Boston Flora

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.

Wednesday, May 21, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Eastern – Take to the Trees, Online

In her new book, Take to the Trees, science journalist Marguerite Holloway offers an empowering journey into the overstory with the arborists and forest experts safeguarding our iconic trees. Holloway explores stories of beloved tree species and spotlights experts exploring the ecology of resilience amidst climate-driven plagues of pests and drought. Take to the Trees brings attention to rapid arboreal decline while also offering hope about how we might care for our forests and ourselves. The American Horticultural Society will present an online lecture with the author on May 21 at 7 pm Eastern.

Marguerite Holloway is the Professor of Professional Practice and Director of Science and Environmental Journalism at the Columbia University Journalism School. Holloway has written about science — including climate change, natural history, environmental issues, public health, physics, neuroscience and women in science — for publications including the New York Times, the New Yorker, Natural History, Wired and Scientific American, where she was a long-time writer and editor. She is the author of The Measure of Manhattan and wrote the introduction to the most recent edition of Manhattan in Maps. She has also worked on several innovative interdisciplinary data projects including the Science Surveyor, a prototype for an algorithmic tool to improve science journalism.

Wednesday, May 14, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm Eastern – The Wondrous World of Fireflies, In Person and Online

Fireflies are among our greatest ambassadors for Earth’s natural magic. Yet they hold so many mysteries! Sara Lewis will explore the science behind their bright lights and illuminate their remarkable lifestyles. Human activities have put fireflies at risk, but we’ll learn how we can all help protect these dazzling creatures. This Evening with Experts program on May 14 will be held in person at New England Botanical Garden at Tower Hill and online on Zoom. It is a Grow Native Massachusetts event. Register https://grownativemass.org/Our-Programs/calendar. Sarah is the author of Silent Sparks.

Wednesday, May 21, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Eastern – Gardens on Film: Filming in Royal Parks, Online

Historic parks and gardens play a frequent – and frequently tantalizing – role in films and on TV. Where is the 18th century landscape that forms the background to scenes in Bridgerton? Which English country estate serves as Paris for both James Bond and Sherlock Holmes? Is that really a world heritage site being flooded for a scene in The Secret Garden?

Join The Gardens Trust on Wednesdays in May for behind-the-scenes at some of the locations used in costume dramas, children’s adventures, murder mysteries and much else. We’ll hear from a location manager on choosing the right gardens for shoots and from a garden historian on films in her own county, as well as the experience of three major players who regularly manage film crews in their historic landscapes – the National Trust, the Royal Parks and English Heritage. This ticket costs £35 for the full series of five talks or you may purchase a ticket for individual talks, costing £8. To sign up, visit Eventbrite UK HERE. Ticket holders can join each session live and/or view a recording for up to 2 weeks afterwards. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk.

The third talk in the series takes place May 21. The Royal Parks offer filming opportunities in eight of London’s largest open public spaces, including St James’s Park, Regent’s Park and Kensington Gardens, allowing film-makers to recreate almost any historical period. Recent shoots have included the fight scene between Colin Firth and Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and the music video for Late Night Talking with Harry Styles flying down The Mall in a giant bed!

Flo van Heck is Senior Filming & Events Manager at The Royal Parks.

Sunday, May 11, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm – Lilac Sunday

On May 11, experience the springtime bloom of The Arnold Arboretum’s renowned collection of over 400 lilacs. Visit for tours with Arboretum experts, hands-on children’s programming, dancing, meditation, chalk art, and more. Picnicking in the Arboretum landscape is permitted on this day only.

Located primarily on the edge of Bussey Hill Road in the heart of the landscape, the lilac collection at the Arnold Arboretum is among the premier collections of these plants in North America. Of the thousands of flowering plants in the Arboretum (many of which can also be enjoyed at this time), only the lilac is singled out each year for a daylong celebration.

Pack a picnic and make your way to the lilac collection on Bussey Hill Road.
Register

Perimeter parking is severely limited and thousands are expected to attend Lilac Sunday. Visitors are strongly encouraged to use public transportation. For more information on the days activities, visit https://arboretum.harvard.edu/events-2/lilacs-at-the-arnold-arboretum/

Saturday, May 17, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Spring Botanical Spa Day

Treat yourself to a beautiful afternoon of fun and pampering inspired by May’s flower moon and discover the world of herbal skin care on Saturday, May 17, from 1 to 4 p.m at Berkshire Botanical Garden. In this workshop, led by Nicole Irene, we will go through a full, plant-based facial routine after creating products that you will take with you to continue your spa day in the comfort of your own home. Our day will start with creating an aromatherapy candle, bath salt, salve, and infused oil that you will take home with you after we cleanse, exfoliate, steam, mask/treat, moisturize, and massage our faces step by step together using everyday ingredients infused with herbs and essential oils while enjoying herbal tea and infused detox water. Please arrive with a freshly washed face and no makeup products. You will leave glowing and refreshed! BBG members $60, nonmembers $75. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/spring-botanical-spa-day