Boston Flora

Tag: bulbs

  • Sunday, January 28, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Growing Indoor Bulbs

    Take deep breaths, slow down and leave your “to do” list behind.  Experience the therapeutic benefits of horticulture while planting bulbs which will bloom indoors with beautiful colors and fragrances during winter.  Feel calm and refreshed with positive energy by focusing on being in the moment and engaging your senses one at a time – sight, touch, sound, and smell – while interacting with sensory rich plant materials. 

    Our New England Botanical Garden at Tower Hill class on January 28 at 1 pm will include an overview of the therapeutic benefits and power of horticulture to understand why and how it can be used personally, and for people of all ages and abilities.  We will discuss the difference between therapeutic horticulture and horticultural therapy.  You will learn about benefits including increased relaxation, decreased anxiety, stress relief, sensory stimulation, hope, improved cognitive abilities, engagement in life, connectedness, and physical exercise.  It will be clear how plants and the natural world give you support when life gets overwhelmingly busy or stressful.   We will spend approximately 40 minutes delving into this.

    You will spend approximately 80 minutes exploring and discovering the amazing world of bulbs.  We will learn together about what a bulb is, the richness of ones that flower and bulbs that provide us with food.  Have you ever seen paperwhites or Amaryllis?  Different varieties of these will be available for you to choose to plant.  You will take them home to grow and watch the progress as the leaves and flowers appear.  These flowering bulbs will look lovely on your kitchen or dining room table, in a family room, as a welcome by your front door or to give as a gift.  Join Deborah Krause, Horticultural Therapist, in these relaxing sessions where you may leave with a smile, feeling of calm and peace, and pride in your creation.

    $85 for NEBG members, $100 for nonmembers. Register at www.nebg.org

  • Tuesday, October 10, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm Eastern – Where Bulbs Shine … On and On, Online

    Integrate bulbs that last – and increase – into the designed landscape – there’s always room for more. Why do some bulbs persist in the garden, while others disappear?

    It’s so easy to fall for those seductive photos in the bulb catalogs, to optimistically plant every pretty thing that catches our eye only to be disappointed in spring. Some disappear without a trace. Others we expectantly watch as they emerge from the cold ground, elongate, and develop fat, promising buds that become deer candy before they have a chance to open. Some are great in the first season, O.K. the next, and totally wimp out after that. Others are so enthusiastic we wish they would wimp out. A lot depends on breeding, site conditions, origin, and palatability to critters.

    With a commitment to sustainability and a preference for conserving time and money, come to depend on an array of bulbs that come up every spring with no effort on my part, bloom their heads off, disappear without much fuss to make room for successive plantings and increase year by year. Seductive photos of long-lasting bulbs in real gardens and landscapes around the country will be accompanied by advice on selection, siting, bulbs for difficult conditions, naturalizing, perennializing and artfully combining with perennials for a long season of bloom. This Massachusetts Horticultural Society webinar will take place October 10 from 6:30 – 7:30 Eastern. $23 – $32. Register at www.masshort.org

  • Saturday, September 24, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – The Art of Planting Bulbs

    For many gardeners, nothing is more fulfilling than planting bulbs in the fall for spring bloom. In this Berkshire Botanical Garden class on September 24 from 10 – noon, garden writer and horticulturist Lee Buttala plumbs the depths of the geophyte kingdom, highlighting major and minor bulbs, from snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils to species tulips, hyacinths and fritillaria, that bring the spring garden into full focus. This class explores not only the classic techniques for using bulbs in the garden, but it also shows new approaches that pair bulbs with perennials and other plantings that complement them or that take the main stage as the bulb show comes to an end. This class will explore planting methods, post-bloom care for bulbs and how to select varieties best suited to naturalizing.

    Lee Buttala is the former executive director of Seed Savers Exchange, an heirloom vegetable genebank that is the only non-governmental organization storing seed at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. He has also worked for BBG and the Garden Conservancy, and currently serves as chair of the Historic Landscapes Committee of the APGA. Lee won an Emmy award for his role as a garden television producer for “Martha Stewart Living” and was the creator of PBS’s “Cultivating Life.” He is the editor of the award-winning book The Seed Garden: The Art and Practice of Saving Seed, writes a weekly garden column for The Berkshire Edge and serves on the board of Hollister House Garden in Washington, Conn. Lee studied garden design at the Chelsea Physic Garden, the New York Botanical Garden and the Kyoto School of Art and Design. He lives in Ashley Falls, Mass.

    Courtesy Garden Design

  • Wednesday, November 3, 1:00 pm – Billion Dollar Bulbs: Tulips From the Ottoman Empire to Today, Online

    From its humble origins in the Caucasus Mountains over 1,000 years ago, Context Learning will follow the Tulip’s path via the Ottoman Turkish tulipomania to Holland’s billion-dollar tulip industry today.Join an expert on November 3 at 1 pm Eastern to learn how the magical charm of the tulip has ruined the fortunes of sultans and bulb speculators while its beauty, color, and form have captured our gaze for centuries.

    The tulip industry in Holland is an important part of the Dutch economy, bringing in huge revenues along with millions of visitors every spring who come to see the amazing colors of the flower fields. Together we will trace the origins of this mighty economic force, from the courts of Ottoman sultans to the bulb’s arrival in the Netherlands. We will follow the fame and fortune of this flower through the nineteenth century and see how painters, potters, and other artisans captured its delicate form.

    We will delve into the flower industry of today, to learn about the new varieties of tulips on display each year at the Keukenhof Garden festival. Not open to visitors this year, we will take a look virtually at this special garden. We will see how new hybrids are developed each year yielding ever more beautiful exemplars of the millennial bud.

    Led by an expert on garden history, Alette Fleischer, this interactive seminar will bring you closer to the tulip; the flower, and the bulb. Designed to inform curiosity as well as future travels, participants will come away with increased knowledge about 1000 years of tulip history and the place of the tulip in our society today.  $36.50. Register at https://www.contextlearning.com/collections/seminars/products/billion-dollar-bulbs

  • Saturday, October 2, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Enhancing Your Spring Garden with Bulbs

    From snowdrops to alliums, spring bulbs can enliven your garden, adding interest and splashes of color while taking little room. In this October 2 illustrated lecture at Hollister House Garden in Washington, Connecticut, Page Dickey will show and describe a succession of bulbs, some well loved, others little known, to consider and successfully plant.

    Page Dickey is a garden writer, lecturer, and designer. Her latest book, Uprooted: A Gardener Reflects on Beginning Again, was published in autumn 2020.  Page is on the Board of the Garden Conservancy and co-founded the Open Days Program in 1995.  She is also on the boards of Stonecrop Gardens, in Cold Spring, NY, and Hollister House Garden in Washington, CT.

    Page  lives and gardens with her husband, Bosco Schell, in the company of at least one beloved dog at Church House in Falls Village, CT. $25 for HHG members, $35 for nonmembers. REGISTRATION

  • Saturday, April 17, 10:00 am – 11:00 am – Primrose & Muscari Bulb Propagation Workshop, Online

    Learn how to make more flowers from one little plant or batch of bulbs to expand your spring garden. Ferriss Donham provides kits that contain all the plants and materials necessary to learn how to divide one clump of primroses and one clump of muscari bulbs. These perennials can then be planted into your spring garden to bloom for many years to come with the acquired knowledge of how to divide and share them as well. Both plants make lovely fragrant cut flowers for a spring bedside bouquet. 


    Kits will be available for pick-up at Wright-Locke Farm in Winchester on Thursday and Friday, April 15th and 16th. Cost is $45 per person and includes the kit with all necessary materials. Register at https://www.wlfarm.org/adult-education-programs/

  • Monday, March 1 – Sunday, March 14 – Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Annual Bulb Show

    Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Fitzpatrick Conservatory becomes a harbinger of spring starting March 1, when the public is invited to enjoy hundreds of flowering bulbs in an annual exhibition featuring New England springtime favorites along with some striking, lesser-known varieties hand-picked by BBG’s horticulturists. Visitors to the greenhouse will see an evolving collection of 1,400 blooming bulbs over a two-week period.

    Some of the standouts from last year’s show will be back, including the diminutive Muscari armeniacum ‘Big Smile’ Grape Hyacinth and the enchanting Fritillaria meleagris, or Guinea Hen Flower, with its nodding, bell-shaped blooms in a variety of showy colors and faintly checkered patterns. Alongside these will be some new inclusions: ‘Vincent Van Gogh,’ a striking, dark purple tulip with fringed petals; a diminutive, pink-orange tulip called ‘Salmon Gem’; a trio of new daffodils; and two exquisite dwarf irises, ‘Harmony’ and ‘Pauline,’ with flowers of brilliant blue and deep purple, respectively. 

    “The horticulture department at BBG is excited to open our doors to the public to showcase the colors and fragrances of spring at the Bulb Show,” said Director of Horticulture Matthew Turnbull. “By March, we all need a remedy to ward off the winter blues.”

    As in previous years, the bulbs will be exhibited amongst the Garden’s collection of succulents housed year-round in the Fitzpatrick Conservatory, a period building replete with curved glass. The soft grays and greens of the succulents’ foliage provide a contrasting backdrop for the bright colors of tulips, narcissus, hyacinths, irises and other New England springtime bulbs. 

    “Last year’s Bulb Show had to be cut short because of the sudden onset of COVID restrictions and concerns,”said BBG Executive Director Mike Beck. “We had a greenhouse full of beautiful color and scent, and hardly anyone to enjoy that. This year, I am very excited to bring this taste of spring back to the hundreds of visitors who routinely come for a quick escape from winter.”

    Those interested in learning the behind-the-scenes story of how the Bulb Show comes together each year are invited to read, “The Dirt on the Bulb Show” in this year’s Winter/Spring issue of Berkshire Botanical Garden’s free magazine, Cuttings, available in print throughout the Berkshires region and online at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/cuttings-magazine. A gallery of images from last year’s Bulb Show is available as well, at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/1tCkdnvCeE6UKmLd9

    The Bulb Show runs March 1- 14, daily from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Considered the Garden’s gift to the community, Bulb Show admission is free; however, for safety in compliance with current state guidelines, advance reservations are required, as are masks. Visitors are asked to plan ahead, as all other buildings at the Garden remain closed for the season, and restrooms will not be available.  Visit http://berkshirebotanical.org for reservations.

  • Tuesdays, November 10 & November 17, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm – Introduction to Bulbs, Online

    Since Autumn is the optimum season to plant bulbs, now is the time to decide what will work best in your garden. In this two session New York Botanical Garden online class, you’ll receive an overview of bulbs – what they are and how to properly plant them. Common problems and solutions for a successful growing season will also be covered. Michael Hagan will be the instructor, and registered students will receive login instructions. NYBG members $44, nonmembers $59.

  • Sunday, September 20, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm – Bulbs and Humans: Rising Above the Squirrel Mentality

    On September 20 from 11 – 2 at Berkshire Botanical Garden in West Stockbridge, learn the ways and whys of selecting, purchasing, planting and designing with hardy flowering bulbs. If you’re catalog-buying, learn what to expect from a supplier. If shopping at the local nursery, discover what to look for when choosing a bulb–and the hints that packaging gives towards its successful culture. Most importantly, be on hand to learn to avoid the squirrel mentality when planting. $20 for BBG members, $25 for nonmembers, advance registration required. https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/bulbs-and-humans-rising-above-squirrel-mentality

    David Burdick, a distinguished plantsman and zealous collector, shows regularly at the American Daffodil Society exhibition. A practicing horticulturist, he has worked at Berkshire Botanical Garden and Windy Hill Farm. David is an engaging teacher, and his latest venture is a specialty plant and cut-flower business, Daffodils & More, in Dalton, MA.

  • Bee Mine!

    Give a BEE-autiful gift to that special someone in your life this Valentine’s Day by sponsoring bulbs or pollinator plants in his or her honor.  Your gift will improve the biological diversity and beauty of the natural environment on the Charles River Esplanade through supporting its horticulture efforts. Your recipient will receive a custom e-card acknowledging your gift.

    For years to come, when you walk the park and see flowers, you’ll know your gift helped support imperiled bee communities. Bulbs – Each year, thousands of flowers mark the arrival of spring. Give the gift of renewal and honor someone special by having bulbs planted at the park. Pollinator Plants – Pollinators such as bees and butterflies are declining around the world due to loss of habitat. Your donation will help create a lush and diverse habitat for our imperiled pollinators while beautifying the park for you and your loved ones for years to come. To purchase your Valentine gift,  which range from $50 – $500, visit www.esplanadeassociation.org.

    Image result for bulbs on Esplanade