Boston Flora

Saturday, February 8, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Kitchen Witch’n: Herbal Remedies from Your Garden

Your kitchen is more powerful than you think! In this Berkshire Botanical Garden workshop with Kimberly Geisler on Saturday, February 8, from 1 to 3 p.m., discover how common herbs and ingredients from your pantry, fridge and spice cabinet can be made into natural remedies for everyday ailments. We’ll explore kitchen-based solutions for cold and flu relief, stress, headaches, first aid, digestive upsets, and other ailments. Join us to unlock the healing potential hidden in your kitchen, and support wellness from the heart of your home.

Kimberly Geisler is a clinical and folk herbalist, medicine maker and educator at Transcending Roots Apothecary. Kimberly opened an apothecary and community space centered around herbal education in Philadelphia in October of 2019, which has since transitioned into a cooperatively owned healing center, The Sacred Path. Kimberly has now settled in the forests of the Berkshires with her husband and two magical children, building a botanical sanctuary and homestead, and further cultivating our relationship with the land and our communities.

Berkshire Botanical members $45, nonmembers $60. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/kitchen-witchn-herbal-remedies-your-kitchen

Thursday through Sunday, April 10 – 13 – Olympic Bird Fest: Registration Now Open

Olympic BirdFest, April 10 – 13, offers a major birding event in the wild and untamed Olympic Peninsula, hosted at the new facility of the Dungeness River Nature Center. The North Olympic Peninsula comprises a strip of coastlines and forests between the million-acre Olympic National Park and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The steep rise of the mountains allows birders to sample coastal, riparian, forested and montane habitats in close proximity. The Dungeness River Watershed, for example, drops from 7800 feet to the sea in only 32 miles. The central location of the Dungeness River Nature Center puts all these habitats within reach of birders.

Participants can choose to visit Neah Bay near the northwesternmost point of the continental United States in the territory of the Makah Tribe, or to walk the longest natural sand spit in the nation at Dungeness Spit, now under management by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. The Elwha River, freed in 2014 by the largest dam removal project in the United States, offers riparian birding. Other field trips will explore Sequim Bay, Port Angeles Harbor, Dungeness Bay, Ediz Hook and wooded areas and fields.

The April dates of Olympic BirdFest allow birders to catch wintering birds such as harlequin and long-tailed ducks, along with spring migrants such as the rufous hummingbirds that arrive in this area with the blooming of red-flowering currants in early April.

All proceeds from BirdFest support the Dungeness River Nature Center, helping to fund environmental education programs that connect people of all ages to the Peninsula’s ecosystems. Field trip leaders and speakers donate their time and expertise advance the River Center’s mission to inspire understanding, respect, and stewardship of the natural and cultural resources of the region.

Whether you’re a seasoned birder, a nature enthusiast, or simply curious about the diverse ecosystems of the Dungeness River Watershed, we invite you to enjoy the birds and landscapes of the North Olympic Peninsula with us! In addition to the field trips, birders may participate in presentations, workshops and a banquet (with great food, a speaker and a raffle of birding-centric items).

Sequim is the ancestral home of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe (a partner of the non-profit Dungeness River Nature Center). Their Tribal headquarters are at the head of Sequim Bay at Blyn. A tour explaining traditional Northwest Coast totemic art (totem poles, house posts, masks, and signage) at the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Center and their Seven Cedars Resort properties will also be offered. For more information about the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, see https://library.jamestowntribe.org/home where you can also find pre-recorded presentations by tribal elders and leaders on the Tribe’s culture and history.

The Olympic BirdFest is a partnership of the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society, Dungeness River Nature Center and Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. Proceeds from this festival help support the educational programs of the Dungeness River Nature Center. For more information, call 360-681-4076, or email: info@olympicbirdfest.org.

Saturday, February 1, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Holographic Chocolate: The Secrets of Structural Color

In nature, brilliant colors appear in myriad places—along the surface of a bubble, on butterfly wings, after a rainy day, or through a windowpane. Remarkably, many of these hues don’t involve any chemical dyes or paints. Instead, these colors originate from the internal material structure and their interactions with light. This Harvard Museum of Natural History workshop on February 1 from 2 – 3:30 pm will dive into the world of “structural color,” zooming in on fascinating structurally-colored materials in nature with microscopes and zooming out to applications of structural color for next-generation materials. As the finale, workshop attendees will craft holographic rainbow chocolate to take home. No prior science background is required to participate in this class. All attendees must be 18 or older. $30 Harvard Museum members, $35 nonmembers. Register at https://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/event/holographic-chocolate-secrets-structural-color

Tuesday, January 28, 7:00 pm – 8:15 pm Eastern – Impacts of Artificial Light on Insects, Online

The Massachusetts Pollinator Network hosts monthly presentations by experts in a wide range of topics related to pollinators and how to support them. These are recorded. We welcome everyone, whether you are a seasoned community organizer, a home gardener, researcher, teacher, work in the field already, or are new to pollinator protection concerns. Please join us! On January 28 at 7 pm meet Dr. Avalon Owens, who will speak on the Impacts of Artificial Light on Insects. The Zoom program link will be sent upon registration HERE

Tuesday, January 21, 5:00 am – 6:30 am (but recorded) – A History of Gardens 4 – The Rise of the Gardening Press

With improvements in literacy, and the end of taxes on newspapers, the nineteenth-century garden press emerged with a willing press corps of garden writers, many of whom were private gardeners, florists or nurserymen, who wielded immense power. From the monthly periodical, the Gardeners’ Magazine, launched by J C Loudon to weekly newspapers such as Glenny’s Gardeners’ Gazette and Lindley’s Gardeners’ Chronicle these publications significantly contributed to the professionalization of the horticultural trade. Editors of gardening newspapers needed interesting copy to entertain their readership and advertising to grow their profits. New horticultural institutions needed nationwide coverage to promote their organizational aims to recruit new members and obtain subscriptions. Dialogues of working voices (at the editor’s discretion) can be seen in the gardening newspapers and reveal what was going on in gardeners’ lives and their concerns. JC Loudon pioneered this method of correspondence and knowledge exchange between professional and amateur gardeners. We shall explore his legacy and how it improved the field of horticultural education for all, in this Gardens Trust online lecture on January 21.

After working in the design industry, Francesca Murray studied horticulture and garden design at Berkshire College of Agriculture before running her own garden design business. She has an MA in Garden History and is currently in her fourth year of a PhD at Queen Mary’s University of London, researching nineteenth-century gardeners, nurserymen, and the associations that came to their aid. She is a trustee of the Gardens Trust and a life member of Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust and London Parks and Gardens Trust as well as Archivist and guest speaker for Perennial (formerly known as the Gardeners Royal Benevolent Institution). She leads walks around London on the nineteenth-century horticultural press and is a regular speaker on garden history to horticultural societies around the country. The ticket for this individual talk costs £8. Click HERE. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 2 weeks .

Saturday, January 25, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm Eastern – Herbs for Winter Wellness, Online

Nurture a sunshiny feeling and boost your immune system with foods and herbal remedies for your daily routine to support your health throughout the winter. Recipes and demonstrations are included.

This Chicago Botanic Garden class on January 25 will be taught online via Zoom. All registrations must be submitted online two days before your class starts. Registered students will receive login instructions one day in advance. $32 for CBG members, $40 for nonmembers. Register at www.chicagobotanic.org

Dawn Petter, herbalist, Petalune Herbals is the instructor.

Monday, January 27, 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm Eastern – Houseplants 101, Online

So you think you have a black thumb? Think again! Learn the most important basics of houseplant care from lighting to watering, repotting, and fertilizing. Discover what plants might do best in your home, and how to troubleshoot pests and diseases.

This Chicago Botanic Garden class will be taught online via Zoom. All registrations must be submitted online two days before your class starts. Registered students will receive login instructions one day in advance. The class will take place Monday, January 27 from 7:30 – 9:00 Eastern. $24 for CBG members, $30 for nonmembers. Register at www.chicagobotanic.org

Julia Zoltwosky, horticulture educator is the instructor.

Saturday, February 1, 11:30 am – 2:30 pm – Composition in the Field: Photography Workshop

Thanks to whaling merchant James Arnold who left a portion of his estate to Harvard College about 150 years ago, today we have the Arnold Arboretum as one of the gems of the city’s park systems. The voluminous collection of plants, trees, gardens, flora and fauna, concepted by Frederick Law Olmsted, quickly grew to 7 miles of gardens, pathways and views, now known as part of the famous “Emerald Necklace.”

Students of the Harvard Agricultural school have the resource for valuable research, but photographers have unending photo ops in soothing water scenes, landscaping, macro photography and if willing, a view of the Boston skyline from the top of the hill of the Arboretum. Every season offers new images to add to a photo portfolio, with exercises in photo compositions of every sort, from Leading Lines of the winding lanes to Rule of Thirds layout and colorful studies to convey a cool quiet or a vibrant wake-up call.

The class will take place Saturday, February 1, from 11:30 – 2:30. 125 Arborway, Boston, MA 02130 $125. Register on Eventbrite HERE.

Due to weather or other circumstances beyond our control we will be happy to work with you to reschedule or provide a refund. However, if you should need to cancel or require a new class date, contact us. A $25 transfer fee will be imposed without a 3 day notice before the scheduled class. Call Digital Photo Academy at 1 877 372 2231 or a field agent at 917 597 7053. Lots of people seem to hang up if our welcome recording comes on instead of a live voice, but we promise to return your message within a day or two if you leave one with your name and number. It would be even better if you included your email address as well as the date and city of the class you are considering. If leaving a voice mail message is not your thing, please email us at DPAbooking@digitalphotoacademy.com and include the date and city of the class you are considering, as well as your phone number.

Wednesday, January 29, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Eastern – Mary Mitchell: The Postwar Landscape Architect of the North, Online

In January, join Friends of the Landscape Archive at Reading for the beginning of an online series of talks in partnership with the Gardens Trust, on six women – Susan Jellicoe, Sheila Haywood, Brenda Colvin, Mary Mitchell, Marjory Allen and Marian Thompson – who all contributed to the expertise, development and awareness of the landscape profession and in so many different ways. A ticket is for the series of 6 talks at £42 or you may purchase a ticket for individual talks, costing £8. (Gardens Trust and FOLAR members £6 each or all 6 for £31.50). There will be an opportunity for Q & A after each session. Please note that the 6th and final talk in this series is on 30th April. Ticket holders can join each session live and/or view a recording for up to 2 weeks afterwards. For tickets visit www.eventbriteco.uk

Join us in this online series to hear from these special speakers – Sally Ingram, Paula Laycock, Hal Moggridge, Joy Burgess, Wendy Titman and Bruce Thompson – who have each known, worked with, or researched one of these six remarkable women.

Mary Mitchell was a prolific and influential landscape architect during the post war period. Much of her early work was influenced by Lady Marjory Allen’s approach to play which could be seen across the north of England during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Mary Mitchell was Birmingham City’s first ever landscape architect, which was where she began to explore her own convictions over creative, playful and art-filled landscapes, seen most clearly in a number of housing sites that she worked on with Sheppard Fidler, the City Architect. It was also here that she made a name for herself on the international stage as a world-renowned designer before setting up her own practice which she ran successfully for more than twenty years. The full extent of Mitchell’s work and the impact it had on the north of England is yet to be fully understood. This talk will explore Mitchell’s life, some of her creative collaborations, as well as some projects which show her approach to design and what made it so unique.

Joy Burgess is a lecturer in landscape studies at the University of Liverpool where she is currently carrying out her PhD in collaboration with Historic England. Her PhD looks to tell the histories of female landscape architects in post-war Britain. Joy also works on the editorial team for the Women’s History Network Journal and has recently been a research assistant alongside Professor Luca Csepely-Knorr on the AHRC projects – IFLA 75: Uncovering hidden histories in Landscape Architecture and Women of the Welfare Landscape.

Saturdays, February 1 – February 22, 10:00 am – 11:30 am Eastern – Native Plants for Every Corner of the Garden, Online

This sequence of Berkshire Botanical Garden online classes, taught by Duncan Himmelman on Zoom, is suited to gardeners of all levels, from novice to experienced. Sign up for individual classes or the whole series which run Saturdays, February 1 to February 22, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Series topics include Native Vines, Native Groundcovers, Living Mulch, Native Bulbs, and Native Plants for Container Gardens.

Duncan Himmelman earned his doctorate at Cornell University and taught horticultural science at the college level for 24 years. He recently retired as the education manager at Mt. Cuba Center, a public garden in Delaware devoted to native plant advocacy. He continues to enjoy teaching, designing landscapes and promoting ecologically focused gardening practices. $50 for BBG members, $65 for nonmembers. Register at www.berkshirebotanical.org