Boston Flora

Tuesday, March 18, 6:00 am – 7:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – Gertrude Jekyll: Artist, Gardener, Craftswoman

The Arts and Crafts Movement sought a return to vernacular traditions in the face of increasing industrialization. It thrived for two decades or so around the turn of the twentieth century, although its effect is still obvious today in many decorative arts. In the garden, the movement was most clearly articulated through the work of William Robinson (1838-1935) and Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932). Their example was followed by a plethora of British architects and designers into the middle of the 20th century and beyond, and their influence spread to Europe, the US and further afield. What we today identify as Arts and Crafts gardens are perhaps typified by a geometric layout of compartments in close relationship with the house, alongside the use of architectural features in local materials and abundant, color-themed planting.

In this series, we will examine the origins of the Arts and Crafts garden, consider the work of Robinson and Jekyll in detail, and survey some of the many other British garden-makers who were influenced by the movement. The series will end with an international flavor, exploring the work of an American designer who was a life-long admirer of Robinson and Jekyll.

This ticket is for this individual talk (Click HERE) costs £8, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire fifth series of 5 talks in our History of Gardens Course at £35 via the link here. (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 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 (If you do not receive this link, please contact us). A link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 2 weeks.

Talk 3 takes place March 18 with Dr. Caroline Ikin. Gertrude Jekyll has been described as a ‘one-woman Arts and Crafts Movement’, her contribution spanning the decorative arts as well as gardening. Her approach was founded on an appreciation of local tradition, vernacular architecture, hand-making and floral beauty, and was informed by the works of Ruskin. Jekyll is celebrated for her garden designs, plant breeding and particular brand of ‘artist-gardening’ which she expounded in her many books and articles, but she was also a skilled artist, maker and designer. This talk will focus on Jekyll’s garden at Munstead Wood where her arts and crafts ethos achieved full expression, and will also explore her activities in decorative art, conservation and collecting.

Dr Caroline Ikin is a Curator at the National Trust covering Munstead Wood, Standen and Nymans. She has previously worked in museums and for the Gardens Trust and her research interest is in nineteenth century art, architecture and gardens. She is author of The Victorian Garden (Shire Library, 2012), The Victorian Gardener (Shire Library, 2014), The Kitchen Garden (Amberly Publishing, 2017) and has written for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Garden History, Furniture History, Museums Journal and various other publications, and is now working on a new book on Victorian Gardens. She was awarded the Mavis Batey Essay Prize in 2022.

Image: below detail, Michaelmas daisies, Munstead Wood, from George S. Elwood and Gertrude Jekyll, Some English Gardens (1904), Biodiversity Heritage Library, public domain

Sunday, March 16, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Acton Conservation Trust Annual Meeting 2025: Porcupines Don’t Shoot Their Quills

Join Jane Newhouse, founder of Newhouse Wildlife Rescue, on March 16 as she shares interesting facts about our local wildlife. She will discuss what wildlife rehab is all about, shares fun facts about opossums, porcupines, beavers, raccoons, and foxes, and will discuss rodenticides and how they kill their way up the food chain. Learn the do’s and don’ts of helping injured and orphaned wild animals in an emergency. Possible guest appearances by Nibi the Beaver and Stanley the Groundhog. Information and registration at https://actonconservationtrust.org/

Thursday, March 20, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm Eastern – Celebrating the Experimental: The Case Study Houses, Live and Online

This is the fourth and final program in the Morvin Museum’s 2025 Grand Homes and Gardens Speaker Series, The Quality of Doing: Mid-Century Modern Grand Homes & Gardens, featuring four scholars who will look at the work of Mid-Century Modern architects and designers through the lens of landmark homes and gardens across the United States. Learn more about the series and purchase series tickets.

In 1945, Arts + Architecture magazine commissioned major architects to study, design, and build efficient and affordable model homes. The program anticipated a residential housing boom in the United States in the aftermath of World War II. Architects sought to create prototypes that could be cheaply and easily mass-produced while championing a modern design aesthetic. The resulting “Case Study Houses” were concentrated in the Los Angeles area and featured the work of architects such as Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames, and Eero Saarinen (among many others). This talk with art historian, curator, and author Elizabeth A. T. Smith will introduce the most celebrated, experimental, and influential Case Study Houses, some of which are still standing today. Those that are still standing were miraculously spared from the devastation of the recent Los Angeles fires.

All talks begin at 6:30 p.m. in Morven’s Stockton Education Center. Doors and the virtual waiting room open at 6:00 p.m. A Zoom link will be sent to all virtual participants upon registration. Light refreshments inspired by each site will be provided for in-person attendees.

Elizabeth Smith joined the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation as its first Executive Director in 2013. Previously she held curatorial positions at Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. While at MOCA, Smith curated the exhibition Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses (1989) and authored subsequent publications on the Case Study Houses for Taschen. As well, she curated and co-organized such MOCA exhibitions as The Architecture of R.M. Schindler, At the End of the Century: One Hundred Years of Architecture, and Urban Revisions: Current Projects for the Public Realm.

This program is sponsored by Capital Health. The 2025 Grand Homes and Gardens series is sponsored by Bryn Mawr Trust.

Thursday, March 20, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Abuelita’s Kitchen with Dr. Sarah Portnoy

Join documentary filmmaker, activist, and scholar Dr. Sarah Portnoy to discuss her documentary and museum exhibit, Abuelita’s Kitchen. The event, part of the Pépin Lecture Series at Boston University, will take place at 6 pm at 808 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 124, in Boston. Free. You may reserve a spot through Eventbrite HERE.

This multimedia exhibition, led by USC professor Sarah Portnoy, shares the food stories of ten Indigenous, mestiza, Mexican-American, and Afro-Mexican grandmothers, or abuelas, in Los Angeles through photography, text, a documentary film, kitchen artifacts, family recipes, and audio stories. The exhibition examines food, identity, place, and culture, showing how these abuelas preserve traditions for future generations.

Abuelita’s Kitchen: Mexican Food Stories features 22 photographs and one large map and 10 objects, including molcajetes, a comal, a tortilla press and more, one from each abuela in the exhibition. The exhibition explores the dishes the grandmothers make in their home kitchens, including chiles en nogada, mole, tamales, pozole, mixiotes, enchiladas, and more. Their migration stories are detailed in a colorful map of Mexico and L.A., while a final section of the exhibition presents their identities as traditional cooks, mothers, and grandmothers through photographs with their family members. Jessica Magaña-Sandoval is the exhibition’s photographer. A 28-minute documentary directed by Ebony Bailey, also called Abuelita’s Kitchen: Mexican Food Stories, will screen continuously at LA Cocina during the exhibition. The project has an Instagram account, AbuelitasCooking.

The exhibition reveals each abuela’s relationship to Mexican cuisine, their birthplaces in Mexico, and the city of Los Angeles, where the grandmothers live. For that, the 17 students of Portnoy´s USC Annenberg class, “Recording the Voices of Latinx Women & Food in Los Angeles: A Multimedia Oral History Project,” have created a website and audio stories and videos which will be available for viewing online on Telemundo’s streaming platform and on smart devices via QR codes. The audio and video tell the stories of these women, two of whom were born in the U.S., while the rest immigrated from places such as Mexico City, Puebla, Yucatán, Jalisco and Guerrero, bringing with them their knowledge of traditional dishes.

Wednesday, March 12, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm Eastern – An Experiment in Lawn to Meadow Conversion: Exceeding Expectations

Learn how Sara Weaner Cooper converted her lawn into a wildflower meadow while leaving the turf in place and avoiding herbicide, heavy physical labor, and unhappy feedback from neighbors. After two growing seasons, the results have exceeded expectations enough to be featured in The New York Times in 2024. This Grow Native Massachusetts webinar will take place March 12 at 7 pm – free and open to all. Sign up at https://grownativemass.org/Our-Programs/calendar. Sara is Executive Director of New Directions in the American Landscape.

Wednesday, March 12, 12:00 pm Eastern – Dam Busters 201: Building a Dam Removal Project Team, Online

It takes a village to remove a dam. From initial reconnaissance to post-project monitoring, learn how to assemble the right team of people to address project coordination, coordinating community engagement, shepherding the permitting process, working with consultants and experts, and other project management issues. We’ll pay particular attention to the role of the Project Manager and talk about how the size of the team should “match” the size of the project. Understanding how to build a dam removal project team is a crucial preliminary step in this crucial work. This webinar on March 12 is part of a continuing series sponsored by the Massachusetts River Alliance, The Charles River Watershed Association, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Division of Ecological Restoration. Register at https://www.massriversalliance.org/dam-busters-201

Wednesday, March 26, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Eastern – Artists’ Gardens: Gardens of the North American Impressionists

Plants and gardens have long served as a creative inspiration for artists. They are places of color, structure and changing light, representations of memories and emotions, expressions of the cycle of life and the passing of time. When the garden is one created by the artist themself, the scope for exploration and engagement intensifies and, whether garden-lover or art-lover, we are drawn in to their stories and meanings. In this four-part series, The Gardens Trust will explore a range of gardens created and celebrated by their artist owners. 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 2 weeks) will be sent shortly afterwards. Register through Eventbrite HERE.

North American Impressionists were inspired by what was happening in European art. In 1872 American artist William Merritt Chase told the New York Times ‘My God, I would rather go to Europe than go to Heaven!’ Philadelphia’s 1876 World’s Fair Centennial International Exhibition inspired the quest for ‘olden tyme’ plants and poetry, fulfilled by Childe Hassam’s muse, the poet Celia Thaxter on Appledore Island. Parallels can be drawn between Monet at Giverny and the gardens created by John Henry Twachtman at Greenwich, Connecticut and the Cos Cob and Old Lyme Art Colonies in the same state. In 1893 Chicago hosted the World’s Columbian Exposition which featured the mural Primitive Woman by Mary Fairchild MacMonnies facing Modern Woman by Mary Cassatt. Gardens and children were ingeniously combined by Cassatt and Canadian Impressionist Helen MacNicoll. Tired of narrow artistic traditions at home, three generations of American artists including Frederick Frieseke travelled to Monet’s Giverny to live, or lodge at the Hotel Baudy.

Caroline Holmes is a University of Cambridge ICE Academic Tutor and Course Director; has lectured in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Europe and Japan as well as for cruises crossing the Baltic, Caribbean, Mediterranean and Red Seas, and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Author of 12 books including Monet at Giverny, Water Lilies and Bory Latour-Marliac, the genius behind Monet’s water lilies; and Impressionists in their Gardens, she is a consultant designer specialising in evoking historic, artistic and symbolic references, and contributes to Viking TV. Her website is https://horti-history.com. Image: detail, On the Terrace by John Henry Twatchman (c.1890-1900), Smithsonian American Art Museum, public domain

Wednesday, March 12, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Eastern – Greening Public Spaces: The Green Roof Bus Shelter Project, Online

Join The Native Plant Trust and Trevor Smith, Design and Education Manager at Weston Nurseries, and past president of the Ecological Landscape Alliance, to learn more about his efforts to build thirty green roofs for bus shelters throughout the city of Boston, in conjunction with Mayor Michelle Wu’s commitment to green infrastructure. In addition to describing the history of this project and the process of building a green roof, Trevor will share the insights he has gained while pursuing this work. The talk will take place on Zoom on March 12 at 6 pm Eastern, and is $17 for NPT members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/greening-public-spaces-the-green-roof-bus-shelter-project/

A recording of this class will be available to all registrants for two weeks after the class.

Powisset Farm and Noanet Woodlands Abutting Land To Be Saved

The Trustees of Reservations are thrilled to announce a major conservation milestone. Together with Hale Education @hale.1918 and the Dover Land Conservation Trust @doverlandtrust, conservation restrictions were submitted to protect over 1,100 acres in Dover and Westwood. The effort will protect one of the largest contiguous privately-owned tracts of land in the Boston metro region for many decades.

Hale’s land abuts two properties owned by The Trustees – the 109-acre Powisset Farm @powissetfarm and the 595-acre Noanet Woodlands (pictured below), as well as lands protected by the Dover Land Conservation Trust, and the towns of Dover and Westwood.

A conservation restriction is a method to permanently protect environmental values and limit the ways privately-owned land can be used, forever. The conservation restrictions are currently under programmatic and legal review by the state’s Division of Conservation Services in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. The project is anticipated to be completed by July 2025.

Learn more here: https://thetrustees.org/press-release/the-trustees-hale-education-and-dlct-reach-major-milestone-in-conservation-of-more-than-1100-acres/

Tuesday, March 11, 3:00 pm Eastern – Great Estates: Models for Modern Placemaking, Online

The shape of London’s townscape has been heavily influenced by the work of the capital’s ‘great estates’. NLA’s recent publication Great Estates: Models for Modern Placemaking, in collaboration with RIBA Publishing, discusses the profound impact of enduring land custodians—families, trusts, charities, foundations, livery companies and others—who have meticulously overseen vast areas across the centuries.

Their long-term approach to investment, development and management has informed the emergence of new large-scale and mixed-uses areas such as King’s Cross, Canary Wharf and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Sarah Yates, main author of the new book and former lead Researcher at NLA, explains the key principles and approaches of this unique model of place stewardship and how it has remained highly relevant and adaptable today. £8.00 Register for this March 11 lecture, which will be available for an additional week following the talk, at https://londongardenstrust.org/lecture-details/?event=great-estates-online