Boston Flora

Tag: Garden Club of the Back Bay

  • Twelve Thousand Posts and Counting

    Boston Flora achieved a milestone in September. The number of highlighted events of horticultural and environmental interest written since its debut as the blog for The Garden Club of the Back Bay now exceeds 12,000. The exact number is a bit fuzzy since some recurring annual events such as major fundraisers are edited, not rewritten, so the post numbers remain the same. A couple of years ago The Garden Club of the Back Bay launched a different site, https://bostonflora.com, focusing on Club activities, while Boston Flora remains committed to broadening public awareness of educational opportunities nationwide. When COVID lockdowns expanded online lecture opportunities, I jumped on the challenge, and now Boston Flora has followers across the country. Still, New England is my spiritual home, and local organizations are prioritized. If you are not already registered, please sign up for the daily email through the website – thousands of households already do. There are no advertisements – the site is maintained on a volunteer basis as a labor of love. Feel free to let me know about events you think may be of interest, and I will do my best to include them. Boston Flora has a Facebook page and an Instagram account @bostonflorablog. On Instagram, you won’t see the daily posts, since the platform prioritizes the visual. To see what is going on, you really need to check out the website. Thank you all for following Boston Flora and me, Francine Crawford!

  • Thursday, May 23, 10:00 am – The Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America Spring Meeting, Lecture & Luncheon – Boston’s Franklin Park: Olmsted, Recreation, and the Modern City

    The Boston Committee of The Garden Club of America will hold its Spring Meeting, Lecture and Luncheon on May 23 at The Country Club in Brookline. The Guest Speaker will be Ethan Carr, author of Boston’s Franklin Park: Olmsted, Recreation, and the Modern City. Members of member clubs of The Boston Committee will receive an invitation. $30 lecture, $35 luncheon. If you are not a member, you may consider joining The Garden Club of the Back Bay, which is one of the affiliate clubs.

  • 2024 Self-Guided Magnolia Walking Tour of the Back Bay

    In the spring of 2021, seeking to give something back to the community as the pandemic stretched on, Claire Corcoran and Stephanie Fletcher created a self guided walking tour of the iconic and beautiful magnolia trees of Boston’s Back Bay. They sought to provide a safe, interesting activity that would also allow them to tell the story of The Garden Club of the Back ay and the magnolias that line the neighborhood streets. Now, in 2024, they have updated the tour with more information, additional species and varieties of interest, and stories about the history of individual trees and their surroundings. They’ve even included some fascinating stories about special magnolias beyond the Back Bay! Don’t let this week’s bad weather deter you – there are lots of beautiful trees blooming still.

    The tour can be accessed anytime between now and the end of magnolia blooming season, so you can set your own time and pace. The link to the tour can be found HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/magnolias-of-the-back-bay-self-guided-tour-2024-tickets-877440346697?aff=oddtdtcreator&mc_eid=4db6dda40e&mc_cid=e89833aa09

  • Wednesday, April 10, 2:15 pm – The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Nasturtium Display: A Guided Tour

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay will be holding a members only guided tour of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum nasturtium display on April 10, which is reason enough to join the Club today at https://bostonflora.com/

    The nasturtium was one of Isabella Stewart Gardner’s favorite flowers.  Long considered a symbol of freedom, strength and independence, this blooming vine has been appreciated as a food, medicine and work of art.  A gifted gardener, Mrs. Gardner began growing the vines in her greenhouses in Brookline. What came next was the creation of a spectacle out of a fairytale that only a true visionary could have imagined.
     
    In April 1905, to celebrate her birthday and mark the return of spring, Mrs. Gardner arranged for cascading nasturtium vines to spill down from the Venetian balconies of the Courtyard of her Fenway palace.  Since then, the unique display of brilliant orange nasturtiums has become a renowned annual tradition, inspiring artists and visitors to her museum for over a hundred years.
     
    The tour of the Museum will focus on the nasturtiums, as we learn about the process the Gardner’s team of horticulturists use to transform flats of seeds in June to nasturtium vines in lengths that would rival the locks of Rapunzel nine months later.  We will view paintings inspired by the Gardner nasturtiums, and see other works of art that reflect Mrs. Gardner’s love of flowers, gardening and landscapes.

    This program is for members only with a limit of only 25 people. However, we will keep a waitlist. If you sign up and can not attend, please let us know so someone may take your place.  We will meet at 2:00 pm near the bookstore at the Gardner Museum located at 25 Evans Way. For more information email info@bostonflora.com

    (Photo: Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

  • Thursday, March 21, 10:00 am – Jaw-dropping, Traffic-stopping, Get Your Neighbors Talking Container Gardens

    Deborah Trickett, owner of The Captured Garden, will show members of The Garden Club of the Back Bay how to create lush container gardens that will be the envy of the neighborhood. Join Deborah for a Powerpoint demonstration as she shows how to take our container gardens from “blah” to “aaah”. She’ll start with the basics, including appropriate containers, soil mixes, and plant choices for different site conditions, then proceed to new and unusual plant material and uncommon, container choices for exceptionally beautiful results. The program will take place March 21 at The Chilton Club in Boston. Members have received notification and instructions on registering on Eventbrite. Email info@bostonflora.com with questions.

    Deborah is an award-winning container garden designer whose work has been featured in The Boston Globe, Garden Gate Magazine, New England Home Magazine and on the TV show New England Dream Home. She is a Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist and a frequent lecturer on container gardening at the Boston Flower and Garden Show, as well as the Philadelphia International Flower Show.  She also teaches classes and workshops at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston.

    If you are interested in joining The Garden Club of the Back Bay to participate in programs such as this, visit https://bostonflora.com

  • Thursday, February 22, 4:00 pm Eastern – Dee Salomon: Into the Woods with “The Ungardener”, Online

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay is offering a February Zoom meeting on February 22 at 4 pm Eastern with Dee Salomon. Although her outdoor landscape was designed by the renowned Miranda Brooks, Dee Salomon prefers spending her days ‘ungardening’ in the woods where she is rehabilitating the 15 acres of woodland she and her partner live on.  The story of her journey starting as a NY executive to becoming an advocate for the restoration of native woodland habitats – from backyards to land trusts – contains a message we all need to hear.  Dee will deliver that message and share her experience, in word and image, of transforming an invasive-filled woodland into a place for human joy and animal survival. If you are interested in attending (registration required before February 20) email HERE or join the Club at https://bostonflora.com.

  • Thursday, February 8, 10:00 am – America’s Gardens: The Third Golden Age

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s February meeting will take place at The Chilton Club, 152 Commonwealth Avenue, at 10 am. The Club welcomes James Brayton Hall, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Garden Conservancy.

    Gardening has been an important part of American history since even before the country’s founding. In this illustrated talk, Garden Conservancy President and CEO James Brayton Hall will look at both 18th and 19th century high points in American Garden design and theory, and discuss why he believes that in the post-pandemic age we are entering a third golden age of gardening in the United States.

    James joined the Garden Conservancy as president and CEO on June 1, 2017.  For the previous four years, he was deputy director of the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he worked on the planning and design of the Norman Foster-designed museum expansion and sculpture gardens.  From 2010 to 2013, he was executive director of the Providence Preservation Society in Rhode Island, overseeing all programming, fundraising, and relations with the board, donors, and community.  From 2006 to 2010, James served as assistant director of the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, after holding various other management and curatorial positions at the school since 1985. James earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Virginia and a master’s in landscape architecture from Rhode Island School of Design. In addition, he was awarded a Royal Oak Scholarship to attend the Attingham Trust Summer School in Architectural and Landscape History in London, and, separately, participated in the Victorian Society’s summer program in architectural history, also in London.  In 2016, he completed Attingham’s Royal Collections Course.  He has spoken widely on architectural and landscape design and has been a member of the graduate program faculty at the Rhode Island School of Design.

    This is a members only event but membership is a click away at https://bostonflora.com

  • Wednesday, January 17, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Garden Club of the Back Bay Annual Members’ Winter Tea

    The benefits of membership – show your support of the Back Bay neighborhood by joining The Garden Club of the Back Bay and be eligible to participate in festive events like the Annual Winter Tea at the Courtyard Restaurant at the Boston Public Library on Boylston Street. The tea is a Members’ Only event, so act now. For information visit https://bostonflora.com/

  • Merry Christmas

    Wishing you a very Merry Christmas. The festive holiday wreath pictured below was a 2023 creation of The Garden Club of the Back Bay.

  • Thursday, December 14, 4:00 pm – Garden Club of the Back Bay Holiday Stroll

    Another benefit of joining The Garden Club of the Back Bay – pop up events like this one. Mark your calendars for their annual holiday stroll. After a successful wreath week, why not bring a warm cup of cheer and join fellow members as we take a walk to view some of the spectacular lighting and holiday decor in our neighborhood. We will also keep an eye out for some of our decorated wreaths on homeowners’ doors!  We’ll decide a meeting spot closer to the date once we know where the most decorations will be.  Join the Club to participate in dozens of important and fun activities throughout the year.

    RSVP to Stephanie Fletcher HERE.