Boston Flora

Saturday, October 26, 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm – The Garnet Cabinet

The Millers River Natural History Museum and Laboratory presents its inaugural show, The Garnet Cabinet, on October 26 in a new gallery at 100 Main Street in Athol, Massachusetts. The three-dimensional â€œcabinetâ€ made by Royalston artist Donald Shambroom uses paintings, sculpture, and rhombic dodecahedrons constructed of cardboard by local crafters, to evoke the space under the earthâ€™s crust where crystals formed more than 360 million years ago.Â For more information visit www.atholbirdclub.org. Below is Mr. Shambroom’s “Geranium.”

Saturday, October 26, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm – All Eyes on Invasive Insects

Do invasive insects threaten the Arnold Arboretum’s valuable tree species? Join Rachel Brinkman, Horticultural Apprentice, at the Arborway Gate of the Arnold Arboretum on Saturday, October 26 at 11:30 am on a tour to learn more about the Asian Long Horn Beetle (ALB), Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), Hemlock Wooly Adelgid (below), and other pests. Learn about susceptible tree species and how to identify these insects before they infest trees. Neither EAB nor ALB have been found in the Arboretum, but close monitoring is critical. Bring binoculars if you have them; a limited number will be available to borrow.Â In case of inclement weather, contact 617.384.5209. This activity is free, but you may register at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu.

Saturday, October 26, 11:00 am – 8:00 pm – Alfred Russel Wallace Day

Although Alfred Russel Wallace co-discovered the theory of evolution by natural selection with Charles Darwin, he has held a relatively obscure place in the history of science. This year marks the centenary of his death and the Harvard Museum of Natural History, in conjunction with the Cambridge Science Festival, is celebrating Wallace’s rich legacy with “Wallace Dayâ€ on Saturday, October 26.Â Learn more about a brilliant scientist, a heroic naturalist, and a passionate social reformer.

Event Schedule
11:00 am â€“ 4:00 pm (In the galleries, free with museum admission)
Explore the HMNH galleries and see a one-day-only display of Wallace-related specimens and objects from the Museumâ€™s zoological collections. Come see Wallace’s spectacular birds of paradise and birdwing butterflies. At 2:00 pmâ€¨, join Alfred Russel Wallace himself (impersonated by Wallace historian and evolutionary biologist Andrew Berry) for a live presentation about his remarkable life as scientist, author, and social activist.

Evening program (below): Admission is free, but tickets are required. Tickets are available by online registration only.Â Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free event parking is available after 3:00 pm in the 52 Oxford Street Garage.

4:00 pm
Who was Alfred Russel Wallace?
A panel discussion with: James T. Costa, Professor of Biology at Western Carolina University; John Durant, Director of the MIT Museum; James Wood, Professor of Literary Criticism at Harvard University and staff writer for The New Yorker. Moderated by Janet Browne, Aramont Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University, and acclaimed biographer of Charles Darwin.

Parallel Lives: Edward O. Wilson & Alfred Russel Wallace
A conversation with Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino University Professor Emeritus, Harvard University, and Andrew Berry, Wallace historian and Lecturer on Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University.

The evening program will conclude with a reception in the HMNH galleries for all ticket holders.

Saturday, October 26, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Opening Reception for Dispersal: Photographs by Anna Laurent

Seed pods are incredible vessels, protecting seeds as they develop and assisting with their dispersal. Photographer Anna Laurent explores the evolution of different forms to fulfill these common functions. Individually, each photograph is a fine art portrait of a unique botanic specimen; as a series, the collection becomes a visual and scientific inquiry into the remarkable diversity of botanic design. The project began in urban Southern California and has extended to the rain forests of Hawaii, the deserts of northern Iraq, and public gardens throughout the United States, including the Arnold Arboretum. This Arnold Arboretum exhibit runs through January 26, 2014, but the artist will speak of her work at the opening reception on Saturday, October 26, from 1 – 3 at the Hunnewell Building lecture hall at 125 Arborway. For show hours visit www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

Thursday, October 24, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Walid Raad and Theaster Gates: On Art in Cities

Theaster Gates, an artist trained as an urban planner and sculptor (pictured below courtesy of www.chicagomag.com,) has developed a practice that includes space development, object making, performance, and critical engagement with many publics. Among recent projects, he was a participating artist in Documenta 13 in Kassel, Germany, for “12 Ballads for Huguenot House.” Gates, a 2011 Loeb Fellow, is a Creative Time Global Resident for 2012â€“13 and was honored by the Wall Street Journal as an Arts Innovator of the Year in 2012. Walid Raad is a New York-based artist and associate professor of art at The Cooper Union. His works include The Atlas Group, a fifteen-year project about the history of Lebanon between 1989 and 2004; the ongoing projects Scratching on Things I Could Disavow and Sweet Talk: Commissions (Beirut); and several books.Â They will be in conversation on Thursday, October 24, from 6:30 – 8 in the Piper Auditorium of Gund Hall, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, in a free program sponsored by the Harvard Graduate School of Design.Â For more information email events@gsd.harvard.edu.

Thursday, October 24, 6:00 pm – Time Reckonings

The Harvard Museum of Natural History will present a lecture and reception with Daniel Lord Smail on Thursday, October 24, beginning at 6 pm in Haller Hall, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, entitled Time Reckonings. It is hard to imagine life functioning without a universal, scientific, and technologically-driven system of time-keeping and measurement, yet it once did. One of the great transformations in European history was the shift from relative time to absolute time. With this shift, the modern discipline of history became subject to chronological reckonings and concordances. Daniel Lord Smail will explore these ways of interpreting time. This event is in conjunction with the current Harvard Museums of Science and Culture exhibition Time and Time Again at the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments. Lecture followed by reception in the HMNH galleries.Â Free and open to the public.Â Free event parking is available at the 52 Oxford Street Garage after 5 pm.

Fridays, October 25 – November 22, 12:15 pm – 2:00 pm – Plant Stories and Poetry Reading Group

Bring your lunch and join the Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens for a weekly discussion with experienced group leader Joan Parrish of short stories and poetry featuring plants.Â Joan is a WCBG docent with a master’s degree in adult education from Boston University and teacher of short story courses for Life Long Learning at Regis College.Â Each week (Fridays, October 25 – November 22, from 12:15 – 2) read one assigned short story and one poem for discussion.Â Peas, mango blooms, sawlogs, and blue flowers are some of the plants that inspire and contribute meaning to works by authors including Andrea Barrett, Rick Bass, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas.Â The story for the first session, “Flowers” by Alice Walker, and the poem “Peonies” by Jane Kenyon can be read online or picked up the the Friends’ office.Â WCBG free, nonmembers $25 for the series.Â Contact www.wellesley.edu/wcbgfriends, or call 781-283-3094.

Sunday, October 20, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Bonsai Matching

The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University presents Bonsai Matching with Arboretum Docent Robbie Apfel on Sunday, October 20 from 2 – 3:30 pm at the Hunnewell Building of the Arboretum. Most of the species seen as bonsai in the Arboretum’s Larz Anderson Bonsai Collection can also be found in the landscape. Explore the history and culture of bonsai and the Arboretum’s relationship with these plants, and compare bonsai with their “unrestricted” counterparts in the landscape.Â This activity is free. In case of inclement weather, contact 617.384.5209. For directions visit www.arboretum.harvard.edu.Â Image from www.arborday.org.

Thursday, October 17, 7:00 pm – 114th Honorary Medals Dinner

Please join The Massachusetts Horticultural Society for an evening of cocktails and dinner and welcomeÂ keynote speaker William Cullina, Executive Director of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens,Â the 2013 George Robert White Medal of Honor Awardee.

The 114th Honorary Medals Dinner will take place Thursday, October 17, 2013 beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Hunnewell Building Carriage House,Â 900 Washington Street, Wellesley, Massachusetts. The keynote address is Gardening On the Edge of the Continent.Â Gardening in Coastal Maine has more than its share of challenges and opportunities. Close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean buffers the coast from the worst of winter cold and as importantly, summer’s heat. Still, winter is long and snow-cover unreliable. Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is trying out many, many perennial species and cultivars for suitability and adaptability. In this talk, William Cullina will detail some of the Gardens’ triumphs, failures, and “too soon to tells” in an informative, humorous, and visually rich presentation about gardening on the edge of the Continent.

Other award winners include Mary Ann Streeter, Allandale Farm, Art Scarpa, the Garden Club of America, the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, Katherine Tracey of Avant Gardens, and meteorologist David Epstein.Â Tickets are $125, and may be ordered online at www.masshort.org.

Mondays, October 21 – December 9, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – The Winter Garden Plants

Gardeners who strive for year-round interest do not ignore the months of dormancy, instead choosing plantings to seamlessly link the four landscape seasons. Discussions and projects in this Boston Architectural College course will heighten students’ awareness of the quiet beauty of the winter landscape. We will explore plants for the winter garden in depth, discussing evergreen and persistent foliage, winter buds, colorful winter twigs and bark, winter-flowering plants, grasses, and bamboo, as well as the use of weeping and contorted plants as sculptural elements and columnar plants as spatial accents. In addition, each class will explore architectural elements such as walls, fences, hedges, topiary, sculpture, and rocks, all of which enrich the experience of the winter garden. This course will meet Mondays, October 21 through December 9, from 6 – 8 at 100 Massachusetts Avenue, Room M512, and includes 4 Field Trips.Â The instructor is Gary L. Koller, and the fee is $920.Â Register on line at www.the-bac.edu.

Gary Koller is president of Koller and Associates, specializing in residential garden design. His award-winning gardens have been featured on tours conducted by the Perennial Plant Association, the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Garden Conservancy. Gary served for 22 years as Director of Horticulture for the Arnold Arboretum and is currently an instructor for the Landscape Institute of the Arnold Arboretum. He is an international lecturer and has published numerous articles. Gary has received many awards and medals for his skills in communicating about environmental horticulture. He serves on the Medals Committee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the awards committee of the New England Wild Flower Society and the Buildings and Grounds Committee of Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum.Â Photo from www.valbourne.co.uk.