Boston Flora

Tag: Hampden County

  • July & August – Massachusetts Summer Fairs

    Fair season in Massachusetts starts in mid-July and ramps up quickly through August. The western half of the state leads the way, with small agricultural fairs that feel more like Vermont than Boston.

    July: The Westport Fair (July 15–19) near the Rhode Island border is a classic agricultural fair with oxen pulls, horse shows, and a packed midway. On the same weekend, the Hampshire County 4-H Fair (July 18) in Cummington gives families a small, welcoming introduction to the fair circuit. The month wraps with the Barnstable County Fair (July 20–25) on Cape Cod — one of the few fairs in the state where you can smell salt air from the midway — and the Hampden County 4-H Fair (July 25) on the Big E grounds.

    August is peak fair month in Massachusetts. The Bolton Fair (August 14–16) in central Massachusetts is a local favorite — a traditional agricultural fair with demolition derbies, baking competitions, and a strong 4-H presence. The nearby Middlefield Fair (August 14–16) and Martha’s Vineyard Fair (August 13–16) run the same weekend, giving you options from the Berkshires to the islands.

    Later in August, the Littleville Fair (August 7–9), Heath Fair (August 21–23), Westfield Fair (August 21–23), and Hardwick Fair (August 21–23) all compete for your weekend. The massive Marshfield Fair (August 21–30) runs for ten days on the South Shore and draws some of the biggest crowds in the state.

    The month closes with the Cummington Fair (August 27–30), the Shelburne Grange Fair (August 29), the 3 County Fair in Northampton (August 29), and the Middlesex County 4-H Fair (August 28–30).

    For updated information check the websites of the organizing groups or visit Meet Me At The Fair.

  • Saturday, August 16, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Hampden and Hampshire Counties Open Day

    The Garden Conservancy’s Hampden and Hampshire Counties Open Day will take place August 16.

    Rock Valley Paradise in Holyoke includes a small orchard of fifteen fruit trees—apples, peaches, plums, pears, apricots, and cherries. The berries include blueberries, goji berries, elderberries, raspberries and blackberries and black, red, and champagne currants. The ‘Concord’ grapes provide lots of juice for the winter months. Seasonally the owners grow all kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash, eggplant, and all the other “regular veggies.” The homestead also boasts two dairy goats, a dozen chickens, and two hives of honey bees.

    Thayer Garden in Hadley is centered around a 1747 farmhouse and an 1884 barn, with phlox, iris, daylilies, peonies, lilacs, and wisteria.

    Register at https://www.gardenconservancy.org/garden-directory/open-days/

  • Saturday, October 19, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Franklin, Hampden, & Hampshire Counties Open Day

    The Garden Conservancy presents three private gardens open to the public on October 19 from 10 – 4. Complete details are found at www.gardenconservancy.org

    The Kinsey-Pope Garden in Amherst has been a work in progress since 1978. It is a landscape of many uncommon trees with strikingly beautiful bark and a wide variety of textures, flowers, berries, and great autumn color; many shrubs with more than one season of beauty; perennials flowering in three seasons; ground covers of unusual dramatic effect covering all beds during all seasons; and in winter offering a wide palette of interesting shapes, lovely bark, and many evergreen trees and shrubs. In addition, there are three bridges over a stone-lined swale, a hand-built screened gazebo and curved top arbor, a charming little pond, many benches and Japanese stone lanterns, large-stone walkways and stone walls, and a Japanese inspired fence surrounding all of the ½-acre garden. Please note this garden is open for two sessions, 10 – 1 and 1 – 5.

    Rock Valley Paradise is located in Holyoke. The garden is a sanctuary, and a happy place. Although the owner has flowers and herbs, her passion is food for the family. The spot includes a small orchard of fifteen fruit trees, apples, peaches, plums, pears, apricots, and cherries. Our berries include blueberries, goji berries, elderberries, and black, red, and champagne currants. The concord grapes provide us with lots of juice for the winter months. Seasonally she grows all five kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash, eggplant, and all the other “regular veggies.” Our homestead also boasts two dairy goats, a dozen chickens, and a hive of honey bees. This garden’s estimated size is ¼ acre.

    The last garden on the tour is Swampfield, in Sunderland (below). The owner says: “When we moved here in 2015, the property was a blank slate. Since then, we have added 7,000 sq. feet of perennial border, in a mixture of sun and shade. Our sunny borders are filled with classic cottage garden plants and many natives. While there’s a playful exuberance, the color palette within each season is relatively limited—creating a sense of harmony and continuity as you explore the property. The two woodland gardens are lush, with towering actaeas and tiny primroses and everything in between. The garden crescendos in the fall as mums, asters, sedums, and more explode alongside scores of ornamental grasses and shrubs—just as their foliage begins to take on exciting hues. “Welcome to Swampfield! This garden’s estimated size is 7,000 sq. feet.

  • Thursday, August 2 – Sunday, August 5 – Northeast Chapter Dragonfly Society of the Americas Regional Meeting

    Massachusetts is generally well-studied for Odonata, but Hampden County has received less attention than most of the state. The Nature Conservancy has invited the Dragonfly Society of the Americas to survey the Stebbins Wildlife Refuge, which includes extensive swamp and floodplain as well as a section of the Connecticut River. The town of Wilbraham has granted us permission to explore its McDonald Farm Nature Preserve, home to the state’s westernmost and farthest-inland Atlantic White Cedar swamp and extensive Sphagnum bog habitat. The Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary has also laid out a welcome mat for us, and we have several other intriguing chunks of habitat to explore. At the top of our target species list are the three species of Stylurus, the Arrow (S. spiniceps), Zebra (S. scudderi), and (most tantalizingly, pictured below) Riverine Clubtail (S. amnicola); Ocellated Darner (Boyeria grafiana); and, of course, as many Somatochlora species as we can find.

    Our headquarters will be in Ludlow, Massachusetts, just off of the (in)famous Mass Pike, providing convenient access to points east or west, and not far from I-91 for easy north-south transit. We will be less than a half-mile from the Chicopee River. The I-91 Springfield-Holyoke corridor is heavily urbanized with lots of eating, sleeping, and other commercial options, but we’ll have no shortage of green spaces to explore both east and west of there.

    One day of our field trips will probably focus primarily on the Stebbins Refuge; another primarily on the Wilbraham White Cedar Swamp, Conant Brook Dam, and Norcross Sanctuary; and the third we’ll probably visit west of the Connecticut River to Fox Den Wildlife Management Area, the Westfield River, and other spots over that way. Which day is which will be figured out once we have a clearer idea of the weather forecast for the three days. Individual meeting participants are, of course, welcome to go to the sites on their own rather than following the crowd.

    Thursday evening, August 2

    Check into accommodations, informally gather at the Holiday Inn Express in Ludlow, and head out to eat somewhere

    Friday, August 3

    Quick morning organizational meeting, then head into the field, most likely Wilbraham-Norcross-Conant. If anyone wants to give a research talk, it will probably be after dinner on this day.

    Saturday, August 4

    8AM – Quick morning meeting and recap from Friday, then head out into the field, most likely Stebbins. In the evening, group photo and dinner (venue TBA).

    Sunday, August 5

    8AM – Final meeting, then head out into the field, most likely to sites west of the Connecticut River. Then we all head home.

    Meeting fee is $25 for the weekend, $15 for a single day. Register at https://bryanpfeiffer.com/nedsa2018/

    Image result for Stylurus amnicola