Boston Flora

Tag: Bringing Nature Home

  • Thursday, May 4, 2:00 pm Eastern – The House of a Lifetime: Collecting Northern Morocco Memories, Online

    Saturated colors, intricate patterns, striking architecture: Umberto Pasti’s house and garden in Tangier is the ultimate example of a well-curated Moroccan villa. Set in a lush hillside garden filled with the native flora of northern Morocco, the house offers glimpses of the serene landscapes and fountains through windows, archways and loggias, as well as Pasti’s scholarly collection of tiles and rare textiles from Africa, the Middle East, and southern Europe.

    In this Garden Conservancy online talk on May 4 at 2 pm Eastern time, writer Umberto Pasti and photographer Ngoc Minh Ngo will talk about their latest book, The House of a Lifetime and explore the subjects of Jbala Berbers, Northern Moroccan flora, and its influence on Moroccan art. $5 for Garden Conservancy members $15 for nonmembers. A recording of this webinar will be sent to all registrants a few days after the event. We encourage you to register, even if you cannot attend the live webinar. Register at https://www.gardenconservancy.org

    Umberto Pasti graduated in philosophy of history in his native Milano. After traveling extensively in North Africa and the Middle East, nearly forty years ago he bought a place in Tangier. Now he lives between Milano, Tangier, and Rohuna, a small village on the Atlantic Coast of Northern Morocco. He is a writer, a gardener, and a garden designer. He has published several books, A House of a Lifetime, about his home in Tangier, is published in January 2023.

    Ngoc Minh Ngo is a New York-based photographer and author of three books, Bringing Nature Home: Floral Arrangements Inspired by Nature; In Bloom: Creating and Living with Flowers, and Eden Revisited: A Garden in Northern Morocco, all published by Rizzoli. Her work has been the subject of solo shows at the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakech and Wave Hill Public Garden and Cultural Center in the Bronx, New York. Ngoc received the Land Place Spirit Award from Longhouse Reserve in 2022.

  • Thursday, August 5, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Invasive Plant Species Management & Native Plant Restoration, Online

    Join The Trustees, wetland scientist Michael DeRosa and master gardener Catherine Carney-Felman, for a virtual lecture on August 5 between 6 – 7 all about invasive plant species management and native plant restoration.

    Using the foundation of works by Dr. Douglas Tallamy (Bringing Nature Home, Nature’s Best Hope, The Nature of Oaks) we will discuss the importance of identifying and managing invasive plant species in our own yards and re-establishment of native species in a collective effort to restore the caterpillar and insect populations that form the basis of our interconnected food webs. We will also discuss some invasive plant removal and management techniques and consider native plants that we can all use to form the important plant communities that can be easily incorporated in our home and neighborhood landscapes.

    Virtual lecture attendees are welcome to a complimentary tour of our wetlands gardens at Stevens-Coolidge House & Gardens, date to be announced.

    Michael DeRosa is a Professional Wetland Scientist and population ecologist specializing in ecological restoration. He is a Licensed Site Professional and manages hazardous waste site evaluations, assessments, and remedial actions within the Commonwealth and a LEED Accredited Professional under the US Green Building Council. Mike incorporated DeRosa Environmental Consulting, Inc. in 1994 and has cultivated the company into a diversified group of scientists that develop ecologically based solutions to the environmental problems of the day.

    Catherine Carney-Felman, M. Ed., Master Gardener, NOFA Certification, Member of the Ipswich Conservation Commission, Board Member of the Ipswich Humane Group, Principal of Shamrock Acres Environmental Landscape Company, volunteer in charge of the nature gardens at the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary and Ipswich River Watershed Association, writer, lecturer, and speaker on many environmental, gardening and animal subjects, unabashed tree hugger and animal rescuer.

    This lecture will be held on Zoom. Space is limited; pre-registration is required by clicking HERE.

    For more information please contact tickets@thetrustees.org

  • Saturday and Sunday, September 23 and 24, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm – Environmental Studies School

    The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, Inc. will offer Series 5, Course 2: The Living Earth – Land & Related Issues, on Saturday and Sunday, September 23 & 24, at UTEC, Inc., 35 Warren Street in Lowell.  Subjects to be covered are Ecology, Plants, Environmental Science, Wildlife, Earth Stewardship, Source Reduction of Pollutants, Coastal Zone Management, and Field Study of the Land.  Recommended reading is Bringing Nature Home by Douglas W. Tallamy, and Living in the Environment by G. Tyler Miller, Jr., 7th Edition or later. For more information contact Leigh Cameron, ESS Chairman, at leighb.cameron@gmail.com.

  • Saturday, February 4, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – In Bloom: Creating and Living with Flowers

    Inspiring new ways to connect with the beauty of flowers in everyday life. Like the author’s exquisite first book, Bringing Nature Home, this much-awaited follow-up title, In Bloom, presents stunning arrangements and ideas for interiors inspired by the beauty of flowers. Ngoc Minh Ngo has recorded the work of artists, designers, and tastemakers who demonstrate the many ways that flowers can enhance our homes and work spaces. Each chapter focuses on a unique way to incorporate floral designs into interiors, from flower arrangements made from foraged greenery to wall painting evoking Monet’s water lilies to paper flowers that never lose their vibrancy. Renowned photographer Oberto Gili fills his house in Italy with treasures from his bountiful garden that inspire his work, and landscape designer Miranda Brooks puts to use her passion for all things botanical in the decoration of her beautiful Brooklyn home. With exceptional photography that captures the beauty of these flower-inspired homes and text that shares how these imaginative artists and designers achieved their botanical creations, this is an irresistible book for flower lovers, decorators, and homeowners.

    Ngoc Minh Ngo, the author and photographer of Bringing Nature Home, is a self-taught photographer whose work explores the intrinsic beauty of plants and nature. Her images have been published in international publications such as T Magazine, House & Garden UK, Martha Stewart Living, and Garden Design. The talk and book signing is free with admission but pre-registration is requested at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Wednesday, March 2, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Restoring Nature’s Relationships at Home

    If we are to make our residential landscapes truly living ecosystems once again, we need to understand the specialized relationships that make plants and animals interdependent. Who better to take us on an in-depth journey into this fascinating and complex world than Doug Tallamy? On Wednesday, March 2 at 7 pm at the Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, he will give us detailed examples of these co-evolutionary relationships, showing us how they determine the stability and complexity of local food webs providing birds with insects and berries, dispersing bloodroot seeds, pollinating goldenrod, and much more. This knowledge equips us to knowingly select plants and to construct landscapes that restore nature’s relationships at home.

    Doug Tallamy is a Professor of Entomology and Wildlife Biology at the University of Delaware. His groundbreaking book, Bringing Nature Home, was published in 2007 and continues to have national impact; it was awarded the 2008 Silver Medal by the Garden Writers Association. In 2014, he co-authored The Living Landscape with Rick Darke. Doug’s conservation work and science-based advocacy for native plants has earned him numerous awards. Sponsored by Grow Native Massachusetts – admission free.

  • Wednesday, November 4, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Bringing Nature Home

    On Wednesday, November 4, from 7 – 8:30 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Doug Tallamy will discuss the important ecological roles of plants in landscapes, and emphasize the ecological, educational, physical and emotional benefits of designing landscapes with these roles in mind. Tallamy is a professor at the University of Delaware and won the Silver Medal from the Garden Writer’s Association for his book, Bringing Nature Home. His most recent book, with Rick Darke, is The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden. Tower Hill members $15, nonmembers $25.  Register online at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Wednesday, February 11, 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Edible Native Plants for Your Landscape

    There’s an increasing inclination to utilize more native species in home landscaping and in parks and other conserved landscapes, thanks to books like Doug Tallamy’s Bringing Nature Home, which extol the virtues of native plants over exotic ornamentals for attracting and sustaining beneficial insects. Yet, for some property owners/managers, this alone may be insufficient motivation to “go native”. Perhaps knowing that many native species are edible by people too will provide an additional incentive to plant native species. Juneberries (Amelanchier spp.), for example, are equally edible by songbirds and people. Picture below from www.blogs.cornell.edu. The taste of the ripe fruit is like a cross between cherries and almonds. Edible wild plants offer opportunities for people to connect to nature via their taste buds, thereby building their enthusiasm and public support for adding edible native plants to their home landscaping, as well as for conserving other lands that offer foraging opportunities. Adding native edible plants to a landscape can boost biodiversity as well as “spice it up” (literally as well as figuratively – i.e., we can have our acorn cake and eat it too). Learn about at least three dozen of the tastiest native species the Northeast U.S. region has to offer. Keys to the identification of each species are provided, along with edible portions, seasons of availability and preparation methods, along with guidelines for safe and environmentally responsible foraging.

    Russ Cohen’s “day job” is serving as the Rivers Advocate for the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Ecological Restoration. He has spoken to The Garden Club of the Back Bay as well.  One of his areas of expertise is in riparian vegetation. He has compiled a list of native plant species suitable for planting in riparian areas; wrote nine fact sheets on the ecological and other beneficial functions of naturally vegetated buffers along rivers and streams, intended to aid the effective implementation of the Mass. Rivers Protection Act; and (in partnership with the Appalachian Mountain Club) prepared “Trees, Paddlers and Wildlife”, a set of outreach materials (YouTube video, brochure and PowerPoint presentation) intended to raise the awareness of paddlers, riparian land owners and managers, and others about the ecological and other beneficial values of retaining trees and other woody vegetation (living or dead) in and along rivers and streams. In his spare time, Cohen pursues his passion of connecting to nature via his taste buds. He is an expert forager and the author of Wild Plants I Have Known…and Eaten, published in 2004 by the Essex County Greenbelt Association. Mr. Cohen has been teaching foraging since 1974 and leads foraging walks each year at a wide variety of venues throughout the Northeast. The Ecological Landscaping Alliance’s free webinar with Russ will take place Wednesday, February 11, from 7:30 – 8:30. See more at: http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-edible-native-plants-for-your-landscape/#sthash.yQGWH35b.dpuf

  • Thursday, June 10, 6:30 pm – An Evening with National Expert Douglas Tallamy

    Douglas Tallamy’s book, Bringing Nature Home, has captured the nation’s attention since it was first released two years ago. Since then, he has been in demand all over the country, speaking to more than 600 different audiences—at venues ranging from the American Society of Landscape Architects National Conference, to the Hummingbird Festival in Mississippi, to the Tyler Arboretum in Pennsylvania, and many more. He also has been featured on National Public Radio’s Science Friday and on other media programs.

    As Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, he has done groundbreaking work on the role of insects as intermediaries in the food web, discovering the extent to which exotic plants, even if they are not invasive, host relatively few insects. His work reveals how important it is to restore native plant communities, if we are to reverse the declines in migrating songbirds, butterfly populations, and biodiversity as a whole. Tallamy makes an urgent plea about the importance of native plants to our landscapes, and indeed, to our survival. And he embraces the importance of land stewardship throughout urban and suburban America as critical components of this effort.

    This event, taking place Thursday, June 10,  is co-sponsored by the Cambridge Plant & Garden Club, the Ecological Landscaping Association, and the Friends of the Cambridge Public Library. The talk will begin at 6:30 at the Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway in Cambridge, and will be followed by a reception at 8 pm with book signing. The event is free and open to all. For more information, log on to www.grownativecambridge.org.

    http://www.plantanative.com/images/douglas-tallamy.jpg