Boston Flora

Tag: Berkshires

  • Saturday, July 10 – 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Hidden Treasures of the Berkshires Garden Tour

    Six private Stockbridge gardens, as well as several houses,  will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 10 for the 20th Annual Hidden Treasures of the Berkshires tour.

    Advance ticket purchase, $35, is recommended, by check and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Lenox Garden Club, Box 552, Lenox, Mass., 01240. Box lunches cost $20 and must be pre-ordered. Tickets will also be available at Mary Stuart Collections, 69 Church Street, Lenox,  Campo de ‘Fiori, 1815 N. Main Street, Sheffield, and Hammertown Barn, 325 Stockbridge Road, Great Barrington.  Tickets, if available on the day of the tour, will be $40 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Congregational Church.  Information: (413) 298-3089 and lenoxgardenclub.net.

    http://www.gardensoftheberkshires.org/Images/Mission-Large.jpg

  • Fridays, June 18, July 16, and August 20, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Cocktails in Great Gardens of the Berkshires

    The Berkshire Botanical Garden has arranged for a series of Friday evening visits to spectacular private gardens featured in the Rich Pomerantz’s beautiful book, Great Gardens of The Berkshires. Enjoy this rare opportunity to roam these private spaces with the gardeners themselves while enjoying wine and hors d’oeuvre in the beautiful waning light of the summer day. The book’s creators will be in attendance. For advance reservations contact call the Garden: 413-298-3926. The parties will all take place from 5 – 7 p.m.    Admission is limited. Berkshire Botanical Garden Members $20, non-members $25; all three for $50/65.

    The dates and locations are: June 18, Molly’s Folly in Richmond, MA; July 16, Richard Brown Garden in Stockbridge, MA ; and August 20,  Three Hills Farm in Richmond, MA.   For additional information, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.  Photo below by Rich Pomerantz.

    http://www.richpomerantz.com//srv/htdocs/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/kuhn-9505-nwsltr.jpg

  • Saturday, April 17, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Pruning Fundamentals

    If you are out in the Berkshires on weekends, you may be interested in attending The New England Wild Flower Society’s workshop on pruning, to be conducted on Saturday, April 17, from 10 – 1, at Hilltown Tree & Garden in Chesterfield, Massachusetts.  Join certified arborist and horticulturist Jim McSweeney to learn pruning basics that will benefit both the novice and advanced gardener. Proper pruning improves both the health and structure of woody plants, and allows the gardener to influence the aesthetic qualities of trees and shrubs. This workshop covers pruning methods for new and established plantings in the home landscape. Learn how to select basic tools, make a proper cut, determine which branches to cut, and the correct time to prune for different species. Bring hand pruners and a saw and leave the workshop with skills to take on most basic pruning issues in the home landscape. (You won’t be harnessed in like the fellow below, don’t worry!)  $33 for NEWFS members, $39 for nonmembers, and you may register at www.newfs.org.

    http://www.rainbowtreecare.com/images/2008/science-of-pruning/pruning-1.jpg

  • Don’t Forget – Time to Collect

    We remind our members today that extra, interesting greens, seed pods, branches, holly, dried fruits and flowers, grasses, pine cones, and twigs in interesting shapes are all needed next week during wreath making days at The First Lutheran Church of Boston.  Below is a picture of Past President Sarah Monaco and Executive Committee Member Maureen O’Hara collecting last weekend in the Berkshires.  Please bring as much as you can to the Church, cleaned down if possible, for the decorators to use creating the beautiful wreaths, one of which is pictured below, bedecked with collected finds.

  • Holiday Wreaths from The Garden Club of the Back Bay

    There is still time to purchase a fabulous holiday wreath from The Garden Club of the Back Bay.  Our loyal customer base continues to support our fund raising efforts with generous orders, and we are happy to expand our reach to new customers (that’s you!) who will enjoy our meticulously crafted one of a kind creations.  Unless you are ordering a matched pair, you won’t see your wreath coming and going on doors throughout the neighborhood (the one below was designed for a Mexican Christmas celebration).  Our buyers are not just from Back Bay, Beacon Hill and the South End, either.  We make wreaths for homes in the Berkshires, in Maine, Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, the North and South Shore, and almost every suburb within the loop of 128.  Pick up is easy – just drive over to 299 Berkeley Street, on the corner of Marlborough and Berkeley Streets, pull up in front of the large gated garden of The First Lutheran Church of Boston, and the delivery crew on duty in the garden will load your wreath right into your car.  No need to park, and we’ll have your order ready on either Wednesday or Thursday, December 9 or 10, from 8 in the morning until 7 at night – just contact us and we’ll confirm when your wreath will be ready.  You can order on line by clicking here (pay through PayPal), or you may print the order form on the page and fax it to 617-249-1762, and pay by check or cash when you pick up your order.  We can also take telephone orders (617-859-8865) until Friday, December 4.  Don’t regret not owning one of our beautiful holiday wreaths – act now!

  • Wednesday, December 2, 1:00 – 3:00 pm – Wreaths from the Wild

    Get ready for the Garden Club of the Back Bay’s annual wreath making week by trekking out to the Berkshire Botanical Garden in West Stockbridge for this hands on workshop on Wednesday, December 2, from 1 – 3 pm.

    Create a beautiful evergreen wreath for the holidays, using the bounty of the fields and forests of the Berkshires. Learn about the natural history of common and not-so-common plants that can be used to create interesting holiday decorations. Consider a wide selection of plant material including: evergreen boughs, berries, seedpods, fern fronds and moss. Construct and take home a simple evergreen wreath. Take it home and the knowledge to create wreaths for holidays to come. Elisabeth Cary is the Director of Education at the Berkshire Botanical Garden and has been collecting plant materials from the wild and creating wreaths for over fifteen years. The cost of this workshop is $40 for BBG members, $45 for non members, and the materials are included in the cost of the class.  Bring pruners and gloves.  To register, or for more information, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.
    http://www.anthonyschristmastrees.com/images/lg_traditional_22.jpg

  • Saturday, November 7, 10 am – 12 noon – Impressionist in the Garden

    Gardening became a popular pastime in nineteenth-century France when exotic plants began arriving in quantity and rapid advances were made in hybridizing.  At the same time, vast renovations to its boulevards and parks turned Paris into an urban garden. The Impressionist painters recognized and appreciated the new interest in horticulture and hastened to picture it, as this lecture at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in West Stockbridge will show, as a sign of their modernity.  Colta Ives is Curator Emeritus of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York where she has prepared exhibitions on Manet, Degas, Gauguin, Bonnard, and Van Gogh (see catalog cover below).  She has cultivated a woodland garden in Monterey, Massachusetts for more than thirty years and holds an M.S. in Landscape Design from Columbia University.  She is currently designing gardens in the Berkshires, Westchester County, and New York City. The date is Saturday, November 7, from 10 – noon, and the cost for BBG members is $16, non-members $21.  For more information, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.

    http://rgr-static1.tangentlabs.co.uk/media/9780300107203/vincent-van-gogh-the-drawings.jpg

  • Saturday – Sunday, October 3 – 4, 10 am – 5 pm – Berkshire Harvest Festival

    The Berkshires’ longest running and best-known community event will take place during the first weekend in October, October 3 – 4, from 10 – 5, at the Berkshire Botanical Gardens. An old fashioned, family-oriented community festival with something for everyone, including rides, games, food, music, crafts, giant tag sale, and lots more. Parking fee includes admission.  For directions and more information, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.

  • 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

  • July through September – Cocktails in Great Gardens of the Berkshires

    The Berkshire Botanical Garden has arranged for a series of Friday evening visits to spectacular private gardens featured in the new book, “Great Gardens of The Berkshires.” Enjoy this rare opportunity to roam these private spaces with the gardeners themselves while enjoying wine and hors d’oeuvres in the beautiful waning light of the summer day. The book’s creators will be in attendance. For advance reservations contact call the Garden: 413-298-3926. The parties will all take place from 5 – 7 p.m
    Admission is limited. Berkshire Botanical Garden Members $20, non-members $25; all four for $70/85.
    The dates and locations are: July 10, Under The Hemlocks, West Stockbridge, MA; July 24, Good Dogs Farm, Ashley Falls, MA ; August 14, Rockland Farm, Canaan, NY; September 4, Seekonk Farm, Great Barrington, MA.  For additional information, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.