Boston Flora

Tag: festive evening

  • Thursday, April 28 – Sunday, May 1 – Birds and Bards: A Festival Celebrating Birds, Poetry, and Nature

    Visit the Arnold Arboretum, Boston Nature Center, Forest Hills Cemetery, Franklin Park Coalition and the Franklin Park Zoo,  Thursday, April 28 to Sunday, May 1 for Birds and Bards: A Festival Celebrating Birds, Poetry, and Nature. Spend the weekend exploring birds, poetry, and nature in over 1000 acres of green space along Boston’s Emerald Necklace. The festival includes activities for children and adults, most of which are free!

    For complete event listings and information, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu/news-events/birds-and-bards.

     

  • Friday, July 31, 6 – 9 pm – Garden Party at Naumkeag

    Delight in a festive evening amongst the gardens of Naumkeag – a National Historic Landmark and one of the most beautiful views in New England! Stroll through the world-famous gardens sparkling with fireflies. Feast on hors d’oeuvres and sip on cocktails while watching the sun set behind the Berkshire Hills. Bid on the best of the Berkshires at the silent and live auctions. All proceeds support restoration of Naumkeag’s historic kitchen.

    Naumkeag was the summer “cottage” of the Choate family who began summering in Berkshire County in the 1870s. Designed by McKim, Mead & White in 1885, this forty-four-room, shingle-style house is filled with original furniture, ceramics, and artwork collected from America, Europe, and the Far East. Joseph Hodges Choate (1832-1917) was a prominent New York attorney. Between 1899 and 1905, he served in England as U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James.

    Naumkeag is famous for its eight acres of terraced gardens and landscaped grounds surrounded by forty acres of woodland, meadow, and pasture that stretch to the Housatonic River Valley. The gardens and landscaped grounds, first designed in the late 1880s by Nathan Barrett, were transformed and expanded between 1926 and 1956 by Fletcher Steele and Mabel Choate. Separate garden “rooms” include the Afternoon Garden, Tree Peony Terrace, Rose Garden, Evergreen Garden, Chinese Garden, Arborvitae Walk, and Linden Walk. Perhaps the most famous feature of the landscape is Steele’s Blue Steps, a series of deep blue fountain pools flanked by four flights of stairs climbing up a gentle hillside and overhung by birch trees.

    Fees: $100 per ticket for members, $140 non-members (includes one year individual membership); $250 for a non-member couple (includes one year family membership)
    Notes: Call for event details and reservation information. Tickets must be purchased in advance.
    Telephone: 413-298-3239 x3000
    E-mail: westregion@ttor.org

  • Thursday, May 28 – Sunday, May 31 – Birds and Bards: A Festival Celebrating Birds, Poetry, and Nature

    Visit the Arnold Arboretum, Boston Nature Center, Forest Hills Cemetery, Franklin Park, and the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site  Thursday, May 28 to Sunday, May 31 for Birds and Bards: A Festival Celebrating Birds, Poetry, and Nature. Spend the weekend exploring birds, poetry, and nature in over 1000 acres of greenspace along Boston’s Emerald Necklace. The festival includes activities for children and adults, most of which are free!  Presented by the Arnold Arboretum, Boston Nature Center/Mass Audubon, Forest Hills Educational Trust, Franklin Park Coalition, Franklin Park Zoo, and the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.

    Activities begin on Thursday with a 7 a.m. morning bird walk at the Arnold Arboretum.  That evening at 7:30, enjoy the Birds & Bards Kick-Off at Forsyth Chapel for a festive evening of song, pictures and poetry celebrating birds and nature.  Learn about the landscapes that sustain and protect migratory birds in the heart of the city. Art inspired by our feathered friends will include photographs by Eduardo del Solar, jazz vocals by Valerie Stevens, and a reading by poet Brendan Galvin.  $5 suggested donation.

    Friday begins with a 7 a.m. bird walk in Franklin Park, and a 6 p.m. family bird walk, also in Franklin Park, plus a 7 p.m. movie night at the Franklin Park Clubhouse.

    Saturday centers around the Boston Nature Center, with an early morning birdwalk, followed by continental breakfast and conversation with Chris Leahy, a talk at 11:00 on Urban Orchards and Bird Habitats, and a noontime live raptor demonstration.  At 1:30, enjoy the Great American Song Book Concert with Marianne Ryan, Stanley Macht, and the young singers of Catching Joy as they perform classics celebrating birds by Gershwin, Kern and Porter.  Finally on Saturday move to the Arnold Arboretum at 3:00 for a Haiku Hike.

    Sunday begins at Forest Hills with a 7 a.m. birdwalk, a tour at 10 a.m., a guided bird walk at Franklin Park Zoo at 10:30, and the culminating event, a 2:00 Family Concert with Solar Winds at Forsyth Chapel ($10).

    For complete event listings and information, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.