on/plant-sale

The sale will take place on the Farm and there will be plenty of free parking (enter at 249 Waltham Street)

Saturday, May 17, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Nature in Ceramics: Designing with Sgraffito

Discover the ancient art of Sgraffito in this Massachusetts Horticultural Society beginner-friendly class at The Gardens at Elm Bank on May 17 from 10 – 1. Sgraffito is a decorative pottery technique where you can draw or scratch the surface of your clay piece to reveal a contrasting color underneath, resulting in stunning designs. Join us for a fun and engaging experience where you’ll not only learn a new skill but also design a beautifully glazed and fired piece of art that you’ve created yourself. No prior experience is needed; just bring your creativity. Fired ceramics are available for pick up a week after the final class. Register at https://www.masshort.org/upcoming-classes

Tuesday, June 10, 12:30 pm – 3:00 pm – New England Forestry Foundation Annual Meeting

Join New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) for our free 81st Annual Meeting Celebration! Head to NEFF headquarters in Littleton, MA, on June 10 as we celebrate another successful year.

Guests will enjoy a beautiful, outdoors catered lunch surrounded by wildflowers and hear plans for the year ahead. Attendees can also help us honor our most steadfast supporters and woodland advocates, and catch up with old friends and make new ones.

Kindly RSVP as soon as possible (deadline was May 9 but do contact them). Speaker Ethan Breitling is Vice President for Strategic Communications at the National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO). A native New Englander, Ethan began his career running a sawmill and teaching forestry and ecology at a 100-year-old Boy Scout summer camp in the Adirondack Park. The camp owned and operated its own working forest, which not only provided him with hands-on experience in forest management but also taught him the foundations of strategic communications—convincing 11-year-old boys that the Forestry Merit Badge is exciting.

In Washington, DC, Ethan has built his career by specializing in communicating complex scientific and policy concepts to diverse audiences. Before joining NAFO, Ethan worked at Bay Armoury Consulting, where he managed several fundraising communications campaigns for federal, state, and local races, all aimed at promoting moderation in politics. He earned his degree in Political Science from Western Connecticut State University and studied Foreign Policy at American University.

Tuesday, May 13, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded – Ecological Planting Design: A History

The Gardens Trust’s final series of A History of Gardens will consider developments of the recent past. Starting with the arrival of the sleek, functional style of Modernism after the first world war, the talks will move on to explore contemporary thinking on the challenges of conserving and restoring historic parks and gardens, the rise of ecological perennial planting, the reappearance of allusive gardens and how a garden’s ‘spirit of place’ can guide sustainable plans for the future.

Themes and exemplars in garden-making are more difficult to identify without the benefit of distance and time. But considering recent ideas and approaches is bound to bring a thought-provoking end to our History of Gardens. This ticket link is for the sixth series of 5 talks in our History of Gardens Course at £35 or you may purchase a ticket for individual talks, costing £8 via the links on the website. (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 5 for £26.25). Ticket holders can join each session live and/or view a recording for up to 2 weeks afterwards. Ticket sales close 4 hours before the first talk.

Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk (if you do not receive this link please contact us) and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 2 weeks.

Talk 3 on May 13 is on Ecological Planting Design, with Noel Kingsbury. Visiting Britain, Germany, the USA and The Netherlands, we explore the roots of the contemporary interest in ecological perennial planting design, making connections with the landscape garden movement of the 18th century, cottage gardening, the growth of ecology as a science and the sometimes murky politics of those involved.

Noel Kingsbury is a writer, researcher, teacher and planting designer, largely known as a promotor of ecological planting design. With Annie Guilfoyle he runs gardenmasterclass.org as a place to share colleagues’ inspiration and wisdom in the global garden and landscape community. After living in the west of England for many years, he is now making a low-irrigation garden in central Portugal.