Boston Flora

Tag: Blue Hills Reservation

  • Wednesday, May 30, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm – Historic Estates and Gardens Landscape Tour

    Historic New England and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society team up to present a spring landscape tour of historic estates and gardens on Wednesday, May 30 from 9 – 3. The schedule is as follows:

    9:00 a.m: Explore the grounds of the 1793 Lyman Estate and the history of its greenhouses in a tour led by plant expert and Greenhouses Manager Lynn Ackerman. Dating to 1804, the Lyman Estate Greenhouses are among the oldest surviving in the United States. Explore them on your own after the tour.

    11:30 a.m. Enjoy the landscape of the Eustis Estate, an 1878 Aesthetic Movement masterpiece next to the Blue Hills Reservation in Milton, Mass. Take a guided tour exploring the fields, woodland, and gardens as you learn about the landscape and history of the property. The tour also examines the exterior architecture of the house and other original buildings built between 1878 and 1902.

    12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Enjoy lunch on the porch or within the main hall of the Eustis Estate mansion. The first floor of the house will be open to explore.

    End the day by joining Massachusetts Horticultural Society (Mass Hort) staff for a tour of their thirty-six-acre garden property, The Gardens at Elm Bank. See the historic and contemporary gardens, which display new plant varieties, diverse design concepts, and solutions to many home landscape challenges. The Elm Bank property is on the National Register of Historic Places and includes gardens designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm, and the Cheney-Baltzell Manor House designed by Carrère and Hastings of New York.

    Lunch is included in the price. No transportation will be provided. $40 Historic New England and Mass Hort members; $55 Nonmembers

    Please call 617-994-5959 or buy online at http://masshort.org. Mass Hort members must call to receive discount. (Rain date: Thursday, May 31)

    Image result for lyman estate waltham

  • Sunday, June 21, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm – A Short Walk on a Long Day: The Blue Hills Reservation

    In his 1890 Waverly Oaks report, Charles Eliot suggested that Boston residents look beyond the city and into the suburbs for natural scenery to foster and preserve “an education in the love of beauty” and a means of “human enjoyment.” Contemplate Eliot’s efforts and ideas as the National Park Service leads a Summer Solstice walking tour on Sunday, June 21 from 5 – 7 to ascend the “Great Blue Hill”, which at 635 ft, is the highest point within 10 miles of the Atlantic coast south of central Maine. Prepare for moderate hike over rugged and rocky terrain. Meets at the Trailside Museum Parking lot. Operated in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Blue Hills Trailside Museum is the interpretive center for the state-owned Blue Hills Reservation and features a natural history museum and outdoor wildlife exhibits. The animals on display, including snowy owls and a river otter, have been rescued and would not survive in the wild. Free. For more information visit http://www.nps.gov/frla/planyourvisit/walks-and-talks.htm.  Photo from www.bu.edu.

  • Saturday, June 14, 12:00 noon – 4:00 pm – Fabulous Ferns of the Blue Hills

    Just minutes from downtown Boston, the Blue Hills Reservation is the largest conserved tract in the greater Boston area. It contains many wild treasures—from coyotes to copperheads, dogwoods to lady’s-slippers, and turkey vultures to dragonflies—and, of course, a wealth of fern species. Hiking along the northern Border Path, you will see more than a third of all the fern species native to Massachusetts as well as some hybrid ferns, several club-mosses, and a horsetail. Wear long pants (there is poison ivy on the trail) and suitable footwear; bring a hand lens if you have one, and plenty of water. The hike is sponsored by the New England Wild Flower Society on Saturday, June 14, from 12-4, and the fee is $23 for NEWFS members, $28 for nonmembers. Led by Don Lubin. You may register at http://www.newfs.org/learn/catalog/fdt1032.

  • Wednesday, June 4, 7:00 pm – Scentless Spring: Ecosystems Under Siege by White-Tailed Deer

    The overabundance of white-tailed deer is a growing problem. As a keystone species of forest ecosystems, they have a disproportionate impact on other species – wildflowers, tree seedlings, songbirds, and insects. Learn about the extensive damage caused by deer overpopulation on the Blue Hills Reservation and in other forests throughout our region, on Wednesday, June 4 at 7 pm at the Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, at a free program sponsored by Grow Native Massachusetts. We can solve this by restoring the predation that once kept deer populations in check.

    Speaker Tom Rawinski is a US Forest Service botanist in Durham, NH. For more information visit www.grownativemassachusetts.org.

    http://www.fws.gov/northeast/chinco/images/mammals/WhiteTailDeer2.jpg

  • Saturday, October 27, 9:00 am – 11:00 am – Blue Hills Reservation: Charles Eliot’s Master Plan

    In his 1890 Waverly Oaks report, Charles Eliot suggested that Boston residents look beyond the city and into the suburbs for natural scenery to foster and preserve “an education in the love of beauty” and “a means of human enjoyment.” Contemplate Eliot’s efforts and ideas as the National Park Service guide traverses the Blue Hills. Offered in partnership with the Department of Conservation and Recreation. Prepare for a moderate hike over rugged and rocky terrain. Meet at the Trailside Museum Parking Lot. For more information, visit www.nps.gov.

  • Sunday, October 3, 12:00 noon – 3:30 pm – Ferns in the Fall

    When fading sunlight and perhaps a frost have shriveled the undergrowth and turned it brown, evergreen ferns and club-mosses stand out in dramatic contrast. On a Sunday, October 3 walk with New England Wild Flower Society’s Don Lubin and Raymond Abair through the Blue Hills Reservation, visit a dozen evergreen species and other pteridiphyte taxa, including polypody, Christmas and grape ferns, five wood ferns and maybe a spleenwort, four club-mosses and a horsetail. Travel about two miles on mostly flat trails with a few hills. A hand lens is suggested. $28 for NEWFS members, $32 for non-members. Meet at Blue Hills at noon. To register, log on to www.newfs.org.

  • Saturday, September 26, 11 am – 3 pm – Ferns of the Blue Hills

    The Blue Hills Reservation is the largest preserved natural area in eastern Massachusetts. It has quite a few spots that are rich in ferns. Join the New England Wild Flower Society and instructors Don Lubin and Raymond Abair on Saturday, September 26 at 11 am. They plan to  travel a new route and see more than a dozen fern species, including dramatic large displays of Virginia chain fern, ostrich fern (below), and Christmas ferns. Wear long pants for poison ivy and bring a lunch and hand lens.  Participants limited to 15, fee $32 for members of NEWFS, $36 for nonmembers.  To register, call 508-877-7630, or log on to www.newfs.org.

    http://www.fernridgefarms.com/images/OstrichFern.jpg