Boston Flora

Tag: Arnold Arboretum

  • Thursday, April 14, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Garden Plants Great and Small

    Jen Kettell, Horticultural Technologist at the Arnold Arboretum, will present a lecture Thursday, April 14, from 6:30 – 8:30 in the Hunnewell Building, entitled Garden Plants Great and Small.  Low-growing and ground-covering woody plants can add texture, unity, and dimension to even the smallest of gardens.  In fact, these can be the perfect solution for the city gardener – small, low-maintenance plants that help to shade out weeds while adding interest.  Jen will share some of her favorites appropriate for a vaariety of conditions and uses.  Fee: $20 for Arboretum members, $25 for non-members.  To register online, log on to www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu, or call 617-384-5277.

  • Wednesdays, April 6 and 13, 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm, and Wednesday, April 27, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm – Introduction to Landscape Lighting

    Learn about illuminating the landscape from professional lighting designer Nancy Goldstein, in a three session class at the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum April 6, 13 and 27.  The first two sessions, from 2:30 – 4:30, will give an overview of the subject.  Nancy will discuss the creative use of light, as well as the necessary fixtures, accessories and controls.  In the third session, from 6:30 – 9, participants will work with Nancy and Wade Geller, principal of Brilliant Lighting, in the landscape to practice certain effects and become familiar with a variety of lighting options.  This class is geared for landscape professionals, although all are welcome.  Offered with the Landscape Institute of the Boston Architectural College, the fee is $85, and you may register on line at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu, or by calling 617-384-5277.

  • Sunday, April 3, 12:30 pm – 3:30 pm – More Fruit Please! Expanding Your Home Harvest

    With proper planning and plant selection, fruiting trees and shrubs can be an attractive and low-maintenance option for growing food in the home landscape.  Former City Fruit program director for Earthworks Ben Crouch will provide basic tips and outline resources for planning, planting, tending and harvesting a home orchard at this Sunday, April 3 workshop at the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum. Learn the particulars of growing blueberries, apples, pears, plums and other less common fruit. There’s nothing fresher than home grown.$30 for Arboretum members, $35 for nonmembers.  Register at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?EventID=1#April.  Photo of plum tree by Joshua James Evans.

  • Saturday, April 16, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm – Growing Plants from Seeds

    There’s nothing more satisfying to a gardener than growing plants from seeds. From annuals and perennials to trees and shrubs, success can be achieved if you understand what triggers germination. Expert propagator Jack Alexander will share techniques for starting various types of plants from seeds in this Saturday, April 16 class at the Dana Greenhouse Classroom at the Arnold Arboretum. Students will leave class with a selection of seeds raring to grow. Aftercare will be necessary. Level: Beginner. Fee: $55 nonmember. To register, contact Marc Devokaitis at 617-384-5209, or log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

  • Saturday, April 2, 9:00 am – 11:00 am – High Density Fruit Orchard Workshop

    The Wakefield Charitable Trust and the Arnold Arboretum will hold a High Density Fruit Orchard Workshop at the Wakefield Estate, 1493 Brush Hill Road in Milton, Massachusetts on Saturday, April 2, from 9 – 11 in the morning. Learn how to install a high density orchard for years of backyard fruit production. This method uses little space yet produces high yields of fruit with little effort. In last year’s session at the Wakefield Estate in Milton, students created a high-density orchard of 40 apple trees in a 25 x 30 ft. area. This year’s session will cover the basic planning and set up requirements for creating a low cost compact orchard for your own backyard. Those interested in planting trees this season should plan to order trees during the winter or early spring. Suggested supplier: Adams County Nursery. Fee is $15, and to register, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu, or call 617-384-5277.

  • Tuesday, July 12, 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm – New England Trees in Decline: The Science Behind the Story

    David Orwig, Forest Ecologist at Harvard Forest, will speak in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum on Tuesday, July 12, from 1:30 – 4 pm, on the topic of New England Trees in Decline: The Science Behind the Story. Since 1907, research has been underway at the 3,000-acre property of Harvard Forest, one of the oldest and most intensively studied forests in North America. Scientists, students, and collaborators at the Forest explore topics ranging from conservation and environmental change to land-use history and the ways in which physical, biological, and human systems interact to change our earth. Join Dr. Orwig for this special opportunity to learn about tree decline in New England and to explore ways to reduce and avoid further problems. Dr. Orwig will present information that details ongoing tree decline resulting from a variety of stressors including native and exotic pests and pathogens. Conifer species will be highlighted, but ongoing hardwood tree problems will be included as well. An emphasis will be given to identification of the problem, the mode of tree decline, and appropriate treatment options when applicable. Discussion will include pests such as hemlock woolly adelgid, elongate hemlock scale, red pine scale, Sirex wood wasp, spruce diseases, emerald ash borer, Asian long-horned beetle, and oak decline on Martha’s Vineyard.  Note New Date: Postponed from April 5.
    Fee $20 Ecological Landscape Association and Arnold Arboretum members, $25 nonmember.  Co-sponsored by the Ecological Landscape Association and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.  Register online at https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or by phone at 617-384-5277.

  • Tuesday, March 29, 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm – Vernal Pools: Ecology and Design Considerations

    Elizabeth Colburn, Ph.D., Aquatic Ecologist with the Harvard Forest, Harvard University, will give an illustrated presentation at the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum on Tuesday, March 29, from 1:30 – 3:30. Betsy will speak about the natural history and ecology of New England vernal pools in the context of ecological landscaping. Topics will include the origins and annual cycles of vernal pools; life histories of common pool animals; year-round habitat needs of pool inhabitants; linkages among vernal pools, adjacent uplands, and other water bodies; factors affecting water quality and hydrology; plants associated with vernal pools; and strategies for avoiding damage to vernal pool ecosystems within managed landscapes.  Fee $20 Ecological Landscaping Association and Arnold Arboretum members, $25 nonmember.

    Co-sponsored by the Ecological Landscaping Association and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.  Register online at https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or by phone at 617-384-5277.

  • Thursday, April 7, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – The Earth is Our Garden: Are We Doing Our Best?

    Bill McKibben is perhaps one the most recognized defenders of our planet and chronicler of how we could better inhabit it. Twenty years ago, with his book, The End of Nature, Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about global warming. Those warnings went mostly unheeded. His latest book, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet, is his latest plea for each of us to consider deeply how we tread upon this earth. Whether you are a person of faith, a gardener, or both, you’ll find a clear message of action, hope, and urgency in this Arnold Arboretum presentation on Thursday, April 7, beginning at 7 pm at Trinity Church, Copley Square, 206 Clarendon Street, offered with Trinity Church as part of Trinity’s Gardens and Spirit Lecture Series. Fee: $25 nonmember.  To register, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu, or you may purchase tickets at the Trinity Bookstore.

  • Monday, March 21, 10:30 am – 12:00 noon – Water: When is Enough Not Enough?

    Massachusetts is blessed with relatively abundant precipitation (an average of 45 inches each year) leading many residents to the erroneous belief that there’s plenty of “surplus” water available for human consumption at any time and for any purpose. Russ Cohen of the Mass. Department of Ecological Restoration clues us in to why our water resources can at times be insufficient to support our aquatic ecosystem, how human activities – both historically and today – adversely affected our river and stream systems, and what potential solutions are available to mitigate these impacts.  This event on Monday, March 21, the March meeting of The Garden Club of the Back Bay, is co-sponsored by the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, the Boston Junior League Garden Club, the New England Wild Flower Society, and the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture.  Garden Club members will receive a written notice of this meeting, along with car pool information to the Wellesley College Botanic Garden, where the event will take place.  The meeting, however, is also open to the public for a small fee ($10 if a member of the Arnold Arboretum, NEWFS or WCFH, $15 if a non-member). Registration may be accomplished at http://www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

  • Wednesday, March 23, 6:00 pm – The Brave New World of Manufactured Soils

    Manufactured soils—formulated to provide highly predictable and consistent performance—are a means to stretch topsoil resources while also improving the horticultural performance and sustainability of soil environments. Today, many landscape architectural designs must use manufactured soils to meet sustainability and high performance project requirements. Bob Pine and John Swallow have designed manufactured soils for projects throughout the United States and worldwide. They will describe the opportunities and challenges of modern soil design with the objective of helping landscape professionals better understand their options and the process of specifying and using these soils, on Wednesday, March 23, beginning at 6 pm in the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, Boston. Offered with the Boston Society of Landscape Architects. Fee: $25; Free to BLSA and Arnold Arboretum members. To register, call Marc Devokaitis at 617-384-5209, or email marc_devokaitis@harvard.edu.