Boston Flora

  • Sunday, August 26, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm – Seed Saving

    Seed saving brings tremendous benefits to the willing gardener. Learn how seeds develop, stay dormant, and germinate. This New England Wild Flower Society hands-on workshop on August 26 from 10 – 3 at Nasami Farm Nursery in Whately covers harvesting, cleaning, and storing a wide spectrum of native seeds. Spend time in the field observing and collecting seeds, then practice cleaning. Take your work home with you. Bring a lunch and dress appropriately for the field. The workshop will be led by Kate Stafford, and is $66 for NEWFS members, $80 for nonmembers. Register online at http://www.newenglandwild.org/learn/our-programs/seed-saving-1

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  • Through Tuesday, October 2 – Continuation: Seasons at the Arboretum

    Jim Harrison worked for the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University in 2008, photographing the landscape through four full seasons. After that year, he returned, worked at his own pace, and expanded his perspective. For him, the Arboretum became a living, ever changing laboratory in which to explore the simple but fundamental act of observation.

    Harrison photographed in rain and snow, at dawn and dusk, even working on days when the beauty of the Arboretum seemed less obvious, or in some cases all too obvious. In time, he also began to see plants in relation to their surroundings. The photographs in this exhibition will encourage viewers to think in new ways about both the place and the process. His show, Continuation: Seasons at the Arboretum, will be on view in the Hunnewell Building Lecture Hall through October 2.

    Note: For exhibition availability, refer to Hunnewell Visitor Center hours at https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/visit/hours-services-and-policies/.

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  • Saturday, September 1, 9:30 am – 1:30 pm – Church House Tour with Page Dickey

    Join Berkshire Botanical Garden on Saturday, September 1 for a unique opportunity to tour Church House, Page Dickey’s gardens and surrounding 17 acres of fields and woods located in Falls Village, Connecticut. Ideally situated with a view of the Berkshire Hills, it is a gardener’s classroom with groves of shadblow (Amelanchier), a saltwater pool accented by hydrangeas and flowering shrubs, and a small cottage garden surrounding the house. Meadow paths rich in native flowers lead to a lime rock-strewn woodland and ravine with a vernal pool. Transportation to and from BBG is included in price and time. Please dress for the weather. $35 for BBG members, $45 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/church-house-tour-page-dickey

    Page Dickey is a gardener and garden writer living and gardening in Falls Village, CT. Her books include Embroidered Ground, Gardens in the Spirit of Place, the award-winning Breaking Ground: Portraits of Ten Garden Designers, Duck Hill Journal: A Year in a Country Garden, Dogs in Their Gardens and Cats in Their Gardens. A contributor to numerous magazines over the years, she lectures across the country and is one of the founders of the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program. She lives and gardens with her husband in the company of assorted dogs, cats, and chickens.

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  • Thursday, September 6 – Sunday, September 9 – The Gardens of Bar Harbor and Mt. Desert Island

    Berkshire Botanical Garden invites you to join an exclusive tour to discover the gardens of Bar Harbor and Mt. Desert Island. Mt. Desert Island is considered one of Maine’s most revered summer resort islands where such towns as Bar Harbor, Seal Harbor and Northeast Harbor dot the area. A major aspect of Mt. Desert Island is nature and the cultivation of beautiful gardens. One person stands out for her highly talented contribution: the legendary landscape designer Beatrix Farrand, who summered at Bar Harbor for over half a century, creating over 60 gardens on the island. One of her greatest projects was the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden at Seal Harbor. Collections of plants from her Reef Point home can now be seen at the Asticou Azalea Garden and Thuya Garden, both at Northeast Harbor. Another Farrand garden can be found at her last home, Garland Farm, Salisbury Cove, now maintained by the Beatrix Farrand Society.  Trip highlights may be viewed at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/sites/default/files/BBG%20Bar%20Harbor%20Trip%20Highlights.pdf

  • Sunday, August 26, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Botany in the Salt Marsh

    Barnstable Great Marsh is an integral part of the ecologically significant 3,800-acre Sandy Neck salt marsh and barrier beach system. Join Michael Piantedosi on Sunday, August 26 from 10 – 1 to explore this critical coastal ecosystem and learn about its resident flora. This New England Wild Flower Society outing is $28 for NEWFS members, $35 for nonmembers, and is an easy to moderate walk. Register online at http://www.newenglandwild.org/learn/our-programs/botany-in-the-salt-marsh

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  • Sunday, August 26, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – In Harmony with Nature: Mount Auburn’s Flower Gardens & Greenhouse

    Sunday, August 26, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – In Harmony with Nature: Mount Auburn’s Flower Gardens & Greenhouse

    On Sunday, August 26 at 1 pm, join Mount Auburn Cemetery at our Greenhouse to explore the greenhouses and surrounding gardens at peak bloom time. Kelley Sullivan, Mount Auburn’s Greenhouse Horticulturist & Plant Health Care Specialist, will guide you with tips and techniques. Peek into our greenhouses and see how our gardens interact with our greenhouse plantings. Observe how our beautiful and diverse cut-flower gardens enhance habitat, shelter, and alternative food sources for beneficial inhabitants. We’ll provide the lenses, you bring your senses. $7 for Friends of Mount Auburn, $12 for general public. Register online at http://mountauburn.org/event/in-harmony-with-nature-our-flower-gardens-greenhouse-3/

    Funding for programs has been provided in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

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  • Tuesday, August 28, 6:00 pm – William Waldorf Astor: American Tycoon to English Lord

    William Waldorf Astor was one of those rare beings who passed into legend during his own lifetime. The richest man in the world by the early 20th century, he created some of the finest houses, gardens, and collections in the world, and founded the legendary Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. The Preservation Society of Newport County will host a lecture on Tuesday, August 28 at 6 pm at Rosecliff, 548 Bellevue Avenue in Newport. This richly illustrated lecture will feature Astor’s most magnificent houses, from his English country estates to his idyllic villa on the Amalfi Coast (pictured below).

    Curt DiCamillo, an internationally recognized authority on English country houses and the decorative arts is the Curator of Special Collections for the New England Historic Genealogical Society. He has led highly successful heritage tours to England and Scotland, lectured extensively in the United States and abroad, and taught classes on British culture and art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Curt was previously Executive Director of The National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA.

    Reception immediately following the lecture. Advance ticket purchase is required. Visit http://www.newportmansions.org/learn/adult-programs or call 401-847-1000, ext 178.
    Preservation Society Members $15 / General Public $20

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  • Now Through October 31 – Fog x FLO

    Starting this August, The Emerald Necklace Conservancy will launch a “climate responsive” art exhibition. Fog x FLO: Fujiko Nakaya on the Emerald Necklace will introduce park visitors to the internationally renowned “fog sculptures” of Fujiko Nakaya. The installations have been designed to complement and enhance Frederick Law Olmsted’s (FLO) enduring landscapes.

    Fog x FLO will be showcased at the following five locations, and will be free and open to the public from August 11 to October 31, 2018:

    Fog x Canopy, Clemente Field Path, Back Bay Fens
    Fog x Island, Leverett Pond, Olmsted Park, Brookline
    Fog x Beach, Jamaica Pond
    Fog x Hill, Hunnewell Hillside, Arnold Arboretum
    Fog x Ruins, Overlook Ruins, Franklin Park

    Building on this engaging Necklace-wide exhibition, the Conservancy will also develop and pilot new physical and digital way-finding approaches to orient park visitors along the exhibition sites in the Emerald Necklace and install new educational and interpretive displays in the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s Shattuck Visitor Center at 125 The Fenway.

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  • Sunday, August 19 – Sunday, November 4 – Traveling Biergartens at Historic Estates and Gardens

    Notch Brewing and the Trustees of Reservations conservation group are partnering to take Notch beer on the road to parks, farms and other gorgeous settings managed by the Trustees. Each traveling biergarten will present communal outdoor seating, games, special programs like fun runs, and beer served in half-liter steinkrugs. Also, each Trustees site has its own admission fees. Go online for specific details.

    August 19 — Castle Hill on the Crane Estate, 290 Argilla Road, Ipswich
    August 24-25 — Francis William Bird Park, Polley Lane, East Walpole, MA featuring Dog Day on August 25
    September 6-9 — Powisset Farm, 37 Powisset Street, Dover
    September 13-16 — Stevens Coolidge Place, 137 Andover Street, North Andover, featuring an Oktoberfest
    September 22-23 — Fruitlands Museum, 102 Prospect Hill Road, Harvard, part of its Craft Festival
    October 5-7 — Chestnut Hill Farm. 9-99 Chestnut Hill Road, Southborough, featuring Sunday’s Harvest Fest
    November 3-4 — Castle Hill at Crane Estate, 290 Argilla Road, Ipswich, during the annual Art Show and Sale

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  • Saturday, August 25, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Stone Acres Farm

    Saturday, August 25, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Stone Acres Farm

    The Garden Conservancy will hold an Open Days Special Program on Saturday, August 25 at Stone Acres Farm, 385 North Main Street in Stonington, Connecticut, from 10 – 2, including a talk and book signing by Garden Club of the Back Bay member Judith Tankard from 11 – 1.

    Stone Acres Farm is a small working farm situated in picturesque Stonington. The property’s rolling hills, gardens, and acres of vegetable production are open to visitors on a daily basis. A century-old boxwood hedge that is one-quarter-mile long, rose arbors, and a perennial cutting garden are highlights of the historic formal garden. There are interesting old outbuildings, a carriage house, grapery, greenhouse, annual cutting garden, a ha ha, and a pond once used for ice—now home for the herons.

    In the historic gardens at Stone Acre Farm, join landscape historian and Garden Conservancy Fellow Judith Tankard for a signing of her latest book, Ellen Shipman and the American Garden. In the 1920s and 1930s, Shipman was a famous landscape architect who designed hundreds of gardens, including 60 in Connecticut. She was known for her labor-intensive flower borders as well as charming water features and garden sculpture. Judith has also written books on Beatrix Farrand and Gertrude Jekyll. She is an Open Days Regional Representative and Garden Host on Martha’s Vineyard.

    Admission to the garden is $7. For more information and directions visit https://www.gardenconservancy.org/open-days/garden-directory/stone-acres-farm

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