Boston Flora

Tag: Horticulture

  • Monday, November 16, 10:00 am – Maintaining Your Landscape – Naturally

    The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts presents a Horticulture Morning on Monday, November 16, beginning at 10 a.m. at The Espousal Center, 554 Lexington Street, North Waltham, Massachusetts (off Route I-95/128, Exit 27A Totten Pond Road).  Cathy Felton, Current Native Plants Chairman and organic garden expert, will speak on Maintaining Your Landscape – Naturally, using native and dry condition plants in the garden.  A donation of $5, payable at the door, is suggested.  To call for information on cancellations due to snow or storm, call 781-391-0261.  You may also contact Betsy Williams (betsy@betsywilliams.com) or Rita DeLollis (rdelollis@aol.com) for more information on Horticulture Mornings.

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  • Burger’s Onion

    We’ve come upon an interesting blog we thought would interest our followers.  Burger’s Onion, http://burgersonion.blogspot.com/, deals with weird botany and horticulture.  Posts with fabulous pictures range from a description of the minute Anacampseros hillii to pictures of flowering Hondelbal (“dog ball” in Afrikaans – just guess what this plant looks like) to gymnosperms of the Namib Desert to Organic Pest Control, the Mad Botany Way (using carnivorous plants to mop up fruit flies in the greenhouse.)  The site also has good links to plant organizations, on-line communities and specialist nurseries (you can order poison dart frogs from Black Jungle, www.blackjungle.com).  Always good to have a sense of humor.

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  • Saturday, November 7, 10 am – 12:30 pm – Conifers for Urban Sites

    Mount Auburn Cemetery’s Horticultural Curator Dennis Collins is the go-to guy for teaching about conifers.  He will use the Arnold Arboretum’s vast collection of conifers to show those that would be suited for smaller spaces in city gardens. Dennis will also recommend plants that can withstand some of the stressors common to urban sites, such as extreme wind or heat.  Dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes for this class, which takes place entirely outdoors.  The location is Bussey Street Gate, Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain.  For directions, and to register, log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH, or www.arboretum.harvard.edu, or email horticulture@wellesley.edu.  Cost is $30 for members of WCFH and the Arboretum, $35 for non members. Araucaria heterophylla photo courtesy of Rundstedt B. Rovillos.

    Araucaria heterophylla by Rundstedt B. Rovillos.

  • Monday, October 26, 9:30 am – noon – Volunteer Training at the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens

    The Wellesley College Botanic Gardens depends on its many Friends of Horticulture volunteers to assist the WCBG  in gardening tasks, host campus events, lead tours, work on special research projects, and share their enthusiasm with other plant lovers.  Volunteer meetings are the third Monday of the month, and the first volunteer training session of 2009/2010 will be held at the Greenhouses on October 26, with additional training dates of November 2, 9, 16, and February 1 and 8, 2010.  Training for the Arboretum begins March 20, 2010.  Additional information can be found at www.wellesley.edu/WCFH, or by emailing horticulture@wellesley.edu, or calling 781-283-3094.  Sometimes you just want to hang out in the Greenhouses!

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  • Saturday, October 17, 9:30 – 12:30 – Essential Elements of Botanical Drawing: Getting It Right

    Are you a beginner or even an advanced artist in need of a basic approach to drawing? Jump-start your drawing skills in this five session class with Jeanne Kunze, illustrator and Instructor in Art History and Studio Art. The techniques she teaches are designed to develop accurate observation and definition of shape–both essential to artistic renderings, botanical or not. Learn to represent plants through specialized observation and sketching exercises and techniques for making proportional measurements, depicting foreshortened petals, flowers, and leaves and representing perspective and compositional balance. Jeanne will help you develop your illustration skills through class demonstrations, exercises, and individual teaching moments. Class meets at the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens Visitor Center, and is co sponsored by the Arnold Arboretum and the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture.  The first class is October 17, and remaining classes will take place Saturdays October 24, October 31, November 7, and November 14, all 9:30 – 12:30.   To register, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu, or www.wellesleycollege.edu/WCFH.

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  • Friday, September 25 – Sunday, September 27, 10 am – 5 pm – September to Remember

    The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, Inc. Southeastern District Design & Horticulture Study Group presents dramatic floral designs, witty artistic crafts, intriguing educational exhibits and lush seasonal horticulture by the region’s most accomplished award-winning designers and horticulturalists inspired by the milestones, history and collection of Heritage Museums & Gardens.  Heritage Museums & Gardens is located at 67 Grove Street (at Pine Street), Sandwich, Massachusetts.  Directions may be obtained at www.heritagemuseumsandgardens.org.  Free with museum admission.

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  • Saturday, October 10 – Monday, October 12, 9:00 am – noon – An Introduction to Plant Ecology

    When we see a flower or tree in our garden, we are often unaware of the myriad ways in which that plant’s growth and form is affected by other organisms and its environment.  This three consecutive morning course will explore key concepts in plant ecology with environmental scientist Katie Alt Griffith.  Each session will start with a lecture in the Wellesley College Botanic Garden Visitor Center and then move outdoors into the botanic gardens for observational studies and other structured activities in the field.  Please bring a notebook or journal and pencil, as well as a hand lens (available at Staples) and a field guide, if you have them.  Dress appropriately for going outdoors, rain or shine.  The botanic gardens contain stairs and uneven surfaces.  This course is co-sponsored with Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.  WCFH members $75, non-members $90.  For more information, or to register for course number HOR 10 020, log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH, or email horticulture@wellesley.edu.

    Leaf-footed bug on Adam's needle by Ken-ichi.

  • Wednesday, October 7, 6 – 8 pm – Lynden Miller in Boston

    Lynden Miller, well known NYC public garden designer, will speak about designing, maintaining, and funding beautiful, four-season plantings for public places on Wednesday, October 7, from 6 – 8 pm. Her garden projects in NYC have become urban oases with economic benefits and the power to transform the way people behave and feel about their city.

    Lynden Miller’s life-long work is creating beautiful gardens in challenging locations. She has been featured on the Martha Stewart Show and in Fine Gardening, Horticulture, and House Beautiful magazines. Her message about the fundamental necessity of healthy green spaces is critical for today; her new book documents the ‘how to’ of her success. Learn more about Lynden Miller on her web site www.publicgardendesign.org .

    Lynden will sign her new book, Parks, Plants, and People: Beautifying the Urban Landscape, after her presentation.  The lecture will take place at One Financial Center, overlooking the Boston Greenway, and there will be reduced on-site parking.  The catered event is sponsored by COG Design, advance tickets are $25 (seating limited to 250), and may be ordered on line at www.cogdesign.org.  You will receive a $5 credit towards the advance purchase of Parks, Plants, and People for signing.

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  • Tuesday, September 1 – Thursday, September 3, 9:30 – 3:30 – Fern Morphology: Beyond the Fronds

    Spend three days at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden (September 1 – 3, 9:30 – 3:30) with Dick Rauh looking at and drawing ferns.  Learn to appreciate the variety of forms and the subtlety of color and texture that characterize them.  Study the fern life cycle, dissections, diagnostic characters and fern vocabulary.  With Dick’s guidance, compose these elements: a drawing of a frond or habit, details of pinna form, sori and scales into a scientific illustration in graphite or pen and ink.  Members of Friends of Wellesley Botanic Garden – $250, Non-Members $300.  Print a reservation form from the web site, www.wellesley.edu/WCFH, or send a check made payable to Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture and mail it to Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02481-8203.

  • Saturday, August 1 – Sunday, August 2 – Berkshire Botanical Flower Show

    Travel to the Berkshire Botanical Garden for its annual exhibition of floral design and horticulture, including special children’s classes.  Entries are invited.  Call 413-298-3926 for details, or log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.  Hours are Saturday, 1 – 5 pm, and Sunday, 10 am – 5 pm.