Boston Flora

Tag: Glass Flowers

  • Wednesday, March 23, 2:00 pm – Garden Club of the Back Bay Glass Flowers Tour

    Wednesday, March 23, 2:00 pm – Garden Club of the Back Bay Glass Flowers Tour

    A docent will lead Garden Club members on a custom tour of the recently restored “Glass Flowers”. The internationally acclaimed Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants is one of Harvard’s most famous treasures and is the only collection of its kind in the world. This unique collection of over 4,300 models, representing more than 780 plant species, was created from 1887 through 1936 by glass artisans Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, a father and son team of Czech glass artists.  The Glass Flowers gallery was renovated in Spring 2016, introducing rebuilt, original historic wood and glass display cases, new state-of-the-art lighting, humidity, and vibration control systems.  The new space design and interpretation showcases the ongoing scientific relevance of the gallery and enhances the visitors’ experience of the models. In this exhibit one can see examples of the flora of the world in bloom all at once.

    This long awaited tour, twice postponed due to Covid, will take place March 23 at 2 pm at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

    This program is for Garden Club of the Back Bay members only. The Club is charged by the person and we are required to give the Museum an accurate number of attendees.  If you rsvp and can not attend, please let us know! If you’d like to add your name, rsvp by March 14 to Christine Hirshland :
    chirshland@aol.com 

    • Enter The Harvard Museum of Natural History through the 26 Oxford Street entrance.
    • We will meet at 2:00 on the third floor, just outside the gift shop, near the glass flowers exhibit area. You will be asked for proof of full vaccination plus a government issued id to enter the museum.

  • Thursday, January 16, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm – Harvard’s Glass Flower Collection Tour

    Join the Massachusetts Horticultural Society on January 16 from 1:30 – 3 for a special tour of one of Harvard’s most famous treasures- the internationally acclaimed Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants, the “Glass Flowers.” This unique collection of over 4,000 models, representing more than 830 plant species, was created by glass artisans Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, a father and son from Dresden, Germany. For more information visit https://masshort.org/education-events/tour-harvards-glass-flower-collection/

  • Opening August 31 – Fruits in Decay

    Imagine an orchard, lush and bursting with ripe fruit in the sweltering summer sun. Not all of the fruit weighing down the branches and vines will be fit to consume. Some strawberries will dampen and shrivel with mold, some peaches will be blighted in the shade, and some pears will become pockmarked with age.

    However, there is a beauty in this natural decaying process that repeats with each season. Perhaps the rot will be cut away and the fruit will be preserved as jam, jellies, pie, or compote. Maybe a hungry child or traveler will wander through the orchard rows and choose a less-than- perfect specimen for their late afternoon snack. Right now, in orchards in New England and beyond, microscopic agents are at work consuming the fruit to its core in a world beyond our sight.

    The Harvard Museum of Natural History is pleased to present Fruits in Decay, a special new exhibit in the Glass Flowers Gallery that explores blight, rot, and other diseases on summer fruits. It features exquisitely detailed glass botanical models of strawberries, peaches, apricots, plums, and pears made by famed glass artist Rudolf Blaschka between the years 1924-1932. On display for the first time in nearly two decades, these models capture—with astonishing realism—the intricacies and strange beauty of fruits in various stages of decay.

    Donald H. Pfister, Curator of the Farlow Library and Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany and Asa Gray Professor of Systematic Botany, praises the work of Blaschka, “Rudolf Blaschka’s last work centered on the creation of these models of diseased fruits. They are the culmination of his lifelong attention to accuracy and innovation. They illustrate the effects of fungi as agents of disease in plants and point to their importance in agricultural systems.”

    Fruits in Decay includes more than twenty glass specimens depicting common agricultural diseases and the effects of fungus such as peach leaf curl, gray mold, brown rot, soft rot, blue mold, shot-hole disease, stony pear, pear scab, fire blight, and leaf spot.

    Visitors will be able to see the delicate artistry of these celebrated Blaschka specimens August 31, 2019 through March 1, 2020. Fruits in Decay will replace the collection’s Rotten Apples exhibit, which will remain open until August 25, 2019.

  • Tuesday, January 9, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm – Tour of Harvard’s Glass Flower Collection

    Join the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for a special tour of one of the Harvard’s most famous treasures- the internationally acclaimed Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants, the “Glass Flowers.” This unique collection of over 4,000 models, representing more than 830 plant species, was created by glass artisans Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, a father and son from Dresden, Germany. The collection is housed at Harvard University’s Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, and the event takes place Tuesday, January 9 from 1:30 – 3:00. $20 for Mass Hort members, $30 for nonmembers. Registration required at http://www.masshort.org/eventdetail/598/tour-harvard-s-glass-flower-collection?filter_reset=1

  • Friday, July 22, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm – Glass Flowers Soiree

    Friday, July 22, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm – Glass Flowers Soiree

    Exclusively for guests over 21, this one-of-a-kind evening on Friday, July 22 at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, will celebrate the Harvard Museum of Natural History’s Glass Flowers exhibition. Come with a date, come with friends, or make new friends as you enjoy signature cocktails and music while strolling through the museum’s sixteen exhibitions! Tickets available online and at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. $20 members/$25 nonmembers

    Presented in collaboration with the Harvard Summer School. Free parking is available at the 52 Oxford Street Garage.

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  • Tuesday, March 13 – Margaret Pokorny to Receive Park Partners Award

    Tuesday, March 13 – Margaret Pokorny to Receive Park Partners Award

    Mayor Thomas M. Menino and the Boston Parks and Recreation Department will present the first annual Park Partners Award to Margaret Pokorny of the Back Bay during the Boston Flower & Garden Show Preview Party at the Seaport World Trade Center on Tuesday, March 13. The Park Partners Award recognizes Boston citizens who make a significant contribution to beautification and the city’s parks.

    A longtime advocate for protecting the natural resources in her neighborhood, Margaret Pokorny has worked closely with residents and city officials to beautify Commonwealth Avenue Mall since she first moved to Back Bay in 1980. She was instrumental in efforts to revive the turf along the Mall, supported the creation of the Women’s Memorial, and has been active in fundraising and caring for trees along the Commonwealth Avenue.

    “Margaret has gone above and beyond in order to preserve the quality of life in the neighborhood by advocating for policies which protect trees and encourage use of Commonwealth Avenue Mall by residents and visitors,” Mayor Menino said. “She is vigilant about engaging her neighbors to help water, replace, and protect trees, especially the Dutch elm population. She is always gracious, honest, and direct. The city is lucky to have such an advocate for our green space.”

    A hands-on booster for Boston’s parks, Pokorny’s personal slogan is “Born to Prune.” Her in-depth knowledge of her neighborhood parks was evident in her final thesis in the Radcliffe Seminars program in Landscape Design in 1992: a history and master plan for Commonwealth Avenue Mall. She was mentored in the project by her friend and neighbor, the late Stella Trafford, known as the Grande Dame of Boston parks for her own involvement with Commonwealth Avenue Mall, the Public Garden, and Boston Common.

    Pokorny worked with Trafford on issues related to the Mall, and became an active member of the Board of the Friends of Copley Square, the Friends of the Public Garden, and the Board of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay. She also served as Co-President of the Garden Club of the Back Bay and joined the Board of The Esplanade Association when it was founded in 2000. Margaret has also received the Boston Bowl from the Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America.

    Tickets are still available for the March 13 Boston Flower & Garden Show Preview Party taking place from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the eve of the 2012 Boston Flower & Garden Show which opens to the public on March 14. In addition to the award presentation, Dr. Gustavo Romero will speak about the Glass Flowers Collection at the Harvard Museum of Natural History and gardening expert Patti “Garden Girl” Moreno will give a talk on Urban Sustainable Living and the five things everyone can do to live more sustainably in the city.

    For more information or to purchase tickets, please call the Parks Department at (617) 635-4032 or visit www.cityofboston.gov/parks/ttd/flowershow.asp.

  • Sunday, February 12, 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Glassblowing Flowers and Hearts

    Give your sweetheart a special gift – learn basic glass blowing theory to produce brilliantly colorful glass flowers and hearts.  No experience necessary to take this Boston Center for Adult Education class on Sunday, February 12 from 2 – 6, taught by the instructors at the Diablo Glass School.  The $145 session will take place at Diablo Glass and Metal, 123 Terrace Street in Roxbury.  To sign up, visit www.bcae.org.  The antique glass flower bouquet pictured below was a gift to Elizabeth C. Ware and her daughter Mary Lee Ware from Leopold Blaschka in 1889.  Photograph by Hillel Burger, copyright President and Fellows of Harvard College.

  • Friday, December 2, 4:00 pm – Ghost Orchids

    In this sculpture display in the Harvard Museum of Natural History’s Glass Flowers gallery, Scottish artist Siobhan Healy creates a subtle and thought-provoking piece inspired by the Ghost Orchid (Epipogium aphyllum), a rare British wild flower recently rediscovered after it was thought to be extinct for 23 years. Healy depicts the orchid in transient and ethereal clear glass, encouraging the viewer to reflect on the potential loss of this fragile species—an evocative emblem of the one in five of wild flowers that are threatened with extinction. This artist talk will take place Friday, December 2, beginning at 4 pm. Free with museum admission. For more information, visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Thursday, August 19, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Summer Night at the Museum

    The Harvard Museum of Natural History hosts extended hours on the third Thursday of each summer month. Explore the museum and the new Headgear exhibition.

    Bring friends to see the world famous exhibit of 3,200 ‘Glass Flowers’, amazingly realistic models of plants, fruits and flowers created by father-son glass artists Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka from 1886-1936. You won’t believe they’re not real.

    Explore 12,000 specimens drawn from Harvard’s vast research collections at the University’s most visited museum — dinosaurs, meteorites, gemstones, and hundreds of prehistoric and current-day animals from around the globe. Get close to the world’s only mounted Kronosaurus (below), a 42 ft-long marine reptile; one of the first Triceratops ever discovered; a 1,642 lb. amethyst geode; three huge whale skeletons.

    The museum is on the Harvard University campus, just a short, 7-10 minute walk through historic Harvard Yard from the Harvard Square MBTA Red Line ‘T’ station. Open daily, 9 am – 5 pm, 361 days/year. Handicapped accessible. Explore www.hmnh.harvard.edu for changing exhibitions, dozens of lectures, events, classes for all ages, year-round.

    Details on the Harvard Museum of Natural History website, http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/lectures_and_special_events/index.php#summer

    http://silentmob.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/kronosaurus-preview.jpg

  • Thursday, July 15, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Summer Night at the Museum

    The Harvard Museum of Natural History hosts extended hours on the third Thursday of each summer month. Explore the museum and the new Headgear exhibition. Join Peter Hedman, 2010 graduate of Harvard College with a concentration in the Earth & Planetary Sciences, for a 6 pm gallery talk on “Rock of Ages: The Evolution of Minerals through Earth History”, and Dr. Vera Domingues, a researcher in Harvard’s Department of Mammalogy, for a 7:00 pm gallery tour on “Natural Selection at Work: Color and Patterns in the Wild” in the Language of Color exhibition.

    Bring friends to see the world famous exhibit of 3,200 ‘Glass Flowers’, amazingly realistic models of plants, fruits and flowers created by father-son glass artists Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka from 1886-1936. You won’t believe they’re not real – a detail is pictured below.

    Explore 12,000 specimens drawn from Harvard’s vast research collections at the University’s most visited museum — dinosaurs, meteorites, gemstones, and hundreds of prehistoric and current-day animals from around the globe. Get close to the world’s only mounted Kronosaurus, a 42 ft-long marine reptile; one of the first Triceratops ever discovered; a 1,642 lb. amethyst geode; three huge whale skeletons.

    The museum is on the Harvard University campus, just a short, 7-10 minute walk through historic Harvard Yard from the Harvard Square MBTA Red Line ‘T’ station. Open daily, 9 am – 5 pm, 361 days/year. Handicapped accessible. Explore www.hmnh.harvard.edu for changing exhibitions, dozens of lectures, events, classes for all ages, year-round.

    The next Summer Night at the Museum will be August 19, 2010.

    Details on the Harvard Museum of Natural History website, http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/lectures_and_special_events/index.php#summer

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3326/3669424901_aba0abd1ac.jpg