Boston Flora

Tag: Berkshire County

  • Saturday, September 25, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Pruning Shrubs and Small Trees

    Autumn is a great time to assess your woody plants for shape and structure. This demonstration/workshop at Berkshire Botanical Garden on Saturday, September 25 from 10 – 1, will focus on pruning, including: when, why and how to shape, renovate, train or rejuvenate your woody plants. Learn about pruning tools, timing, and specific techniques available to the home gardener. Pruning techniques specifically for both evergreen and deciduous hedges will be covered.

    Ken Gooch Massachusetts Certified Arborist, is the Department of Environmental Management’s Forest Health Specialist for Berkshire County. He is an educator and lectures widely on a variety of topics including forest health, pruning, and arboriculture. Wear waterproof outerwear, boots, and bring pruners. $30 BBG members, $35 non-members. Log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org to register, or call 413-298-3926.

  • Sunday, July 18, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Berkshire County Open Day

    The Garden Conservancy will host an Open Day in the Berkshires, and in nearby Columbia County, NY,  on Sunday, July 18.  Admission to each participating garden is $5 per person, and admission may be paid in cash or by check. Tickets are not required to attend. For more information, log on to www.gardenconservancy.org. Image below courtesy of Rich Pomerantz, photographer and author of Great Gardens of the Berkshires. Descriptions are below:

    Thomas Gardner, 2171 State Road, Richmond, Massachusetts

    This is a rustic vegetable and flower garden set in the side yard of an eighteenth-century farmhouse in the Berkshires. The farm currently raises Cotswold sheep and mixed poultry. Rustic picket fences, grass paths, and grapevine trellises are features of the rough and tumble site. The owner raises Australian shepherds and Italian Maremma sheepdogs. An open living porch and stone terrace face the garden.

    Directions:
    From I-90/Massachusetts Turnpike, take West Stockbridge exit to Route 41 north into Richmond and to corner of Route 41 and Lenox Road.  The garden is at yellow farmhouse surrounded by gray picket fence and with red barn behind. Parking will be marked.

    Rockland Farm, 180 Stony Kill Road, Canaan, New York

    This garden comprises a variety of areas that flow one from another over about fifteen acres and continue to evolve after nearly twenty years. The 450-foot-long rock ledge is completely cleared and planted. The three-acre pond is dug and filled, and we are starting to work on the shoreline. The lawn in front of the 150-foot-long rock garden has been re-shaped to align better with the water garden. The perennial beds around our pool have been extended and redesigned. The hornbeams edging the lavender garden are starting to form a raised hedge. The vegetable and tropical container gardens are now well established, and the woodland is being expanded. Much has changed since the garden appeared in the book Great Gardens of The Berkshires.

    Directions:
    From east, take Route 295 from Route 41 in Massachusetts or from Route 22 in New York past tip of Queechy Lake (on right), and then take first dirt road on right (Stony Kill Road). After about 0.5 mile, look for a parking sign.

    The Tilden Japanese Garden, 576 State Route 20, New Lebanon, New York

    Nestled at the gateway to New Lebanon, this garden celebrates its heritage from the Shakers, Governor Samuel Tilden, and Shuji’s Restaurant. The brilliance of red bridges acts as a foil for ‘Nikko’ irises, weeping jades, ‘Casablanca’ lilies, ginkgos, and many specimen plants. Waterfalls provide sustenance to grasses and pebbled shores with koi lurking beneath water lilies. Ancient lanterns stand guard while protruding boulders provide sculpture. A smaller “courtyard garden” sits silently against a stained glass window. A Shaker ice house complements this harmony as ‘Sargent’ cherry trees, a gift from Japan, commemorate peace among nations.

    Directions:
    The Tilden Japanese Garden is at intersection of Routes 20 & 22. Through black gates of Tilden Mansion, garden is behind Victorian house. Parking is across street at a white Shaker meetinghouse on south meadow.

    http://www.richpomerantz.com//srv/htdocs/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/42677nf6674.jpg

  • Saturday, October 10, 10 am – 12 noon – Gardening with Bulbs

    Consider the many ways to integrate bulbs into the home landscape including enhancing the perennial border, designing foundation plantings or naturalizing a woodland setting. Learn all about the cultivation of bulbs both minor and major. Review a wide variety of both traditional bulbs (daffodils, tulips, lilies and hyacinth) and learn about the more unusual ones including allium, colchicum, scilla, galanthus, camassia, and frittilaria. Watch a demonstration on planting. David’s wonderful bulbs will be on sale following the lecture. David Burdick has been a practicing horticulturist in Berkshire County for more than twenty years. He worked for nine years at BBG and an additional nine years at Windy Hill Nursery. He is a popular teacher for the Horticultural Certificate Program and is currently operates a specialty bulb and cut flower business Daffodils and More at Holiday Farm, Dalton.  This program will take place at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts on Saturday, October 10, from 10 – noon, and costs $16 for BBG members, $21 for non members.  For more information, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.

    http://www.artcom.com/Museums/nv/af/Chicago%20Botanic%20Garden%20Bulb%20Garden%20SpringBlooms.jpg

  • Saturday, October 3, 8:00 am – 3:00 pm and Sunday, October 4, 1:00 pm – 54th Annual Northern Berkshire Fall Foliage Festival Farmer’s Market, Arts & Crafts Festival, and Parade

    The Berkshire Chamber of Commerce and the city of North Adams are proud to announce that the 54th Fall Foliage Festival.  On Saturday, October 3, a Farmer’s Market will be held in the Saint Anthony Municipal Parking Lot  across from MASS MoCA.  The Autumn Arts & Crafts Festival, from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm, takes place on the sidewalk on the north side of Main Street. The Parade will be held on Sunday, October 4, 2009, beginning at 1:00 pm.  The Fall Foliage Festival Parade Committee selected “Taste of the Berkshires” as the theme for the 2009 parade.  This theme is an opportunity for the community to experience all of the flavors of Berkshire County.  The 54th Annual Fall Foliage Festival Parade Grand Marshal will be Carl Jenkins, former director of the Drury High School band, Adjunct Teacher of Oboe, and part-time Coordinator of Fine and Performing Arts for the city of North Adams.  A half century ago, the leadership of the North Adams Chamber of Commerce deemed the advent of the fall foliage season a time for celebration, given that the natural beauty of the surrounding mountain ranges inspired visitors from all over the Eastern United States. For more information, log on to www.fallfoliageparade.com.  The picture below was taken at the North Adams Country Club.

    http://www.northadamscountryclub.com/autumn-leaves.jpg


  • Saturday, September 26, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Pruning Shrubs and Small Trees

    Autumn is a great time to assess your woody plants for shape and structure. This demonstration/workshop, to be held at the Berkshire Botanical Gardens in Stockbridge, Massachusetts on Saturday, September 26, from 10 am – 1 pm, will focus on pruning, including: when, why and how to shape, renovate, train or rejuvenate your woody plants. Learn about pruning tools, timing, and specific techniques available to the home gardener. Participants will learn the basics of pruning, including rejuvenating an old lilac and shaping a small flowering tree. Pruning techniques specifically for hedges both evergreen and deciduous will be covered. Ken Gooch, Massachusetts Certified Arborist, is the Department of Environmental Management’s Forest Health Specialist for Berkshire County. He is an educator and lectures widely on a variety of topics including forest health, pruning, and arboriculture.  Cost of workshop is $20 for BBG members, $25 for non-members.  For directions and more information, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.  Wear waterproof outerwear and footwear and bring pruners.

    http://www.tlcfortrees.info/images/Pruners.jpg

  • Friday, July 31, 6 – 9 pm – Garden Party at Naumkeag

    Delight in a festive evening amongst the gardens of Naumkeag – a National Historic Landmark and one of the most beautiful views in New England! Stroll through the world-famous gardens sparkling with fireflies. Feast on hors d’oeuvres and sip on cocktails while watching the sun set behind the Berkshire Hills. Bid on the best of the Berkshires at the silent and live auctions. All proceeds support restoration of Naumkeag’s historic kitchen.

    Naumkeag was the summer “cottage” of the Choate family who began summering in Berkshire County in the 1870s. Designed by McKim, Mead & White in 1885, this forty-four-room, shingle-style house is filled with original furniture, ceramics, and artwork collected from America, Europe, and the Far East. Joseph Hodges Choate (1832-1917) was a prominent New York attorney. Between 1899 and 1905, he served in England as U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James.

    Naumkeag is famous for its eight acres of terraced gardens and landscaped grounds surrounded by forty acres of woodland, meadow, and pasture that stretch to the Housatonic River Valley. The gardens and landscaped grounds, first designed in the late 1880s by Nathan Barrett, were transformed and expanded between 1926 and 1956 by Fletcher Steele and Mabel Choate. Separate garden “rooms” include the Afternoon Garden, Tree Peony Terrace, Rose Garden, Evergreen Garden, Chinese Garden, Arborvitae Walk, and Linden Walk. Perhaps the most famous feature of the landscape is Steele’s Blue Steps, a series of deep blue fountain pools flanked by four flights of stairs climbing up a gentle hillside and overhung by birch trees.

    Fees: $100 per ticket for members, $140 non-members (includes one year individual membership); $250 for a non-member couple (includes one year family membership)
    Notes: Call for event details and reservation information. Tickets must be purchased in advance.
    Telephone: 413-298-3239 x3000
    E-mail: westregion@ttor.org

  • Sunday, June 28, 10 – 4 – Berkshire County Open Day

    The Garden Conservancy’s Berkshire County Open Day will include the following superb properties. For more information, log on to www.gardenconservancy.org.

    Seekonk Farm – Honey Sharp’s Garden: 296 Division Street, Great Barrington, Massachusetts

    Featured in the 2008 book, Great Gardens of the Berkshires, this eighteenth-century Seekonk Farm is set amidst New England fieldstone walls, antique iron gates, and a handmade fence. A natural arbor beyond an American elm and a large katsura tree invites one to a woodland path where Honey Sharp continues to labor on re-introducing native plants. Closer to the house, a lavender edged walkway follows a small herb garden while the old-fashioned perennial beds now feature pale pink penstemon and dark fuchsia-colored sanguisorba rubbing shoulders. Leading to the pool garden are old-fashioned climbing roses spilling over a fence that borders the small vegetable garden. The pool garden enjoys a chartreuse, silver, and burgundy palette. Contrasting textures and shapes abound amidst the grasses, Japanese maples, smoke bush, ‘Black Lace’ sambucus, and small conifers. An old stone well cover, highlighted by rust colored lichens, remains a focal point. Golden Trowel Award in 2000.

    Under the Hemlocks,258 Great Barrington Road, Housatonic, Massachusetts

    This bowl-shaped garden in the foothills of Tom Ball Mountain came with many natural gifts: boulders, hemlocks, black birch, pines, etc. Adding shrubs, bulbs, and perennials rich in textures and color, Goshen stone paths, and various sculptures completed it. The owners were lucky to uncover a perfect place within the given ledge for water to gracefully fall into a small lily pond. This is a major focal point in the garden. It’s the flow of these gardens that seems to please: from the sunken “fairy woodland”, with a succession of bluebells, foxgloves then in fall, echinacea, to the over-scale rock garden, topped out by hydrangeas. Look for the secretive, mossy “Othello Boudoir” engulfed by ligularias next to the outdoor living room. Going behind the huge rhodies up the secretive path to the “upstairs” hosta path garden and around back to view the water garden, with perhaps a lotus in bloom will complete your tour. In June a few tulips and other bulbs may still be in bloom. This garden is one that is featured in the new book: Great Gardens of the Berkshires, by V. Small & R. Pomerantz.

    Good Dogs Farm – Maria Nation and Roberto Flores, 334 West Stahl Road, Sheffield, Massachusetts

    This is a distinctly handmade garden that includes the whims and accidents and (let’s be honest) half-baked ideas that would never end up in a professional “landscape.” It’s a place that reflects the owners’ philosophy that, like life, the garden is best when shared with friends, when simple pleasures are part of the plan, and when things aren’t taken too seriously. Here, good dogs romp and friends linger. Garden paths lead to numerous garden rooms, “secret” sitting areas, an outdoor shower, and an outdoor sleeping room. A handmade, rough-cedar fence surrounds our large vegetable/cutting garden where a very crowded bat house towers above. A wood burning bake oven gave Maria and Roberto an excuse to add a hedge garden that defines the pea-stone cooking courtyard. A new greenhouse-type-thing gave them another reason to add yet another garden area. The gardens have been featured in Cottage Living, Berkshire Living, The Litchfield County Times, and Oprah’s O at Home magazine. In 2008 they were honored to be included in the book Great Gardens of the Berkshires, and are still blushing to be included in such august company.