Boston Flora

Tag: Blueberries

  • Sunday, July 29, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Charlton Blueberry Festival

    The Charlton Arts & Activities Center is excited to offer a summer celebration on July 29 from 10 – 4 where blueberries are just the start of the fun! This family friendly event is fast becoming a Charlton area favorite. There will bea live animal show by Animal Adventures Family Zoo and Rescue Center from 1 – 2, live music, an amateur cooks blueberry bake-off and silent auction in the farmhouse, locally grown blueberries for sale, and pony rides. The address is 4 Dresser Hill Road in Charlton, and more information may be found at http://www.pickyourown.org/PYO.php?PAGGE=/BlueberryFestivals.php&NAME=Chalrton%20Blueberry%20Festival&URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.charltonarts.org/blueberry-festival Admission is FREE. You may also email charltonarts7@gmail.com.

  • Saturday, July 21, 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Blueberry Festival

    The First Congregational Church of West Tisbury’s Annual Blueberry Festival will be on Saturday, July 21, 2018 from noon to 4:00 pm. Enjoy blueberry treats at tables and chairs on the front lawn; Blueberry/Peach Cobbler “just like your Grandmother used to make,” Blueberry/Pomegranate Smoothies and Blueberry Sundaes. Blueberry iced tea and lemonade will also be served. Baked goods to go include: Blueberry/Peach Cobbler, Blueberry Pies, Blueberry Coffee Cake, Blueberry Muffins and Scones. You can even buy Blueberry Jam to go! Flower bouquets, freshly cut from local gardens, will also be available.

    A blueberry bush will be raffled off; no need to be present at the drawing to win and the church will deliver your blueberry bush to you. There are also fun activities for the kids and a children’s raffle for a blueberry themed gift basket. Look for the blueberry banner and bright balloons on the church fence in the center of town the week of July 15th. All proceeds of this fundraiser help support this historic church and our island community. For more information call 508-693-2842. The Church address is 1051 State Road. Image from www.mvtimes.com.

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  • Saturday, March 31, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Pruning Blueberries: A Hands-On Workshop

    This UMass Extension presentation on blueberry pruning will be held on Saturday, March 31 from 10 – 12. Blueberries are among the most popular fruits to grow in the home garden. They are healthful and well suited to grow in our New England conditions Come learn the basics for pruning blueberries for your home landscape. Participants will get some hands-on pruning lessons. We’ll learn about tool maintenance and sharpening, too. Bring your own tools or use ours. $35.

    The class will be taught by Sonia Schloemann at the Nicewicz Family Farm, 116 Sawyer Road in Bolton. Register and pay via credit card for any Mass Aggie seminar by visiting http://ag.umass.edu/fruit/news-events/mass-aggie-seminars/mass-aggie-seminars-2018. You will be taken to a secure RegOnline site where you will be able to choose which seminars you wish to attend and to pay. You will receive an e-mail receipt of your transaction. This workshop will be partially out of doors so please dress appropriately for potentially wet, cold, and muddy conditions.

    Image result for blueberries Nicewicz Family Farm

  • Thursday, November 19, 7:00 pm – Berry Basics

    John Howell, former horticulturist at UMass Extension, will speak to the North Quabbin Garden Club on Thursday, November 19 at the Millers River Environmental Center, 100 Main Street in Athol, on the basics of growing strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.  Free, and the public is invited to attend.

  • Tuesday, June 18, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – Ericaceae Family Focus

    Many different members of the Ericaceae, or heath family, thrive in New England’s acidic soils. This Arnold Arboretum class, offered with the New England Wild Flower Society and taking place at Garden in the Woods in Framingham on Tuesday, June 18, 9:30 – 12:30, begins with images and a description of the attributes of this family, including a demonstration of Go Botany to see the various genera. Along with botanist instructor Carol Govan, you will then walk outdoors to visit Garden in the Wood’s collection of azaleas, rhododendrons, blueberries, cranberries, leatherleaf, dog hobble, and more, also looking for evidence of nectar thieves and buzz pollination. Fee is $40 for Arboretum and NEWFS members, $48 for nonmembers. Register on line at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu. Crowberries below courtesy of www.digitalnaturalhistory.com.

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  • Sunday, March 11, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Organic Berry Growing in the Home Garden

    Want to learn how to grow the fruits your family loves? Strawberries, blueberries and raspberries are delicious and nutritious, and beloved by kids of all ages. This Tower Hill Botanic Garden course on Sunday, March 11 from 1 – 4 will cover: variety selection, planting site recommendations, soil and nutrient needs planting, spacing, mulching, pest control strategies, structural considerations (containers, netting, frames, etc.) and pruning/thinning.

    Patti Powers has been growing small fruits organically since 1978, first at her farm in Western Massachusetts, and for 26 years at Cheshire Garden in Winchester, NH. She studied Plant and Soil Science and Botany at UMass, and worked for 10 years as a researcher in the UMass Entomology Department studying insect behavior. THBG member price is $30, nonmembers $35. Register online at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Sunday, February 13, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – The Multifaceted Edible Landscape

    Think creatively about your next garden: perhaps and eggplant or two next to a maroon-leafed Weigela?  Or some blueberries among your azaleas?  Horticulturist Nancy Rose will tempt you with creative ideas for multipurpose plantings that satisfy your aesthetic sense as well as your palate.  Topics covered will include site selection, growing and maintenance considerations, pest control, and lots of information on plant selection.  The program takes place at the Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston, on Saturday, February 13 from 1 – 2:30 pm.  Cost to attend is $15 for Arboretum members, $18 for nonmembers, and you may sign up by calling 617-384-5277, or emailing adulted@arnarb.harvard.edu.  ‘Pink Lemonade’ blueberries pictured below.

  • Saturday, July 17, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon – Blueberry Pancake Breakfast

    It’s blueberry season, and Verrill Farm, 11 Wheeler Road in Concord,  is hosting a morning of blueberry madness on Saturday, July 17, from 9 am – noon.  Breakfast includes blueberry pancakes, Massachusetts maple syrup, bacon or sausage, juice, milk or coffee.  At 11:00 am there will be a blueberry pie eating contest, no fee to enter (perhaps you’d pay not to enter.)  Music is provided by The Yankee Stompers.  $7 for adults, $4.50 for kids under 10.  Log on to www.verrillfarm.com for more information.

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  • Sunday, October 18, 1 – 3 pm – Autumn Beauties: Native Plants in the Collections

    Tower Hill Botanic Garden’s grounds contain many beautiful native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants that are at their most vivacious in the fall. Blueberries and chokeberries around the Wildlife Pond will be in vivid fall dress, and winterberries will be ripening for winter migrating birds. Fine native grasses will be at their ripest on Sunday, October 18, beginning at 1 pm, in the Systematic Garden. Witch hazels will be glowing yellow around the Wildlife Garden. Garden Designer Dori Smith, M. Ed, of Gardens for Life in Acton, Massachusetts,  will seek out the best specimens in the garden’s collections to show you. She will discuss the special characteristics of native plants that make them good choices for your gardens, and how to create a palette of plants that will please you and the wildlife, year round. Fee $20 for Tower Hill members, $25 for non-members.  To register, log on to www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Saturday, October 10, 10 am – 2 pm – Double Drumlin with Fire

    Join the New England Wild Flower Society on a hike botanizing two different communities formed by two dramatic glacial features:  a double drumlin and a kettlehole, owned by The Trustees of Reservations. We visit Weir Hill Reservation with Frances Clark and walk through 80 acres of field and woodland under fire management.  Oaks, hickories, blueberries, grasses, and sedges, with a variety of fall wildflowers of various colors highlight the mosaic formed by different burning regimes.  Descending from these dry slopes, we enter a wet meadow and visit the Ward Reservation to investigate the classic kettlehole bog, one of the best examples in eastern Massachusetts.   The colors should be spectacular, with many end-of-season fruits and flowers.   This botany hike emphasizes the different ecologies of these very different sites. Walking is on a wide but steep path over the drumlin, moist in the meadow, and easy along the board walk through the bog.  Bring Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide, Peterson’s Fern Guide, and a hand lens, as well as water and lunch.  Limit 15 participants, fee is $32 for NEWFS or Trustees of Reservations members, $36 for non members.  To register, log on to http://www.newfs.org, or call 508-877-7630.

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