Boston Flora

Tag: Conway School

  • Thursday, January 9, 1:00 pm Eastern – Winter Sowing Workshop, Online

    Did you know that you can sow seeds outdoors, in containers, in the dead of winter, and they’ll germinate with more ease and success than they will in a flat on your windowsill? Many of us didn’t.

    Elaine Williamson Conway School ’11, our resident Master Gardener, is here to change that. She’s been using the Winter Sowing technique for many years, and swears by it, for the following reasons:

    • Simple, low-tech, low-cost process
    • Low maintenance
    • Avoids common indoor sowing pitfalls such as legginess and damping off
    • Seeds germinate at optimal times for growth
    • It’s fun!

    Elaine leads a Winter Sowing Workshop for our students as part of Conway’s curriculum. This year she’s offered to lend her expertise to anyone in our community who wants to try it!

    If you’d like to learn how to successfully winter sow your seeds, please join us for an upcoming Online Winter Sowing Workshop on Thursday, January 9, 2025 at 1pm EST. Attendance is free and registration is required. We’ll send registrants a confirmation email with a list of materials to collect if you’d like to follow along with Elaine’s demonstration. We’ll finish with a short Q&A session where participants can ask specific questions about the process.

    If you’re unable to attend, we will record the workshop and share the recording online for folks to watch. Register at https://csld.edu/2024/12/winter-sowing/

  • Thursday, November 21, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Eastern – Leave the Leaves, Online

    In this American Horticultural Society online talk on November 21 at 2 pm Eastern, we will explore why fallen leaves, sticks, and dead-head flowers are important to wildlife and soil fertility. Then, we will address practical concerns that arise when we keep autumn materials on home or community properties. How can careful plant selection, plant care, timing, and good landscape design help us to keep properties attractive at the same time as we practice good stewardship? This talk is accompanied by an extensive reference document. $15 for AHS members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at www.ahsgardening.org

    Kathy Connolly is a landscape designer who specializes in naturalized designs, low-impact landscape techniques, and native plants. She works with homeowners, municipalities, and organizations through her business, Speaking of Landscapes. She has a master’s degree in ecological landscape planning and design from the Conway School and is an Accredited Organic Land Care Professional. Connolly has received award and recognition for her communications efforts on the topic of invasive plants.

  • Wednesday, September 16, 6:30 pm – Durable Ground Covers That Give Lawn Mowers a Rest Webinar

    This Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Wednesday, September 16 at 6:30 pm program will be held virtually. Once you register you will receive a zoom link in the confirmation. This webinar will also be RECORDED and available for 2 months to all registrants.

    Would you like to fill the edges and understory of your landscape with durable, attractive ground covers? Do you want to do less mowing? Let’s look at the advantages and challenges of covering ground with healthy plants and shrubs. Possibilities include low-growing flowering perennials, shrub beds, native ornamental grasses, sedum, ferns, moss, and low-mow grass mixes that replace conventional lawns. We’ll talk about the importance of thorough site preparation this fall and winter, realistic expectations, and the value of advance planning. Extensive resource handout and plant lists included.

    Instructor Kathy Connolly is a landscape designer who specializes in naturalized designs, low-impact techniques, and native plants for homeowners, municipalities, and other organizations. Kathy has a master’s degree in landscape planning and design from the Conway School in Easthampton, MA. She completed the advanced master gardener program and is an Accredited Organic Land Care Professional through NOFA. She is an active member of the Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group (CIPWG). She is a regular columnist for The Day community papers which circulate throughout southeastern Connecticut and has written about lawn alternatives for TheSpruce/About.com. She gives about 25 talks and workshops each year for conservation organizations, master gardeners, museums, libraries, land trusts, and garden clubs. Her website is www.SpeakingofLandscapes.com.

    $10 for Mass Hort members, $15 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org

  • Wednesday, January 17, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Transitioning to Ecological Landscape Practices: Toxin-Free Landscapes Webinar

    The reasons to remove toxic chemicals from our landscapes are many and many homeowners are seeking landscape professionals who can deliver healthier landscape options. However, too often clients give up on pesticide- and fertilizer-free landscapes because their expectations are not met, the results are not what they had in mind, or the process is confusing to them. How do landscape professionals educate, manage expectations, and keep a client’s trust during the transition?

    Edwina von Gal from Perfect Earth Project will discuss solutions that are minimal in cost and aesthetically pleasing, in this Ecological Landscape Alliance webinar on Wednesday, January 17 from 4 – 5.. She will share her ideas on how to convince clients that a toxin-free landscape is worth pursuing, how to anticipate common problems, and how to communicate effectively.

    Edwina von Gal, Principal of her landscape design firm on Long Island since 1984, Ms. von Gal has striven to integrate simplicity and sustainability into her design of landscapes for private and public clients around the world. Her work has been published in major publications and her book Fresh Cuts won the Quill and Trowel award for garden writing in 1998. She has served on boards and committees for a number of horticultural organizations, and is currently on the board of What Is Missing, Maya Lin’s multifaceted media artwork about the loss of biodiversity. Ms. von Gal designed the park for the Biomuseo, a museum of biodiversity in Panama City and stayed on to found the Azuero Earth Project with like-minded friends and scientists. The process convinced her to extend the toxin-free message to the US and consequently, she launched Perfect Earth Project in 2013. Most recently, she was appointed as a Master Teacher at the Conway School for the 2015-2016 academic year. She is the Green Schools Alliance Site and Landscaping Expert.

    Free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Sign up at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-transitioning-ecological-landscape-practices-toxin-free-landscapes/

  • Thursday, November 5, 6:00 – 8:00 pm – Conservation By Design

    The Conway School of Landscape Design, The Trustees of Reservations, the North County Land Trust and Leominster Land Trust present Randall Arendt in a free public lecture at the Doyle Conservation Center in Leominster, Mass.

    Thursday, November 5: 6:00 – Reception; 6:45 – 8:00 PM – Lecture
    The talk is free and open to the public, but space is limited. RSVP to 413.853.3034 or events@csld.edu.

    Conservation by Design: A Practical Strategy for Preserving Town-wide Open Space Networks will stress practical techniques that enable developers and local officials to work together to accomplish their different objectives in a way that helps preserve natural assets and rural character.

    Mr. Arendt will share numerous examples of designs that achieve both economic and environmental goals. He has designed conservation subdivisions in various landscapes and regions in 21 states, and his designs have been featured in publications of the American Planning Association, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Association of Home Builders, and the National Association of Realtors.

    For more information, please visit http://www.csld.edu/whatsnew.htm.

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