Boston Flora

Tag: Arnold Arboretum

  • Ned Friedman Appointed Director of Arnold Arboretum

    The Arnold Arboretum is pleased to announce that Dr. William (“Ned”) Friedman has been named as its next director. Ned’s appointment at the Arboretum will officially begin on January 1, 2011, and he will also be a tenured professor of organismic and evolutionary biology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.

    Ned currently serves on the faculty of the University of Colorado in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology. An outstanding research scientist and educator, he intends to foster a broadly integrative plant research program at the Arboretum. Ned is also firmly committed to the Arboretum’s role as a public museum, and will strive to strengthen the institution’s partnerships with the City of Boston, local schools, museums, environmental organizations, and community-focused groups. An ardent plant enthusiast, Ned looks forward to faithfully stewarding the Arboretum’s remarkable collections and historic landscape as director.

    This winter, when you visit the Arboretum while attending one of the many classes and lectures offered, be sure to stop by and say hello to Ned. Photo by Justine Ide/Harvard Gazette.

    Ned Friedman named Director of the Arnold Arboretum

  • Saturday, December 11, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Introduction to Forest Measurement Tools

    Participants in Introduction to Forest Measurement Tools at Garden in the Woods, 180 Hemenway Road, Framingham, to be held Saturday, December 11, from 10 – 2, will be introduced to various tools such as diameter tapes, calipers, Biltmore sticks, laser measuring devices, clinometers, angle gauges, and other tools used to measure trees and other features in the forest environment. Following classroom discussion, participants will practice using various measurement tools.

    Bring a lunch and water, and dress in layers for both classroom and outdoor learning. Bring any of the following to class if you have them: a hand lens, winter tree identification field guide, compass, and/or any forest measurement tools.

    Sponsored by Arnold Arboretum and N.E. Wildflower Society, this program takes place at the New England Wild Flower Society’s Garden in the Woods. $44 member, $52 nonmember. Phone 617-384-5277 to register.

  • Sunday, November 14, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – So You Want to be a Garden Designer?

    Have you ever dreamed of becoming a garden designer or opening a landscape business? If so, you might consider Love Albrecht Howard’s experience and wisdom before seeking out clients.  This free lecture and book signing will take place Sunday, November 14, from 2 – 3:30 at the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain.

    With humor and astuteness, Love will present some key points to direct you towards a successful start, including acquiring horticultural know-how, planning a business strategy, determining your fee structure, and communicating with clients. Current design practitioners may also glean helpful information.

    Love is the author of the recently released Timber Press book, So You Want to Be a Garden Designer: How to Get Started, Grow, and Thrive in the Landscape Design Business. Copies of the book will be available for purchase (cash and checks only, payable to the author) at the event. Phone 617-384-5277, or email adulted@arnarb.harvard.edu for more information.

  • Saturday, November 13, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Understanding Botanical and Horticultural Names

    In this workshop on plant nomenclature, taking place Saturday, November 13, from 1 – 4, students will have the opportunity to sort out the confusion associated with plant names.  You will discuss common names, binomial scientific names, and the history of nomenclature since Linnaeus.

    The current rules of nomenclature will be reviewed, and you’ll see why and how plant names sometimes change.

    This program takes place at the New England Wild Flower Society’s Garden in the Woods, 180 Hemenway Road in Framingham, is co-sponsored with the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, and costs $40 for NEWFS or Arboretum members and $48 for non-members.  To register, or for more information, log on to www.newfs.org, or call 617-384-5277.

  • Saturday, November 13, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm – A Horticultural History Tour

    The Massachusetts Horticultural Society is proud to announce a day-long series of lectures focused on the history of horticulture and landscape design in New England and beyond, to take place Saturday, November 13, from 9 – 4 at the Hunnewell Carriage House, Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley.

    The symposium will be hosted by John Furlong, FALA, emeritus director, Landscape Institute, Arnold Arboretum, faculty member of the Boston Architectural College, Distinguished Radcliffe Instructor, and recipientof the  Gold Medal and emeritus trustee, Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

    9:00 AM – Actor and interpreter Gerry Wright, as Frederick Law Olmsted, presents a biography of the landscape architect who was influenced by the natural landscapes of New England throughout his life. In 1850, at age 28, he traveled to England and was smitten with the countryside and a “democratic park” in Birkenhead. Olmsted’s two styles of landscape architecture were the creation of the “pastoral” and the “picturesque”. Beyond the creation for beauty, there was a sense of “service deeply rooted in his planning of public places.” New York City’s Central Park, Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum and the country estates on the Charles River in Wellesley and Dover are among the legacies of Olmsted and his firm.

    At 10:30, Allyson Hayward, garden historian, popular lecturer for The Garden Club of the Back Bay and author of Norah Lindsay: The Life and Art of a Garden Designer will deliver a new talk on two important New England estates, the Hunnewell estate, known as Wellesley, and Elm Bank, the Cheney/Baltzell estate which is now the home of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Today, these landscapes reveal a layering of New England’s garden history. Ms. Hayward will take you on an armchair tour of these exciting gardens with an illustrated lecture tracing the landscapes dating from 1850 to the present. You will revel in the beauty of the initial vision of Horatio Hollis Hunnewell and his Italian Garden and Pinetum at Wellesley. The lecture will continue with images of Elm Bank from its Victorian grandeur to its transformation into a 1920s grandiose playground for Boston society, complete with theme gardens that portrayed the owners’ sense of taste and style.

    11:30 AM – David Barnett, PhD., President and CEO of Mount Auburn Cemetery, will present Wilson’s China: A Century On, published by The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2009. Wilson was the Arnold Arboretum’s principal plant collector from 1906 and following Sargent’s death he was appointed the self-styled ‘Keep” of the Arboretum. In addition to introducing over 1,200 plants, Wilson was a popular author and lecturer and a MassHort Trustee. His remarkable achievements are a continuing inspiration to botanists, horticulturists and landscapers. The slides have been loaned to MassHort through the courtesy of the English authors, Tony Kirkham and Mark Flanagan, respectively Head of the Arboretum at Kew and Keeper of the Royal Gardens in Windsor Great Park.

    Following lunch, at 1:30 PM, you will hear Elizabeth S. Eustis, a garden historian and guest curator, former Trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, past President of the New England Wild Flower Society and faculty member of The Landscape Institute. She will speak on Romanticism in the Landscape, the subject of a 2010 exhibition that she co-curated for the Morgan Library in New York, Romantic Gardens: Art, Nature and Garden Design, with a catalog published by David R. Godine. Following the transition from formal classicism to more naturalistic garden design, Romanticism added a new emphasis on emotional and spiritual response to the landscape. The pervasive influence of Romanticism inspired artificial ruins, garden cemeteries, wild gardens, and contributed powerfully to the public parks movement. This talk will be extensively illustrated by recent photographs and historic works of art.

    3:00 PM – Meg Muckenhoupf is the author of Boston’s Gardens & Green Spaces, Union Park Press, 2010, which is a guide to the Arnold Arboretum, The Boston Public Garden, Mt. Auburn Cemetery, the Olmsted sites, Elm Bank and Boston’s historic and newer parks. Beautiful photos. You will discover delightful new spots to visit.

    Registration is $65 for MHS members, $75 for non-members, and the price includes lunch. You may register on-line at www.masshort.org/horticultural-history-tour or call 617-933-4995.

  • Thursday, November 18, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm – 13th Annual Trees in the Urban Landscape Symposium: Diversity in the Urban Landscape, A Planned Invasion

    The 13th Annual Trees in the Urban Landscape Symposium will take place this year on Thursday, November 18, from 9 – 4 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Massachusetts.  The theme for 2010 is Diversity in the Urban Landscape: A Planned Invasion.  Keynote Speaker will be Peter del Tredici, Senior Research Scientist, Arnold Arboretum.  The Symposium is co-sponsored by Tower Hill and by the Nathaniel Wheeler Trust/Bank of America.  For complete details, call 508-869-6111, ext. 124.  The complete schedule will be published soon at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Thursday, October 28, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Conifers for Gardens

    Conifers are usually thought of as plain green blobs used to hide the foundations of homes or occasionally grown as solitary pyramidal accents in an expanse of grass.  This lavishly illustrated talk with conifer enthusiast Dr. Richard L. Bitner will introduce the great diversity of shapes, textures and colors in this plant group and promote integrating conifers in the landscape with other woody and herbaceous plants, rather than isolating them.  Slow-growing selections for small gardens along with the best choices for larger landscapes will be presented as well as suggestions for difficult sites.  The goal is to help the beginning or avid gardener, landscape designer, nursery tradesperson or horticulture student make better plant choices.

    Dr. Bitner is a practicing board-certified anesthesiologist and currently teaches at the Penn State School of Medicine/Hershey Medical Center.  He studied horticulture at Longwood Gardens where he now teaches.  His best selling book, Conifers for Gardens: An Illustrated Encyclopedia was published by Timber Press in 2007 and his Timber Press Pocket Guide to Conifers was issued in June, 2010.  A book on designing with conifers will be published in April, 2011.  This program is offered in collaboration with Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture.  Members of either organization will pay $25, non-members $30.  Log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH to register.

  • Saturday, October 30, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm – Conifer ID with Richard Bitner

    Do you know the differences between pines, firs, and spruces?  How about arborvitae, junipers, cedars, and false-cedars?  Some of these are easily distinguishable, while others require close observation of needle patterns and a deeper understanding of reproductive structures.  By the end of this session with Dr. Richard L. Bitner, you will have a clearer understanding of conifers.  Dress in layers so that you are comfortable both in the classroom as well outdoors among the Arnold Arboretum’s outstanding conifer collection.  The lecture/tour will be held Saturday, October 30, from 9 – 2, and will begin in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum.  The fee ($70 for members of the Arboretum or the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture, $80 for non-members) includes a copy of Dr. Bitner’s book Timber Press Pocket Guide to Conifers. Register at www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

  • Tuesday, October 26, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – Seeds on the Move

    Whether “naked” or “clothed,” seeds can swim, fly, hitchhike, and even dance! With Arnold Arboretum volunteer Rhoda Kubrick, discover the many adaptations to help seeds move. Learn the variety and ingenuity that enable plants, rooted in one spot, to create offspring in new locations. Meet Tuesday, October 26 at the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum at 1 pm. Free. No registration required.

  • Saturdays, October 23 and November 6, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm – Propagating Trees and Shrubs from Cuttings and Seeds

    Need to nurture? Then join longtime Arboretum propagator Jack Alexander in the Dana Greenhouses at the Arnold Arboretum to learn basic information and techniques for propagating most woody plants. Session One includes a lecture and workshop on seed propagation and construction of a propagation case. Session Two will be a lecture and workshop on hardwood cuttings. You will leave class with numerous cuttings and seeds to care for. To participate, you must sign an Assumption of Risk and Release in order to practice the techniques taught in class. Bring a lunch and beverage. If you own hand pruners, bring them to class. A sharp knife and an apron may also be helpful. You will be collecting propagules from the Arboretum grounds on both afternoons regardless of weather, so dress accordingly and wear comfortable shoes. 2 Sessions: Sat Oct 23, Nov 6 9:00am–4:00pm
    Fee $180 Arboretum member, $215 nonmember. To register, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.