Boston Flora

Tuesday, September 27, 6:45 pm – 8:15 pm – Extinctions on Earth: Then and Now, Online

As death inevitably follows birth, extinction is the predictable consequence of evolution on our planet. The fossil record chronicles the comings and goings of species through geologic history, but its most prominent feature may be surprising. Extinctions are not distributed evenly through time: Rather, at five moments over the past 500 million years, most of Earth’s animal species disappeared over a short time scale, permanently altering ecosystems on land and in the sea.

The best known of these mass extinctions wiped out the dinosaurs and many less evocative creatures 66 million years ago. A large body of evidence supports the hypothesis that this event reflects the impact of a massive asteroid, underscoring that life can be influenced by factors beyond our planet.

Another, more destructive mass extinction may be more instructive to 21st century citizens. Two hundred and fifty million years ago, volcanic activity a million times greater than anything ever witnessed by humans spewed massive amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere, resulting in the extinction of an estimated 90% of marine animal species. Known as the “Great Dying,” the extinctions were selective, with some species more vulnerable than others, and the observed pattern of extinction and survival supports the view that volcanically induced global warming, ocean acidification, and oxygen loss from subsurface seawater drove the extinctions.

Andrew H. Knoll, Fisher research professor of natural history and professor of earth and planetary sciences at Harvard University, examines how these three threats are accelerating today due to human activities, not volcanism. He discusses how observations and experiments made to better understand 21st-century global change resonate strongly with the Great Dying 252 million years ago, suggesting Earth’s future if we choose to do nothing.

But, says Knoll, the distant mirror of past mass extinction should be seen as something like Charles Dickens’ ghost of Christmas yet to come: a warning of what might transpire if we choose to do nothing. He reminds us however, that like Scrooge, we also have the capacity to change our ways and so preserve Earth’s precious biodiversity for future generations.

This Smithsonian Associates webinar will take place September 27 at 6:45, and is $20 for Smithsonian members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/extinctions-on-earth-then-and-now

Saturday, October 1, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm, & Sunday, October 2, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – New England Carnivorous Plant Society Show & Sale

The award-winning New England Carnivorous Plant Society (NECPS) will again be hosting its Fall Carnivorous Plant Show at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill on October 1 & 2. Free with admission to the Garden. Featured plants will include pitcher plants from Malaysia with traps the size of softballs that are capable of eating lizards and mice. There will also be sundews from Australia ranging from the size of a dime to 12+ inches high and the ever-popular Venus Fly trap. For all native plant lovers, NECPS will also display carnivorous plants that grow locally in Massachusetts and throughout New England. Over 300 plants are scheduled to be on display and free seminars will be offered on growing and feeding carnivorous plants.

Visit the Venus Fly Trap feeding station where you can observe up close how these plants devour insects. Plants and growing accessories will be available for purchase for both novice and experienced growers from carnivorous plant vendors and the NECPS. Society members will be present both days to explain how the plants feed, what they eat, where they live, and how they can be grown and enjoyed at home. For more information click HERE.

Thursday, September 29 & Friday, September 30, 10:00 am – 3:30 pm – The Garden in Pastel

Learn how to capture the splendor of the Garden with the deep pigments that can only be found with pastels. This Berkshire Botanical Garden two part class is appropriate for beginners to intermediate students. A materials list will be provided upon registration. Students will work en plein air, learning the fundamentals of this medium before using it to render the late summer garden in all its glory. The class takes place September 29 and 30 from 10 – 3:30. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/garden-pastel-0

Cheryl Moore is an artist and educator who specializes in watercolor and oil pastel. With more than 40 years of teaching experience working with children and adults, she holds a BA from Rhode Island School of Design and has trained in botanical art with Janet Walsh, Charles Reid and Jack Flynn.

Friday, October 7 – Sunday, October 9 – The Art of the Woodturner

For the sixth year, woodturners from throughout New England will exhibit their work at the Arnold Arboretum. Using a lathe to form their pieces, woodturners create practical objects or “turn” to the purely aesthetic, resulting in a show that appeals to the eye and the touch. For more information on this free exhibit, including hours, visit https://arboretum.harvard.edu/events/#ds-3 (Image: “Cherry Root Bowl,” Steve Wiseman)

Monday, October 3, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – The Fabric of Flowers: The English Rose in Life and Textiles, Online

This October 3 talk on The English Rose in Life and Textiles is with Mary Schoeser, sponsored by The Gardens Trust. The talk is part of a 6-part Gardens Trust online lecture series, exploring how flowers and gardens have inspired textile artists, begins Mondays at 18:00 BST, equivalent to 2 pm Eastern time. Here in their latest series of talks they are taking a sideways view by exploring how gardens and flowers have influenced and inspired other arts and crafts. This first series of 6 will focus on textiles and explore some of the historical and technical aspects of embroidering, weaving and printing using floral designs on fabric. You will look at textiles from Elizabethan crowns to Edwardian table linen to see how flowers provided inspiration, taking in the prolific art embroiderers of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Then you will be brought bang up to date with two contemporary embroiderers with very different approaches to floral imagery who will share their design processes with us.

This talk follows the fate of the rose as depicted in English textiles of the 19th century. Acknowledging two French Queens who helped to establish the royal connotations of this flower, it turns to Victoria and the impact of both the ‘Gardenesque’ and the Great Exhibition of 1851, particularly on members of the Arts & Crafts circle. The resulting ‘branch and net’ theory of design is seen in works by William Morris and others, including his daughter May, who also personifies the epithet, an ‘English Rose’.

This ticket (click HERE to purchase) is for this individual session and costs £5, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions via the links below, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 6 sessions at a cost of £24 via the link here.

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.

Mary Schoeser FRSA is a Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the V&A, Honorary President of the Textile Society and Patron of both the Bernat Klein Foundation and the School of Textiles. Mary has collaborated with many museums, including the Fashion Textile Museum, the V&A and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. As an historic textiles advisor she has worked with English Heritage, the National Trust and private house owners, and as a consultant archivist, with organizations such as Laura Ashley, Sanderson and the John Lewis Partnership. A prolific author of many books including World Textiles: A Concise History (2003); Sanderson: The Essence of English Decoration (2010) and Textiles: The Art of Mankind (2012). Her latest book is The Art of Wallpaper: Morris & Co. in Context (2022).

Saturday, October 1, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Fall Pruning

Autumn is a great time to assess your woody plants for shape, structure and health. This Berkshire Botanical Garden October 1 demonstration/workshop will focus on pruning, including when, why and how to shape, renovate, train, or rejuvenate your woody plants. Learn about pruning tools, timing and specific techniques available to the home gardener. Pruning techniques for both evergreen and deciduous hedges will be covered. Dress to be outside, and bring pruners. The class runs from 10 – 1, and is $20 for BBG members, $28 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/fall-pruning

Ken Gooch is the former forest health program director for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. Additionally, he is a Massachusetts-certified arborist and teaches arboriculture at the Garden.

Through Sunday, October 16 – David Bird’s Becorns

David Bird is a photographer based in Danielson, Connecticut. He makes characters out of acorns, sticks, and whatever else he finds in the back yard, and then photographs them in the wild with real animals. Most of these photos are the result of a careful study of animal behavior, patience, and a lot of birdseed. An exhibit of his photographs will be on view at Blithewold Garden, 101 Ferry Road (Rt. 114) in Bristol, Rhode Island through October 16. For more information visit www.blithewold.org or call 401-253-2707. Check out David Bird’s website here. Included with general admission

Laurie Thomas Receives Mary Natale Citizenship Award

Thomas High (below) presented the Mary Natale Citizenship Award to Laurie Thomas for her long standing work including the promotion of our urban green space in the Back Bay. She is a leader of the Garden Club of the Back Bay, where she coordinated two inventories of the front yard and alley trees. Laurie was central in the creation of the Club’s Back Bay Trees website (Backbaytrees.org) which educates our residents on the importance of preserving our green canopy. Laurie is also a leader on the Gibson House Board of Directors, where she co-chairs the Museum Committee and is also is a key member of NABB’s Architecture Committee, where she combines her environmental and preservation knowledge, with plain old good sense to evaluate the many proposals the Committee considers every month. Her many contributions have made the Back Bay a better place for us all. Laurie is also one of the Garden Club’s premier wreath decorators, which is no small feat – an artist, a conservationist, and wonderful person.

Thursday, October 6, 6:30 pm – Loeb Fellowship 50th Anniversary Keynote Address: Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

With its long history of advancing positive social outcomes in the US and around the world, the Loeb Fellowship is eager to celebrate its 50^th anniversary and alumni weekend, October 6-9, 2022. In celebration of its 50th year, the Loeb Fellowship is hosting a reunion weekend for its 400+ alumni, as well as hosting a series of public discussions examining the social impacts of the built and natural environments. Throughout the weekend, significant voices will convene to share reflections, wisdom, and insight with the Harvard GSD and broader community, and also engage directly with the Loeb Fellowship on this momentous occasion in its history.

On Thursday, October 6 at 6:30 PM in Gund Hall’s Piper Auditorium, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson will give an opening keynote. Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, writer, and Brooklyn native. She is co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for the future of coastal cities. She co-edited the bestselling climate anthology All We Can Save, co-founded The All We Can Save Project, and co-created the Spotify/Gimlet climate solutions podcast How to Save a Planet. Recently, she co-authored the Blue New Deal, a roadmap for including the ocean in climate policy. Previously, she was executive director of the Waitt Institute, developed policy at the EPA and NOAA, and taught as an adjunct professor at New York University. 

Dr. Johnson earned a BA from Harvard University in environmental science and public policy, and a Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in marine biology. Her writing has been published widely, including in The New York Times, Washington Post, and Scientific American. She serves on the advisory boards of Environmental Voter Project and Scientific American, and on the board of directors for GreenWave and Patagonia. Recent recognitions include the Schneider Award for climate communication and Time’s 100 Next List. Outside magazine called her “the climate leader we need.” 

Dr. Johnson’s forthcoming book has the working title What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futurism. Find her @ayanaeliza.

Please note that masks are required for the Thursday night keynote by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. For more information and to register, please visit the Loeb Fellowship website.

September – December – Nature Photography Speaker Series, Fall 2022: Grand Landscapes to Small Scenes, Online

Have you ever wondered what and how photography professionals see or more of how they approach their work? Through the Nature Photography Classes Speaker Series, you will be able to see what goes on in their minds, within their cameras, and in the field as they bring to you some of their most impactful images, thoughts, and insights. The speaker series is a live opportunity to ask questions as part of a 90-minute web-based format.

Join us as we talk to the leading nature and landscape photographers. The speaker series is a unique opportunity to hear from and interact with people that rarely speak with audiences or give presentations and some of the best photography educators in the world. Plus at only $10 per speaker, it is incredibly well priced and you don’t have to be there live to get the recording. This is guaranteed to be an amazing Fall Series where you will hear from 7 speakers, talking about their creative processes, how they have put practices to work to grow in their own work, found the elements of creativity to work for them and what we can all learn from this process.

9/27 Marc Adamus “Looking within”
10/7 Eric Bennett “Adding by Subtracting” – The art of Exclusion
10/22 Alister Benn “Understanding the Landscape” – The emotional language of vision.
11/2 Erin Babnik “Beyond Perfection: Balancing Artistry and Technique in Your Photography”
11/14 Josh Cripps “Stop Being a 1-Dimensional Photographer!”
11/28 Guy Tal Creativity and Expression in Photography
12/14 Sarah Marino “The Expansive Mindset: Practices to Transform Your Photographic Experience”

The registration links will come via Zoom. For complete biographies of each speaker, and to see examples of work, visit https://www.naturephotographyclasses.com/speaker-series Register HERE.