Boston Flora

Tag: Dori Smith

  • Saturday, June 21, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm – Rain Gardens and More: Effective Uses of Rainwater

    Would you like to learn to protect our precious water resources while creating lush gardens using native plants that attract birds and butterflies? Using water flowing from your roof, driveway, or lawn, rain gardens take full advantage of our natural rainfall rather than wasting it as runoff. On Saturday, June 21, along with past Garden Club of the Back Bay speaker Dori Smith, you will tour a beautiful twenty-acre, 24-home cohousing community in a rural setting (Acton – directions will be provided upon registration,) where a varied, mostly native plant landscape has been in place for 17 years. You’ll explore site features that include rain garden terraces, rain barrels, retention basins, swales, and durable, no-water, organic lawns. You will also learn about rainwater design options and construction methods and discuss strategies for solving runoff problems such as erosion, icy walkways, or wet basements. The New England Wild Flower Society course costs $26 for NEWFS members, $32 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.newfs.org/learn/catalog/hdt1030. Photo of rain garden (not the property to be visited) from www.landarcs.com.

  • Sunday, April 6, 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Tick-borne Disease: Awareness, Prevention and Treatment

    The Ecological Landscaping Association and the New England Wild Flower Society will co-sponsor Tick-borne Disease: Awareness, Prevention, and Treatment, on Sunday, April 6, from 1 – 3:30 pm at Garden in the Woods in Framingham.

    Lyme and other tick-born diseases are increasing each year and expanding northward. People who work in and enjoy gardens and wild areas are at high risk for exposure, as are their families and pets.  This panel discusses the latest research on changes in climate, habitat, and predators that affect the distribution of ticks and diseases; tick life cycles and disease hosts; and infection-prevention methods such as improved landscape practices and personal protection.

    The panel will also cover what to do if bitten, including tick removal, disease symptoms, accurate diagnosis, and treatment options.  It will explain the scope of the public health emergency: epidemiology, legal issues, and available resources.  Attendees will come away empowered with preventative strategies and knowledge of treatment options.  Please bring questions.

    Instructor Jeanne Hubbuch, MD, is a family practice physician in Newton, with experience in acute and chronic Lyme and other tick infections.  She will focus on treatment of Lyme disease, including the latest research results, and will discuss lifestyle and stress reduction for treatment and recovery.  Alan Geise, Professor of Biology at Lyndon State College, Vermont, and researcher into the rise of tick populations and disease, will highlight the environmental issues involved.  Dori Smith, M.Ed., owner of Gardens for Life in Acton, is a writer and educator in recovery from Lyme disease.  She will discuss landscape management and personal prevention, as well as the public health issues.

    $20 for ELA or NEWFS members, $25 for nonmembers.  Refreshments will be served.  Register by calling 617-436-5838 or visit https://www.eventville.com/catalog/eventregistration1.asp?eventid=1010933.

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  • Friday, August 9, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Rain Gardens and More

    Rain gardens take advantage of the natural abundance of rainfall, rather than wasting it as runoff, using water flowing from roofs, driveways, or lawns to create beautiful gardens.  Learn about additional rainwater retention strategies such as bog gardens, roof gardens, swales, and terraces, tailored for particular situations or to solve problems such as erosion, icy walkways, or wet basements.  With an inspirational slide program, past Garden Club of the Back Bay speaker Dori Smith will review design options, construction details, and case studies.  Feel free to bring photos of a site issue to discuss.  The August 9 program will take place at Garden in the Woods in Framingham, and the fee is $26 for NEWFS members, $32 for nonmembers.  Cosponsored by the Cambridge Center for Adult Education and Massachusetts Audubon Drumlin Farm.  Visit www.newfs.org to sign up.

    http://carnivorousplants.homestead.com/files/Bog2005/Bog_Garden_May_2005_100_1829_1024X767.jpg

  • Wednesday, May 4, 7:00 pm – Pollution Solution: Safeguarding Our Waterways

    A program to be held at the Vineyard Haven Library on Wednesday, May 4, beginning at 7 pm, is a presentation of Tisbury Waterways, Inc.  The illustrated lecture will detail the installation of its bio-swale at the base of Owen Little Way in Vineyard Haven.  Bio-swales, or vegetative buffers, are a natural landscaping way to filter stormwater run-off to prevent pollution of marine environments.  Learn why bio-swales are key pollution fighters in commercial settings or in your own backyard, and how you can “grow” your own rain garden.  If you recently heard Dori Smith speak to the Garden Club of the Back Bay on the subject of rain gardens, this program will interest you.

  • Tuesday, April 5, 10:00 am – Rain Gardens: Beautiful Water-Saving, Wildlife-Friendly Gardens

    The April meeting of The Garden Club of the Back Bay will be held Tuesday, April 5, beginning at 10 am at The College Club, 44 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, and will feature Dori Smith of Gardens for Life speaking on Water Gardens: Beautiful Water-Saving, Wildlife-Friendly Gardens. Would you like to help protect our precious water resources, while at the same time creating lush, beautiful gardens that attract birds and butterflies?  Rain gardens take advantage of our natural abundance of rainfall rather than wasting it as runoff – using water flowing from your roof, driveway, or lawn.  These gardens are easy care, and can often solve problems such as erosion, icy walkways, or wet basements.  Using inspirational PowerPoint slides, we will review design options, construction details, and appropriate native plants.  Attendees are welcome to bring photos or descriptions of their own landscapes to use as case studies.

    Trained in design and horticulture, with a certificate from Tower Hill Botanic Garden “New England School of Gardening” and an advanced certificate in native plants from New England Wildflower Society, Dori is a member of the NEWFS Educational Committee, and is accredited as an Organic Land Care Professional by Northeast Organic Farming Association.  She has installed over 15 rain gardens in Boston’s western suburbs, and has published in the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Sanctuary Magazine.

    An optional lunch will follow the presentation.  The lecture is free and open to the public, but reservations are essential.  Lunch will cost an additional $20 for Garden Club  members, $25 for guests, and reservations may be made by emailing info@bostonflora.com before Tuesday, March 29.  Garden Club members will receive written notice of this meeting.

    http://www.goodnaturepublishing.com/images/Raingarden.jpg

  • Sunday, October 17, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Autumn Beauties: Native Plants in the Collections

    Tower Hill’s gardens contain many beautiful native plants that are the most glorious in the fall.  Discover why these plants are great choices for your home garden on this walk with Dori Smith, M.Ed., Gardens for Life in Acton, on Sunday, October 17, from 1 – 3, rain or shine.  Tower Hill Members: $22, non-Members: $25.  To register, log on to www.towerhillbg.org.  Photo below taken during a Garden Club of the Back Bay field trip in September, 2008.

  • Sunday, June 6, 1:00 – 3:00 pm – Rain Gardens: Beautiful Water-Saving, Wildlife-Friendly Gardens

    Dori Smith, M.Ed., Gardens for Life, will present an illustrated lecture on Sunday, June 6, from 1 – 3 pm, at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive, Boylston, Massachusetts.  Would you like to help protect our precious water resources, while at the same time create a lush, beautiful garden that attracts birds and butterflies?  Rain gardens take advantage our our natural abundance of rainfall, rather than wasting it as runoff.  Rain gardens use water flowing from your roof, driveway, or lawn.  These gardens are easy care, and can often solve problems such as erosion, icy walkways, or wet basements.   Dori will review design options, construction details, and appropriate native plants.  The class will then take a walk around the Wildlife Pond to see some of the outstanding plants recommended for rain gardens.  Tower Hill members: $18, non-members, $20.  To register, or for more information, log on to www.towerhillbg.org.  Dori will be a featured speaker for The Garden Club of the Back Bay next April, but if you have limited weekday availability, this Tower Hill lecture is the session to attend.

    http://www.dscapes.com/images/12%20Beds%20during%20rain%20web.jpg

  • Sunday, October 18, 1 – 3 pm – Autumn Beauties: Native Plants in the Collections

    Tower Hill Botanic Garden’s grounds contain many beautiful native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants that are at their most vivacious in the fall. Blueberries and chokeberries around the Wildlife Pond will be in vivid fall dress, and winterberries will be ripening for winter migrating birds. Fine native grasses will be at their ripest on Sunday, October 18, beginning at 1 pm, in the Systematic Garden. Witch hazels will be glowing yellow around the Wildlife Garden. Garden Designer Dori Smith, M. Ed, of Gardens for Life in Acton, Massachusetts,  will seek out the best specimens in the garden’s collections to show you. She will discuss the special characteristics of native plants that make them good choices for your gardens, and how to create a palette of plants that will please you and the wildlife, year round. Fee $20 for Tower Hill members, $25 for non-members.  To register, log on to www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Saturday, October 3, 9:30 – 12 noon – Autumn Beauties: Habitat Gardens in Acton

    Fall can be one of the most beautiful seasons in the garden. On Saturday, October 3, from 9:30 – noon, Dori Smith, landscape designer of Gardens for Life in Acton, leads this tour of several gardens designed primarily with native plants to please birds and butterflies, as well as her clients. Native shrubs such as fothergilla and cranberry viburnum glow with autumn color. Winterberries are ripening, and twigs of dogwood are turning crimson. Many of the fall flowers are still blooming. The designer shows you “before” photos of these landscapes, as well as photos taken in different seasons. She discusses the unique challenges, goals and methods of each project. Learn ways to use stone and water to enhance the effects of the plantings. You are welcome to tour the Acton Arboretum  before or after the garden tour. The tour is sponsored by The New England Wild Flower Society, and costs $25 if a NEWFS member, and $30 if a nonmember.  Limited to 20 participants.  To register, log on to www.newfs.org, or call 508-877-7630.

    http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/fothergilla_major.jpg