Boston Flora

Wednesday, October 18, 2:00 pm – Art in Bloom On The Road

The October meeting of The Garden Club of the Back Bay will be held at The Chilton Club, 152 Commonwealth Avenue, on October 18 at 2 pm. This is a members only meeting, but if you’d like to join the Club, visit their website at https://gardenclubbackbay.org/store to take advantage of the full year of activities planned for 2023 – 2024.

The MFA Boston was the first museum in the country to host Art in Bloom — a magnificent pairing of flowers and art. The Art in Bloom Roadshow brings the Art in Bloom experience to you with an informative PowerPoint presentation of the art and flower arrangements that wows visitors.

The PowerPoint will be presented by an engaging MFA art guide who has been trained by the museum. It is followed by a live floral demonstration by an MFA trained Associate. The floral arrangement is inspired by an art object from the MFA’s collection.

The Art in Bloom Roadshow offers a compelling “guided tour” and an up-close look at the stunning flowers and art that make Art in Bloom the busiest weekend of the year at the MFA Boston. If you have any questions about GCBB programs, feel free to contact Program Committee co-chairs, Jackie Blombach or Christine Hirshland.

Wednesday, September 27, 2:00 pm Eastern – Munstead Wood: Gertrude Jekyll’s Home and Garden, Online

In June 2023, the National Trust in the UK announced the new acquisition of a Grade I listed house and garden—Gertrude Jekyll’s home and garden, Munstead Wood. Gertrude Jekyll was one of the most important garden designers of the early 20th century, a prolific writer, and skilled businesswoman. She often collaborated with architect Sir Edwin Lutyens and both worked on Jekyll’s own home in Surrey. Jekyll lived at Munstead Wood from the 1890s until her death in 1932. During that time, she created a woodland garden and designed seasonal gardens, such as the Spring Garden, the Hidden Garden, the June Garden, and the 200-foot-long colorful herbaceous border. Jekyll once spoke of Munstead Wood “My garden is my workshop, my private study, and a place of rest.”

Landscape historian and author Judith Tankard will discuss Jekyll’s home and garden, and talk about the designer’s theories on color, planting and design. She will show some of Jekyll’s own photographs and scrapbooks to demonstrate Jekyll‘s lasting influence on garden design. Andy Jasper, Head of Gardens at the National Trust, created a video for Royal Oak Foundation members to explain the upcoming restoration plans and Munstead Wood’s opening to the public. Ms. Tankard is a member of The Garden Club of the Back Bay.

Watch LIVE on Wednesday, September 27 at 2:00 p.m. (ET) or RENT the recording!
$15 Royal Oak members; $25 non-members

LIVE

RENTAL

Wednesday, October 4, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Eastern – Conversations with Great American Gardeners: Claire Sawyers, Online

The American Horticultural Society is pleased to share the final session in the 2023 Great American Gardeners free webinar series, featuring the 2023 Liberty Hyde Bailey Award recipient, Claire Sawyers. This October 4 live virtual program will be hosted by Holly Shimizu, former executive director of the United States Botanic Garden and AHS board member, who will lead an engaging conversation tapping into the awardee’s knowledge and experience.

Claire Sawyers has served as the Director of the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College for more than 30 years, where she has transformed the Arboretum into one of the leading examples of campus gardens in the country. Her prolific, award-winning publications include The Authentic Garden: Five Principles for Cultivating Place, as well as four texts of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Handbook series, for which she was a guest editor. In addition to the AHS 2023 Liberty Hyde Bailey Award, Sawyers is the recipient of a 2009 Professional Award and 2008 Book Award from AHS. Register at https://ahsgardening.org/lifelong-learning/conversations-with-great-american-gardeners/

Wednesday, October 4, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Eastern- Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman: A Creative Kinship, Online

American novelist Edith Wharton’s first published work was not a novel but a design manual that she coauthored with the Codman Estate‘s Ogden Codman Jr. Their book, The Decoration of Houses, was destined to become an interior design classic. Using original letters from Historic New England’s Codman Family Manuscript collection, this October 4 Historic New England illustrated virtual talk with Camille Arbogast, Codman family scholar, offers an inside peek into Wharton and Codman’s artistic friendship, which spanned more than forty years.

Tickets are free; donations are encouraged. Become a member today to help us continue to offer free programs for all to enjoy.

Please call 617-994-6678 for more information, or visit https://my.historicnewengland.org/17425/wharton-and-codman to register. The link for the webinar will be included in the order confirmation for this program.

Friday & Saturday, October 6 & 7 – Forum 2023: Harewood House and the Walled Kitchen Gardens of North Yorkshire

Fancy a quick trip across the Pond? The Walled Kitchen Gardens Network is hugely pleased to announce Harewood House as our venue for 2023, with thanks to Trevor Nicholson, Head of Gardens & Grounds, and the Trustees at Harewood. The theme this year will look at the historic relationship between the Kitchen Garden and the Kitchen – a vitally important collaboration for the management of Estates and their households historically, many again recognizing and enjoying the benefits and working together.

The first day, Friday 6th October, will be at Harewood House, where we will meet from 9 am, with talks during the morning, from our speakers; Trevor Nicholson, Steffie Shields, Claudio Bincoletto and Bent Varming. After lunch, we will spend the afternoon in the 18thC walled kitchen gardens with Trevor and his team and return to the Courtyard with time for discussions, Q&A and tea.On Saturday 7th, we will visit other Walled Kitchen Gardens in North Yorkshire.

Harewood sits in the heart of Yorkshire and is one of the Treasure Houses of England. The House, built during the mid-18th century, has over 50 ha (100 acres) of landscaped gardens laid out by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, set within a wider estate of over 350 ha. Trevor Nicholson oversees this landscape, including of course, the Walled Garden, which sits at the far side of the Lake. It is the oldest garden at Harewood, already under construction when building at Harewood House began in 1759. Its purpose – to provide the kitchens with the finest fresh fruit and vegetables.

Susan Campbell writes: The kitchen garden at Harewood was designed by Lancelot Brown between the years of 1758 and 1781 for the owner, Edwin Lascelles. It is unique in that it looks like an island in the lake created by Brown, but in fact it is built on a promontory jutting into the west side. The lake was created by damming the Stank Beck that flows through the western part of the estate. A watercolor by Turner, painted in 1797, shows how well the kitchen garden melts into the wider landscape. It is also noticeable that the lake can be seen from the mansion, but not the kitchen garden. Complete registration materials can be found at www.walledgardens.net

Saturday, September 30, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Drawing Botany in a Day

This September 30 Massachusetts Horticultural Society class is for those new to botanical art as well as more experienced artists who desire a short refresher in plant morphology.

Bring your sketchbook and spend the day learning about the form, structure, and function of plants and their components through close observation and immersive drawing exercises intended to enhance your ability to draw plants accurately. The focus of this class is the visible structure of plants including roots, stems/shoots, flowers, and fruits/seeds as well as an introduction to plant evolution, systems, and special adaptations.

A selection of plant materials and specimens will be provided to draw during class. If you have a garden or indoor plant or a botanical specimen (such as a seed pod) you would like to draw, please feel free to bring it to class. Lauren Meier is a botanical artist and landscape architect. She received a BA in Botany from Pomona College and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design. She worked as a field botanist and plant ecologist before specializing in historic landscapes and has published many articles, contributed to several books, and frequently lectures on topics related to landscape preservation and restoration, treatment of plant material, and the work of the Olmsted Firm. Her publications and projects have received many national and local awards. Meier is currently completing a Certificate in Botanical Art and Illustration from Massachusetts Horticultural Society, formerly the Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens, where she combines her specific interest in the interrelationships between science and art.

The class takes place at The Garden at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley, from 10 – 4, and is $125 for Mass Hort members, $155 for nonmembers. Register at www.masshort.org

Sunday, October 1, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Bog Plants

One of Thoreau’s beloved landscapes, referenced often in his writings, Gowing’s Swamp is a rare and beautiful bog in a kettle hole below a glacial ridge in Concord, Massachusetts. Neela de Zoysa of the Native Plant Trust will walk the loop around the bog and explore the thriving community of northern bog plants such as pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea), bog rosemary (Andromeda polifolia), bog laurel (Kalmia polifolia), small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos), large cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon), and black spruce (Picea mariana). The field trip takes place Sunday October 1 from 1 – 3 at Gowing’s Swamp, a Sudbury Valley Trustees Property. $30 for NPT members, $36 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/bog-plants/

Wednesday, October 4, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Eastern- Head Gardeners at Historic Sites: John Wood at Hinton Ampner, Online

The Gardens Trust will focus on head gardeners working at historic sites. Split into two 5-week series on Wednesdays, the season will kick off with an exploration of the head gardener role over the past two centuries, followed by talks exploring how individual head gardeners are balancing the heritage of their site, the wishes of its owner(s) and their own interests and experience. We’ll hear about the role from both seasoned head gardeners and those more recently appointed. Join us to learn about the challenges they face, including climate change, as well as the joys of horticulture and heritage.

At the end of the first series, we will also be offering a FREE roundtable discussion on the different career paths available to head gardeners, and ways of encouraging more people to enter or progress in the profession. Please register separately for this.

You may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 5 sessions at a cost of £20 via the link here. [Gardens Trust members may use their promo code for a discount.] Please register separately for the roundtable discussion, or for individual sessions by following the links HERE. Ticket sales close 4 hours before the talk. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.

Hinton Ampner is a 14-acre National Trust garden set amid the rolling Hampshire countryside. Laid out from the 1930s as a series of distinctive garden rooms, it is seen as a masterpiece of 20th-century garden design, with a mix of styles and glorious views across the South Downs. The garden has an exceptional framework that is complimented by a great variety of plants including dahlias, roses and salvias. Since 2000 the Walled Garden has been restored, and the garden team continues restoring many of the large beds and borders. Visitor numbers have grown from 25,000 a year to over 170,000, which poses growing challenges in the garden.

John Wood is head gardener at Hinton Ampner. He has worked for the National Trust for 25 years, starting at Mottisfont, assisting David Stone with the restoration of the renowned Rose Garden containing the national collection of historic roses. It was here John developed his love of roses. Having worked at Hinton Ampner since 2000, he is moving to become head gardener at Hampton Court Castle in Herefordshire this autumn. In his spare time John is working on his own garden project, experimenting with border design and planting combinations.

On Demand – Leith Hill Place

Leith Hill Place in Surrey was Vaughan Williams’s mother’s family home, and they moved here after his father passed away. It was here that he began his study of music before going on to the Royal College of Music in London where he studied under Sir Hubert Parry, composer of Jerusalem.

Believing music to be “the soul of a nation,” Vaughan Williams took inspiration from the rolling hills and winding woodland paths that surrounded him throughout his life but especially in his early years at Leith Hill.

The National Trust invites you to view a three minute video available now on YouTube to experience the countryside that influenced the composer. Access the free video HERE.

Tuesday, October 3, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – Blenheim Palace

The Gardens Trust has created a seven part series on Tuesdays, beginning September 12, to mark 50 years of UNESCO World Heritage, £5 each or all 7 for £28. Starting with an overview of World Heritage values and the changing nature of the UK list, the series will aim to enthuse people about individual sites around Great Britain, highlighting what makes each one exceptional, the advantages and challenges of being inscribed on the list, and the issues around sustainable future management of these global assets. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards. Register for the complete series HERE, or follow the links on that page to sign up for individual sessions.

Week four is an exploration of Blenheim Palace. Blenheim Palace was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. Situated in Oxfordshire, this magnificent palace is a masterpiece of English Baroque architecture.

Designed by the esteemed architect Sir John Vanbrugh, Blenheim Palace showcases a harmonious blend of grandeur, elegance, and intricate detailing. Its commanding facade, adorned with majestic columns and intricate sculptures, captivates visitors from the moment they set eyes upon it.

Beyond its architectural splendour, Blenheim Palace holds immense historical value. It is the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, one of the most influential figures in British history. The palace has witnessed significant events and played a pivotal role in shaping the course of the nation. Surrounded by vast parklands, including Capability Brown designed lakes and meticulously landscaped gardens, Blenheim Palace offers a glimpse back in time.

As a World Heritage Site, Blenheim Palace stands as a testament to human ingenuity, cultural significance, and the enduring beauty of architectural achievements. Today it welcomes over a million visitors through its gates.

Roy Cox is Managing Director of the Estates at Blenheim Palace. He has overall responsibility for the Estates sector covering rural, farming, forestry, shooting, gardens, World Heritage Parkland, let agricultural portfolio, renewables and their outdoor events. Roy has been at Blenheim for nearly ten years having joined from a career at Smiths Gore, a Chartered Surveying practice where he specialised in private client management.