Boston Flora

Tag: Arnold Arboretum

  • Wednesday, October 7, 7pm – The Universe in a Garden with Charles Jencks

    Charles Jencks, architectural theorist, landscape architect, and designer, has become a leading figure in British landscape architecture. His landscape work is inspired by fractals, genetics, chaos theory, waves and solitons. These themes are expressed in his award-winning design, the Landform Ueda at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, Scotland, and expanded in his own private landscape, the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, at Portrack House, near Dumfries.  Also a furniture designer and sculptor, Jencks completed the DNA Sculpture in London’s Kew Gardens in 2003. Jencks will speak about his design process as it applies to landscapes.  See photo below of his “Life Mounds” at Jupiter Artland.

    Fee: $20 Arnold Arboretum member, $25 nonmember. Presented by the Arnold Arboretum and Trinity Church in Boston. For more information, or to register, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu, or call 617-384-5277.

    "Life Mounds" by Charles Jencks by oosp.

  • Saturdays, October 3 & 24, 9 am – 4 pm – Propagating Trees and Shrubs from Cuttings and Seeds

    Need to nurture?  Then join longtime Arnold Arboretum propagator Jack Alexander 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 cherish and grow.  To participate, you must sign an assumption-of-risk-and-release form in order to practice the techniques taught in class.  Bring a lunch and a beverage.  If you own hand pruners, bring them to the second 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.  The classes will take place at the Dana Greenhouses, Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain.  For directions, and to register, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu, or www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.  You may also email horticulture@wellesley.edu.  Course Number HOR 10 010, WCFH and Arboretum member price $180, Non-Members $215.

    Tree Branches 4 by LynGi.

  • Tuesday, September 22, 6:30 – 8:30 pm – Introduction to Botany

    Learn botany from dedicated instructor and plant nomenclature specialist Kanchi Gandhi. Among the topics to be explored: plant cells and tissues, anatomy and morphology, reproduction, nutrition, growth and development, plant diversity, evolution, classification, and nomenclature. This course, offering both lecture and laboratory activities, introduces botany to new students or serves as a refresher course. Required text: Botany for Gardeners by Brian Capon. Contact the Arboretum’s bookstore (617.384.5209) for book availability. Sessions continue Tuesdays September 29, October 6, 13, 20, 27, November 3 and 10, all 6:30 – 8:30 at the Arnold Arboretum.  Fee $180 for members of Arnold Arboretum or New England Wild Flower Society, $215 for nonmembers. Register now! Fee will increase to $225 member, $270 nonmember on September 1.  Log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu to sign up.

    Tattoo Inspiration by Dharmuti.

  • Wednesday, September 16, 6-8 pm – Artists in the Arboretum Opening Night

    The Arnold Arboretum and Jamaica Plain Open Studios host a juried group exhibition devoted to art inspired by the plants, landscape, and collections of the Arnold Arboretum, in conjunction with the Open Studios weekend. Come to Opening Night on Wednesday, September 16, from 6 – 8 pm.  The Open Studios weekend runs from September 26 – September 27, 11 – 6, and the exhibition in the Hunnewell Building Lecture Hall at the Arnold Arboretum will be on display through October 9, 2009.  For more information, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

  • Saturday, August 29, 1:30 – 3:30 pm – Oh Nuts!

    Spend an afternoon at the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain with Michael Dosmann, curator of living collections, as he discusses the natural history of many of the Arboretum’s notorious nut species.  Mr. Dosmann was a popular speaker at a Garden Club of the Back Bay meeting a few seasons ago, and you will enjoy this walking tour with him.  Dress comfortably with good walking shoes.

    Free, but advance registration is requested.  Log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

  • Thursday, August 13, 6:30 – 8 pm – A Forest in Mind: Mixed-Media Paintings by Terry Boutelle

    Come to the Hunnewell Building Lecture Hall at the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain  at 6:30 on Thursday, August 13 for a conversation with artist Terry Boutelle.  Terry Boutelle’s vision of trees and forests is shaped by memory, meditation, and imagination. Initially inspired by birch trees in the Arboretum, Boutelle has moved beyond realism into psychological and emotional realms. Using mixed media such as acrylic, pastel, wax, and plaster, and often incorporating natural objects such as leaves, twigs, and seeds, she creates paintings that are at times richly textured and at other times, smooth and veiled. Her images evoke mystery and yearning for things we cannot quite grasp.

    Largely self-taught, Terry Boutelle has also studied at the Fine Arts Work Center, Massachusetts College of Art, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She is the current president of the Jamaica Plain Artists Association and a painting instructor at the Eliot School of Fine and Applied Arts.  For more information, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.  The exhibition will be on view through September 13, 2009.

    Winter Solitaire

  • Monday, August 17 – It’s a Small World

    It’s a Small World: Color Microscopy and Macro Photography

    by Julie McIntosh Shapiro
    Aug 17–September 10, 2009

    Photographs of visual secrets, macro and micro documentation, these images bring out a love of looking and watching at close range. Ms. Shapiro has spent the last fifteen years using the close up photographic techniques of macroscopy and microphotography to present objects not easily seen with the naked eye. Ultimately, these visual investigations provide hidden insight into things unknown, overlooked and magnificent.

    Julie McIntosh Shapiro is principal of Garden PHI, a photographically based horticulture research and design/build company. She was principal photographer for a digital database project on imaging seeds for the Arnold Arboretum. Her seed images are included in Harvard’s North American Plant Collections Consortium (NAPCC) specimens, Center for Plant Conservation (CPC) specimens, and a myriad of other rare, endangered, and native plant collections. Her work is published in the newly revised publication about Reverend John Fiala, Lilacs: A Gardener’s Encyclopedia (2008).  This exhibit is sponsored by the Arnold Arboretum and takes place at The Landscape Institute, 30 Chauncy Street, Cambridge, MA.  For information on times, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

  • Monday, July 13, 5 – 7 – Landscapes: Urban & Rural

    The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University presents a photographic exhibit July 13 – August 6, 2009, with an opening reception Monday, July 14, from 5 – 7 pm.

    By forcing the photographer to impose limits and provide visual meaning to what amounts to a pre-drawn canvas, the photograph has the possibility of communicating a personal vision, revealing lines and relationships previously hidden. Roger Cody will exhibit a collection of landscapes that provide an opportunity to see the familiar and ordinary as something more. The locales are diverse, but the collection of images is united by a commonality of artifice—the transformations used to make the impersonal and chaotic, personal and meaningful.

    Location: The Landscape Institute, 30 Chauncy Street, Cambridge, MA.  For more information, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

  • Wednesday, June 24, 4 – 5:30 pm – Propagation by Cuttings Workshop

    From 1916 to 1979, Long Hill was the summer home of noted author and editor of The Atlantic Monthly, Ellery Sedgwick, and his first wife, Mabel Cabot Sedgwick, an accomplished horticulturist, gardener, and author of The Garden Month by Month. The Federal-style house was completed in 1925 and contains original woodwork from the ca.1812 Isaac Ball House in Charleston, South Carolina.

    Mrs. Sedgwick designed and planted the original gardens. After her death in 1937, Mr. Sedgwick’s second wife, the former Marjorie Russell, herself a distinguished gardener and propagator of rare plants, added many plants to the gardens, including unusual species and varieties of trees and shrubs, some introduced by the Arnold Arboretum.

    Today the gardens reflect the collective interests and tastes of both women. Five acres of cultivated grounds are laid out in a series of separate garden “rooms” surrounding the house. Each area is distinct in its own way and is accented by garden ornaments, structures, and statuary. The gardens are flanked on all sides by more than 100 acres of woodland as well as an apple orchard, meadow, and agricultural fields.

    Grow Long Hill’s signature plants from your own cuttings. Experienced propagators demonstrate setting up a propagation box, caring for your cuttings, and transplanting rooted plants. All materials provided.  $15 to Members of the Trustees of Reservations, $20 non-members. To pre-register, call 978-921-1944, x4018, or email needucation@ttor.org.

  • Thursday, May 28 – Sunday, May 31 – Birds and Bards: A Festival Celebrating Birds, Poetry, and Nature

    Visit the Arnold Arboretum, Boston Nature Center, Forest Hills Cemetery, Franklin Park, and the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site  Thursday, May 28 to Sunday, May 31 for Birds and Bards: A Festival Celebrating Birds, Poetry, and Nature. Spend the weekend exploring birds, poetry, and nature in over 1000 acres of greenspace along Boston’s Emerald Necklace. The festival includes activities for children and adults, most of which are free!  Presented by the Arnold Arboretum, Boston Nature Center/Mass Audubon, Forest Hills Educational Trust, Franklin Park Coalition, Franklin Park Zoo, and the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.

    Activities begin on Thursday with a 7 a.m. morning bird walk at the Arnold Arboretum.  That evening at 7:30, enjoy the Birds & Bards Kick-Off at Forsyth Chapel for a festive evening of song, pictures and poetry celebrating birds and nature.  Learn about the landscapes that sustain and protect migratory birds in the heart of the city. Art inspired by our feathered friends will include photographs by Eduardo del Solar, jazz vocals by Valerie Stevens, and a reading by poet Brendan Galvin.  $5 suggested donation.

    Friday begins with a 7 a.m. bird walk in Franklin Park, and a 6 p.m. family bird walk, also in Franklin Park, plus a 7 p.m. movie night at the Franklin Park Clubhouse.

    Saturday centers around the Boston Nature Center, with an early morning birdwalk, followed by continental breakfast and conversation with Chris Leahy, a talk at 11:00 on Urban Orchards and Bird Habitats, and a noontime live raptor demonstration.  At 1:30, enjoy the Great American Song Book Concert with Marianne Ryan, Stanley Macht, and the young singers of Catching Joy as they perform classics celebrating birds by Gershwin, Kern and Porter.  Finally on Saturday move to the Arnold Arboretum at 3:00 for a Haiku Hike.

    Sunday begins at Forest Hills with a 7 a.m. birdwalk, a tour at 10 a.m., a guided bird walk at Franklin Park Zoo at 10:30, and the culminating event, a 2:00 Family Concert with Solar Winds at Forsyth Chapel ($10).

    For complete event listings and information, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.