Boston Flora

Tag: Bbg

  • Friday, April 3, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Groundbreaking: Art From the Roots Up Opening Reception

    Come see the Berkshire Botanical Garden through the eyes of our talented students. This exhibition, running through April 19 at the Leonhardt Gallery, showcases artwork inspired by BBG art classes, celebrating the colors, forms and spirit of the natural world. From striking landscapes to playful, imaginative pieces, each work celebrates the joy of exploring nature through art.

    Opening reception is Friday, April 3, 5 to 7 p.m. Exhibition hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m, Tuesdays through Sundays. The Gallery is closed on Mondays. Thank you to Floret Flowers for the image below.

  • Thursdays, February 26 – March 19, 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Container Garden Design

    Acquire knowledge of the skills required for beautiful and successful container gardens with Jenna O’Brien, owner of Viridissima Horticulture and Design. Get to know the plants that thrive in containers and how to care for them. This three session class at Berkshire Botanical Garden in West Stockbridge will cover practical aspects of gardening with style in containers throughout the New England garden season. Considerations will include container selection, siting, planting, growing, controlling pests, and maintaining moveable gardens. The course will be held Thursdays, February 26 – March 19, from 5:30 – 8:30. BBG members $215, nonmembers $240. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/container-garden-design

    Jenna O’Brien has been working in Berkshire gardens for over 20 years. She is also a member of the BBG Horticulture Advisory Committee and the Education Committee. Jenna specializes in container gardening, perennial garden design and care, country estate garden management, and Berkshire Garden Style.

  • Saturday, September 13, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Create a Butterfly Garden

    Attracting butterflies to your yard with native plants is a rewarding way to support local wildlife, increase the ecological value of your property and connect with the natural world. Led by Duncan Himmelman on Saturday, September 13, from 10 a.m. to noon, learn how to design a butterfly garden and discover plants that provide nectar for adult butterflies and foliage for their caterpillars. Leave with two simple garden plans that create beautiful sanctuaries for these colorful pollinators.

    Duncan Himmelman earned his doctorate at Cornell University and taught horticultural science at the college level for 24 years. He recently retired as the education manager at Mt. Cuba Center, a public garden in Delaware devoted to native plant advocacy. He enjoys teaching, designing landscapes and promoting ecologically focused gardening practices. Photo from Troy’s Tropics.

    $25 for BBG members, $40 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/create-butterfly-garden

  • Saturday, June 22, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm – The Veggie Specialist’s Garden

    Join gardening expert Ron Kujawski in his teaching garden in West Stockbridge on Saturday, June 22, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., as he demonstrates his home garden tips and tricks! Learn first-hand about the different planting strategies for crops using raised beds, mounding and vertical space. We will explore in-garden composting and pest management and how to adapt to no-till gardening. 

    Ron starts seeds in the basement where he’s set up benches, heating mats and fluorescent lights. Then he moves the seedlings of cool-season vegetables to his unheated greenhouse while the warm-season vegetables are placed on benches in south-facing windows in his house. As the weather improves, he sets them out on the deck before moving them to the garden under row covers.

    No transportation will be provided. Garden location will be shared upon class registration. This Berkshire Botanical Garden course is $25 for BBG members, $40 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/veggie-specialists-garden

    Ron Kujawski spent his formative years working on his family’s onion farm in Florida, N.Y. From there he went on to earn his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate in biological sciences from the State University of New York at Albany. After five years of developing and directing the Environmental Studies program at Simon’s Rock College in Great Barrington, Mass., he moved on to the University of Massachusetts Extension Service as a specialist in landscape, nursery and urban forestry. Now retired, he spends time as a horticultural consultant, author, writer, and lecturer, that is, when he is not tending to his vegetable garden. Ron also chairs the Horticultural Advisory Committee at the Berkshire Botanic Garden and writes a column for their weekly online newsletter. He and his daughter, Jennifer, have co-authored the book Week by Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook. 

  • Friday & Saturday, May 10 & 11 – Berkshire Botanical Garden 47th Annual Plants and Answers Sale

    Friday & Saturday, May 10 & 11 – Berkshire Botanical Garden 47th Annual Plants and Answers Sale

    Curated by BBG’s horticulture staff, this year’s Plant Sale features hundreds of perennials, annuals and vegetables with a focus on diversity and nature-based landscaping, a trend toward gardens that are exuberant and alive, out of the uniform and into something comfortable, and welcoming to birds, bees and butterflies.

    As always, the popular “Ask Me” staff and volunteers will be on hand to provide expert advice. All proceeds from the Plant Sale support the Garden’s horticulture and education programs. Garden members receive early buying privileges and a discount on BBG plant purchases. Free admission and free parking.

    Traditionally held on Mother’s Day weekend, the Plants-and-Answers Plant Sale began in 1977 as BBG’s harbinger of spring for gardeners in the Berkshires and beyond. This year’s sale carries on the tradition of supplying the very best robust plants for landscape and container gardens, along with a wide selection of organic vegetable and herb plants. Featured are a selection of plants which attract bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, moths and other pollinators. The Garden’s signature cone-shaped hanging container arrangements will also be available. 

    Thank you to the following businesses who have donated to the Plant Sale:

    Andrews Greenhouse
    Broken Arrow
    Callanders Nursery & Landscape
    Campo de Fiori
    Garden Magic d/b/a Country Caretaker
    Glendale
    Monrovia
    The Plant Group
    Randall’s Farm
    Sixteen Acres Garden Center
    Ward’s
    Whalen Nursery
    Zema’s Nursery

    Early buying for BBG members – Friday, May 10, 9 – 11 am. General Public, Friday, May 10, 11 – 5, Saturday, May 11, 9 – 4 Admission and parking are free.

  • Saturday, April 27, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Mindful Beekeeping

    Beekeeper and founder of Bee Resonance Project Asher Silverwolff takes participants on a grounding and calming journey into the inner world of bees on Saturday, April 27, from 10 a.m. to noon at Berkshire Botanical Garden in West Stockbridge. Participants will experience meditation, show and tell, touch and feel and lots of time for Q&A. Asher will share stories of his relationship with bees, how it helps him relax and stay focused, what the year ahead looks like, and explore together as a group how the Bee Resonance Project might support those interested in taking up the mantle of beekeeping or already keeping bees.

    Bee Resonance Project is an organization focused on connecting people to themselves and nature by tuning into bees. They manage beehives on behalf of farms, educational organizations and private clients. They also host educational experiences and training for schools, companies and community organizations. $25 for BBG members, $40 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/mindful-beekeeping

  • Sunday, November 19, 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm – Film and Wine at the Garden

    Join Berkshire International Film Festival and Berkshire Botanical Garden for an afternoon of film and wine on November 19, 4 to 6:30 p.m. We will present a screening of Living Wine, directed by Lori Miller, followed by a wine tasting of organic and biodynamic wines. Ticket sales will help support both Berkshire International Film Festival and Berkshire Botanical Garden.

    Merging sweeping wine country footage with insightful interviews, filmmaker Lori Miller’s film showcases the dynamic natural wine movement that is transforming a growing number of northern California vineyards. BBG members $35, nonmembers $40. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/film-wine-garden

  • Sunday, August 20, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Dog Days of Summer

    In partnership with the Berkshire Humane Society, Berkshire Botanical Garden’s beloved event, Dog Days of Summer, is returning on Sunday, August 20, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Dog Days brings families and their furry friends together for a full day of canine fun in the Garden. Dog Days offers activities for both canines and their families, including dog-related workshops, vendors, demonstrations, and a dog pool party! 

    Admission is $18 for Non-Members and free for BBG members. An additional $5 per dog will be donated to the Berkshire Humane Society. The first 100 dogs to be admitted into the Garden will receive a Tito’s bandana provided by Tito’s Handmade Vodka, non-retractable leashes provided by Benson’s Pet Center,  and waste bags, and natural biscuits provided by Chez Pet. Fresh hot dogs from Stylin’ Franks will be available for purchase and refreshments will be provided by BBG. All dogs must be registered, up to date on vaccinations, and kept on a non-retractable leash.

  • Wednesdays, January 18 – February 1, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm – Organic Vegetable Gardening, Online

    Led by Bridgette Stone, Director of Education at Berkshire Botanical Garden, this class is designed for those starting or caring for a vegetable garden. This Berkshire Botanical Garden online course will include discussion of seed selection, seeding schedules, bed preparation and successful planting practice. During the first two sessions, students will learn about these practices, as well as what different vegetable families need to be successful. For the third class, students will demonstrate their learning by completing a vegetable garden design to be implemented at their own homes. Classes are January 18- February 1, from 5 – 6:30. $55 for BBG members, $65 for nonmembers. Register at www.berkshirebotanical.org

    Courtesy of Mother Earth News

  • Sunday, November 14, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm – 7th Annual Rooted in Place Ecological Gardening Symposium

    The 7th Annual Rooted in Place Ecological Gardening Symposium, Growing Resilience: The Climate Crisis, Our Gardens and Communities will be held at Berkshire Botanical Garden on November 14 from 10 – 5. BBG members $95, Nonmembers $115, and Students $65. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/7th-annual-rooted-place-ecological-gardening-symposium

    Speakers and topics are detailed below:

    How A Place-Based Garden Culture of Care Strengthens Places and Their People: This program will explore the philosophy of the Cultivating Place podcast that gardens/gardeners are powerful spaces and agents for potentially positive change in our world, helping to address challenges as wide ranging as climate change, resource use, habitat and biodiversity loss, cultural polarization/marginalization, and individual and communal health and being, as exemplified by the important guests on  Jennifer Jewell’s podcasts and the innovative place-based gardens that celebrate specifically western landscapes in the book Under Western Skies. Jennifer Jewell is the host of the national, award-winning weekly public radio program and podcast Cultivating Place: Conversations on Natural History and the Human Impulse to Garden. She is the author of award-winning The Earth in Her Hands, 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants (Timber Press 2020), and Under Western Skies, Visionary Gardens from the Rockies to the Pacific Coast (Timber Press 2021). Her greatest passion is elevating the way we think and talk about gardening, the empowerment of gardeners, and the possibility inherent in the intersections between our places, our cultures, and our gardens. 

    Lessons in Built Ecology Brooklyn Bridge Park, an 85 acre, organic park in the middle of New York City, was created with ecology in mind. The park’s award-winning piers include top-notch recreation and entertainment — from opera to outdoor films, all of it beautifully designed. But the piers also contain native woodlands, freshwater wetlands, salt marshes, and numerous meadows. These areas echo native ecosystems and are managed with an emphasis on wildlife habitat. This talk will encompass the many ecological strategies employed by the park’s designers, as well as the management techniques park staff have developed to cultivate biodiversity. Topics will include pragmatic strategies for encouraging ecologically beneficial landscapes. 

    Rebecca McMackin is an ecologically obsessed horticulturist. She is Director of Horticulture at Brooklyn Bridge Park where she oversees 85 acres of diverse parkland. These meadows, forests, salt marshes and freshwater wetlands are managed with the dual purposes of cultivating, beautifying and encouraging biodiversity, all within the largest city in the country. In her imaginary free time, Rebecca lectures, writes, and designs the occasional garden. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, the Landscape Institute, and the Ecological Landscape Alliance. 

    Sam Hoadley is the Horticultural Research Manager at Mt. Cuba Center. His work includes evaluating native plant species, old and new cultivars, as well as hybrids in Mt. Cuba’s Trial Garden. Using data collected and analyzed over a three-year period, a research report is published outlining top-performing plants for the Mid-Atlantic region. This information is designed to inform consumers and home gardeners as well as professionals in the horticultural and nursery industries about the ecological benefits and attributes of the native plants in our trials. His presentation will focus on knockout native species and cultivars researched at the Mt Cuba Center. Sam received a degree in Sustainable Landscape Horticulture from the University of Vermont.

    Pete Grima is a Service Forester with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation covering northern Berkshire County, where he helps landowners make informed decisions about their forests.  He is also an avid botanist responsible for many new and novel botanical discoveries in the Berkshires, and he is a co-author of the recently published Vascular Flora of Franklin County, Massachusetts. Using a recent landowner interaction from his Service Forestry work as a case study, Pete’s presentation will describe the process of envisioning a future forest to be planted in an old field, with a mind towards carbon storage and climate resilience.