Boston Flora

Tag: BNAN

  • Saturday, March 29, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm – 39th Annual Gardeners Gathering

    Saturday, March 29, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm – 39th Annual Gardeners Gathering

    Do you love to garden? Join over 400 community and backyard gardening enthusiasts for a full day of lectures, demos and hands-on workshops on Saturday, March 29, from 11 – 5 at The Egan Center, 120 Forsyth Street and Shillman Hall, 115 Forsyth Street at Northeastern University in Boston. Learn how to keep bees, grow mushrooms, plan your garden and more. Plus, the perennially popular community garden awards will honor Bostonians who’ve made extraordinary contributions to our gardening community. Join Boston Natural Areas Network for this special event!  For more information visit www.bostonnatural.org. 

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  • Saturday, March 22, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Perennial Garden Basics: Spring Perennial Garden Care

    Boston Natural Areas Network will host Perennial Garden Basics: Spring Perennial Garden Care on Saturday, March 22, from 10 – 12 at the James J. Chittick School, 154 Ruskindale Road, Mattapan.  In this workshop presented by Adam Monroy, learn how to prepare, plant and fertilize a perennial garden bed for multi-season interest.  Registration required by calling 617-542-7696 or by emailing info@bostonnatural.org. Photo from www.perennials-made-easy.com.

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  • Tuesday, January 24, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Help Promote Trees in Boston

    For all those interested in improving and expanding Boston’s Urban Forest. Become a part of a resident based stewardship and advocacy group whose goals are to plant trees and educate the public about the benefits of trees. The meeting will take place Tuesday, January 24, from 6:30 – 7:30 at the BNAN offices, 62 Summer Street in downtown Boston. Please RSVP to reserve your spot at 617-542-7696 ext 20 or email mathew@bostonnatural.org.

  • Thursday, January 19, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Why We Need Wilds in the City

    Dan Driscoll, Director of Recreational Facilities Planning, MA DCR and featured green space advocate in “My Green Manifesto,” will speak about the need for accessible, “wild” spaces in the city. He will talk about his work along the Charles River to transform a polluted, once feared space into a home for urban wildlife and an opportunity for human discovery and peace. The program will take place Thursday, January 19, from 6:30 – 8:30 at the BNAN office, 62 Summer Street in Boston. Registration required. To register and for more information email info@bostonnatural.org or 617-542-7696.

  • Monday, November 21, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Boston Urban Forest Council Meeting

    For all those interested in improving and expanding Boston’s Urban Forest, you are invited to the Boston Urban Forest Council Meeting on Monday, November 21, from 6 – 7 at the Boston Natural Areas Network offices, 62 Summer Street in downtown Boston. Become a part of a citizen based stewardship group whose goals are to plan trees and educate the public about the benefits of trees. Please RSVP to reserve your spot at 617-542-7696 ext 20 or email: mathew@bostonnatural.org.

  • Saturday, November 19, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – First Annual Citywide Seed Swap

    Join gardeners from around the city for the Boston Gardeners Council’s first annual seed swap, to be held Saturday, November 19, from 2 – 4 at the Boston Natural Areas Network office at 62 Summer Street in Boston. Bring your favorite or extra seeds and discover what other gardeners love to grow. Come share your wisdom, tips and tales of beloved crops. Contact: karen@bostonnatural.org or call 617-542-7696 for more information.

  • Saturday, August 27, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Attracting Native Pollinators to Your Garden

    Join The Trustees of Reservations ecologist Russ Hopping for a workshop on how to attract native pollinators to your vegetable and ornamental gardens. Learn how to create habitat that will support many of these essential species. The program will take place Saturday, August 27, from 10 – 12 at City Native in Mattapan. Registration required.For more information or to register for a program (unless otherwise noted) please call BNAN at 617-542-7696 or email info@bostonnatural.org. Clethra alnifolia, below, provides nourishment for butterflies and other native pollinators.  Photo from Grow Native Massachusetts.

  • Saturday, August 6, 10:30 am – Nightingale Community Garden Grand Opening

    As the interest in community gardens continues to grow rapidly nationwide and around the Boston area, Boston Natural Areas Network (BNAN) will celebrate the grand opening of Nightingale Community Garden — the largest community garden to open in Dorchester — on Saturday, August 6, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon at 512 Park Street in Dorchester. Mayor Thomas M. Menino will join gardeners, neighbors, partners, and supporters to celebrate the first planting season of this remarkable new 1.5-acre garden in the heart of the city’s largest neighborhood. All are invited to come learn more about this new community treasure and enjoy music and refreshments. The event is free and open to the public.

    Once the site of the former Boston Public Florence Nightingale School, and long gardened by a small group of local residents, Nightingale Garden was acquired by BNAN in 2006 as a permanent community garden. BNAN is a Boston-based nonprofit that works to preserve, expand, and enhance urban open space, including community gardens, greenways, and urban wilds throughout the City of Boston. After years of advocacy efforts and a thorough community planning and design process, renovations to Nightingale Garden began in earnest in late 2010 and were completed in June.

    BNAN has significantly expanded Nightingale Community Garden from 30 to 132 plots and raised beds under cultivation by more than 150 resident gardeners who represent a wide array of cultures and generations. The new garden features healthy, nutrient-rich soil, fully accessible paths, a complete irrigation system, benches and picnic tables, a tool shed, bulletin board, and a common gathering area with gazebo sun shelter that also captures rain water in barrels. The gardeners began planting on July 1, and even with the late start due to construction constraints, Nightingale Garden is already demonstrating its bountiful potential. Blueberry bushes were saved from the old garden and fruit trees will be planted in the fall. Nightingale is quickly becoming the hub of community gardening and urban agriculture in Dorchester, hosting programs focused on cultivating fresh healthy food, including gardening, cooking, and fitness workshops, as well as concerts throughout the summer. All programs and events are free and open to all gardeners and the public to enjoy.

    “Nightingale Garden is a real community success story,” says Valerie Burns, president of Boston Natural Areas Network. “The project represents years of steadfast efforts by residents, the city, BNAN, and many donors and partners to create a permanent garden where the community can gather and grow healthy food for years to come.”

    This garden renovation is part of a Dorchester-wide program called Boston Is Growing Gardens (BIGG), which BNAN founded in 2009 for the purpose of doubling the growing capacity of community gardens in the neighborhood and promoting the health and wellness of its residents. The BIGG program combines improved and expanded gardens with no-cost programs to build interest, participation and skill in growing fresh vegetables and inspire healthier eating and more active lifestyles. Through coordinated outreach and skill-building and mentoring programs, BIGG works to connect Dorchester residents to these new gardening programs and resources.

    “The opening of the Nightingale Community Garden in Dorchester signifies a big step forward in community-building, neighborhood renewal and preservation for the City of Boston,” Mayor Menino said. “Community gardens add many dimensions to our open urban space as they provide a viable source of inexpensive and healthy food and also promote regular physical activity and a rewarding personal experience.”

    Major funders for the project include the Boston Public Health Commission through its Community Putting Prevention to Work program, Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development Grassroots program, the Manton Foundation, the Claneil Foundation, the Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund, the Towards Sustainability Foundation, the American Heart Association, the Cabot Trust, and the Boston Foundation. Boston University School of Public Health provided in-kind services to insure healthy soil.

    If you would like to learn more about BIGG or how to get involved in community gardening in your Dorchester neighborhood, please contact BNAN at info@bostonnatural.org or call the BIGG Project Manager, Grantley Payne, at 617.542.7696 x21.

  • Valerie Burns Receives Liff Spirit Award

    Boston Natural Areas Network (BNAN) and its affiliate, The Trustees of Reservations are pleased to announce that Valerie Burns has been chosen as the 2011 recipient of The Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s Liff Spirit Award. The award honors the vision, wisdom, humanity and joy that Justine Mee Liff brought to her work as Boston Commissioner of Parks and Recreation from 1996 until 2002. It is presented annually to an individual or individuals whose leadership, commitment to cities, passion for public places and ability to inspire others, best reflects Justine’s spirit and legacy. Burns received the award at the 8th Annual Party in the Park in the Back Bay Fens on Wednesday, May 18, 2011.

    As president of Boston Natural Areas Network (BNAN), Burns demonstrates a strong commitment to conserving and expanding urban green spaces and encouraging community members to advocate and work for all the city’s parklands. “It is an honor to receive this award,” says Valerie. “As Justine did in her work, it is important to celebrate the beauty, joy and community that Boston’s parks and green spaces bring to our city.”

    BNAN’s mission is to improve, preserve and expand special kinds of urban open space such as community gardens, urban wilds, and greenways, always guided by local residents. The organization involves over 20,000 individuals and families each year in the stewardship of these green spaces. In 1995, BNAN introduced an initiative under Burns’ direction called, Greenways to Boston Harbor, which created the Neponset River Greenway and the East Boston Greenway that has leveraged to date $43 million in public funding for new parklands in the neighborhoods of Dorchester, Mattapan, Hyde Park and East Boston.. These two greenways, moving towards completion, now provide 9 miles of walking and biking trails and almost 100 acres of parks as the expansion of public parks in parts of the city underserved by open space. BNAN is also the leading organization for community gardens in Boston, providing services to all 150 community gardens and owns and protects 43 gardens.

    Boston Natural Areas Network is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing together local residents, partner organizations, public officials and foundations to preserve, expand and enhance urban open space, including community gardens, greenways and urban wilds. For more information about the organization, becoming a member or the calendar of events, visit www.bostonnatural.org.or call 617-542-7696.

  • Saturday, April 23, 9:00 am – 11:00 am – Grow Your Own Seedlings with Seed, Sow and Grow

    Start your warm season vegetables with Boston Natural Areas Network on Saturday, April 23, from 9 – 11 at City Natives, 30 Edgewater Drive in Mattapan.  Learn methods of sowing seeds and raising seedlings to produce fruit and vegetable starts for your own garden.  Registration is required – call 617-542-7696, or email info@bostonnatural.org. Image from gardenofeaden.blogspot.com.