Good horticultural practices form the backbone of any successful garden, and understanding how to apply these practices is the first step toward becoming a horticulturist. Learn how to select the right plant for the right place and how to plant and care for native plants. Together we study the proper techniques for transplanting, preparing soil, mulching, watering, and pruning as well as maintaining, winterizing, and preparing the garden for the next growing season. This Native Plant Trust course will take place on two successive Fridays, September 23 & 30, from 1 – 3 at Garden in the Woods in Framingham. $72 for NPT members, $88 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/horticultural-techniques/
Explore the variety and elegance of tree forms using pencil and paper while ensconced in the beauty of Mount Auburn Cemetery. We will focus on capturing the shapes and volume of trunks and branches as well as techniques for drawing foliage in this in-person workshop. The group will be limited to ten participants, allowing ample time for individual feedback. All skill levels are welcome. Rain date: Thursday, September 29, 9:30–11:30 am.
Costa Rica, meaning “rich coast” in Spanish, has a wealth of natural diversity and wildlife. With over 10,000 plant species and more than 850 species of birds, including many endemics found nowhere else on earth. This study program will expose you to some of this stunning array of exotic tropical plants and animals, the ecology of the rainforest and other ecological habitats, and tropical horticultural production.
Join this Discover Garden Tours’ exclusive tour as we leave the typical tourist route to visit some of the most exclusive areas of this stunningly beautiful country to discover the vast array of endemic plants in the rainforest, be immersed in the rainforest, learn about tropical horticulture and crops, see abundant wildlife — monkeys, butterflies, birds, frogs and more — in their natural habitat, and much, much more.
This trip is suitable for all ages if you are in good health, get regular exercise, enjoy the wilderness, and have a good-humored approach to traveling in Latin America — where things might not go as predictably as they do at home. Our trip is not strenuous and can be considered predominantly leisurely-to-moderate. In order to fully enjoy this trip, you’ll need to be willing to accept the many surprises this marvelous environment has in store for us!
Although this trip is focused on botanical aspects, no prior knowledge about plants is necessary to enjoy this tour. All aspects of the natural world and culture are included where appropriate. Our Costa Rican guide and driver have extensive knowledge of the plants, ecology, culture, and history of Costa Rica — they are also expert birders and speak excellent English. For registration form and complete itinerary, email Ray Eaton at ray@discoverourtours.com or call 816-842-7500. $3,980 per person, not including airfare. Limited to fourteen participants – call today.
This Berkshire Botanical Garden workshop is proudly presented in partnership with Berkshire Grown. Biochar is made by heating biomass in the absence of oxygen. This process produces a highly porous and durable form of carbon that provides habitat for beneficial soil microbes that support vigorous and healthy plants. This process has been used to improve soils around the globe for thousands of years. If you ever have wanted to learn more about biochar and its use for both domestic and professional growing, this is your chance. Join the team at Arthur’s Point Farm in Ghent, New York on September 22 from 2 – 4 to learn about its history, various benefits and applications. Participants will also be able to witness first hand on the farm the production of biochar. This is an in-person, off-site program. $27 for BBG members, $30 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/biochar-101
Randall’s Island is known for sports and outdoor music as well as a place for health and social institutions. However, most New Yorkers are unaware that the island is also home to many acres of wetlands, woodlands, meadows, and ornamental gardens that create beauty and sanctuary in a landscape surrounded by the bustle of New York City. Landscape and garden designer Veronica Tyson-Strait will share the Randall’s Island that she knows: an oasis for birds, butterflies, and anyone seeking refuge. She will also share strategies to enhance biodiversity in your own garden. This program on September 21 at 5:30 pm is co-sponsored by the Polly Hill Arboretum and by the Dukes Soil Conservation District and The Nature Conservancy. In person, in an open air building. $5 PHA members, $10 nonmembers – space is limited.
A strong tradition of health tourism at spa resorts in continental Europe has identified the ‘Kurpark’ and ‘Kurgarten’ (spa parks and spa gardens), as a subtype in garden history, in which the planted environment is an integral part of the visitor experience, an important element of ‘the cure’. Of the many spas in existence at some time in Britain, landscape designed for ‘taking the waters’ has featured in a high proportion of the locations. This online Gardens Trust series of talks looks at notable examples, identifying the characteristics and influence of their planned landscape. The five session course may be purchased for £5 each or all 5 for £20, through Eventbrite, by clicking HERE. 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 The Gardens Trust), and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week.
On September 20 Christopher Pound will discuss the spa gardens legacy at Bath. Gardens have always been an essential attribute for all European spa towns. Walking in gardens was important as a diversion from treatments at the mineral springs and baths but they also provided places of entertainment, pleasure and exercise. Bath had several pleasure gardens, but Sydney Gardens survives as the last of the Vauxhalls. Spa gardens in Bath evolved from a formal ‘baroque style’ to take on a character drawn from and influencing the fashionable ‘picturesque’. Many Continental spa towns included gardens laid out in an English informal garden style and some of these were called the ‘English Garden’. The principal gardens in Bath informed the architecture and development of the built form in the city. Eighteenth century doctors in Bath realized that leisure and exercise made an important contribution to restoring and maintaining health and so the gardens and setting of the city were essential parts of the cure and still are. Accordingly, all the gardens, green spaces, woodlands and fabric of the city with its attractive surrounding countryside are a ‘therapeutic landscape’. This is an embracing attribute for the eleven spa towns in the recent UNESCO inscription of ‘The Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage Site’.
Chris Pound is an architect and a town planner who led teams that prepared the Development Plan, Landscape Strategy and the Conservation Team for the City of Bath and he worked on developing policies for the city following its inscription in 1987 on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Chris joined the ICOMOS-UK World Heritage Committee in 1992 and contributed to the creation of the Local Authority World Heritage Forum in 1996. Chris is a Churchill Travelling Fellow. In 1999 he examined the approaches to presentation of values at twelve World Heritage cities in Europe. In Britain, Chris contributed to the nomination of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site. More recently, he contributed to the nomination of the Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage Site, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021 which includes the city of Bath. www.bathworldheritage.org.uk/great-spa-towns-europe
This Native Plant Trust course is an intensive training on botanical survey approaches and methods for cataloging the vascular plants in a natural landscape. We will cover the essential steps of planning the survey, including use of field guides, aerial photography, GIS (Geographic Information Systems) resources, sampling strategies, and field-data form design. Next, we will put the methods into practice by conducting a field survey on conserved land, identifying and recording the plant species and habitats we encounter, and compiling an inventory and accompanying report. Neela de Zoysa is the instructor, and the virtual session takes place September 29 from 6:30 – 8:30, and the live session at Garden in the Woods in Framingham takes place October 1 from 10:30 – 2:30. $108 for NPT members, $132 for nonmembers. Register HERE.
Come join Adam Wheeler, Horticulture and Container Production Manager at Broken Arrow Nursery for this fun-filled, hands-on workshop focused on the propagation of plants from stem cuttings. Participants will be given a brief lecture that examines the techniques and skills required to grow plants from cuttings. Following the lecture, participants will construct their own home propagation systems and stick a selection of cuttings. The class will take place September 24 at Hollister House Garden, 300 Nettleton Hollow Road in Washington, Connecticut (Berkshires).
Adam started work at Broken Arrow in 2004 after completing his BS degree in Urban Forestry and Landscape Horticulture at the University of Vermont. Adam manages plant propagation, container production and the acquisition and development of new plants. He is a past recipient of the Young Nursery Professional Award from the New England Nursery Association. He loves to share his passion for plants through photography and educational outreach. As a result, he lectures widely on a variety of subjects and is also an adjunct lecturer at Naugatuck Valley Community College and the Berkshire Botanical Garden. With his spare time he enjoys cultivating his eclectic collection of rare and unusual plants, rock climbing and competitive giant pumpkin growing.
Advance registration required.Limited to 15 participants. HHG members $40 Non-members $50 Register HERE.
Join the Arnold Arboretum and Andrea Appleton, Harvard PhD candidate in Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, on September 20 at 10 am for an exploration of plant diversity and an introduction to methods of plant preservation. Using plant cuttings brought from home, we will carefully observe and compare morphological characteristics, discuss why they may have been favored over evolutionary time, and learn how to press specimens for scientific study. Following the workshop, we will tour the Harvard University Herbaria, where we will learn about the importance of preserved specimens and see how scientists use them for scientific research. Meet at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge.
This program had to be canceled but contact the Arnold Arboretum if you are interested in learning about a rescheduled date.
On September 26, Nicola Jarvis will present a Gardens Trust online talk on For Pleasure and Ornament. 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.
‘From early childhood, drawing has been my primary means of responding to the natural world and my garden. For my seventh birthday I was given the ‘Tailor of Gloucester’ by Beatrix Potter. This little book has enchanted and inspired me ever since. Potter’s watercolours of eighteenth-century costumes sowed a seed for my future passion and career in historic hand embroidery. Her close observation of nature rendered through drawing and painting is mesmerising for me.
When creating a design for embroidery, I use drawing to study the characteristics of natural forms gathered from the garden, allotment or countryside. Making careful drawings helps to identify certain qualities in the various shapes and surfaces. Interrogating the colours, tones, textures and patterns through intricate drawing actions, enables me to penetrate beyond the physical layers to other surfaces and spaces that flourish in my imagination.
Designing an embroidery of a plant, creature or garden scene is the point where I formulate and plan stitching techniques that will most effectively render particular qualities in the image, and it is at this stage that I attempt to strike a balance between botanical and/or biological accuracy and decorative fancy. For me a compelling embroidered artwork possesses this irresistible tension between accurate observation and stylisation’.
This ticket is for this individual session (click HERE) and costs £5, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions, 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.
Nicola Jarvis is an artist and teacher of hand embroidery. She trained at the Royal School of Needlework and received a Commendation from the Beryl Dean Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018. After being awarded Overall Winner of the ‘Inspired by Morris’ exhibition at the William Morris Gallery (2010), she was invited to stage a solo show ‘The Art of Embroidery: Nicola Jarvis and May Morris’ at the gallery (2013). With funding from Arts Council England, Nicola toured the show to Arts and Crafts venues across England, including National Trust property Wightwick Manor in the West Midlands and Kelmscott House, Hammersmith. Alongside her colleague Lynn Hulse of Ornamental Embroidery, Nicola was instrumental in creating ‘The Needle’s Excellency’ exhibition of contemporary embroidery at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (2017) and ‘The Needle’s Art’ exhibition at the Bodleian Library, Oxford (2021-2022).
