Boston Flora

  • Saturday, March 16, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon and 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm – Gardening is for the Birds, and Ethnobotany

    This Berkshire Botanical Garden morning class on Saturday, March 16 from 10 – 12 is for the gardener/naturalist and bird lover. Understand the unique relationship of our avian friends with plants, and how to provide birds with all they need to make the garden a welcoming home. Learn about the variety of song birds, their requirements for survival and the plants that attract them to the landscape, as well as the importance of structural elements in the garden to attract these welcomed guests. The ecological perspective in this lecture will help gardeners better understand essential plant/animal relationships. In the afternoon, from 12:30 – 2:30, learn about the many uses of plants growing in the fields and forests of New England. This lecture will look at the fascinating history of plants in North America from a human perspective and explore their role in the survival and development of society, as well as their importance today. The instructor will discuss some of the major figures in plant discovery and how plants were used for food, shelter, medicine, clothing, hunting and religious ceremonies.

    Drew Monthie is a horticulturalist, garden designer and ecologist working in upstate New York. He is committed to teaching about the importance of using native plants to provide beauty and preserve biodiversity in yards and gardens. The morning class costs $25 for BBG members, $30 for nonmembers, and the afternoon session is separately priced at $25/$30. However, if you enroll for both, you will receive a 20% discount. Visit www.berkshirebotanical.org for details.

  • Monday, March 11, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Plastic: A Toxic Love Story

    The next Director’s Lecture Series event at the Arnold Arboretum will take place Monday, March 11, from 7 – 8:30 in the Hunnewell Building.  As coal fueled the industrial revolution, one could say that plastic built the modern world. But a century into our love affair with plastic, we’re starting to realize it’s not such a healthy one. Plastics draw on dwindling fossil fuels, leach harmful chemicals, litter landscapes, and destroy marine life. And yet each year we use and consume more; we’ve produced as much plastic in the past decade as we did in the entire twentieth century. Journalist Susan Freinkel will speak about our dependence on this material, guiding us through history, science and the global economy to assess the real impact of plastic in our lives. She’ll present a new way of thinking about a substance that has become the defining medium—and metaphor—of our age. Her book, Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, will be available for purchase and signing.  Free, but registration requested at www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

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  • Fridays, March 22 – April 26, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – Jill Pottle: Painting Materials and Methods with Oils and Acrylics

    Jill Pottle will present a six week course at Fruitlands Museum, 102 Prospect Hill Road in Harvard, Massachusetts, intended for beginnings and returning painters/artists who want to acquire fundamental painting skills and conceptual understanding of contemporary approaches to painting in oils and acrylics.  The course will repeat in May, September, and November, with complete dates and times found on the web site, www.fruitlands.org.  Fruitlands members $180, nonmembers $210.  Registration is required by emailing education@fruitlands.org or by calling 978-456-3924, x. 239.

  • Sunday, March 17, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – The First Perky Plants of Spring

    Once a month, the Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens host a free program for families to discover, through art, culture and science, just how fantastic plants can be. Drop in any time between 1 – 4.  Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a look at the green starting to appear outside.  Do you know any plants that can actually melt their way through snow?  Come on a “signs of spring” scavenger hunt, and search the greenhouses for relatives of the shamrock.  For more information call 781-283-3094.

  • Monday, March 18, 1:30 pm – Garden as Community

    Looking for a way to get a bigger bang from your garden, be it a small or large space?  Struggle no more.  Follow nature’s lead by combining plants into guilds – diverse assemblages of plants growing in healthy, self-sufficient communities in nature.  Wellesley College Botanic Gardens Director Kristina Jones will explore the functions and interrelationships of organisms in natural plant communities, and how they can be applied to our gardens.  A primary example will be the Edible Ecosystem Teaching Garden at Wellesley College, where the understory communities are designed to support the needs of focal fruit and nut trees.  Following the lecture, if the weather cooperates, join us for a late winter tour of the Edible Ecosystem Teaching Garden and a spot of tea.  Offered in collaboration with Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, Boston Junior League Garden Club, New England Wild Flower Society, and Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens.  Members $10, non-members $15.

  • Monday, March 18, 6:30 pm – An Illuminating Look at Tiffany Lamps

    The 2013 Jonathan L. Fairbanks Lecture Series at The Ayer Mansion, 395 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston will continue Monday, March 18 with a lecture by Lindsy Parrott, Director and Curator of The Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass in New York City, who will speak on An Illuminating Look at Tiffany Lamps.  Wine and cheese will be served beginning at 6:30 and the lecture begins at 7.  Tickets ($25, $5 students) may be purchased on line at www.AyerMansion.org.

  • Saturday, March 9, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Seed Starting Workshop

    This Massachusetts Horticultural Society workshop on Saturday, March 9 from 10 – noon will give you hands-on experience in starting your own seedlings. Each participant will take home a flat of planted seeds—flowers, vegetables, herbs, or a combination. Instructors David Fiske and Gretel Anspach will also cover the next step in the process, which is “potting seedlings on”, so some seedlings will be available to take home too. All materials will be provided. $25 for Mass Hort members, $30 for non members. Register on line at www.masshort.org.

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  • Saturday, April 27 – Monday, April 29 – Art In Bloom

    Once again, garden clubs (including The Garden Club of the Back Bay) and professional designers from around New England will create floral arrangements inspired by works of art.  Art in Bloom 2013 includes the transformed William I. Koch Gallery with its collection of 16th and 17th century European paintings and Hanoverian silver as well as a spectacular new display of the Museum’s prized Korean collection.  Special events include an illustrated lecture and floral demonstration as well as flower arranging master classes presented by Shane Connolly, the heralded British floral designer and author.  Space is limited.

    The Shane Connolly Master Classes will take place Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28, from 10:30 – 12:30.  These are hands-on workshops, and are priced at $200 each.  Mr. Connolly will also present, on Monday, April 29 at 10:30 am, the lecture and demonstration entitled A Year in Flowers: Inspiration for Everyday Living, followed by a book signing ($55.)

    For those who missed her at our Club’s March meeting, Maureen Bovet will present The Gardens of New York on Sunday, April 28 from 3 – 4, and past GCBB lecturer Suzanne Mahler will present Designing a Garden for All Seasons on Monday, April 29, also from 3 – 4.

    Ikebana International Boston Chapter #17 will demonstrate floral creations from three Ikebana schools on Saturday, April 27, from 3 – 4.  For complete information and ticketing, visit www.mfa.org/artinbloom, or call 1-800-440-6975.

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  • Sunday, March 10, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm – Celebrating 550 Years of Ikenobo Ikebana

    The Japan Society of Boston and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston present The 2013 Rad Smith Program in Art: Celebrating 550 Years of Ikenobo Ikebana, featuring 45th Generation Headmaster Sen’ei Ikenobo and 46th Generation Headmaster Designate Yuki Ikenobo, on Sunday, March 10, from 3 – 4:30 at the Remis Auditorium of the Museum of Fine Arts. Commemorate the auspicious occasion of the 550th year since Ikenobo, a highlight of Japanese aesthetics, first appeared in public records. Ikenobo is the original school fo Ikebana, Japanese traditional flower arranging. The 45th Generation Headmaster, Sen’ei Ikenobo, talks briefly about Ikebana and Japanese traditional culture, and 46th Generation Headmaster Designate, Yuki Ikenobo, presents an Ikebana demonstration. Followed by a Mawari-ike ceremony, a traditional Ikebana-judged competition.  Tickets ($15 MFA members, seniors and students, $18 non members)  are available on line at www.mfa.org.

  • Tuesday, March 12, 6:00 pm – From the Big Bang to Broadway: How Things Evolve

    Robert Hazen, Research Scientist, Carnegie Geophysical Laboratory and Professor of Earth Sciences at George Mason University, will speak at the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street in Cambridge on Tuesday, March 12, beginning at 6 pm. The concept of evolution by natural selection has long been a lightning rod for anti-science rhetoric. Such attacks are usually aimed at the biological realm, but Darwin’s opponents must now face evidence that complex evolving systems also drive phenomena beyond life science, such as the diversification of minerals on earth. Part of the Evolution Matters Lecture Series, supported by a generous gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit. Free and open to the public. Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free event parking for evening lectures in the 52 Oxford Street garage.