Boston Flora

Tag: Brookside Gardens

  • Tuesdays, July 14 – August 4, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon – Landscape for Life

    This intensive four session (July 14, 21, 28, and August 4) introductory course co-sponsored by the Ecological Landscape Alliance and the New England Wild Flower Society will provide you with the knowledge, skills, and understanding to create a great-looking garden that is healthier for you, your family, and the environment. This class, taking place at Garden in the Woods in Framingham, is based on the principles of the Sustainable Sites Initiative, the nation’s first rating system for sustainable landscapes.

    Instructor Mark Richardson oversees the New England Wildflower Society’s botanic garden, Garden in the Woods, and its native plant nursery operation, Nasami Farm in Whately, Massachusetts. He studied ornamental horticulture at University of Rhode Island and helped run a mid-sized ornamental plant nursery before finding his true passion in public horticulture. He led undergraduate programs at Longwood Gardens, overhauled the curriculum of the Professional Gardener Program, and oversaw adult education at Brookside Gardens. In 2013, Mr. Richardson assisted with the development of the first comprehensive master plan for Garden in the Woods. He holds a MS from the University of Delaware’s Longwood Graduate Program. Bring a bag lunch each day. $185 for members of the sponsoring organizations, $218 for nonmembers. See more at: http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/landscape-for-life/2015-07-14/#sthash.D6dVSvgx.dpuf

  • Mark Richardson Becomes the New England Wild Flower Society’s Director of Horticulture

    The New England Wild Flower Society welcomes Mark Richardson as its new Director of Horticulture. Mark has an intriguing combination of strategic vision, skills, and experience that impressed everyone who interviewed him. A native of Rhode Island, Mark worked for four years as the assistant manager of a 45-acre nursery while earning his degree in Urban Horticulture at the University of Rhode Island. He then received his Master of Science in Public Horticulture from the Longwood Graduate Program as part of the University of Delaware. New degree in hand, he was asked by Longwood Gardens to run the undergraduate programs, and he spent his five years on staff in roles that encompassed strategic program development, design and development of a new garden area, and even leading the entire Education Department (with its $2.6 million budget) for seven months during the search for a new director. He left Longwood for Brookside Gardens, a botanic garden that is part of the Parks Department of Montgomery County, Maryland, where he served as the manager of adult education programs and frequent horticulture instructor/lecturer/author (and he developed a strategic plan for technology in the garden!). While he has enjoyed his work in education, his passion is plants, and he is excited to be shifting back to horticulture and his roots in New England.