Memorial Day
The Garden Club of the Back Bay wishes you all a peaceful day of remembrance.
Thursday, June 7, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Bio-control of Lily Leaf Beetles
The Lily Leaf Beetle is largely under control in our area thanks to the efforts of researchers at URI, including Massachusetts Horticultural Society presenter, Dr. Richard Casagrande. On Thursday, June 7 from 7 – 8:30 at The Gardens at Elm Bank’s Parkman Room, Dr. Casagrande will discuss the lily leaf beetle project and its connection to early research at The Gardens at Elm Bank and abroad. He will also review biological control programs underway in this region to find biological controls of invasive insects and plants that are important in Southern New England.
Richard Casagrande, Emeritus Professor of Entomology, joined the University of Rhode Island faculty in 1976. He taught courses in biological control, integrated pest management, insects and society and gave innumerable lectures to Master Gardeners and landscape practitioners throughout the region. In retirement, he continues to work with colleagues at URI and throughout the world on biological control of invasive insects and plants that are important in Southern New England. Past and current projects include the lily leaf beetle, hemlock woolly adelgid, birch leafminer, Cypress spurge, purple loosestrife, black swallow-wort and common reed.
$12 Mass Hort members; $20 general admission. Register at http://www.masshort.org/eventdetail/663/bio-control-of-lily-leaf-beetles?filter_reset=1
Wednesdays, June 6, 13 & 20, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Hands-On Floral Design
Bring a little bit of your garden indoors. In this Massachusetts Horticultural Society three-session class, in the Cheney Room of the Education Building at The Gardens at Elm Bank, learn how to arrange flowers that you may find in your garden and yard. Barbara Rietscha, owner of Stow Greenhouses in Stow, will bring seasonal flowers from her farm to the class and teach you how to condition and arrange them. In the first class, you will be creating an arrangement in a glass cylinder vase. The second class will teach you how to create a dining table centerpiece and for the third class bring your own vase to arrange in. Flowers for all sessions are provided as are vases for sessions 1 and 2. Bring your own flower cutters/scissors and a vase for session 3. Each evening you will go home with a beautiful arrangement of fresh, locally grown flowers. The dates of the class are Wednesdays, June 6, 13, and 20 from 7 – 9.
Stow Greenhouses is a cut flower farm and floral design studio specializing in fresh-from-the-garden arrangements for weddings and special life events. They sell retail at many area farmers’ markets and at the Boston Public Market. Stow Greenhouses brings the best of what is blooming from their garden to your vase.
MUST PRE-REGISTER: $150 Mass Hort members; $200 general admission. Register at http://www.masshort.org/eventdetail/662/hands-on-floral-design?filter_reset=1
Tuesday, June 12, 8:00 am – 6:00 pm – Serenity on the Hudson at Wave Hill
Join the staff of Berkshire Botanical Garden for a special tour of Wave Hill, a public garden and cultural center in the Bronx overlooking the Hudson River and Palisades. With a notable tree collection serving as the cornerstone of the landscape, Wave Hill consists of 13 designed garden areas on 28 acres. An aquatic garden hugged with tropical plants. A wild garden championed by William Robinson offers winding pathways and spectacular river views. A conservatory filled with ferns, bromeliads, rainforest cacti plus The Cactus and Succulent House which displays plump and spiny plants from arid regions of the world. And the Elliptical Garden featuring primarily native plants using a formal design pattern. This trip, a great way to spend a day with like-minded garden and art lovers, is not to be missed.
Coach bus leaves Berkshire Botanical Garden promptly at 8am. Dress for the weather: comfortable, sturdy footwear; warm, waterproof outerwear, umbrella. Bring a bag lunch (limited access to a garden cafe is available for those wishing to purchase lunch). $130 for BBG members, $150 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/annual-field-trip-serenity-hudson-wave-hill
Wednesday, June 6, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Foraging Walk at The Lyman Estate
Join foraging expert Russ Cohen on Wednesday, June 6, from 6 – 8, on a walk through the Lyman Estate landscape, including farmland leased by Waltham Fields Community Farm, to collect wild edibles.
Cosponsored by Historic New England and the Waltham Fields Community Farm. $12. Register at http://shop.historicnewengland.org/LYM-PROGRAM-MTX-1-10136/
Friday, June 1 – Sunday, June 3, 9:30 am – 4:00 pm – Hosta and Perennial Sale
Historic New England will hold its annual Hosta and Perennial Sale at the Lyman Estate Greenhouses, 185 Lyman Street in Waltham, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 1 – 3, from 9:30 am – 4 pm. Admission is free. For more information visit http://shop.historicnewengland.org/GRE-HOSTASALE-1-10167/
Sunday, June 3, 10:00 am – Dragonflies at Royalston Eagle Preserve and Priest Brook Valley
Join Dave Small and Lynn Harper of the Athol Bird & Nature Club on Sunday, June 3 for a search for early season Dragonflies and Damselflies. As good naturalists, we’ll also note interesting birds, butterflies and whatever else we find. Meet 10:00 am at the MDFW Birch Hill WMA parking area (opposite 69 Winchendon Rd Royalston) Bring dragonfly net, camera, shoes or boots to get wet, water, snacks, and a sense of adventure. For more information visit http://atholbirdblub.org or email Dave@atholbirdclub.org.
Saturday, June 2, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Gardening with Mushrooms
Join Alex Dorr of Fungi Ally at Berkshire Botanical Garden on June 2 from 10 – 1 for this hands-on workshop to turn your garden into an arena of decomposition and mushroom production! Gain the tools and knowledge to transform agricultural waste to grow your own food and medicine for your family and community. We will work with tree mushrooms in particular: wine caps, almond portobellos, and oysters. Participants will become familiar with techniques of cultivating these mushrooms for food, medicine, or mycoremediation purposes. This workshop will include building a wood- chip bed of wine cap mushrooms (Go home with myceliated chips to start your bed own mushroom bed), adding Almond Portobellos to your garden via compost, and growing oyster mushrooms in mulch. We will also discuss transferring and expanding these mushrooms without buying spawn, and using Wine Cap mushrooms in mycoremediation applications.
Alex Dorr is the lab manager, spawn producer, and education coordinator for Fungi Ally. Fungi Ally’s goal is to connect people with the wonderful world of fungi. Author of the published book Mycoremediation Handbook: Grassroots Guide to Growing Mushrooms and Cleaning up Toxic Waste with Fungi. Working with various other projects including Corenewal, a 501c3 non profit organization in Ecuador cleaning up oil spills and a mycoremediation team based in the USA consulting big industries and doing research. Alex has certifications including Master Soils and Fungi certification, Clean room techniques, and commercial mushroom spawn certification. He has taught mushroom workshops all around the country for years! Dedicated to connecting people with the healing abundance that fungi provides!
Advance registration is highly recommended, but walk-ins are always welcome, space permitting. BBG members $45, nonmembers $55. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/gardening-mushrooms
Friday & Saturday, June 8 & 9, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Art in Bloom: A Celebration of Art and Floral Design
The Nauset Garden Club presents Art in Bloom: A Celebration of Art and Floral Design on June 8 and 9, from 10 – 4 at the Crosby Mansion (pictured below), 163 Crosby Lane in Brewster. The event also includes a plant sale and designed container sale, floral design demonstrations, and a garden tea. Advance tickets are available at Snows in Orleans, Agway, The Farm, The Brewster Country Store, Crocker Nursery, New England Gardens in Harwich, Hyannis Country Gardens, and online at http://nausetgardenclub.org. $20 advance sale, $25 at the door.
Wednesday, May 30, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm – Historic Estates and Gardens Landscape Tour
Historic New England and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society team up to present a spring landscape tour of historic estates and gardens on Wednesday, May 30 from 9 – 3. The schedule is as follows:
9:00 a.m: Explore the grounds of the 1793 Lyman Estate and the history of its greenhouses in a tour led by plant expert and Greenhouses Manager Lynn Ackerman. Dating to 1804, the Lyman Estate Greenhouses are among the oldest surviving in the United States. Explore them on your own after the tour.
11:30 a.m. Enjoy the landscape of the Eustis Estate, an 1878 Aesthetic Movement masterpiece next to the Blue Hills Reservation in Milton, Mass. Take a guided tour exploring the fields, woodland, and gardens as you learn about the landscape and history of the property. The tour also examines the exterior architecture of the house and other original buildings built between 1878 and 1902.
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Enjoy lunch on the porch or within the main hall of the Eustis Estate mansion. The first floor of the house will be open to explore.
End the day by joining Massachusetts Horticultural Society (Mass Hort) staff for a tour of their thirty-six-acre garden property, The Gardens at Elm Bank. See the historic and contemporary gardens, which display new plant varieties, diverse design concepts, and solutions to many home landscape challenges. The Elm Bank property is on the National Register of Historic Places and includes gardens designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm, and the Cheney-Baltzell Manor House designed by Carrère and Hastings of New York.
Lunch is included in the price. No transportation will be provided. $40 Historic New England and Mass Hort members; $55 Nonmembers
Please call 617-994-5959 or buy online at http://masshort.org. Mass Hort members must call to receive discount. (Rain date: Thursday, May 31)
