When member Linda Zukowski brought her granddaughter Sophie in to The First Lutheran Church of Boston to help choose ribbon for the family wreath, little Sophie immediately spotted a glittery green and red polka dot bow. She also loves birds. Co-President Jackie Blombach took Sophie’s wreath design very seriously, and the finished product was everything we could have wished for!
Holiday shopping time is upon us. The Garden Club of the Back Bay, an affiliate member of The Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America, encourages members to support the good work of the GCA, and here is an easy way to do just that. You can order this stunning book, Gardens Private and Personal, on line at www.gcamerica.org. $52 price includes shipping.
A Virtual Visiting Gardens Tour!
Experience 93 Garden Club of America member gardens through 256 captivating pages and 250 stunning photographs. Gardens Private & Personal is a treasure to own…and the perfect gift! Your purchases will provide valuable support to The Garden Club of America. Text by Nancy D’Oench, Coordination by Bonny Martin, and Photography by Mick Hales, published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. in association with The Garden Club of America.
Garden Club of the Back Bay volunteers are getting ready for this week’s big event, our four day wreath making marathon at The First Lutheran Church of Boston, located at 299 Berkeley Street. We proudly announce that we have presold all the fully decorated wreaths we can create during the project days, but invite the public to stop by the Church Monday through Thursday, December 7 – 10, to see what we have made (it’s a holiday event just to walk through the courtyard and see the variety of styles) and to purchase a plain wreath or a wreath with a spectacular bow, while our supplies last. We also thank all our loyal customers, and welcome the new ones.
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.
Garden Club of the Back Bay member Sue Hazard, along with Marianne Pawliki, invite you to a Special Holiday Sale with proceeds benefiting Mother Caroline Academy & Education Center (www.mcaec.org). Exhibitors will include TBH (perennial botanical designs), Trillion (estate and contemporary jewelry), the Janet Egan Collection (silk jackets and tunics, and the Bali Bags featured below) and much, much more. The times are Thursday, November 12, between 3 – 8 pm and Friday, November 13, between 10 – 4 pm, at 23 Marlborough Street, Boston, between Arlington and Berkeley Streets, 3rd and 4th floor. To respond, or for more information, call 617-427-1177, or email sghaz@verizon.net.
Asian Longhorned Beetle (“ALB”) is an invasive wood-boring pest that was discovered in Worcester, MA in August 2008. It is a huge threat to the trees that grow in our parks and along every street, and puts the livelihood of our state’s forests as well as our nursery and maple syrup industries at risk. Help us survey Boston’s trees for signs of this invasive beetle. Learn how to recognize ALB and ALB tree damage, and what trees are most vulnerable. A brief training session will be held before the survey. Meet Saturday, November 14 (raindate Sunday, November 15) at 9:00 am on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall at Arlington Street. Wear comfortable shoes and bring water. Call 617-626-1735 to register. For more information, log on to http://massnrc.org/pests/alb. This survey is sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources.
Your holiday wreath order is just a few clicks away. View pictures of a sampling of wreaths and bows from years past, print additional order forms, and actually order on line through PayPal, simply by clicking on the On Line Wreath Store link on the top of the page. We still prefer the good old fashioned check (we do pay a small fee on each transaction to PayPal) but recognize that for many the convenience of ordering securely on line is a benefit. Remember that if you live in the suburbs, you’ll have to pick up your order on December 9 or 10 at The First Lutheran Church of Boston, 299 Berkeley Street (on the corner of Marlborough and Berkeley) in the Back Bay. If you have any questions about the wreaths or delivery and pick up, email info@bostonflora.com and we’ll get back to you.
The second of the Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Landscape Visions Lecture Series will take place Saturday, November 21, in the Tapestry Room of the Museum, beginning at 1:30 pm. Alan Ward, landscape architect and principal, Sasaki Associates, will present American Rural Cemeteries: Interpreted Through the Lens. Boston has two iconic garden cemeteries: Mount Auburn and Forest Hills. The Rural Cemetery Movement in America began with the founding of Mount Auburn Cemetery in 1831, and spread from there across the country. Often the first designed public landscapes in American communities, rural cemeteries represent major shifts in cemetery landscape concept and form, and continue to resonate with the modern sensibilities they helped shape. Tickets: $15 General Public; $12 Seniors; $5 Members; FREE for Students. To purchase tickets, log on to www.gardnermuseum.org, or call 617-566-1401. Image: Halcyon Lake in spring, Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Photo by Alan Ward.The Landscape Visions Lecture Series is made possible by a bequest from Jeanne Muller Ryan
Just how dumb do you feel when someone says “You’re in the Garden Club. What’s this tree called?” Perhaps you smile and say it’s a native Eastern whortleberry. Lie no more. In just a few hours on Sunday, October 25, you can learn to identify 90 percent of the trees growing in Boston, both native and nonnative (like the ailanthus, below). Beginning in the classroom in the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum, you will briefly review the characteristics of the 25 most common trees and learn the botanical terminology necessary to describe them. You will then walk the grounds of the Arboretum to look at mature specimens of these trees. Your instructor is Kyle Port, Manager of Plant Records at the Arboretum. To register, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.
Fee $45 Arnold Arboretum member, $55 nonmember.
Looking for an alternative to using flowers flown in from all around the world with a high carbon footprint? Are you trying to buy locally, or even create beauty with found materials? Join arranger Joan Parker for an entertaining program of innovation and delight with original flower designs. The program is overflowing with new ideas, some gathered on her travels to Europe and South America. Naturally Simple is a fresh look at virtually everything. With Joan’s theatrical background and craftsman’s degree in metalworking, she has explored art and design on many levels. Her zest for life and experience has led her into wild and interesting adventures. This special program is co-sponsored by The Garden Club of the Back Bay and The College Club of Boston.   An optional lunch with our speaker ($20) will follow the meeting. Registration required. For more information, email info@bostonflora.com.
