Hunnewell Building

Monday, September 24, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – A Brief History of Plant Pathology: from the Irish Potato Famine to the Present

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Plants maintain complex relationships with a wide spectrum of microorganisms. A significant portion of these interactions are with plant pathogenic microorganisms, which cause diseases of various plant parts and thereby decrease crop productivity. Studying plant diseases is vital to understanding the biology of plants, which, in turn, provides crucial information for successful agriculture. Archana Vasanthakumar, Postdoctoral Fellow, Laboratory of Applied Microbiology, SEAS, Harvard University,  will explore the impact of plant diseases on humankind, beginning with the Irish Potato Famine in the late nineteenth century—an event that has been heralded as the beginning of plant pathology as a discipline. She will go on to examine the role of plant pathology in current agriculture. The program will take place Monday, September 24, from 7 – 8:30 at the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum. Free, but registration requested (www.arboretum.harvard.edu).

Thursday, September 27, 7:00 pm – 2012 Massachusetts Horticultural Society Honorary Medals Dinner

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The Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society invites you to the 2012 Honorary Medals Dinner beginning at 7 pm on Thursday, September 27 in the Hunnewell Building Carriage House, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley.  Proceeds from this special event benefit excellence in horticulture at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.  Honorees for 2012 include John W. Trexler, Previous Director of Tower Hill Botanic Garden, who will receive the George Robert White Medal of Honor, and writer Sydney Eddison, who will receive the Thomas Roland Medal.  Individual tickets are $113, and tickets will be held at the door.  To reserve by telephone, call 617-933-4945.  Business attire is suggested.

Wednesday, September 19, 6:00 pm – Artists in the Arboretum 2012: Looking Closely

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The Arnold Arboretum, in conjunction with Jamaica Plain Open Studios, will host a juried group exhibition devoted to art inspired by the plants, landscape, and collections of the Arnold Arboretum. The theme for this year’s show is “Looking Closely.”  Join the Arboretum staff on Wednesday, September 19th at 6 pm for a reception with the artists in the Hunnewell Building Lecture Hall at the Arboretum.  The show will run through November 18, 2012.

Mondays, October 29, January 28 (snow date January 29), and March 25, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Designing Principles

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The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts will hold a series of lectures and demonstrations on Flower Arranging three times in the coming season : Monday, October 29, Monday, January 28 (with a Tuesday, January 29 snow date), and Monday, March 25, from 10 – noon at the Hunnewell Building, Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Elm Bank, Wellesley, Massachusetts.  Join them for an interactive design experience.  The Massachusetts designers, among the best in the country, will teach you what they do and how they do it.  Top secrets are often revealed!  Reservations are being accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, but no telephone reservations will be taken.  The total (and very reasonable) fee for all three sessions is $25, and you may make out a check payable to GCFM, Inc. and mail it to Thelma Shoneman, 21 Freedom Farme Road, Acton, MA 01720.  Please include your full name and address, telephone number, email address, and Garden Club affiliation.  You will receive an email confirmation when your check is received.

Thursday, May 17, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – More Ticks in More Places

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Several local green space organizations have joined together to present the following educational program about tick awareness and tick bite prevention.  More Ticks in More Places: How the ever-changing ecology of tick-borne diseases in the Northeastern US affects you! will be presented by Thomas N. Mather, Ph.D, Director, The University of Rhode Island Tick Encounter Resource Center, on Thursday, May 17, 6:30–8:00pm in the Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston.

In New England, 2011 was an exceptionally “ticky” year, and there are predictions for a possible 20% increase in the tick population in 2012. Dr. Thomas Mather will discuss current trends in tick encounter risk as well as his efforts to help individuals and communities prevent tick bites and Lyme disease. Learn about tick life cycles, environmental factors contributing to Lyme disease, and what you can do to protect yourself so that you can continue to enjoy the green spaces in and around Boston. Reserve now. Space is limited.

Free, but registration requested.

Register online at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or by phone at 617-384-5277.

Sponsored by Boston Natural Areas Network; Mass Audubon’s Boston Nature Center; Brookline Parks & Open Space; Emerald Necklace Conservancy; Franklin Park Coalition; Friends of the Blue Hills; New England Mountain Bike Association; Olmsted National Historic Site, NPS; and Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.

Monday, March 19, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Exploring Terra Incognita: The Extraordinary Diversity of Microbes on Us, In Us, and Around Us

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Microorganisms are ubiquitous and abundant on Earth. You inhale thousands of microbial cells in every breath and your body is home to 100 trillion of them. Only in the past few years have we been able to describe the enormous diversity of microorganisms that live in familiar environments, including your forehead, your computer keyboard, plant leaves, and the soil in your garden. Noah Fierer, Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Fellow at the Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will speak on Monday, March 19, from 7 – 8:30, in the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum, about recent work exploring microbial diversity on the human body, the effects these organisms (most of which are not pathogenic) may have on our health, and how we may be able to use bacteria for forensic identification. He will also discuss ongoing work exploring bacterial diversity in the atmosphere through which unexpected sources of airborne bacteria in U.S. cities have been identified. He will finish by highlighting some future research directions in the burgeoning field of microbial ecology and how this research will likely alter how we think about ‘germs’ and human-microbe interactions. The lecture is free, but registration is required by calling 617-384-5277, or by visiting www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

Monday, March 5, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Art as a Source of Information on Horticultural Technology

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Jules Janick, James Troop Distinguished Professor of Horticulture at Purdue University, will speak in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum on Monday, March 5, from 7 – 8:30, as part of the Director’s Lecture Series. Works of art from antiquity to the present constitute an alternate source of information on horticultural technology and science, providing significant information on subjects such as the history of technology, crop evolution, lost traits, and crop dispersal. Sources include ancient mosaics, sculpture, illustrations of medieval manuscripts, renaissance paintings, and illustrations from illuminated and printed herbals. The uses of art as a source of horticultural technology will be illustrated using examples of Paleolithic sculpture and painting, Egyptian and Mesopotamian sculpture and painting, ancient Greek paintings, Roman mosaics, Medieval illuminated herbals, and Renaissance art in its many manifestations including illustrated prayer books, fresco ceilings, paintings, drawings, sculpture, and woodcuts from printed herbals. The program is free but registration is required at 617-384-5277, or sign up on line at www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

Monday, February 6, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – The Global Forests of Greenhouse Earth

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Earth’s climate has passed from times characterized by huge ice caps to times when there was almost no ice at all and both Greenland and Antarctica were covered by forests. Kirk Johnson, Vice President of Research & Collections and Chief Curator, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, studies fossil leaves to refine geologic time, reconstruct ancient landscapes, track climate change, and document the evolution and extinction of species and ecosystems. For 30 years he has been chasing the 50–100 million year-old-forests of the last great global greenhouse period. Join him as he takes you on a journey to an entirely different Planet Earth—an environment that may help us to better understand changes occurring in our own time. This Arnold Arboretum lecture will take place Monday, February 6, from 7 – 8:30 in the Hunnewell Building, as part of the Director’s Lecture Series. The event is free but registration is required. Call 617-384-5277, or visit www.arboretum.harvard.edu to place your name on the list.  Painting below by Peter Trusler.

Monday, January 9, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – The Evolution of Big

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Think you know trees? Come to the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum on Monday, January 9, from 7 – 8:30 and learn about an amazing period when there were no trees, and then, in the blink of a geological eye, several different groups of plants evolved the ability to increase their girth and qualify for placement in an arboretum. Get a sense of what forests looked like over three hundred million years ago. Learn about the (sad) extinction of all but one of the early arborescent lineages of plants and find out which evolutionary group of trees survived to populate the Arnold Arboretum and today’s forests. The free lecture will be given by Ned Friedman, Director of the Arnold Arboretum and Arnold Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. Registration is required, however, so call 617-384-5277, or visit www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

Saturday, November 5 – Sunday, November 6, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – Chainsaw Use and Safety

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“Make the cut” with Arboretum arborist John DelRosso in this two session practical workshop, to be held Saturday – Sunday, November 5 – 6, in the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum. In the first session he emphasizes chainsaw operation, maintenance, and safety. In the second session he demonstrates sawing techniques and guides you in felling and cutting using practice logs in the Arboretum’s wood recycling area. Bring your saw to both sessions, if you have one. If you don’t own a saw but intend to purchase one, wait until you’ve attended the first class session to learn which styles and features are best for your size and needs. All participants should bring safety goggles, gloves, and ear protection to both sessions.  Fee $80 member, $105 nonmember. Register on line at www.arboretum.harvard.edu.