Boston Flora

Sundays, May 20 and June 24, 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm – Tree Identification Primer

Catherine Chamberlain, Graduate Student, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Fellow of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, will lead two sessions at the Arnold Arboretum on tree identification. Select One: Sunday, May 20 or Sunday, June 24 1:30–3:30pm.

Trees and shrubs can be challenging to identify, but as the saying goes, “…you will love only what you understand…” (Baba Dioum). So why not expand the number of trees and shrubs you become aware of and can identify? In this session, Cat Chamberlain will lead you through the Arnold Arboretum to practice using dichotomous keys, plant presses, and other tools often used in field research. This casual journey through the landscape will allow you to familiarize yourself with and appreciate the flora that surrounds you. Dress for learning in the landscape and bring a magnifier lens if you have one. Fee is $10 for Arboretum members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

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Monday, May 21, 7:00 pm – The Guide to Walden Pond: An Exploration of the History, Nature, Landscape and Literature of One of America’s Most Iconic Places

Porter Square Books, 25 White Street in Cambridge, welcomes Robert Thorson, author of The Guide To Walden Pond: An Exploration of the History, Nature, Landscape and Literature of One of America’s Most Iconic Places on Monday, May 21 at 7 pm for a talk and book signing. This is the first guidebook to Henry David Thoreau’s most defining place, visited by half a million people each year and widely known as the fountainhead of America’s environmental consciousness.

Using this guide, both armchair readers and trail-walkers alike can amble around the pond’s shoreline, pausing at fifteen special places to learn about people, historic events, and the natural world. Thoreau will be a constant companion via quotes from Walden. Stop by stop, the place of his book will merge with the book of his place.

Abundantly illustrated with photographs, drawings, and maps, this guide is a must-have for a meaningful, engaging tour of Walden Pond as well as a souvenir of a visit. For more information visit https://www.portersquarebooks.com/event/robert-thorson-guide-walden-pond

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Thursday, May 17, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Commonwealth Avenue: Boston’s Grand Boulevard

On Thursday, May 17, beginning at 6 pm at the George Washington Statue in the Public Garden, corner of Arlington Street and Commonwealth Avenue, take a walk through the heart of Victorian Boston on this Boston by Foot tour of Commonwealth Avenue. Boston’s grand boulevard, Commonwealth Avenue, provides an enduringly popular stroll. The tour parallels the 19th century filling and development of the Back Bay from its origin at Arlington Street down the seven blocks along the tree-lined, grassy Mall. See how careful effort over 150 years has preserved the “grandness” of the Avenue. General Admission $15 (Boston by Foot members $5). Register at http://www.bostonbyfoot.org/tours/Commonwealth_Avenue

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Sunday, May 20, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm – Spring Ephemerals in a Rich, Mesic Forest

Ephemeral spring wildflowers are an integral part of the uncommon rich, mesic forest type. In Massachusetts, abundant spring flowers are found primarily in the western part of the state on lime-rich soils such as those at Day Mountain in Dalton, Massachusetts, where a forest canopy dominated by sugar maples provides habitat to significant species diversity. Patricia Swain will lead a walk through the Day Mountain Wildlife Management Area on Sunday, May 20 from 10 – 3, sponsored by the New England Wild Flower Society. $47 for NEWFS members, $58 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/spring-ephemerals-in-a-rich-mesic-forest

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Sunday, May 20, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – The Garden in Every Sense and Season

Your garden could be so fulfilling, if you plug in. This Boot Camp for the Senses at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Sunday, May 20 from 1 – 2 explores the garden on all levels by attuning your nose to its scents and training your ears to listen. Learn to garden with eyes wide open, ears to the ground, and hands outstretched. Tailored to the current season, this lecture will awaken your senses and spark perceptions on all levels. Subtleties that you never noticed before will be uncovered and defined. We’ll share advice and ideas; we’ll explore a “Smellathon” to help get nostrils in gear. Want to broaden your horizons? After this presentation, your garden will be more savory, you will know its touch, smell its aromas, hear its voice, and see it anew.

An avid (verging on obsessed) gardener indoors and outside, Tovah Martin is the author of many gardening books – most recently The Indestructible Houseplant (2015, Timber Press), The Unexpected Houseplant (2012, Timber Press) and The New Terrarium (2009, Clarkson Potter) as well as the popular Tasha Tudor’s Garden (1994, Houghton Mifflin). A freelance writer, her articles have appeared in publications throughout the country including Country Gardens, Garden Design, Traditional Home, Martha Stewart Living, O the Oprah magazine, Old House Interiors, Horticulture magazine, Yankee, Connecticut Cottages & Gardens and numerous others as well as The Daily Telegraph in Europe. In addition to being the 2012 Writer in Residence for the new Victoria magazine, she is an accredited Organic Land Care Professional through NOFA, an honorary member of the Garden Club of America and the recipient of their medal for outstanding literary achievement. In 2013, she received the Gustav Mehlquist Award—the highest honor bestowed by the Connecticut Horticultural Society. She has appeared on the Martha Stewart Show, PBS television series and the CBS Sunday Early Show as well as many other television and radio broadcasts. She speaks throughout the country and has lectured aboard the QE2. Tovah can be found at http://www.tovahmartin.com and she blogs at http://www.plantswise.com. $10 for THBG members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—the-garden-in-every-sense-and-season–talk–book-signing

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Tuesday, May 15 or Thursday, May 17, 9:00 am – 11:00 am – Guided Lilac Therapy Walk

Every May, visitors flock to the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts to breathe in the fragrant lilac collection and witness the array of color. This flower has a history of medicinal use and if you have ever spent time inhaling this sweet fragrance you may have noticed a sense of calm and relaxation. Spending time connecting with nature has been scientifically proven to treat stress-related illnesses and lilacs are considered potent medicine when it comes to symptoms of anxiety. May can be a time of unwinding as we transition into a new season under a warmer and brighter sun. Whether you’ve been visiting the lilac collection for years or have yet to experience them, Guide Tam Willey invites you to unplug, de-stress and recharge on a Guided Lilac Therapy Walk.

This is a two hour therapeutic experience that combines wandering, sitting, and resting. We will cover no more than a mile, leisurely meandering through the collection as Tam guides us through a sequence of gentle sensory-opening invitations that welcome us to notice more of our surroundings.

Tam is a Certified Forest Therapy Guide through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs. She recently completed her practicum here at the Arnold Arboretum where she has been regularly guiding Forest Bathing Walks. Tam has first hand experience of the healing benefits of spending time in nature. For more information about Tam take a look at her website, Toadstool Walks. Fee (for one session) $30 Arboretum member, $40 nonmember. Register at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5209. This event is being held on two different days, May 15 or 17, from 9 – 11.

In case of inclement weather, contact 617.304.9313. Meet at the map table at the Ponds, through the Forest Hills Gate.

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Wednesday, May 16, 6:30 pm – Michael Pollan

Harvard Book Store welcomes renowned writer Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, for a discussion of his latest book, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. He will be joined in conversation by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind. The event will take place at the First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge on Wednesday, May 16.

When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction, and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life, he decided to explore the landscape of the mind in the first person as well as the third. Thus began a singular adventure into the experience of various altered states of consciousness, along with a dive deep into both the latest brain science and the thriving underground community of psychedelic therapists. Pollan sifts the historical record to separate the truth about these mysterious drugs from the myths that have surrounded them since the 1960s when a handful of psychedelic evangelists catalyzed a powerful backlash against what was then a promising field of research.

A unique and elegant blend of science, memoir, travel writing, history, and medicine, How to Change Your Mind is a triumph of participatory journalism. By turns dazzling and edifying, it is the gripping account of a journey to an exciting and unexpected new frontier in our understanding of the mind, the self, and our place in the world. The true subject of Pollan’s “mental travelogue” is not just psychedelic drugs but also the eternal puzzle of human consciousness and how, in a world that offers us both struggle and beauty, we can do our best to be fully present and find meaning in our lives.

Tickets, $28.75, includes a book, and will also be available at Harvard Book Store and over the phone at 617-661-1515. Unless the event is sold out, any remaining tickets will be on sale at the door of the venue when doors open. Tickets are non-refundable and non-returnable.

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Friday, May 18 – Saturday, May 19, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Westminster Town & Country Spring 2018 Tour of Homes

The Westminster “Town & Country” Spring 2018 Tour of Homes & Designer Showcase will include a self-guided tour of several of Westminster’s architecturally significant homes, intimate gardens, churches and landmark institutions that help define Westminster as a genteel and gracious town. Local decorators, landscapers, artists & home furnishing shoppes are collaborating with our homeowners to create a delightful and festive event for our visitors.

This unique fundraising event will allow our participants to choose one of several charities and organizations that they wish to have their ticket profits go towards. Some of these charities and organizations are local, some regional and some are national or international allowing this fundraiser AND YOU to assist and reach out to hundreds and thousands of people in need.

Advance tickets are $20, day of event $25. Lunch tickets for a meal prepared by Farmhouse Fresh Catering ($10) must be purchased by May 15. Registration and check in is at the American Legion Hall Post 174, 127 Main Street in Westminster, Massachusetts. Tour is “rain or shine”. Tickets may be used either day, or both days. Participants are invited to break up the tour into both days and also spend time exploring our town and all it has to offer during their visit. Westminster is located one hour west of Boston on Route 2.

Friday, May 11 & Saturday, May 12, 8:00 am – 3:00 pm, & Sunday, May 13, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon – The Gore Place Plant Sale

This year’s Gore Place Plant Sale offerings feature vegetable garden transplants including many varieties of hard-to-find hybrid and heirloom tomatoes, heirloom annuals, herbs, and beautiful perennials. The free weekend event takes place Friday and Saturday, May 11 & 12, from 8 – 3, and Sunday, May 13, from 9 – noon.

It’s not only the large selection that makes this sale special; it’s also the chance to speak with gardener Scott Clarke. Scott knows a lot about these varieties, and he’s eager to share his knowledge with you! Everyone is encouraged to bring their own box for transporting their purchases. For information, email goreplace@goreplace.org or call (781) 894-2798. Gore Place is located at 52 Gore Street in Waltham.

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Saturday, May 19, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Primrose Show

Delight in displays of blooming plants, get tips for growing primroses at home, and explore plant varieties available for sale, at the annual Primrose Show at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, on Saturday, May 19, from 10 – 4. Presented by the New England Primula Society. Enjoy a lecture on Primulas for Northeast Gardens at 2:30pm. Event is free with admission to the garden.