Boston Flora

Tag: Insects

  • Thursday, August 9, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm – Landscape and Forest Tree and Shrub Insect Workshop

    Join Tawny Simisky, UMass Extension Entomologist, on August 9 from 9 – 3 for this workshop where participants will gain hands-on experience with many important landscape and forest insect pests of trees and shrubs. The UMass Amherst campus arboretum offers a wide variety of ornamental and forest trees and shrubs. Selected insects to be discussed will include bark beetles and wood borers, pests with piercing-sucking mouth parts, defoliators, miners/leafrollers, galls, and more. An introductory lecture will review the basics of diagnostic entomology followed by a walking tour of campus. The day will end with a laboratory session using microscopy, giving us the opportunity for an up-close and personal view of some of these insects.
    Registration

    Preregistration is required, as space is limited to 25 participants; cost is $150/$135 per person. Lunch is on your own, morning coffee will be provided. To register visit http://ag.umass.edu/landscape/events/landscape-forest-tree-shrub-insect-workshop

    Image result for wood boring beetles

  • Sunday, July 30, 10:30 am – 12:00 noon – What’s Buggin’ Me?

    Join Massachusetts Horticultural Society on Sunday, July 30 at 10:30 am for a stroll through the vegetable gardens at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley, with Sue Scheufele from the UMass Extension Vegetable Program. We will learn to identify common insect and disease pests, and the damage they can cause to vegetable and herb plants. We will discuss organic management strategies that are available to home gardeners including use of mulches, row covers, bio-based pesticides and more.

    Hannah Traggis manages Mass Hort’s edible gardens throughout The Gardens at Elm Bank. She oversees the Seed to Table vegetable garden which produces more than 4,000 pounds of produce each year to support our educational mission and local food pantries. Mass Hort Members: $20 General Admission: $30. Register online at www.masshort.org.

  • Thursday, July 9, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Insects in the Garden: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

    This Massachusetts Horticultural Society class on Thursday, July 9, from 7 – 8:30 at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley will review the more common garden and lawn insect pests plaguing homeowners and insect pest life cycles. Bio-control and low toxicity control options will be presented. Examples of plant damage will be presented from various garden plants. Colorado potato beetle eggs are pictured below.

    Not all garden and lawn insects are pests. References will be given to each student about proper insect ID, control and corresponding bio-controls in class and via e-mail. Bruce Wenning has university degrees in plant pathology and entomology. He is the horticulturist at The Country Club, Brookline, Mass.  Weather permitting, this class will involve an outdoor exploration for garden insects, please dress accordingly.

    Lecture Fee: Mass Hort Members $10, Non-Members $15. Register online at www.masshort.org.

  • Tuesday, March 11, 7:30 pm – Food of the Future: Insects!

    The March meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club will be held Tuesday, March 11 in room 101 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge. Laura D’Asaro and Rose Wang will present a talk about the Food of the Future: Insects!

    Laura D’Asaro and Rose Wang are 2013 Harvard College graduates and co-founders at Six Foods. Six Foods makes delicious foods from insects, a healthier and more sustainable protein source. They will talk about the state of entomophagy in the world and how introducing insects into the Western diet can help solve some of the world’s biggest problems.

    They will also bring some of their insect foods for us to sample. Bug Appétit! Visit their website at sixfoods.com for more information.

    The meeting is free and open to the public. Snacks will be provided and you are also welcome to join us at 6:00 PM for an informal (non-entomophagous) pre-meeting dinner at the Cambridge Common.

    http://dsi.sva.edu//srv/htdocs/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Meryl_Food.jpg

  • Thursday, July 18, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – The Truth About Insects in Your Garden

    The Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Thursdays at the Hort Series continues Thursday, July 18, with a lecture on The Truth About Insects in Your Garden.  Few gardeners welcome or really understand the insects that inhabit or make a brief stop in their gardens.  Nor do they think about the intricate behavior and physiology of the insect and how these characteristics impact what they do in the garden.  Join Mass Hort on a special voyage about your garden and some of the most spectacular gardens in the world.  $10 for Mass Hort members, $15 for non-members.   Register at www.masshort.org.

    http://ecofriendlylawnsandgardens.com//srv/htdocs/wp-content/uploads/bugs.jpg

  • Saturday, March 5, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm – Insect Planet Family Festival

    The Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge,  will be buzzing with dozens of family activities on Saturday, March 5, from 9 – 5, as we explore the amazing world of insects and their relatives, spiders, crustaceans, and the many other creatures that comprise nearly 80% of all animals on Earth. Get close to live beetles, scorpions, and centipedes; listen to the sounds of insects communicating; experiment with robots that mimic bugs; and meet the Harvard scientists who collect and study these amazing creatures. Free with museum admission. Insect Planet is supported in part by the Cambridge Trust Company. Call 617-495-3045 for more information, or log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.  Image below from www.spiderzrule.com.

  • Wednesday, August 11, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Insect Science: Collecting and Preserving

    Insects provide a wealth of information about the environment in which they are found. In this class, to be held Wednesday, August 11 from 5:50 – 7  in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain with Sue Pfeiffer, you will tune in to insects in the landscape, learn about their life stages, and see how paying attention to their actions and population numbers can guide horticultural maintenance. Sue, who has helped collect insects to assist integrated pest management efforts as well as visiting entomologists at the Arnold Arboretum, will give a brief overview of insect anatomy, their life cycles, and describe the major insect families and their identifying characteristics. She will demonstrate how to assess a population as well as various methods of attracting, capturing, and collecting insects. She’ll also show how to preserve and display some of these complex and delicate beauties. In the process you will gain an appreciation for these creatures, whether beneficial, damaging, or simply irritating. Note: this is not a class on integrated pest management.  Fee $20 Arnold Arboretum member, $25 nonmember.  To register, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

  • Saturday, September 26 – Sunday, September 27 – 7th Annual Fall Carnivorous Plant Show

    The award winning New England Carnivorous Plant Society (NECPS) will again be hosting the Fall Carnivorous Plant Show at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center in Providence, Rhode Island.  Plant lovers and all those who enjoy something different will be able to get up close to hundreds of carnivorous plants exhibited by members of the NECPS.

    Featured plants will include pitcher plants from Malaysia with traps the size of softballs that are capable of eating lizards and mice.  There will be sundews from Australia ranging from the size of a dime to 12+ inches high, and the ever-popular Venus Fly Trap.  For you native plant lovers, NECPS will also display carnivorous plants that grow locally throughout New England.  This is the largest collection of carnivorous plants displayed yearly on the East Coast and the most popular show at the Botanical Center.  Over 300 plants are scheduled to be on display.

    Free seminars on growing and feeding carnivorous plants will be offered, and there are lots of opportunities for photographers.  Visit the Venus Fly Trap feeding area where you can observe up close how these plants devour insects.  Plants and growing accessories will be available for purchase for both novice and experienced growers from carnivorous plant vendors and the NECPS.  The permanent carnivorous plant bog exhibit will also be available for viewing.  Society members will be present both days to explain how the plants feed, what they eat, where they live, and how they can be grown and enjoyed at home.  Admission to the show is free with the purchase of regular admission to the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center : $3 adults, $1 children 6 – 12, under 6 free.  The show will run on Saturday September 26 from 11:00 am until 4:00 pm, and on Sunday September 27 from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm.  The address is 1000 Elmwood Avenue in Providence.  For additional information, please visit www.NECPS.org, or email johnatthebeach@cox.net.

    http://www.moplants.com/gallery2/d/85-2/Highland+Tropical+Pitcher+Plant.jpg