Monday, February 6, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – The Global Forests of Greenhouse Earth

Earth’s climate has passed from times characterized by huge ice caps to times when there was almost no ice at all and both Greenland and Antarctica were covered by forests. Kirk Johnson, Vice President of Research & Collections and Chief Curator, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, studies fossil leaves to refine geologic time, reconstruct ancient landscapes, track climate change, and document the evolution and extinction of species and ecosystems. For 30 years he has been chasing the 50–100 million year-old-forests of the last great global greenhouse period. Join him as he takes you on a journey to an entirely different Planet Earth—an environment that may help us to better understand changes occurring in our own time. This Arnold Arboretum lecture will take place Monday, February 6, from 7 – 8:30 in the Hunnewell Building, as part of the Director’s Lecture Series. The event is free but registration is required. Call 617-384-5277, or visit www.arboretum.harvard.edu to place your name on the list.  Painting below by Peter Trusler.

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Wreath of the Day 2011 – Loading In

Sunday night before the official Wreath Week kick off is a busy time for members of The Garden Club of the Back Bay.  A small group arrives at The First Lutheran Church with cars filled with supplies.  Two or three cars have come from our storage facility with saved materials from the prior year, including tools, tables, easels and chairs.  A word about our easels – a number of years ago a member’s husband put together an easel for her to use when decorating wreaths.  Up until that time we decorated flat on tables, then hung the wreaths on hooks to check bow placement, wreath shape, and overall balance of design.  Often we had to fuss over the wreath to amend mistakes – bows placed at 11:00 rather than centered, or decorative clusters on matched pairs which simply didn’t line up.  When we saw the easel, we knew what we had to do.  Member Bev Christians offered the services of her immensely talented husband, and over one summer he hammered together fabulous folding easels large enough to hold a matched pair, with handles and hooks, yet light enough to transport easily.  We ordered more the following year, since every decorator wanted one.  Now our wreaths come out right the first time around.  Below is a matched pair on one such easel.

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Tuesday, January 10, 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm – The 18 Year Effort to Establish the American Burying Beetle to Nantucket

Nantucket probably doesn’t need any more visitors, but on Tuesday, January 10, the Cambridge Entomological Club will present Lou Perrotti, Director of Conservation Programs at the Roger Williams Park Zoo, who will present a lecture entitled The 18 Year Effort to Establish the American Burying Beetle to Nantucket Island.  CEC meetings are held the second Tuesday of the month from October through May. The evening schedule typically includes an informal dinner (6:15 to 7:15 PM) followed by our formal meeting (7:30 – 9:00 PM) in MCZ 101, 26 Oxford Street, Harvard University. The latter begins with club business and is followed by a 50 minute entomology related presentation. Membership is open to amateur and professional entomologists.  For more information, email CEC President Jessica Walden-Gray at jessisoutside@gmail.com.

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Wreath of the Day 2011 – Scheduling

There are many timing factors for The Garden Club of the Back Bay to consider while preparing for wreath week.  Perhaps the most complex is the scheduling of our delivery personnel.  We deliver over two days, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with two hour delivery windows in the morning, afternoon and evening.  We like to have two to a car, a driver (to double park) and a runner (to carry the wreath to its destination.)  Our evening slot coincides with rush hour, and so that assignment is less popular with our members than the morning or afternoon time frames.  We need cars spacious enough to accommodate our wreaths without crushing.  Our favorite destinations are buildings with doormen, who are blessedly always there to accept delivery.  Sometimes a car goes back to a home more than once if the customer isn’t there, even though we’ve confirmed time of delivery in advance.  We know, life happens, and we just don’t feel comfortable leaving our beautiful creations on a doorstep.  Our decorators don’t sign up in advance – we welcome them at any time, and there is room for all at The First Lutheran Church.  We do have to schedule our hours with the Church personnel, the wreath and poinsettia drop off with our nursery, grocery and lunch deliveries, and trash pick up.  Somehow it all gets done.  The beautiful wreath pictured below, loaded with fragile dried flowers, was carefully hand carried home by the owner, so no scheduling was required.

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Monday, January 16, 1:00 pm – Plants of Winter Interest

Winter in New England need not be a long dreary affair for gardeners. With some thoughtful planning and good plant choices your garden can take on a whole new life during the off season. Many hardy plants provide form, structure and even glorious color during the long dormant season. Join Tower Hill Botanic Garden Executive Director John Trexler for a tour of Tower Hill’s gardens for some first-hand examples of planting for year-round interest. The walk begins at 1:00 pm, and is free with admission. For more information and directions, visit www.towerhillbg.org.

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Wreath of the Day 2011 – Paperwork

Once orders are logged in to our data base, a flurry of paperwork begins.  Confirmatory postcards are mailed to customers reminding them of their order details, in case they need to be amended, and informing them of the day and time of delivery.  In instances where wreaths are to be picked up, we let our buyers know when the wreaths will be ready.  Assignment books, to be used on site during wreath week to keep track of orders, are prepared.  Tags to be attached to each wreath are prepared and alphabetized.  The delivery chairs prepare the duplicate paperwork needed to keep track of each order.  Lists of decorators who have clients who specially request their work are typed.  We hate to admit this, but we use a lot of paper – we do, however, use recycled paper!  The tag for the wreath pictured below indicated the client wanted a red bow with silver accents.  Since many of our red bows have a bit of gold edging, we found this particular ribbon worked well with silver.

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Saturdays, January 14 – February 11, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Nature Arts for Families

Explore the creative pleasures of artistic self expression together! These sessions with art instructor and educator Nan Rumpf are designed for parents and children in grade 5 and up. This Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture class will experiment with drawing, nature printing, watercolor painting, scratchboard work, and collage. Sessions at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden will encourage experimentation and exploration. No previous experience is necessary. All materials will be provided. Fee for the five session series (Saturdays, January 14 – February 11 from 1 – 3) is $150 for WCFH members, $185 for non-members. Fee covers registration for one child and one adult partner. Additional family members may attend for $70 per person. To register, visit www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.  Painting below by Nan Rumpf.

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Wreath of the Day 2011 – Special Orders

Each holiday wreath order received by The Garden Club of the Back Bay is a special order, but some are more specific than others.  For instance, a customer may request a fully decorated indoor wreath with designer’s choice bow and accents.  This leaves the design decisions to the decorator, which of course we love.  Another customer may ask for a fully decorated indoor wreath with a deep garnet bow (not burgundy, but not red) and light gold accents with lotus pods and no grasses.  Or, we may be asked to design a fully decorated outdoor wreath with a gold bow and gold accents for a windy location on a black door.    The client for the wreath pictured below, one of a matched pair, asked for a Della Robbia inspired wreath with a burgundy and gold bow.  This is one of a few examples of our use of lots of artificial materials, which was necessary in order to pull off the “look.”  The wreaths are hung high on outdoor pillars, so, from a distance, the wreaths should look quite natural.

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Monday, January 9 – Tuesday, January 10 – Christmas Tree Pickup Schedule for Back Bay

The City of Boston composts Christmas trees.  Pick up in the Back Bay is the week of January 9, 2012.  Please remove all decorations and plastic bags and place out for collection on your recycling day, which is Monday for Arlington Street to Massachusetts Avenue, and Tuesday for Massachusetts Avenue to Charlesgate.

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Wreath of the Day 2011 – What We Store

Some materials used by The Garden Club of the Back Bay are stored in our rented storage locker from year to year, if they are in good shape and not likely to crumble to dust.  We’ve found, to our dismay, that fruit doesn’t keep well (who would have thought bugs could find there way into a baggie?) and dried herbs become too fragile after a further year of drying out.  Pine cones, however, wear like iron, and we made good use of last season’s white pine cones in the wreath pictured below.  The bright, orange-red bow was a perfect match for the holly berries, as well.

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