Boston Flora

  • Thursday, March 12, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Design-less Gardening: A Natural Approach

    Traditional gardening methods can result in lovely landscapes but come with a high price in terms of maintenance. In this March 12 Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts Horticulture Morning , Dan Jaffe invites us to rethink the old rules of gardening so we can spend less time working and more time enjoying our gardens. The class will take place at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 900 Washington Street, Wellesley, beginning at 10 am

    How many inches of bark mulch is needed between plants? Are there alternatives to bark mulch? Should weeds be pulled or are there other management strategies? Is it necessary to clean the garden every fall or are there habitat benefits to skipping some of the cleanup? Some gardening rules make sense; and others do not.

    Join Dan for an exploration of the rules of gardening and learn how to build beautiful, resilient, and ecologically viable gardens without the services of a full-time gardener. Dan Jaffe earned a degree in botany from the University of Maine and an advanced certificate in Native Plant Horticulture and Design from NEWFS (now the Native Plant Trust). After interning at Garden in the Woods, Dan worked for a year as Plant Sales Coordinator at the Garden. Suggested donation: $5 at the door. Rsvp to mistyfloral@yahoo.com

    Image result for Butchart Gardens

  • Sundays, March 8 – April 5, 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm – Cannabis Lecture Series

    Learn more about the plant that has been making news and sparking change across the country. In each lecture, experts will cover a different topic related to cannabis, as well as its connection to people throughout history. Topics include ethnobotany, evolution, horticulture, taxonomy and genetics, and hemp. Join us for one lecture or all. 

    March 8 will feature Peter Apicella, University of Connecticut, on Genetics and Taxonomy. March 15 lecture is on Horticulture with Maggie Kinsella of Coyote Cannabis Corporation. On March 29, John de la Parra of Harvard University’s Herbaria teams with Ernest Anemone of the Arnold Arboretum to talk about Ethnobotany, and finally, on April 5, Monique McHenry of University of Vermont speaks on Evolution. $20 per lecture for Tower Hill members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.


  • Thursday, March 5, 10:20 am – Tree Removal Hearing: South Station

    In accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 87, the Boston Parks and Recreation Department will hold a public hearing on a request to remove four public shade trees at South Station. The request is for the removal of four elm trees measuring 4 and 5 inches dbh (diameter at breast height) adjacent to the Michael J. Dukakis Transportation Center at 245 Summer Street due to the South Station Air Rights Project. The hearing will be held by the City of Boston’s Tree Warden (or designee) in the 3rd floor Conference Room of the Boston Parks and Recreation Department at 1010 Massachusetts Avenue, Roxbury.  Public testimony will be taken at the hearing, or may be provided prior to the hearing in writing to the Tree Warden, Boston Parks and Recreation Department, 1010 Massachusetts Avenue, 3rd floor, Roxbury, MA 02118 or by emailing parks@boston.gov with “South Station Tree Hearing” in the subject line. A final decision regarding the request will be made within two weeks of the hearing.  For further information, please contact the Tree Warden at 617-635-7275.

  • Saturday, March 14, 10:30 am – 3:30 pm – Rock Lichens

    Rocks are excellent places to study lichen growth forms, biology, and ecology. Native rock walls, cement walls, and cemetery monuments made from different rocks boast a diversity of rock-colonizing lichens common to New England. During this March 14 Native Plant Trust class at Garden in the Woods and a field site, you will learn about lichen identification, reproduction and growth, and habitat interactions through a stereoscope workshop and field application at local cemeteries. Elizabeth Kneiper leads. $75 for NPT members, $90 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/rock-lichens/

  • Thursday, March 19, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Fruit Trees: Pruning and Care

    On March 19 from 7 – 8:30, at The Gardens at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley, Stockbridge School of Agriculture Director and Professor of Pomology, Wes Autio, will present a talk on pruning fruit trees in the home landscape and will discuss the physiology of fruiting trees, methods for dwarf-tree pruning, ways to enhance fruit production, and other interesting facts for creating and maintaining a home orchard. $15/member, $20/general admission. Register at http://masshort.org

     

  • Thursday, March 19, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Winter Tree & Shrub Identification and Signs of Spring

    Join the Friends of Mount Auburn and Mount Auburn President Dave Barnett on March 19 at 2 pm at the Cemetery, 580 Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge, as the snow-covered ground gives way to the earliest spring flowers and buds.  We will observe the early signs of spring’s arrival and learn how to identify some of the most interesting trees and shrubs at Mount Auburn by their buds, twig, and bark characteristics. 

    Experience a deeper connection to Mount Auburn Cemetery with free access to all our public programs and discounts on special events by joining the Friends of Mount Auburn. Our robust roster of programs each year is made possible through your generous support.

    $7 for Member of Friends of Mount Auburn, $12 for nonmembers. Funding for programs has been provided in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Register at www.mountauburn.org

  • Thursday, April 2, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm, & Friday, April 3, 8:15 am – 12:45 pm – Gardening Study School Course 3

    The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts’ Gardening Study School. Course 3, Series 11, will take place April 2 and 3 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston.

    Subjects covered: Thursday, April 2 (Tested subjects) Factors that Influence Plant Growth – Dr. Judith Sumner, Botanist

    New Plant Development & Evaluation – Dr. Judith Sumner, Botanist Teaching Tour of Tower Hill – Joann Vieira, Horticulturalist

    Supporting the Wild – Joann Vieira, Horticulturalist (non-tested)

    Friday, April 3, (Tested subjects) Container Gardening – Betty Sanders, Master Gardener

    Houseplants – Betty Sanders, Master Gardener

    Test for those becoming consultants begins at 1:45 PM. Registration deadline March 25.

    Make checks payable to GCFM and mail with your name, address, telephone number, email, Garden Club affiliation, to Linda Jean Smith, 23 Bentley Lane, Chelmsford, MA 01824. $110 GCFM Student Member, exam fee included, $100 Refresher, $140 non-member (2 day fee), $70 one day registration, & available box lunches $18/day (choose chicken, roast beef, or vegetarian wrap) For further information contact Joy DeMaggio at jmarykay2@outlook.com

  • Sunday, March 15, 10:30 am – 4:30 pm – Drawing Plants and Flowers

    Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston will hold a Drawing Plants and Flowers Class with Carolyn Todd on March 15 from 10:30 – 4:30. Students will be encouraged to develop observation skills to assist in the discovery of the anatomy of selected plants and flowers. Drawing and capturing the rhythm and shapes of live plants is superior to drawing from photographs or publications. Students will learn about drawing tools and specific drawing techniques to enhance drawing skills and critical thinking. Along with building technical skill, students will also be encouraged to promote a creative, unique, and personal drawing style. A materials list will be sent upon registration. $78 for THBG members, $88 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

    Carolyn earned her BFA and MA in studio Fine Arts and Fine Arts education from the University of Texas and the University of Houston. She was selected as the “Artist in Residence” for the National Park Service, Amistad National Recreation Area. She enjoys helping students of all ages discover their personal expression by enabling critical thinking. Carolyn teaches drawing, and watercolor, oil, acrylic, gouache, and encaustic painting. She is currently teaching in the ALFA program at Fitchburg State University, and the Creative Minds program (Seven Hills Foundation) at the Worcester and Fitchburg Art Museums.

    copyright Carolyn Todd, Blue Landscape

  • Saturday, March 14, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – The Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants

    Focus in a wholly unique way on how horticulture intersects with our everyday world, and on women whose work has enriched and expanded these intersections in the last 25 years. The Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants by Jennifer Jewell explores and celebrates how the plant world is improved not only by greater representation of women, but also by diversity amongst those women. It chronicles how working in the world of plants is a more viable and creative career path for women than ever before and how the plant-work world is demonstrating greater social and environmental responsibility, in large part due to women’s contributions. Walking through profiles of women doing current and innovative work in all fields horticultural – botany, environmental science, landscape design and architecture, floriculture, agriculture, social justice, plant seeking and breeding, seed science, gardening, garden writing and garden photography, public garden administration, research, and public policy – we see how they often represent larger issues or shifts in our world. The work of these women illustrates how the many challenges of our world – environmental, economic, cultural/societal, individual – can be met through cultivating an interdependence with plants. 

    The group of 75 includes representatives from the United States, England, Ireland, Wales, Canada, Australia, India, and Japan.  These paradigm-shifting women range beautifully across race, ethnicity, socio-economic and religious backgrounds, sexual orientation, and age – in a way that transcends preconceived notions of what horticulture/gardening is and what plantspeople/gardeners look like. These women and their work have profoundly positive impacts on the larger world – aesthetically, environmentally, culturally, and economically – making them joyful and encouraging role models and inspirations for us all.

    Following the March 14 lecture at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in West Stockbridge, there will be a book sale and signing of The Earth in Her Hands.

    Jennifer Jewell is the creator and host of Cultivating Place, an award-winning public radio program and podcast on natural history and the human impulse to garden.

  • Tuesday, March 10, 5:15 pm – 7:30 pm – The Metabolism of Military Forces in the War of Independence: Environmental Contexts and Consequences

    The Massachusetts Historical Society presents an Environmental History Seminar on Tuesday, March 10 at 5:15 at 1154 Boylston Street in Boston on The Metabolism of Military Forces in the War of Independence: Environmental Contexts and Consequences. David Hsiung of Juniata College will speak, with comment by James Rice of Tufts University. In order to function during the War of Independence, armies and navies needed multiple sources of energy—food, firewood, work animals (which also needed food), ammunition, and more. How did specific natural environments, both proximate and distant, fuel those military metabolisms? How did such actions affect those environments in the decades and centuries that followed? This presentation is the seed of a book proposal that, when watered by your feedback, will germinate come summertime. Free, but registration requested at www.masshist.org.