Instructor Tina Bemis of Bemis Farms Nursery will hold a workshop on Sunday, December 17 from 11:30 – 1 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, where you will create a unique centerpiece with a mix of fresh fragrant evergreens and your choice of berries, fruits, fresh flowers and other embellishments. $50 for Tower Hill members, $60 for nonmembers. Register online at www.towerhillbg.org, or call 508-869-6111, x 124.
Decorate your holiday table with a lush wreath of boxwood, flowers and berries accented with seasonal fruits, vegetables, nuts and preserved leaves. This Tower Hill Botanic Garden class will take place Saturday, November 23 from 10 – 1 at Tower Hill, 11 French Drive in Boylston.
Working in a base of wet floral foam attached to a plastic tray, we will combine flowers and leaves in rich autumn colors with vegetables, fruits, nuts, boxwood and berries to create a striking harvest centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table. The finished wreath measures about 15 inches across. The center of the ring will comfortably hold candles or a compote. Kept watered, the wreath can easily be converted to a long lasting Christmas centerpiece. All materials included. Be sure to bring floral scissors and an apron. Cost for THBG members is $70, nonmembers $80. Call 508-869-6111 to put your name on the list.
The Cambridge Center for Adult Education is pleased to announce a series of flower arranging seminars with the acclaimed Cass the Florist. Ever wonder how to turn a bouquet of flowers from the grocery store or flowers from the garden into an elegant centerpiece? This course will teach you how to create your own beautiful flower arrangements. You will learn the essential elements and principals of floral design while creating three different arrangements. You will learn how to care for flowers to achieve long-lasting freshness, and how to select appropriate containers and flowers for the look you want to achieve. Seasonal flowers and foliage will be used and seasonal themes emphasized. This is a hands-on course and at the end of each class you will have a stylish arrangement to take home to enjoy or give as a gift. A materials fee of $45 (cash or check only) is payable at the first class. Limited to 10.
Sec. 01: 3 Wednesdays, 2:00 – 3:30 pm. July 14, 21 & 28, meets in Watertown.  Address sent to registrants - $90 fee. To register, log on to www.ccae.org.
Do you need to give someone a Christmas gift wish list? The Education Department of Tower Hill Botanic Garden is sponsoring a guided tour of the Chelsea Flower Show and English Gardens from Saturday, May 22 through Saturday, May 29. The Chelsea Flower show is considered to be the world’s pre-eminent horticultural event. Its Show Gardens are created by leading international landscape architects and garden designers. The Great Pavilion is the spectacular centerpiece of the CFS. Nurseries and growers dazzle visitors with displays of color from the world’s finest plant collections. The show also features the continuous Learning section that gives visitors insight into the gardens of the future. The Gardening Matters Marquee hosts talks by gardening experts, covering all aspects of gardening and design and gives the visitor the opportunity to pose questions to the experts. As added incentive, you will enjoy High Tea at a private estate overlooking magnificent gardens. The price per person is $2,749, double occupancy, with a $585 single supplement. Contact Tower Hill at 508-869-6111, ext. 124 for a brochure, itinerary and purchase information. You may also email registrar@towerhillbg.org.
Create a beautiful, long lasting fresh centerpiece for the holiday season at this workshop with Betsy Williams, taking place at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Saturday, December 5 at 10 in the morning. Choose an attractive pot or basket to fill with a lush arrangement of fresh boxwood, fragrant evergreens, California bay and rosemary, accented with sprays of eucalyptus berries, rose hips, pine cones and ribbons. Greens arrangements are fun to make and, kept well watered, will last the holiday season. Use your arrangement to decorate the dining table, entry hall, living room, kitchen, porch or doorstep. Please bring clippers and an apron to class. Cost $55 for Tower Hill members, $60 for non-members. Register on-line at www.towerhillbg.org.
The Cambridge Center for Adult Education is pleased to announce a series of flower arranging seminars with the acclaimed Cass the Florist. Ever wonder how to turn a bouquet of flowers from the grocery store or flowers from the garden into an elegant centerpiece? This course will teach you how to create your own beautiful flower arrangements. You will learn the essential elements and principals of floral design while creating three different arrangements. You will learn how to care for flowers to achieve long-lasting freshness, and how to select appropriate containers and flowers for the look you want to achieve. Seasonal flowers and foliage will be used and seasonal themes emphasized. This is a hands-on course and at the end of each class you will have a stylish arrangement to take home to enjoy or give as a gift. A materials fee of $30 (cash or check only) is payable at the first class. Limited to 10.
Sec. 01: 3 Mondays, 6:30-8:00 pm. Oct. 19 & 26, and Nov. 2, Meets in Watertown; Address sent to registrants | $83
Course Code: FCAB–1
Price:83.00
To register, log on to www.ccae.org.
The Friends of the Public Garden presents News of Brewer Fountain Plaza Renovation, Boston Common, on Tuesday, October 20, beginning at 6:00 pm at The Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street in Boston. Come hear the plans to revitalize the landscape in this heavily used area of the park, making it a greener, more inviting gateway into the Common and a destination within the park, with a restored Brewer Fountain as its centerpiece. Also, hear about the plans to celebrate the Friends of the Public Garden’s 40th Anniversary in 2010. Reception follows. The event is free but please RSVP and make a reservation, as space is limited. Email by Thursday, October 15 at fopg@gis.net, or call 617-723-8144.
The Friends of the Public Garden, in conjunction with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, invite you to a presentation on a proposal for the renovation of the Brewer Plaza on Boston Common. The meeting will take place Tuesday, September 15, from 7 – 9 pm, at Suffolk University, 120 Tremont St., 4th Floor. See and hear about plans to renovate the Plaza, making a greener, more inviting gateway into the Common and a destination within the park with a restored Brewer Fountain as its centerpiece. For questions, call the Friends of the Public Garden office at 617-723-8144.
The Lenox Garden Club presents “Then and Now”, a Garden Club of America Flower Show, at the Ventfort Hall, Museum of the Gilded Age, 104 Walker Street, Lenox, Massachusetts. The show will be opened to the public each day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. For directions, log on to www.gildedage.org. Ventfort Hall, built by George and Sarah Morgan as their summer home, is an imposing Elizabethan Revival mansion that typifies the Gilded Age in Lenox. Sarah, the sister of J. Pierpont Morgan, purchased the property in 1891, and hired Rotch & Tilden, prominent Boston architects, to design the house. Now on 11.7 acres, Ventfort Hall was originally the centerpiece of a large landscaped garden of 26 acres. The mansion, constructed of brick with brownstone trim, has an impressive porte cochère covering the entrance while the rear of the house, which once had a long view to the south of the Stockbridge Bowl and Monument Mountain, has a wood veranda along its entire length. Admission $12 adults, $6 Members of Museum of the Gilded Age, $10 Seniors and College Students, $5 Children 5 – 17, free for children under 5.
