Boston Flora

Sunday, May 19, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – Magical Fairy Garden Workshop for Adults

What kind of garden will your fairies live in? In this all-time favorite workshop for grown-up kids on May 19, start with your imagination and build an enchanting fairy world from there! Immerse yourself in decorative details as you embellish your magical fairy house, pond, sitting bench, and walkway using a mix of small live plants and other accents to create your unique fairy garden that can be displayed inside or out. The program takes place at Highfield Hall and Gardens, 56 Highfield Drive in Falmouth. $55 for Highfield Hall members, $65 for nonmembers. Register online or call 508-495-1878, Extension 2.

Anna Holmes will provide guidance, a creative nudge, and all needed supplies. Bring your favorite accents, an apron or old shirt to wear, and a friend or two, and get lost in the creative process! While you are here, take time to wander the grounds and discover Highfield’s enchanting fairy houses on display during Summer 2024. Please pre-register by May 11th.

Saturday & Sunday, May 18 & 19 – 24th Annual Trade Secrets

Trade Secrets is the principle fundraiser for Project SAGE, a non-profit domestic violence agency serving Northwest Connecticut and the surrounding communities in New York and Massachusetts. Since 2001, inspired by Bunny Williams and Naomi Blumenthal, and guided by horticulturist Deborah Munson, Trade Secrets has supported the valuable work of Project SAGE in Lakeville, CT, whose mission is to create social change to end interpersonal, relationship violence by challenging attitudes and beliefs about power, control, and gender norms and by advocating for victims and survivors. On Saturday, May 18, there will be garden tours and community events in multiple locations between Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. On Sunday, May 19, there will be the famous Trade Secrets Rare Plants & Garden Antiques Sale Event at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville. For ticket pricing (ranging from $150 down to $25) visit https://www.tradesecretsct.com/about-trade-secrets Act now – some tours have already sold out.

Friday, May 17 – Monday, May 20 – Birdathon for the Congo

Join the Feminist Bird Club May 17 – 20 for a radically inclusive birdathon campaign that celebrates the diversity of ways birds delight us all. Whether this is your first birdathon or your hundreth, this free event was designed to be joyful, accessible, and affirming for everyone. Drawing attention to the horrific legacy of colonialism is an integral part of Feminist Bird Club’s commitment to anti-racism, so this year the birdathon will raise funds to resource and empower communities at the frontlines of the climate crisis in Congo via @congofriends. For more information visit http://charity,pledgeit.org/BirdForCongo

Thursday, August 22 – Art by the Sea 2024 Auction Gala – A Sea of Color

Save the Date for the Ogunquit Museum of American Art’s annual Art by the Sea Auction and Gala on Thursday, August 22 at a new location, The Cliff House. More information will come soon at www.OgunquitMuseum.org. Tickets will go on sale in May.

Sunday, May 19, 2:00 pm – Pollinator Art Show

The Massachusetts Pollinator Network, with the Erving Public Library, as part of the Popular Pollinators Series, presents the Pollinator Art Show at the Library, 2 Care Drive, Off Route 63, Erving, Massachusetts 01344. The opening reception will take place Sunday, May 19, at 2. The show itself will be on display during library open hours in May and June.

One artist, Daisy Hebb, works with native plant and pollinator experts to design brilliant watercolor paintings, laced with notes and fun facts about our ecosystems. Artist John Barnett aims to capture natural beauty that we overlook because of its small scale. He uses macrophotography to explore local biodiversity, particularly of bees and other pollinators.

Wednesday, May 15, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Eastern – People’s Parks: Cassiobury, The Ancient Seat of the Earls of Essex, Online

The People’s Parks are one of the finest legacies of the Victorian age. Designed and bequeathed to the masses as part of a movement encouraging green spaces and recreation, the public park came to symbolize one of the greatest contributions of the era.

Opened in increasing numbers in the industrious nineteenth century, by the end of the twentieth century many of our parks had become sadly neglected. But today they remain outdoor places for everyone to enjoy, acting as children’s play areas, sports grounds and even concert venues and have grown in popularity since the global pandemic. But what do we really know about them? The Gardens Trust is sponsoring a series of six weekly online lectures with Paul Rabbitts on Wednesdays from April 17 – May 22.

Buy a ticket is for the entire course of 6 sessions. or you may purchase a ticket for individual sessions, costing £8. [Gardens Trust members may purchase tickets at £31.50 for the series or £6 each talk]. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/peoples-parks-tickets-852833737667

On May 15, we discuss Cassiobury Park. One of the remnants of the great lost estates, Cassiobury Park is now the largest park in Hertfordshire, and the principal park of Watford, covering an area twice the size of Hyde Park. But this is no ordinary park. In 1661, Arthur, the 2nd Baron Capel, was made the Earl of Essex and, by 1668/69, he had moved to Cassiobury. By 1707, Cassiobury was a significant estate, and Charles Bridgeman was employed here in the 1720s. In 1800, the 5th Earl of Essex employed James Wyatt to rebuild the house along with Humphry Repton. The landscape was captured by Turner in many paintings.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, large areas of the park had been sold off to the council for public parkland. By 1921, the lease was surrendered and, in 1927, Cassiobury House was demolished. Much of the remaining land was bought by the council becoming further parkland for the expanding town. This talk tells the significant story of a remarkable estate, family and park.

Tuesday, May 14, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – Italian Renaissance Gardens, Online

This five week online course from the Gardens Trust will be suitable for anyone curious about gardens and their stories – whether absolute beginners or those with some garden history knowledge. Running from April 14 – May 14, the course aims to help participants recognize important eras, themes and styles in mainly British garden history from the earliest times to today, grasp something of the social, economic, political and international contexts in which gardens have been created and find greater pleasure in visiting historic gardens. You can sign up for whole series or dip into individual talks. There will be opportunities to discuss issues with speakers after each talk, and short reading lists for further exploration. The history series will continue with Part 2 in the fall.

Week Five on May 15 is Italian Renaissance Gardens with Deborah Trentham. This lecture explores the origins of the Italian Renaissance Garden, looking at them within their social and cultural context. We will see how politics, religion, money, art and literature of the time, along with ancient texts helped form and shape them. The gardens were created by Princes, Popes, men of the church, as well as powerful dynasties such as the Medici. Examples will include the Vatican’s Cortile de Belvedere and the Villa Medici as well as others to show how the Renaissance Garden evolved during the period.

Trained in the history of art, architecture and garden history, Deborah Trentham has been teaching garden history for fifteen years. Formerly a teacher of garden history at Birkbeck (University of London) and Capel Manor College where she also taught the history of architecture, Deborah currently teaches garden design students for KLC School of Design at Chelsea Harbour and Hampton Court Palace, along with lecturing at Imperial College London. Deborah was the Historic Gardens judge for the Society of Garden Designers Awards for five years and has published numerous articles in magazines and periodicals.

For tickets, visit www.eventbrite.co.uk Ticket holders can join each session live or view a recording for up to 2 weeks afterwards. £8 each or all 5 for £35 (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 5 for £26.25) 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.

On View: The Rockefeller Beetles

Over a span of 90 years, banker and philanthropist David Rockefeller collected beetles from around the world, eventually building a personal collection of more than 150,000 specimens. In 2017, his longstanding support for the entomology department of the Harvard University Museum of Comparative Zoology culminated in a gift to the museum of this extraordinary collection. Join the Harvard Museum of Natural History in celebrating this invaluable gift. The small exhibit features hundreds of specimens from Rockefeller’s collection and recounts the story of a man whose childhood pursuit grew into a lifelong passion. Exhibit is on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, in Arthropods: Creatures That Rule.

Saturday, May 18, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Carlisle Garden Club Annual Plant Sale

For the general public, the Carlisle Garden Club Plant Sale presents a wide range of perennials, flowers, vegetables, herbs and shrubs that will be available for sale at good prices. Plants can be ordered ahead and some will be available for sale the day of the event, Saturday May 18 from 10 – 2 at Carlisle on the Commons. The Club will run forums on native plants that will offer information on choosing, planting, and caring for your selections. The Club will also be launching a planting program to install native shrubs in many locations in Carlisle. Your purchases support this and other Carlisle beautification programs.
Click Here to be Taken to the Plant Sale

Saturday, May 4, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm, & Sunday, May 5, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Natick’s Art in Bloom

View the Natick Garden Club’s unique floral arrangements inspired by books and art created by Natick Art Association artists. The exhibit takes place May 4 and 5 in the Morse Room and Lebowitz Meeting Hall at the Morse Institute Library, 14 East Central Street in Natick.