Nurture a sunshiny feeling and boost your immune system with foods and herbal remedies for your daily routine to support your health throughout the winter. Recipes and demonstrations are included.
This Chicago Botanic Garden class on January 25 will be taught online via Zoom. All registrations must be submitted online two days before your class starts. Registered students will receive login instructions one day in advance. $32 for CBG members, $40 for nonmembers. Register at www.chicagobotanic.org
Dawn Petter, herbalist, Petalune Herbals is the instructor.
Herbs are such beautiful plants, useful in the garden as well as the kitchen, so why sequester them in the herb garden? Use herbs throughout the landscape, in flower gardens, in vegetable gardens (to attract pollinators and other beneficial insects), as ground covers, specimens, and in containers. Liberate them from their traditional roles, use your imagination – and bring them into your daily life. Learn about plants we already grow that we don’t know are edible and easy ways to use herbs in food and drink. This online Massachusetts Horticultural Society class with Karen Bussolini will be held on May 14 at 6:30 Eastern, and is $23 for Mass Hort members, $32 for nonmembers. Register at www.masshort.org
Karen Bussolini is a nationally known garden photographer with 6 books to her credit, a writer and speaker, and an eco-friendly garden coach. Her art background and focus on environmental topics – ecological landscaping, native plants, biodiversity, xeriscaping, organic gardening, planting for wildlife, pollinators, and other beneficial insects – inform every aspect of her work. Her slide talks combine beautiful original images, recent scientific findings, personal observations, hands-on experience, and a touch of humor. She is a NOFA-Accredited Organic Land Care Professional and an active member of GardenComm (formerly GWA), The Association of Garden Communicators. Karen is currently the Senior Horticultural Advisor at White Flower Farm in Connecticut.
Take deep breaths, slow down and leave your “to do” list behind. Experience the therapeutic benefits of horticulture while enjoying and creating fragrant items with amazing herbs. You will make different fragrant items with fresh and dried herbs, while learning basic techniques. Information will be shared on herb plants you can easily grow. All of these provide rich input for our senses which positively affects our health and wellness. Feel calm and refreshed with positive energy by focusing on being in the moment and engaging each of your senses – sight, touch, sound, smell and taste – while interacting with sensory rich plant materials.
This August 17 New England Botanical Garden at Tower Hill class will include an overview of the therapeutic benefits and power of horticulture to understand why and how it can be used personally, and for people of all ages and abilities. We will discuss the difference between therapeutic horticulture and horticultural therapy. You will learn about benefits including increased relaxation, decreased anxiety, stress relief, sensory stimulation, hope, improved cognitive abilities, engagement in life, “connectedness,” and physical exercise. It will be clear how plants and the natural world give you support when life gets overwhelmingly busy or stressful. We will spend approximately 40 minutes delving into this.
You will spend approximately 80 minutes exploring herbs in the gardens, harvesting a variety of herb plants and learning how to dry herbs so they last. We will use the herbs, including lavender, to make sachets, potpourri and one of a kind greeting cards. Adding herbs to your life can bring beauty to your home, good health and can also make lovely gifts. Join Deborah Krause, Horticultural Therapist, in this relaxing session where you may leave with a smile, feeling of calm and peace, and pride in your creations.
Deborah Krause is a Registered Horticultural Therapist. She is passionate about wellness and the therapeutic benefits of horticulture for people of all ages and abilities. She has served in various capacities in the American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA) and the Northeast Horticultural Therapy Network (NEHTN), which she co-founded, and currently is on the Board of Directors. Deborah developed the horticultural therapy program at Perkins School for the Blind and was the horticultural therapist and coordinator of the horticulture center there for 40 years. She is currently a program coordinator at The Nature Connection whose mission is to improve the wellbeing of individuals and communities through the therapeutic use of nature. Deborah is the horticulture educator at the Memorial Spaulding School Garden where students grow produce to donate to food pantries. She is a horticulture instructor at Danny’s Place for youth. She presents webinars for AARP on adaptive gardening. Deborah consults with non-profit organizations to design and facilitate therapeutic and educational horticulture and nature programs. Deborah’s popular classes for adults creating sensory rich seasonal flower and plant arrangements have focused on relaxation, stress reduction and positive thinking and she is honored and happy to continue to bring this to New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill.
$80 NEBG members, $95 nonmembers. To register, visit www.nebg.org
Join the Shirley Eustis House Association online on March 19 at 10 am to explore the herbal pharmacy in early American gardens with Master Gardener Mary Lou O’Connor. Mary Lou will highlight the growing selection of medicinal plants in the historic gardens at Shirley Place and how they were used to promote wellness and treat illnesses and injuries in early New England. She’ll also discuss how Native American knowledge and African traditions combined with European herbal know-how to make for a particularly American herbal medicine cabinet or pharmacopeia. Co-sponsored by the Roxbury Historical Society. Questions: contact Suzy Buchanan at director@shirleyeustishouse.org. Donations encouraged. Register with Eventbrite HERE
The Springfield Garden Club will host “Herbs, Herbals and Herbalists” presented by Judith Sumner on Friday, February 18 at 11:30 AM. The event will be in person at the Barney Carriage House at Forest Park as well as virtually via Zoom.
Speaker Judith Sumner specializes in ethnobotany, flowering plants, plant adaptations, and garden history. She has taught extensively both at the college level and at botanical gardens, including the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and Garden in the Woods. Judith graduated from Vassar College and completed graduate studies in botany at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She studied at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and at the British Museum (Natural History) and did extensive field work in the Pacific region on the genus Pittosporum and is widely published. She will talk on early herbals and plant life, including the Doctrine of Signatures, an ancient practice of using plants for their beneficial capacities through observation.
The meeting will be held at the Carriage House at the Barney Estate, Forest Park, Springfield, MA 01108. Directions to Carriage house at: www.barneycarriagehouse.com.
The presentation is open to the public as well as club members via Zoom. Social hour begins at 11:30, the club business meeting is at noon and the presentation will begin at 12:30. Tickets for guests are $5 and are available at EventBrite.com.
Each year Wright-Locke Farm sells organic seedlings during the spring season to help you start your gardens off on the right foot. We are selling seedlings until May 1st on a PRE-SALE basis using our Farm to Go™ online order system. Login to your account (or make one if you don’t have one yet!), select “Seedling Presales” as your shopping period and start adding to your cart:
Greens
Flowers & Herbs
Cherry tomatoes
Heirloom & Slicing Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Beans
Summer Squash
Eggplant
Melons & MORE!
Once you confirm your order, we’ll send you followup information about scheduling a pickup time in May for your seedlings. Happy Growing! Questions about the seedlings? Email farmer@wlfarm.orgQuestions about your account/ordering seedlings? Email farmstand@wlfarm.org
Join Clinical Herbalist Liane Moccia on March 3 at noon to dive into all things herbal! This lunch-break workshop is virtual but not hands-off. Participants will enjoy easy to follow instructions and examples of everyday and not-so-common herbs in daily life to improve health, stress and mood.
Can’t make the workshop? Sign up and The Trustees will email you the class video and notes to enjoy at your leisure!
Liane helps people find natural solutions to their chronic health problems and specializes in stress, energy, sleep, fertility and pre-pregnancy planning. You can find more about Liane and her work at www.lianesherbalwellness.com
The workshop will be on Zoom. Pre-registration required. Participants will receive Zoom link and login info the morning of the program. $5 for Trustees members, $10 for nonmembers. Register at https://thetrustees.org/event/58981/
In this first installment of Berkshire Botanical Garden’s online three-class series, “Herbalism for Trying Times,” herbalist and wellness coach Hannah Jacobson-Hardy will share a botanical approach to the prevention and treatment of Lyme disease, using herbal remedies made from local plants. Wellness protocols with specific herbs will be discussed, along with recipes and information on sourcing remedies. Students will receive a coupon code for free shipping at the Sweet Birch Herbals Online Shop during the series.
Hannah Jacobson-Hardy is a community herbalist, wellness coach and founder of Sweet Birch Herbals in Ashfield, MA. Hannah offers herbal consultations, custom made tinctures and teas, workshops, and a wide variety of products for sale, including Full Moon Ghee. Learn more about Hannah at www.sweetbirchherbals.com. Follow Hannah on social media @sweet_birch_herbals.
Susan Leigh Anthony and Lucy Dean, members of The New England Unit of the Herb Society of America, will lead a program in The Teaching Herb Garden at The G3 from 10:30 – noon. They will point out several of their favorite plants, and share stories and methods of harvesting, history, lore and plant uses.
The Teaching Herb Garden is divided into theme beds, which radiate from the center and include: fragrance, dye, culinary, native American, medicinal, edible plants and flowers, and a Colonial theme garden. A collection of Salvia plants was added in 2006. Along one side, a rectangular bed is planted with sweet violets and groundcover plants. On the opposite side of the garden, we feature the “Herb of the Year.” Another bed features an Ecumenical Garden. The plants in this garden have religious or symbolic importance in the five major religions, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. On either side of the teaching arbor, the beds are overflowing with roses and lavender and the perennial border is a visual delight. Planter/benches hold fragrant herbs that welcome visitors to touch and feel and to also smell the herbs.
The Massachusetts Horticultural Society hopes you can join us for this program highlighting one of our most interesting gardens led by the people who maintain and care for it. At the end of the talk there will be a brief Herb Search for attendees. $15 for Mass Hort members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at http://masshort.org, or call 617-933-4973.
Betsy Williams and Tower Hill Botanic Garden present a flower arranging class on October 23 from 10:30 – 12:30 at Tower Hill, 11 French Drive in Boylston. Decorate your home with the beauty of fall flowers and the storied protective powers of the Herbs of Halloween. We’ll combine the vibrant hues of autumn flowers with accents of ancient Halloween magic to create a truly magical centerpiece. Make a long lasting, richly colored arrangement of glowing sunflowers, chrysanthemums, grains, garlic and a selection of Halloween’s most magical herbs and flowers. You’ll learn the stories and ancient magical uses of the flowers and herbs as you work. Please bring an apron and floral scissors to class. Fee ($75 for Tower Hill members, $89 for nonmembers) includes all materials. Register at www.towerhillbg.org
Betsy Williams teaches, lectures and writes about living with herbs and flowers. A gardener and herb grower since 1972, Betsy trained as a florist in Boston and England. She combines her floral and gardening skills with an extensive knowledge of history, plant lore and seasonal celebrations. Betsy is the author of several books on the uses and stories of herbs and flowers. She has appeared on the Discovery Channel and greater Boston cable stations as well as local and national radio talk shows. Betsy lectures and teaches locally and nationally.
