Boston Flora

Tag: Jolinda Taylor

  • Wreath of the Day – Camaraderie and The Big Reunion

    A few members, when asked about this year’s Wreath Week, commented that the event is really a big reunion. Many participants are long-term GCBB members and friends. We get together to work on a very big project that lasts for days, and have time to reminisce, share news, laugh, and meet new members. In the words of Past President Jolinda Taylor “It is a fund raiser to be sure, but it is also a rare opportunity to mix with such smart, hard-working, fun, and capable women. A wonderful GCBB tradition.” Decorators came from Wellesley, Cape Cod, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Florida. Next year we hope to add California to that out of state list.

  • Wreath of the Day, From the Archives – Disintegrating Pine Cones

    A staple of our wreath decorations is the pine cone, in all varieties. Some years we have bins and bins of them, collected over the late summer and fall by our members, and some years we are a little short and end up stretching the supply by cutting them in half into pine cone “flowers”. When we have extras at the end of Wreath Week, we pick through them and store the good ones in plastic bins in our rented storage facility. We’ve learned from experience that the term “sorting through” is key. One year, tired and worn out from marathon decorating days and nights, we threw lids on bins and hauled everything off, only to find the next year that some sort of bug had gotten into some of the bins and managed to reduce the pine cone supply to dust. After disposing and sanitizing, we swore not to do that ever again. The same principle applies to dried fruits, nuts, and berries. We do, however, save ribbon, mechanicals such as wire and picks, and artificial decorations mostly used in our “Glamorous Glitz” category. Below is a ten-year-old example of how pine cones, when fresh, are put to good use.

    Thanks today go to Francie Cramb, our Wreath of the Day Sponsor and Past President who travels from up from Florida to staff the Assignment Desk and all important Quality Control, along with Jolinda Taylor, each December.

  • Wednesday, September 23, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm – GCBB Fall Flower Arranging Workshop on Zoom

    Wednesday, September 23, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm – GCBB Fall Flower Arranging Workshop on Zoom

    The first meeting of The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s 2020/2021 program year will be a virtual flower arranging workshop on Wednesday, September 23 from 4 – 6 pm. Join Garden Club members for a late afternoon session led by GCBB member, Nancy Cyr.  Nancy is a Senior Flower Associate at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  She studied flower design with a number of teachers including Francoise Weeks.  She believes that flower arranging is for everyone and that, while it is fun to have access to special and unusual flowers, you can achieve beautiful effects with flowers from the grocery store and weeds picked on your walks.  At the end of the workshop, Nancy will take questions from participants.

    There will be a $40 fee for flowers and vase.  To pay your $40.00 fee through the Garden Club’s website, click here:   https://bostonflora.com/shop/

    Or if you prefer, pay by check (made out to the Garden Club of the Back Bay) and mail to Jolinda Taylor, 276 Marlborough Street, Boston, MA  02116. Responses and payment must be received by September 18.

    Flowers/vase can be picked up on Wednesday morning, September 23 between 10 and 11 am at the parking lot of the First Lutheran Church, 299 Berkeley Street. These will be the same flowers/vase that Nancy will use for her demonstration. There is a limit of 20 people for this option. NOTE: Please wear a mask when you arrive to pick up your flowers/vase.

    Floral supplies limited to 20 attendees.  Others may join the call with their own flowers and vase. There will be no charge if you are participating with your own materials, but in order to receive the Zoom link and list of recommended materials, you must email Jolinda by clicking HERE.

  • Gardening at Home

    Below is a photo of a blooming pot of lavender growing in past President Jolinda Taylor’s home, lovingly tended during our necessary confinement. We hope you all are having success with gardening projects this spring. Since so many events have been cancelled or postponed, we thought a pretty picture would be cheering, Stay safe!

  • Tuesday, April 10, 10:00 am – Commonwealth Avenue Mall, Today and Tomorrow

    Tuesday, April 10, 10:00 am – Commonwealth Avenue Mall, Today and Tomorrow

    The April meeting of the Garden Club of the Back Bay will take place Tuesday, April 10 at 10:00 am at The College Club, 44 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. GCBB past president Margaret Pokorny will speak on the single most important horticultural feature in Back Bay, and perhaps Boston: The Commonwealth Avenue Mall. See old pictures, plans, and learn of the conditions which affect growth. Learn about the original designs and tree plantings, and what has been done to preserve and support the Mall’s health and character.

    Margaret is a landscape designer focusing on urban parks and greenspace. Currently she is chair of the Commonwealth Avenue Mall Committee and serves on the boards of the Friends of the Public Garden, The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, the Esplanade Association, and The Garden Club of the Back Bay. Recently she has been involved in the new group, The Charlesgate Alliance.  GCBB members may rsvp to jolinda.taylor@gmail.com. If you are interested in staying for the optional lunch following the meeting ($25), visit https://bostonflora.com/shop/

  • Garden Club of the Back Bay Announces 2015 Grants

    At the Annual Meeting of The Garden Club of the Back Bay, held May 11 at The College Club of Boston, the membership voted to approve the following recommendations of the Executive Committee.  Co-Presidents Jackie Blombach and Jolinda Taylor were pleased to announce that, in addition to $20,000 to be spent directly by our Club for Back Bay tree care (primarily pruning and inoculation), other not-for-profit organizations will benefit from our fund raising efforts throughout the year, primarily our Twilight Garden Party and Holiday Wreath Sale.

    $5,000 to the Commonwealth Avenue Mall Committee for its tree care program, Dutch elm disease monitoring, and soil improvement.

    $5,000 to the Friends of the Public Garden for inoculation against Dutch elm disease for certain Belgium elm street trees not located on the Mall, planted beyond Massachusetts Avenue.

    $4,000 to The Esplanade Association for its tree care program and planning, including updating inventory and data manipulation.

    $3,000 to the Boston Nature Center of the Massachusetts Audubon Society to support scholarships for summer camp for children ages 5 – 14 from local neighborhoods of Mattapan, Roslindale, Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.

    $3,000 to the Emerald Necklace Conservancy for the planting of perennials in the Fenway.

    $2,000 to the Charles River Cleanup Boat for general operating expenses.

    $2,000 to the Trustees of Reservations/Boston Natural Areas Network in support of the MBTA Indigo Line/Fairmount Indigo Line Project, which will convert City-owned vacant lots along the rail corridor into parks and gardens.  This donation will help convert a vacant lot at Windermere Road in Uphams Corner.

    $1,500 to the Friends of Copley Square for treating trees with fertilizer and fungicide for root stress.

    $1,000 to the Blossom Fund of the Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America in recognition of its 25th Anniversary.

    We thank all our contributors and patrons whose generosity allows us to make these grants.  We hope to see many of you at this year’s Twilight Garden Party on June 4.

  • Setting the Scene for the Twilight Garden Party

    Setting the Scene for the Twilight Garden Party

    This year’s successful Twilight Garden Party took place in June at the American Meteorological Society at 45 Beacon Street. The building has a lovely garden which was in need of seasonal sprucing after our long, cold winter, and the Garden Club of the Back Bay’s crack decorating team of Rita Christensen, Jackie Blombach, and Catherine Bordon, assisted by Jolinda Taylor, spent a day pruning, raking and planting.  Below are some pictures of their efforts:

    Bordon JackieRita Rita Meteorological

  • The Garden Club of the Back Bay Donates to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital

    Once again the Garden Club of the Back Bay, Inc. has donated money to a local institution. The Club has given $1,000 to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in honor of the survivors of the Boston Marathon bombings. “After visiting Spaulding, we were impressed by the easy access of patients, visitors and staff to many garden spaces around the building,” said Jolinda Taylor, Co-President of the Garden Club. “The views of Boston Harbor from the patient rooms are spectacular and uplifting,” added Jackie Blombach, Co-President of the Club.

    “Spaulding is committed to caring for the whole patient, body and spirit” according to Steven Patrick, Vice President for Development, who accompanied the Garden Club officers on their mid-summer visit, “and allowing patients access to peaceful garden spaces is essential.” Patrick added that “the outdoor spaces are intended to encourage patients to get outside, seek fresh air and engage with the community. We plan to incorporate gardening as a therapeutic activity, with wheelchair accessible raised beds.” The gardens include native, drought-tolerant, and salt-resistant trees and shrubs, ornamental grasses, and evergreens, on the hospital’s site at the Charlestown Navy Yard. The new Spaulding facility has achieved LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold status certification, a very high standard of energy conservation and responsiveness to the natural environment.

    The Garden Club cares for neighborhood trees. The Club celebrated its fiftieth anniversary this year by planting 50 magnolia trees in Back Bay and nearby neighborhoods. Club members volunteer in community projects at the Women’s Lunch Place, Hale House, The Learning Project Elementary School, The College Club, and the Commonwealth Avenue Mall.

    http://www.spauldingrehab.org/assets/images/Pond-Waterfall-Fish.jpg

  • Garden Club of the Back Bay Announces 2013 Grants

    At the Annual Meeting of The Garden Club of the Back Bay, members voted to approve the grant recommendations proposed by its Co-Presidents Jackie Blombach and Jolinda Taylor and by the Executive Committee of the Club.

    Our major focus in the coming year will be the completion of the Linden Project on Beacon Street.  Over 60 historic linden trees will be professionally pruned, at a cost of $35,000.  $5,000 of the total will be paid with a grant received from the City of Boston, with The Garden Club of the Back Bay contributing the balance.  In addition to our tree care project, we will give $5,000 to the Commonwealth Avenue Mall Committee for its tree, turf and soil project on the Charlesgate block of the Mall, and another $5,000 to the Friends of the Public Garden to continue the inoculation of elms against Dutch elm disease.

    Other organizations receiving Garden Club of the Back Bay grants this June are the Boston Nature Center of the Massachusetts Audubon Society – $2,000 to support scholarships for its summer camp for children aged 5 – 14, $2,000 to City Roots/Urban Ecology Institute for a project in partnership with Roslindale Wetlands and the Boston Parks and Recreation Department’s Urban Wilds Initiative, $2,500 to the Esplanade Association for the Eliot Garden Project, and $1,000 each to the Charles River Cleanup Boat and The Friends of Copley Square, and $500 to The Boston Committee of the GCA, in support of a grant made by the Blossom Fund to The Friends of Christopher Columbus Park for a landscape design plan to beautify a neglected circle adjacent to Christopher Columbus Park.

    Finally, $1,000 has been set aside to honor the victims of the Marathon bombing through a donation to a healing garden at one of the area’s hospitals or rehabilitation centers. In the next few weeks members of the Club will visit potential grantees and assess where the donation will have the most impact.  We will report back when a decision is made.

    Thanks go to all our supporters, those of you who buy a ticket to our Twilight Garden Party on June 4, or a holiday wreath in December, for without your generosity, these worthy expenditures of $56,000 could not be made.

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SQweIllolg0/TfeCo5A86wI/AAAAAAAAHmQ/lS93rLBzHPQ/s1600/tilleul_fleurs.jpg

  • Wreath of the Day 2011 – A Thank You to All Our Volunteers

    Wreath of the Day 2011 – A Thank You to All Our Volunteers

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s annual Wreath Week has wrapped up, and Co-Presidents Jackie Blombach and Jolinda Taylor, along with Wreath Project Co-Chairs Margaret Pokorny, Francine Crawford, Catherine Bordon, and Elisabeth Lay thank all the volunteers who made this project such a success.  From now through January 1, we will post a picture of the Wreath of the Day, along with a brief description of the wreath and the process, from initial ordering to the last sweeping of the floor.  Since Hanukkah is beginning, we’ll start off with a wreath specially designed to celebrate the season, designed by a first time decorator and new club member.  The sophistication of the wreath proves that a multi-year design apprenticeship is not necessarily a prerequisite.