Boston Flora

Tag: Boston Public Library

  • Thursday, September 13, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Beekeeping & Honey Talk

    Dave Strickler of the Boston Area Beekeepers Association will give a talk on Thursday, September 13 from 6 – 7 on honeybees in urban environments, what it’s like to raise honeybees in your backyard, and the small things you can do to help honeybees flourish. The free talk will take place at the Parker Hill branch of the Boston Public Library, 1497 Tremont Street in Roxbury. For more information visit 617-427-3820.

    Dave will bring a sampling of honeys from all over the world for a tasting that will delight your taste buds and change the way you think about honey.

    Image result for dave strickler bees

  • Tuesday, January 23, 3:00 pm – Garden Club of the Back Bay Winter Tea

    Tuesday, January 23, 3:00 pm – Garden Club of the Back Bay Winter Tea

    Each year we thank our members for their support with a Winter Tea, scheduled to take place Tuesday, January 23 beginning at 3 pm, when we will return to  The Courtyard Restaurant at The Boston Public Library. Overlooking the beautiful Italianate courtyard in the BPL’s historic McKim building, the Courtyard Restaurant is steeped in history and loaded with delightful tea selections. We mix and mingle from 3:00 – 3:30 , followed by a selection of tea sandwiches and sweets, and your choice of premium loose leaf teas. Members are invited to ask friends to join them, although we must charge a separate increased fee for guests. The Club underwrites a portion of the expense of the tea on behalf of our valued members. $45 for Garden Club members, $55 for guests. Our members will receive an email notice of this meeting. For more information email info@bostonflora.com.

  • Wednesday, November 29, 6:00 pm – Unraveling Ancient Life in Massachusetts: Fossils, Paleobiology, and Geologic Maps

    For two hundred years, geologists and paleontologists have mapped sedimentary sequences and interpreted the ancient environments they represent. Professor Richard H. Bailey, professor of geology in the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences at Northeastern University, will unearth the evolutionary history of Massachusetts fossils, their value in understanding the geologic development of the region, and their historical depiction in maps. The lecture will take place Wednesday, November 29 at 6 pm in the Boston Public Library’s Central Library on Boylston Street.

    Following the talk, audience members will be invited to enjoy a guided tour of the Map Center’s exhibit, Beneath Our Feet: Mapping the World Below. Free.

  • Wednesday, September 27, 5:30 pm – 9:00 pm – Care For the Square

    Wednesday, September 27, 5:30 pm – 9:00 pm – Care For the Square

    The Friends of Copley Square invite you to help Care for the Square on Wednesday, September 27. The evening begins at 5:30 with Cocktails and hors d’oeuvre by The Catered Affair in the Courtyard Cafe in the Boston Public Library on Copley Square. Then, continue the evening with a special Farm to Table Dinner by Chef Sean MacAlpine in the Dome Room of the Lenox Hotel, from 7 – 9. Tickets are $175 per person (table for eight guests – $1,200). You may mail a check made out to Friends of Copley Square, PO Box 170124, Boston, MA 02117, or purchase online at   https://friendsofcopleysquare.org/

  • From the Archives: Greenhouse Space

    On February 10, 1983, Michael Connor, then Superintendent of Horticulture in the Boston Parks Department, was our guest, speaking on the topic of Perennials for the Library Courtyard.  At the time, our Club maintained the garden at the main branch on Boylston Street. He outlined what perennials could be started from seed, and the various methods of propagation. He volunteered greenhouse space at Franklin Park. The consensus was that annual begonias would be planted in the spring, and perennials could be started the following year. Mr. Connor then offered the Club a tour of the Franklin Park Greenhouses in May.  Notes indicate the tour took place, with only four Club members attending. Ultimately, perennials, most notably hosta and pachysandra, were planted in the library beds. with many of the plants coming from past President Margaret Pokorny’s gardens in New Hampshire, and these plants were divided and redivided over the years.  Having greenhouse space offered by the City was a special tribute to our Club’s energy in pursuing neighborhood beautification projects, which continue today.

  • From the Archives: Bull S***

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay designed, planted and maintained the Boston Public Library Central Courtyard in the McKim Building for many years beginning in 1982.  The plantings were installed by Capizzi & Co, and border beds were filled with pachysandra which, despite a regimen of thinning and spraying, developed fungus.  Poor drainage was probably the culprit. So, at an emergency meeting called by then President Selma Freidman at her home, the Club voted to purchase a truckload of aged bovine “mulch” for $200 – $300 to spread over the acidic and possibly overcrowded pachysandra beds to remedy the fungus issue. Sometimes you have to spread that manure around to achieve your goals.

  • Thursday, September 22, 6:30 pm – The History of Horticulture in Boston

    Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of growing plants. It includes the cultivation of fruits, flowers and vegetables and also includes plant conservation, landscape restoration, landscape and garden design, construction, maintenance, and arboriculture.

    Noted historian Anthony M. Sammarco will discuss the early years of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and discuss the horticultural pursuits in Brighton, among them the Winships, Brecks, Kenricks and the many nurseries that once flourished in Brighton. This Thursday, September 22 event is sponsored by the Friends of the Brighton Branch Boston Library, the Brighton Allston Historical Society, and the Brighton Garden and Horticultural Club. The program begins at 6:30 pm at the Brighton Branch, Boston Public Library, 40 Academy Hill Road in Brighton Center. Free admission. Refreshments will be served.

  • Saturday, June 11, 11:00 am – Growing Herbs at Home

    Herbs are an easy way to add freshness, flavor, and health to your cooking, and are simple to grow indoors or out. Learn how you can grow and cook with basil, cilantro, parsley, oregano, rosemary, and more. On Saturday, June 11, beginning at 11 am, the Egleston Square Branch of the Boston Public Library, 2044 Columbus Avenue in Roxbury, will present a class on Growing Herbs at Home. Free.  Please contact the Egleston Square Branch at 617.445.4340 for additional information. Space is limited.  Image from www.rodalesorganiclife.com.

  • Monday, May 16, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Bee Keeping Panel

    On Monday, May 16, beginning at 6 pm in the Boston Public Library Central Library in Copley Square, 700 Boylston Street, hear a Bee Keeping Panel with Joseph Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carrill, authors of The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America’s Bees, and Thomas Seeley, author of Following the Wild Bees: The Craft and Science of Bee Hunting.

    In The Bees in Your Backyard, Joseph Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carril provide an engaging introduction to the roughly four thousand different bee species found in the United States and Canada, dispelling common myths about bees while offering essential tips for telling them apart in the field. In Following the Wild Bees, world honeybee authority Thomas Seeley reintroduces readers to the lost pastime of bee hunting, explaining not only the “how-to” but the “how-come” of the sport. Requiring no costly equipment or prior experience, bee hunting offers anyone—whether beekeeper, naturalist, layman, adult, or child—a way to understand nature on a deeper level through an outdoor craft that many people once knew but few practice today.  Free admission.

  • Massachusetts Horticultural Society Print Collection

    Thanks to three months of collaboration between the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the Boston Public Library, and Digital Commonwealth, more than 1,000 rare images from the oldest horticultural library in the nation are now available at the click of a button.

    With prints dating from 1620 to 1969, Mass Hort’s Botanical Print Collection captures more than three centuries in the evolution of botanical illustration, offering an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and authors in the field of horticultural. The digital portal will also create opportunities for the public to explore images that until now have been seen only by experts and aficionados, and to cultivate an appreciation for the art and science of horticulture from the comfort of their own homes.

    The Horticultural Library at Massachusetts Horticultural Society was the first in the United States. It was established soon after the Society was founded in 1829 to share horticulture knowledge and beauty through its prints, books, extensive collection of seed catalogs, and other rare materials. Its horticultural holdings provide invaluable resources to our members, scholars, historians and general public.

    Noticing that interest in botanical prints had grown during the intervening 140 years, the Society mounted its first major exhibit in 1968. It continued in 1969, when a group of lily prints was shown to the North American Lily Society at its annual meeting.

    Digitization and online access to special collections is an important strategy for any cultural heritage organization as it allows us to reach our users beyond our buildings and business hours. Today, with the help of Digital Commonwealth, Mass Hort’s Library will meet the 21st Century digital needs of students, researchers, authors and the public.

    Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s botanical prints are available online at the Digital Commonwealth repository at https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/collections/commonwealth:k930hm897. These images are available for the purposes of viewing and studying and not for commercial use.

    Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Library collection includes over 20,000 volumes at our library in the Education Center of our Elm Bank horticulture center and gardens. Additionally, at a separate archival storage facility, the Society maintains 5,000 rare books, manuscripts, prints, seed catalogs, glass slides, and early transactions of horticultural institutions.

    Many of the books transferred to the Chicago Botanical Garden’s Lenhardt Library Rare Book Collection in the early 2000’s by Mass Hort are now available online through the Illinois Digital Archives at http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/ncbglib01; search on “Massachusetts Horticultural Society.”

    Digital Commonwealth is a non-profit collaborative organization that provides resources and services to support the creation, management, and dissemination of cultural heritage materials held by Massachusetts libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives. Digital Commonwealth currently has over 130 member institutions from across the state.