Boston Flora

Tag: Christopher Lloyd

  • Saturday, March 2, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Berkshire Botanical Garden 27th Annual Winter Lecture: Biodiversity at Great Dixter with Fergus Garrett

    Come to Lenox Memorial Middle and High School in Lenox, Massachusetts on Saturday, March 2, from 2 to 4 p.m., for Berkshire Botanical Garden’s 27th annual Winter Lecture — Biodiversity at Great Dixter: How a Flower Garden Can Support Some of the UK’s Most Threatened Species. The lecture is in-person only, at Lenox Middle and High School. However, a recording can be sent after the event upon request.

    We welcome Fergus Garrett, the CEO and head gardener at Great Dixter House and Gardens. Great Dixter was the family home of gardener and gardening writer Christopher Lloyd. It was the focus of his energy and enthusiasm and fueled over 40 years worth of books and articles. Now under the stewardship of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust and Christopher’s friend and head gardener, Fergus Garrett, Great Dixter is an historic house, a garden, a center of education, and a place of pilgrimage for horticulturists from across the world. The garden at Great Dixter is known for the way in which it merges the natural and the cultivated world. Its long grass, scattered ponds, old walls and changing flower borders provide a rich environment for all manner of fauna and flora.

    Fergus Garrett was born in Brighton to an English father and Turkish mother. He spent his formative years in Istanbul, Turkey. Upon returning to the UK, he went to school in Brighton and then studied horticulture at Wye College, University of London. He joined Christopher Lloyd as his Head Gardener in 1993.

    BBG members $40, nonmembers $55. Register at www.berkshirebotanical.org.

  • Wednesday, January 18, 7:00 pm – 8:15 pm, Eastern – A Garden Odyssey: In Search of the World’s Most Creative Gardens, Online

    Imagine traveling the world passionately searching for the most exquisite and creatively designed gardens. Now imagine having the time and resources that would enable you to escape the daily demands of life and offer the chance to focus entirely on studying and becoming engrossed in every aspect of these gardens.

    Baltimore landscape architect Scott C. Scarfone was given just such an opportunity through a research fellowship awarded by Philadelphia’s famous Chanticleer Garden, renowned for its cutting-edge horticultural and creative planting practices. During the year-long fellowship, Scarfone focused his efforts on expanding his knowledge of society and culture as expressed through the gardens’ physical representations and intrinsic meanings.

    His travels led him to England to garden at Great Dixter with the late Christopher Lloyd, a noted gardening writer and horticulturist; to Italy to visit the gardens of the Renaissance era; to Japan’s ancient gardens of Kyoto and Nara; to Thailand to study eastern philosophy and garden design; to Costa Rica to view tropical vegetation in a native rainforest environment; to California to study Mediterranean plants in a design style that only that state can boast; and his most recent trip to Morocco to visit the amazing sculpture gardens of Anima. 

    Join Scarfone on Zoom with Smithsonian Associates on January 18 at 7 pm Eastern as he shares stories from his excursions across the globe, illustrated by views and discussion of some of the most prolific gardens ever created. $25 for Smithsonian Associates members, $30 for nonmembers. Register HERE.

    Great Dixter

  • Saturday, June 16, 4:00 pm – Digging Deeper: Succession Planting for Mere Mortals

    Join Michael B. Gordon on Saturday, June 16 at 4 pm for a walking tour of his garden (14 High Street, Peterborough, NH) where he will reveal how he has incorporated a simplified version of the succession planting concepts used by the late Christopher Lloyd and Fergus Garrett at Great Dixter, England, in his small private garden. Michael will explain how he uses combinations of woody and herbaceous plants to extend the season as long as he possibly can in New Hampshire. The talk will be of interest to the plantsman as well as the designer. Refreshments will be served. Michael B. Gordon is an optometrist by profession but a gardener by obsession. He has designed public gardens in Peterborough for nearly two decades. He has a passion for visiting gardens in the United States and abroad. Each year, he leads a tour of English Gardens and brings back ideas for his own garden.

    Registration is required and space is limited. This Garden Conservancy program is $30 for Conservancy members, $35 for nonembers.  Your registration includes Open Days admission to this garden destination—a $7 value. The Garden of Michael & Betsy Gordon will be open to general Open Days visitors on this date from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

    Image result for Michael B. Gordon garden Peterborough

  • Sunday, June 27, 12:00 noon – 2:00 pm – Fergus Garrett: The Spirit of Great Dixter

    Join Blithewold Mansion Gardens & Arboretum supporters on Sunday, June 27, at 12 noon, for tea and a talk by special guest Fergus Garrett, Head Gardener of Great Dixter, the house and garden of the late world renowned horticulturist Christopher Lloyd. Located near Northiam in East Sussex, England, Great Dixter’s gardens are regarded as the epitome of English plantsmanship. The property is particularly noted for its wealth of perennials and extensive topiary. Fergus will speak about all aspects of Great Dixter, from its garden color, planting combinations and meadows, to the house and its interiors. He will include an account of his apprenticeship to the great “Christo”. Fergus is also a well known author and authority on innovative garden design in his own right.

    Tea and scones from Russ Morin Caterers is included in the price of admission, which is $35 for Blithewold Members, and $45 for non-members. Blithewold is located at 101 Ferry Road in Bristol, Rhode Island.

    Learn more about the history of Great Dixter and Fergus Garrett’s work developing and preserving its gardens at www.greatdixter.co.uk. To register, log on to www.blithewold.org, or call Julie Murphy, Education Coordinator, at 401-253-2707, ext. 16. You may also email her at jmurphyedu@blithewold.org. Identify yourself as a member of the Garden Club of the Back Bay (if you are, of course), and receive a special discount.

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