Boston Flora

Tag: Bressingham Garden

  • Tuesdays, January 24 & 31, and Wednesday, January 25, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm Eastern – Winter Garden Design, Online and In-Person

    In this three-session Massachusetts Horticultural Society workshop, you’ll be introduced to how to create a winter garden for your front entry gardens or other borders. You’ll learn how to use drifts, masses, and individual plants to create garden layouts.  Discover how to use shrubs and trees scaled to the home landscape. You’ll discover the role the Winter Garden plays throughout the seasons. And, how to create a garden color palette that will apply to later seasons.

    If you’re redesigning an existing garden, we’ll start with a “decluttering exercise” to help you select the plants you love and thrive in your existing garden. Or if starting a new garden, a wish list of favorite plants. Then we’ll focus on designing the winter landscape of shrubs and trees—using conifers, deciduous, and broad-leafed plants.  You’ll practice creating a small Winter Garden using your own pre-measured small garden (no larger 20 x 8’—bring photos too).

    A Tutorial Walk in person at MHS’s Bressingham Garden will inspire our winter garden designs. Workshop complete with hand-outs, worksheets, and instructor review of your in-class work will get you started on learning the art of creating the Winter Garden.

    Virtual via Zoom: January, 24 & 31, 2024. Tutorial Garden Walk Jan 25, 2024 (February 1st snow day) $135 for Mass Hort members, $170 for nonmembers. Register at www.masshort.org

    Maria von Brincken, principal of Maria von Brincken Landscape Garden Design, is an award-winning certified designer (APLD and LI) celebrating over 30 years in professional practice. Maria specializes in landscape plans and coaching that creates beautiful spaces and colorful flower gardens designed for you. A certified landscape designer by profession and an artist and gardener by obsession. 

  • Wednesdays, January 22 & January 29, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Designing The Winter Landscape

    Maria von Brincken will help you design an outdoor space that uses texture, color, and mass planting to create visual interest throughout the winter. Winter gardens also create a backdrop for seasonal flower gardens. Featuring our Bressingham Garden, her design work, and others, Maria will introduce you to lay-out and plant lists that will inspire your garden planning during these cold months. Weather permitting, dress for a tutorial walk in our winter gardens. There will be class time for you to experiment with winter planting combinations and layout that could work in your own gardens.

    This is a two day workshop, January 22nd & January 29th. Mass Hort Members: $145, non-Members: $185. To register, click here.

  • Thursday, October 5 – Saturday, October 7 – America in Bloom National Symposium

    The 2017 America in Bloom National Symposium is coming to New England for the first time this October.  The Town of Holliston will host the event October 5 – 7, and attendees from out of state will lodge at the Sheraton Framingham Hotel & Conference Center.

    The conference kicks off with an East Coast Garden Tour on Thursday, October 5 from 10 – 4, advance registration required. If you want to experience horticultural heritage in the Boston area at its best, this tour is for you! We’ll start by visiting one of the oldest and finest garden centers in the Boston area, Weston Nurseries. Known for offering exceptional plants and garden ideas, this nursery in Hopkinton, MA also has an amazing railroad garden. After touring the garden center we’ll enjoy lunch hosted by Peter Mezitt, fourth generation nursery owner. Then we will head to The Gardens at Elm Bank in Wellesley, MA, headquarters of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Here we will enjoy special tours of 12 display gardens, including an historic Olmsted Italianate Garden as well as the Bressingham Garden designed by English nurseryman Adrian Bloom. The last stop on the tour is to Wellesley College, rated one of the most beautiful small college campuses in the country. We will have a special tour of their botanic garden which now focuses on the fundamental role of plants in nature and culture. The cost is $50 and includes lunch. Tour is limited to 50 people so register early.

    If you prefer, take a tour of the Urban Farming Institute from 1 – 4. If you believe in sourcing local, fresh food, don’t miss this tour! The Urban Farming Institute is a brand-new concept in the historically-diverse Roxbury/Dorchester/Mattapan neighborhoods of Boston. The Institute’s mission is to develop and promote urban farming as a commercial sector within the city and to create green collar jobs for residents. It is also committed to engaging its urban community in building a healthier and more locally-based food system. The Fowler-Clark-Epstein Farm, currently under reconstruction, is becoming the center for celebrating the agricultural heritage of the Boston area as well as the cultural and historic heritage of this unique community. On this tour, you will see first-hand the work the Institute is doing to enable urban farming through farm creation, farmer training, public education, and policy change, and how the Institute brings people in urban neighborhoods closer to food production. Your tour leader is Barbara Knecht, partner in “Strategies for Cities.” Barbara has brought 30 years of developing urban land for public good and a love of all things edible to her work developing urban farm sites. The cost is $35. Tour is limited to 11 people so register early.

    Prior to that evening’s silent auction and cocktail reception there will be a Mayor and Elected Leaders Reception, and later, a Celebration Dinner.

    The Symposium begins in earnest on Friday, with a Keynote Presentation by Ken Kruckemeyer, board member of LivableStreets Alliance and partner in “Strategies for Cities.” Ken specializes in the design of civil infrastructure focusing in pedestrian and bicycle corridors as well as roadway and bridge design. Historic preservation has become a fundamental tool for strengthening communities. When understood as a combination of physical and human attributes, it can provide a framework for communities to build on their assets and improve health, affordability, prosperity, and well-being. Historic preservation can make it possible to achieve a wide range of public goals, including small business incubation, affordable housing, sustainable development, neighborhood renewal, heritage tourism, and economic development. By examples primarily drawn from his Boston experience, Ken will address the importance of historic preservation and the role that walkable corridors play in an effective immersion in the historic character of a community.

    Friday brings a host of panel presentations such as Creating a Sense of Place Downtown, and a How-To Guide to Improving Your Town Through Horticulture. Afternoon and evening tours of the Freedom Trail and the Rose Kennedy Greenway, plus Mount Auburn Cemetery, are on offer.

    On Saturday the Showcase of Innovation continues, and America in Bloom President Katy Moss Warner will take a brief look at collective successes in her morning Keynote Speech. A lunch and Holliston Walking Tour round out the afternoon, and that evening, the America in Bloom Awards Banquet will take place.

    Full registration is $345, and by registering online at http://www.americainbloom.org/Symposium/Registration.aspx before September 8 you will receive a discount. You may also call 614-453-0744, or email aib@AmericainBloom.org.

  • Saturday, August 29, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Bressingham Basics

    Join Suzanne Higham on Saturday, August 29 at 10 am for an introduction to the Bressingham Garden of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. She will identify different plants and the inspired design concepts that make this a gem of The Gardens at Elm Bank.

    Garden Keeper Suzanne Higham has had the opportunity to spend time in the Bressingham Garden with renowned designer Adrian Bloom. Working beside him, and speaking with him through several seasons, she has a deep understanding of this beautiful garden and Bloom’s vision for its development and future. Work with Suzanne to get a hands-on lesson on how you can grow these plants in your own landscape. Come with questions!

    Owner and principal designer of Frog Hollow Landscapes, Suzanne is an award winning designer, and has worked on a team of designers with Mass Hort to create our award winning gardens at the Boston Flower and Garden Shows in 2014 and 2015. Learn more at www.froghollowlandscapes.com.

    Please attend dressed to get your hands a little dirty in the garden. Fee: Mass Hort Members $5, Non-Members $8. Register online at www.masshort.org.

  • Thursday, May 31, 7:00 pm – A Walk Through Bressingham Garden

    This Thursday, May 31 Massachusetts Horticultural Society presentation will be a talk and walk through the Bressingham Garden at Elm Bank, which Paul Miskovsky of Paul Miskovsky Landscaping, Inc. helped to build and continues to oversee. Paul’s discussion will focus on using the plants of Bressingham in the home landscape. Learn some key points in artful garden creation by choosing plants that complement and contrast each other in structure, texture, color and season.  Paul Miskovsky is the owner and driving creativity behind Miskovsky Landscaping. Paul is also a Trustee of Mass Hort, and the overseer of the Bressingham Garden at Elm Bank. Register on line at www.masshort.org.

  • Wednesday, July 13, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – From Bressingham Gardens to the Bressingham Garden at Elm Bank

    Beginning in 2002, Adrian Bloom began planting demonstration gardens in America, both to illustrate his design principles and promote his plants. In August 2007, he accepted an invitation to install a garden at Elm Bank. To that time, his largest American garden was about 4,000 square feet in size. Originally planned to be considerably smaller, the Elm Bank garden quickly grew to just over an acre in size, yet was largely built in a weekend by several hundred volunteers.

    Adrian will talk about his original vision for the garden and how he adjusted that vision to meet American – and New England – sensibilities and realities. He’ll talk about what he has learned in four years and where he sees this particular garden going. He’ll also share his experiences about plants that work well in our climate and planting combinations. After a break for refreshments, he’ll field questions from the audience.

    This Massachusetts Horticultural Society talk begins at 7 p.m. and will be held in the Hunnewell Building at Elm Bank in Wellesley. Seating is limited to 200 and pre-registration is suggested. The cost for members is $20; non-members are $25. Wine and light refreshments will be served.

    To reserve a spot for this lecture you may register online or call 617-933-4995.

  • Wednesday, July 13, 9:00 am – 11:00 am – A Garden Walk and Design Tutorial with Adrian Bloom

    Please join The Massachusetts Horticultural Society beginning at 9:00 a.m. for a continental breakfast in the James Crockett Memorial Garden (below) at Elm Bank. At 9:30 a.m., you’ll step into the Bressingham Garden for a hands-on look at the garden, led by its designer. Adrian will talk about the garden’s underlying design principles and the choice of specific materials, including ‘hardscape’ items. He’ll discuss his choices of color and texture. Now that the garden is entering its fourth season, he’ll also talk about changes to the garden and how the New England climate comes into play. All of this will be interspersed with a commentary on how all of this relates to an urban or suburban homeowner’s desire to create a memorable garden. Questions are encouraged.

    Please plan for at least one hour for this event, which will be held rain or shine. It is limited to 40 participants and pre-registration is a must. The cost, including continental breakfast, is $45. Preference will be given to Mass Hort members, but if space remains after July 11, the cost for non-members will be $55.

    To reserve a place for this event you may register online or call 617-933-4995.

  • Wednesday, May 11, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – The Best Garden in Boston Can Be the One in Your Back Yard

    Paul Miskovsky has created, hands down, some of the most stunning gardens in New England. He has a horticulturist’s eye and he’s an artist who uses a Bobcat to sculpt nondescript properties into showcases for their owners.

    But he’s also a guy who believes that great gardens begin with selecting the right plants. And, you don’t have to have a million bucks to spend to create a garden with an ‘aura’. All it takes is a good eye and some imagination. Last year, Paul’s imagination landed his own garden on the front cover of the Boston Globe magazine’s annual gardening issue. On May 11, Paul will talk about choosing annuals and perennials for your garden. He’ll start by taking you on a walk through the Bressingham Garden at Elm Bank, which is chock full of unusual perennials. (Paul has more than a passing familiarity with the garden, he helped built it in 2007 and maintains it today, interpreting the vision of its designer, Adrian Bloom). You’ll then head back to the classroom to hear Paul talk about what works – and doesn’t work – in the home garden.

    Because of the garden walk component of the program, the starting time will be 6:30 p.m. Please assemble in front of the Elm Bank Education Building. The fee for this program is $10 for Massachusetts Horticultural Society members and $15 for non-members. Reservations are not required. As always, refreshments will be served.For more information, log on to www.masshort.org.

  • Saturdays, June 19 and June 26, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm – Mass Hort Garden Volunteer Parties

    Saturday is a great day to come out to Elm Bank, 700 Washington Street, Wellesley, and help Mass Hort and the Master Gardeners get the gardens into shape. Staff members and Master Gardeners will be there working between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 19, and Saturday, June 26, and you will weed, mulch, and deadhead until everything looks perfect!

    Whether or not actual perfection is achieved, volunteers and staff will do what needs to be done to allow the gardens to shine. The bulk of the work will be in the Bressingham garden and we will also finish planting the Trial Garden. You’ll also have fun – pizza for lunch, homemade goodies for dessert, and a plant raffle or two for extra excitement! There will be lots of friendly people working side by side, so this is a great opportunity for new volunteers to “break the ice” and familiarize themselves with the gardens and get to know people.

    Please do come out on one or both Saturdays. Bring your favorite tools and sunscreen, and, if you like, a treat to share. If you have any questions or need more information, email Vivien Bouffard, Volunteer Coordinator, at volunteers@masshort.org. She’s planning to be there both days. You may also telephone (617) 933-4934.

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