Boston Flora

Tuesday, April 2, 6:00 pm – An Evening of History and Restoration

The Party in the Park Committee invites you to an exclusive, hehind-the-scenes tour of the Benjamin-Constant murals at the historic Ames-Webster Mansion on Tuesday, April 2, beginning at 6 pm. Hear a presentation and view the murals with award-winning architect and designer Kahlil Hamady and Leslie-jon Vickory of Hamady Architects at 306 Dartmouth Street. Then, at 7, there will be a champagne and hors d’oeuvres reception at the Thayer Mansion, 305 Commonwealth Avenue. Tickets are $125. All proceeds benefit the Justine Mee Liff Fund for the Emerald Necklace. Catering provided by The Catered Affair. The evening is sponsored in part by Brown Advisory. To purchase tickets visit www.emeraldnecklace.org/ames-webster

Monday, April 8, 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Emerald Necklace Conservancy Annual Meeting

Join the Emerald Necklace Conservancy at our 2019 Annual Meeting as we explore the intersection of parks and health with several engaging short presentations. Also hear from President Karen Mauney-Brodek as we recap the success of our 20th Anniversary and share plans for 2019 and beyond. Presentations will be followed by a Q&A session with our speakers and a reception. The event takes place Monday, April 8 from 6 – 8:30 at the Linda K. Paresky Conference Center, Simmons University, 300 The Fenway, Boston.

Speakers Include:

Sara Jensen Carr, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape at Northeastern University
Angela Cleveland, AICP, Director of Client Services, Kim Lungdren Associates and President of the MA Chapter of the American Planning Association

…with more to be announced!

Registration is FREE, but strongly recommended.

Wednesday, April 10, 6:00 pm – Chasing Ants (And Their Microbes) in the Rainforest

Corrie Moreau, Moser Professor of Arthropod Biosystematics and Biodiversity, Cornell University , will give a free public lecture on April 10 at 6 pm in the Geological Lecture Hall of the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 24 Oxford Street in Cambridge.

Microbes play critical roles in the biology and health of human beings, but we are not the only species that benefits from intimate relationships with microbes. Ants, for instance, rely on the microbial communities living in their guts to process food and make strong armor. Corrie Moreau will discuss this unique aspect of ant biology and what it tells us about the diversity and dominance of ants in terrestrial ecosystems, the evolutionary history of social insects, and the broad-scale evolutionary patterns of life.

Evolution Matters Lecture Series

Series supported by a generous gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit

Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage

Wednesday, April 10, 7:00 pm – Celebrate National Bat Appreciation Day

To celebrate National Bat Appreciation Day (April 17th), MassWildlife’s Bat Conservation Program Coordinator, Jennifer Longsdorf, will share her knowledge and experience regarding the most underappreciated and misunderstood mammal on Earth. During her seven years with MassWildlife’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, Jennifer has been involved with a variety of conservation and restoration projects aiding red-bellied cooters, bald eagles, peregrine falcons, coastal waterbirds, salamanders, and, more recently, bats. Bats are fascinating and unique creatures that play a critical role in many environments around the world. However, dramatic population declines have put bats in the spotlight recently. Come to discover how human activity and White-nose Syndrome have decimated bat populations. Learn the general facts and help dispel common myths and fears about these shy, gentle, and intelligent creatures. Join us for some tips on how to help conserve and protect these ecosystem superheroes. The April 10 program of the Athol Bird and Nature Club will begin at 7 pm at The Millers River Environmental Center, 100 Main Street, Athol. The program is free and open to the public. For more information visit http://atholbirdclub.org.

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Friday, April 5, 11:00 am – 7:30 pm – Artifacts in Bloom

Framingham Garden Club presents Artifacts in Bloom on Friday, April 5 from 11:00 AM – 7:30 PM at Edgell Memorial Library, 3 Oak St, Framingham.
Floral designs will be on display created by members to interpret a selection of artifacts from the History Center Collection. For more information visit https://www.framinghamgardenclub.org/

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Wednesday, March 27, 6:00 pm – Ancient Egyptian Gardens

Christian E. Loeben, Egyptologist and Keeper of Egyptian and Islamic Arts at the Museum August Kestner in Hamburg, Germany, will give a free lecture at the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street in Cambridge, sponsored by the Harvard Semitic Museum.

The oldest documented gardens in the world are from ancient Egypt. Gardens were described in hieroglyphic texts and depicted in paintings, and many have been recovered through archaeology. From these sources we know that ancient Egyptians maintained gardens at temples and tombs, as well as at royal palaces and local residences.

Drawing on comparisons among paintings of gardens from over fifty Egyptian tombs and archaeological garden sites, Christian Loeben will highlight the symbolism and functions of gardens in the religious and personal lives of ancient Egyptians.

Christian Loeben studied Egyptology and Art History at the Freie Universität of Berlin and has conducted fieldwork in Saqqara, Thebes and Deir el-Haggar, Dakhleh Oasis. Since 2004, he has been the keeper of Egyptian and Islamic Collections in the Museum August Kestner in Hanover, Germany, where he has curated more than ten exhibitions on ancient Egypt.

He has held research and teaching positions at the University of Chicago, the Institut Khéops in Paris, and the Humboldt University (Berlin). He has published over 50 scientific articles and made contributions to more than 30 museum and exhibition catalogues. Since 1993 he has served as consultant Egyptologist for the Collection of Antiquities at the Cuban National Museum for the Fine Arts in Havana. He has lectured widely on Egyptology at universities in Leipzig, Havana, Marburg, Cologne, Göttingen, Leiden, Leuven, and Basel.

Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage.

This event will be livestreamed on the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture Facebook page. A recording of this program will be available on the HMSC Lecture Videos page approximately three weeks after the lecture.

Link to HMSC Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/harvardmuseumsofscienceandculture/

Link to HMSC Youtube page:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjjvYQF81TLWObF7RqpHIlA L

Friday, April 26, 6:30 pm – Green and White Ball

Join the Friends of the Public Garden for cocktails, dinner, and dancing with Night Shift on Friday, April 26 at 6:30 pm at the Green and White Ball at the Four Seasons. Proceeds from the event will support the Friends mission to protect and improve the Boston Common, Public Garden, and Commonwealth Avenue Mall. The 2019 Green & White Ball co-Chairs are Jessica Schmitz, Amanda Pratt, Ashley Harmon and Lisa Taffe. For questions or more information, please contact Mary Halpin, Director of Development, at 617-723-8144 or mary@friendsofthepublicgarden.org. Photo below from last year’s event, with Tamar Frieze, Ashley Harmon, Jessica Schmitz, and Jackie McCabe.

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Friday, April 5 through Sunday, May 26 – Nature Narratives: The Botanical Art of Carol Ann Morley

Berkshire Botanical Garden has announced its spring gallery exhibition, Nature Narratives — The Botanical Art of Carol Ann Morley on display April 6 through May 26 in its Center House Leonhardt Galleries, 5 West Stockbridge Road, Stockbridge, MA. The exhibition is a retrospective collection of botanical art works presented in colored pencil, pen and ink, graphite, carbon dust and pastel.

A New Hampshire artist whose love of nature features the subjects she portrays, Carol Ann Morley was classically trained in England, graduating in 1963 from the Medway College of Art. Her art work has been represented in numerous private and public collections and museums including the Smithsonian Institute of Natural History, The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, The Shirley Sherwood Collection, and the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology in England.

Carol has taught basic drawing skills, drawing nature, and botanical drawing at Berkshire Botanical Garden since 1999. Her popular workshops focus on observation of the natural world and how to acquire the necessary drawing skills to create representational drawing.

The exhibit opens on Friday, April 5 with a gallery reception from 1-3 p.m. A Meet the Artist gallery presentation is scheduled for Sunday, May 26, 2-4 p.m. Gallery hours are weekdays, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Saturdays, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. and Sundays by appointment by calling 413 320-4794. Admission is free.

More information is available at berkshirebotanical.org or by calling the Garden at 413 320-4794.

Wednesday, April 3, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – More Than Just The Buzz: Finding Real Solutions to Native Pollinator Decline

For almost two decades, pollinators have been declining in abundance, species richness, and geographic distribution at an unprecedented rate worldwide. While media attention has focused largely on the domesticated European honeybee, the decline of our native species poses a significant threat to global biodiversity due to the keystone role that pollinators play in terrestrial ecosystems. On April 3 at 7 pm at the Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway in Cambridge, biologist Robert Gegear, Assistant Professor of Biology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute will explain the beautifully complex interactions between plant species and the insects that pollinate them— intricate ecological systems that we humans are only beginning to understand. Join us to learn how Dr. Gegear’s research on pollination ‘networks’ can help develop truly effective conservation and restoration strategies, and come away with scientifically informed and practical actions you can take to support these vital insects.

Dr. Robert Gegear is the founder of the Bee-cology Project, an initiative that uses citizen science to collect much-needed ecological data on native pollinator species and pollinator habitat. The Grow Native Massachusetts talk is free and open to the public.

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Thursday, April 4, 6:00 pm – John James Audubon: Obsession Untamed

The Preservation Society of Newport County presents Ashley Householder, Exhibition Curator for Obsession Untamed, at Rosecliff. 548 Bellevue Avenue in Newport. on Thursday, April 4 at 6 pm. In 1820 John James Audubon embarked on what would become his life’s work as “portraitist of all the birds of America.” Hear how this witness to America’s Heroic Age translated his obsession into a successful business venture that resulted in arguably the most enduring images associated with the modern conservation movement.

Admission is $10 for Preservation Society members, $15 for the general public. Advance ticket purchase is required. Register at www.newportmansions.org.

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