UMass Green Directory

The UMass Extension 2014 Green Directory is available for download at http://ag.umass.edu/agriculture-resources/green-directory. The 42-page guide offers names and contact information for staff with expertise in particular areas, information about extension newsletters, conferences, and workshops, information about testing services provided by the extension, and other useful information. A good document to keep at hand.

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Wednesday, February 12, 7:00 pm – Through the Year in the Natural World of Central Massachusetts

Join The Athol Bird & Nature Club as it welcomes back one of Massachusetts premier naturalist/educators Mark Lynch. He takes us on a journey through the natural world of Central Massachusetts on Wednesday, February 12. Mark’s deep knowledge of the natural world, great photos and good humor will make for a fun and interesting evening. Free and open to all beginning at 7:00 PM at the Millers River Environmental Center, 100 Main Street, Athol.

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Monday, February 17, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Spice Plants

Drop in to the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens anytime between 1 – 4 on Monday, February 17 for a free exploration of Spice Plants.  Meet some plants whose spices inspired long trading voyages, sold for incredible prices, and transformed cooking.  Learn what spice combinations characterize some of the world’s cuisines.  Take a spice taste test and see if you can identify these popular flavors.

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Sunday, February 16, 3:00 pm – William Morris’ Red House

The Victorian Society of America, London and Newport Summer Schools Promotional Program at Gibson House Museum (Funded by the VSA/Summer Schools) will take place Sunday, February 16, beginning with a reception at 3:00 p.m.,followed by a lecture by Elizabeth Holbrook on William Morris’ Red House.

R.s.v.p. required, please call 617-267-6338 to reserve. Free admission with R.s.v.p. Seating is limited Gibson House Museum is located at 137 Beacon Street, Boston, in Back Bay.

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Sunday, February 2, 1:00 pm – Mary Kocol Garden Photography Gallery Talk and Artist Reception

Mary Kocol is a fine art and editorial photographer based in Boston. She’s a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and several Massachusetts Local Cultural Council grants. Editorial clients include The New York Times Magazine, Boston Magazine, and Doubleday. Kocol is represented by Gallery NAGA on Newbury Street in Boston.

Mary Kocol’s photography has received acclaim for its transformation of ordinary domestic and street scenes, located often in her residence in Somerville, Massachusetts, into dramatic, richly colored compositions that convey an uncanny sense of both day and night. By photographing at dusk, with prolonged exposures, Kocol creates a melding of daytime and evening that transforms the mundane into the fantastic.

In addition to her medium format (6×9) work, Kocol shoots with a plastic lens toy camera, producing images in which she uses the camera’s imperfections and its vagaries of focus. Examples of her photography are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Meet Mary on Sunday, February 2 at 1 pm at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, for a gallery talk and reception, or visit Tower Hill through February 23 to see the exhibit. Free with admission to the garden.

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Saturday, February 8, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Freedom and Responsibility in My Approach to Garden Design

The Berkshire Botanical Garden is honored to welcome guest lecturer Louis Benech for its 2014 Winter Lecture taking place on February 8th, 2014 titled Freedom And Responsibility In My Approach To Garden Design. The event will begin at 2 pm at Monument Mountain High School, 600 Stockbridge Road, Great Barrington.

In “Freedom and Responsibility,” Mr. Benech will will share his methods and attitudes when approaching gardens for restoration and new creation. Benech will also present his current work, a contemporary reinterpretation of a garden from one of France’s greatest periods of history: the Bosquet du Theâtre d’Eau, one-and-a-half hectares at the foot of the Chateau of Versailles, originally designed by Andre Le Notre for Louis the XIVth and since ruined. This is a rare glimpse into the creative process of one of the world’s master designers that you won’t want to miss!

Louis Benech came to gardening through his love of plants. After studying law, he went to work at the famous Hillier Nurseries in England. Captivated by what he learned there, he returned to France to work as a gardener in a private garden in Normandy. In 1985, he began his career as a garden designer and landscape architect. Five years later he was commissioned, with Pascal Cribier and François Roubaud, to redesign the historic part of the Tuileries gardens.

Since then, he has designed and carried out some 300 projects, from Korea to Panama, from New Zealand to the United States. While most of his work has been for private individuals, he has also received commissions from large multinational companies such as Hermès, Axa and Novartis. But he has also worked on many established historic gardens, such as those at the Elysée Palace, the Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire, the gardens of the Archives Nationales in Paris, and the Achilleion in Corfu. He is currently working on the creation of a new garden in the Water Theatre Grove of the Palace of Versailles.

In each of his projects, Louis Benech strives to create a genuine harmony between the landscaping design and the architectural or natural environment of the site. Ideally, he would like his work to pass undetected… He pays special attention to finding the most economical way to ensure that his gardens will endure, and their upkeep is one of his key concerns.

BBG member price $35, nonmember $45. Register at www.berkshirebotanical.org.

 

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Tuesday, February 11, 7:30 pm – Phyto-Predation and Phylogeny of Lepidochrysops Butterflies and Relatives

Yes, you read that right. February’s Cambridge Entomological Club meeting will be held on Tuesday the 11th at 07:30 PM in in room 101 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Dr Marianne Espeland will present a talk entitled From host plants to host ants: phyto-predation and phylogeny of Lepidochrysops butterflies and relatives.

More than 99.99% of the approximately 200,000 described Lepidoptera species are phytophagous. Only around 500 species are aphytophagous and feed mainly on other insects or their secretions. Aphytophagy is most common in the butterfly family Lycaenidae where it has evolved independently several times, but mostly as single species in otherwise phytophagous clades. One exception is the Afrotropical genus Lepidochrysops, with 137 described species, all assumed to be predaceous on ant brood or fed by trophallaxis from the third instar until pupation. Little is known about their life history, the relationships among the five genera in the Euchrysops section, and even less about the relationships among species within Lepidochrysops. Dr Espeland’s aim is to infer a phylogeny of the Euchrysops section and answer questions about the evolution of predation and diversification of the group.

If you can make head or tail of that description, the meeting is free and open to the public. Snacks will be provided and you are also welcome to join us at 6:00 PM for an informal pre-meeting dinner at the Cambridge Common.

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Saturday, February 8, 12:30 pm – 4:00 pm – Tracking Winter Wildlife

The Hubbardston Nature Club will hold a field trip on Saturday, February 8, from 12:30 – 4. Meet at Hubbardston Town Offices parking lot on Route 68 to carpool.

Over 30 species of winter active mammals and birds leave telltale tracks in the snow, such as the many members of the weasel family-fisher, mink, weasels; far-ranging predators including bobcat; forest giants like moose; and an array of little ones from shrew to mouse. Tracking can establish which species are using conservation land for habitat, how and what winter active animals feed on, and which parts of protected lands are essential for wildlife survival. Tracking is adventure, nature study, mystery, and art all rolled into one. Join Tracker/Naturalist David Brown, Author of Trackards for North American Mammals; and Naturalist/Tracker Joe Choiniere as these two colleagues take a closer look at parts of Hubbardston State Forest and other conservation properties. Snowshoes helpful if snow is deep, but not necessary (call Joe at 508-633-5695 by February 5 to ask about borrowing a pair). Dress warmly in loose layers. Tracking involves both aerobic hiking and stopping for long periods of time to study wildlife sign. Contact the Club at hubbardstonnatureclub@yahoo.com for more information.

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Saturday, February 15, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Peters Hill 360: Photographs by Meri Bond

The images in Peters Hill 360 reveal Meri Bond’s deep relationship to the Peters Hill landscape at the Arnold Arboretum. Drawn to art after a career in business, Bond has devoted countless hours to photographing the Arboretum. In this show, containing personal favorites selected from thousands of images, individual trees become time travelers and views take on new dimensions with the passage of time. Revisiting the same trees again and again, Bond explores a fascination with light and shadow through the full circle of seasons. The Arnold Arboretum exhibit will run from February 8 – May 24, and the opening reception will be held in the Hunnewell Building on Saturday, February 15, from 1 – 3.

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