Boston Flora

Tag: bulbs

  • Golden Days Contest

    National Garden Club President Renee Blaschke has a project.  All incoming National Presidents choose a project, but this year Renee is trying something a bit different.  She envisions a country gleaming with daffodils each spring, and to encourage clubs to participate, the New England Region is sponsoring a contest.  The state that has planted the most daffodils per capita by December 1, 2010 will be awarded a monetary prize, an award ribbon, and a certificate.  A “Golden Days” project might include mass plantings at retirement centers, parks, playgrounds, assisted living homes, schools and public buildings – places to plant are limited only by your imagination.  Clubs will submit the paperwork, but if you planted daffodils in 2009, or are planning to plant next fall, keep track of those bulbs and let your president know where they were planted.   Remember Lady Bird Johnson’s wild flowers?  Texas is awash with bluebonnets as a result.  Beautification of our environment is part of the mission statement of The Garden Club of the Back Bay, so we are pleased to notify Massachusetts gardeners of this opportunity.

    http://photos.igougo.com/images/p115418-London-Daffodils_in_Green_Park_London.jpg

  • November 30 – December 31 – Christmas in Newport

    Founded in 1971, Christmas in Newport began as a two-week festival that celebrated the noncommercial traditions of the holiday season. Now in its 39th year, the annual program boasts multiple activities for nearly each day of the December calendar.

    In a community collaboration among residents, businesses and the city, only clear bulbs illuminate the scenic harbor and wharves, the restored colonials of the Point and Historic Hill sections, and the Victorian splendor of Bellevue Avenue.The lights are meant to simulate candlelight, and are the brainchild of Christmas in Newport founder Ruth Myers, who wished to recapture the candlelit holidays of bygone days. With a volunteer base numbering 1500, the non-profit organization, Christmas in Newport, raises thousands of dollars for charity each year. In keeping with the true spirit of the season, any event listed in the annual program must be free of charge or must benefit a non-profit institution or charity.

    For more information about Christmas in Newport, call our hot line at  (401) 849-6454, or visit the web site at http://www.christmasinnewport.org/ (courtesy of Pirata Media)  A 30-minute video highlighting many of our December activities is available for a fee from Video Image Productions at (401) 847-3229. For a listing of accommodations in the Newport area, please write the Gateway Information Center at 23 America’s Cup Avenue or call (800) 326-6030.

    http://www.gonomad.com/travelreader/uploaded_images/Elms-foyer-xmas-giant-size-707819.jpg

  • Saturday, October 10, 10 am – 12 noon – Gardening with Bulbs

    Consider the many ways to integrate bulbs into the home landscape including enhancing the perennial border, designing foundation plantings or naturalizing a woodland setting. Learn all about the cultivation of bulbs both minor and major. Review a wide variety of both traditional bulbs (daffodils, tulips, lilies and hyacinth) and learn about the more unusual ones including allium, colchicum, scilla, galanthus, camassia, and frittilaria. Watch a demonstration on planting. David’s wonderful bulbs will be on sale following the lecture. David Burdick has been a practicing horticulturist in Berkshire County for more than twenty years. He worked for nine years at BBG and an additional nine years at Windy Hill Nursery. He is a popular teacher for the Horticultural Certificate Program and is currently operates a specialty bulb and cut flower business Daffodils and More at Holiday Farm, Dalton.  This program will take place at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts on Saturday, October 10, from 10 – noon, and costs $16 for BBG members, $21 for non members.  For more information, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.

    http://www.artcom.com/Museums/nv/af/Chicago%20Botanic%20Garden%20Bulb%20Garden%20SpringBlooms.jpg

  • Saturday, September 25, 3 – 6 pm, and Sunday, September 26, 8 am – noon – MCD Fall Bulb and Perennial Sale

    Come to the 4H Fairgrounds, 51 South Chelmsford Road, Westford, for the Middlesex Conservation District Fall Bulb and Perennial Sale – tulips, daffodils, unusual bulbs, iris, perennials and garden supplies (compost bins, bulb fertilizer, kitchen scrap buckets, etc). All items may be ordered in advance through September 4 to ensure best selection. To place an order, visit the MCD website at www.middlesexconservation.org and download an order form, or call 978 692 9395 and obtain a brochure by mail. All proceeds will benefit the District�s’ conservation programs.  You may also email frances.gillespie@ma.usda.gov for brochures and directions.

  • Saturday, September 12, 10 – 5 – NABB Fall Street Sale

    On Saturday, September 12th, from 10:00am to 5:00pm, NABB will hold its Annual Fall Street Sale, our local community yard sale, on Dartmouth Street Mall between Newbury Street and Commonwealth Avenue (at Alley 434).  The Garden Club of the Back Bay will be represented with a table, and visitors will be able to pick up Membership Brochures, see displays of some of the many Garden Club of the Back Bay projects we execute and fund, purchase totes, aprons, and bulbs, and pre-order our justly famous Holiday Wreaths.  We will also have pictures and ordering information for the beautiful iron tree fences you see throughout the neighborhood.  If you’d like to arrange for pruning of your front yard tree, we can take that information, too.  Please stop by and say hello.


  • Wednesday, May 20 – 6-8 pm – Using Bulbs in a Mixed Border

    It’s the middle of May, there has been ample rain, and so everything around your garden probably looks great about now.  But what about later on in the season?  And, what about the early spring when perennials are still green nubs and deciduous shrubs are bare?  That’s when flowering bulbs can make all the difference between a perennial border that draws compliments in May and June, and one that delights the eye from April through September.

    Visit Elm Bank, home of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, where Brent Heath of Brent & Becky’s Bulbs, a world-renowned expert on bulbs, will explain how to most effectively incorporate bulbs into a mixed border. His program will include examples, using slides, of various approaches to this type of garden composition.  $10 members, $15 general admission. You may register on line and get directions by logging in to www.masshort.org.

    This Wednesday evening at 6 p.m., Mass Hort is pleased to welcome Brent Heath, co-owner of Virginia-based Brent and Becky’s Bulbs.  Brent is a world-renowned expert on bulbs, and he’ll explain how to most effectively incorporate spring- and summer-flowering bulbs into a mixed border.

    Brent’s program will include examples, using slides, of various approaches to this type of garden composition.  He’ll bring designs that offer color for spring and summer, showing how even modest investments can return years of bright, long-lasting blooms.  He’ll answer questions and offer hands-on advice on caring for and maintaining mixed borders.

    If you were on the Greenway from mid-April through early May, you had the opportunity to see a spectacular canvas for Brent and Becky’s Bulbs.  They were extremely generous in donating approximately ten thousand daffodil bulbs that brought a blaze of color to the Greenway Gardens.