Boston Flora

Tag: Leslie Duthie

  • Mondays, April 25, May 9, May 23, and June 6, 12:30 pm – 3:00 pm – Native Herbaceous Plant Materials: Early Season

    Over the course of the spring, we will examine a wide variety of native plants for gardens and discuss each plant’s cultural and habitat needs as well as its importance to wildlife. The class at Garden in the Woods will cover 90 species and include tips for growing them. You will learn to identify native plants in the New England gardening palette, become familiar with each plant’s appropriate use, and identify each plant’s role in the ecosystem in terms of attracting pollinators and other wildlife. NPT members $180, nonmembers $220. Register online at  http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/native-herbaceous-plant-materials-early-season/

  • Saturday, May 15, 9:30 am – 11:30 am – What is That Plant?

    Join Tower Hill Botanic Garden and Leslie Duthie on May 15 at 9:30 outside at the garden for a lesson in plant identification. instead of “Hey, what has yellow petals and is growing over there?” you will learn what to look at and how to determine leaf arrangement, pick out flower parts, and look at growth habits. Then, we will use our new skills in the inner park and a field guide to actually identify what that plant is! We will provide a field guide to use for each person. Bring a hand lens and your enthusiasm!

    Leslie is the horticulturist/plant propagator at Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary in Wales, MA where she gardens for wildlife and habitat types. She has 40 years of experience in native plant gardens.

  • Wednesday, November 4, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Native Shrubs: Colorful Throughout the Year Webinar

    Shrubs are an important part of the New England landscape. Learn about a variety of native shrubs and where they will thrive that provide nice fall color, interesting fruits, or unusual growth habits. Most of these shrubs are also important landscape components for our migratory songbirds and other wildlife. This Tower Hill Botanic Garden program will be held virtually. Once you register you will receive a Zoom link in the confirmation. This November 4 webinar from 6:30 – 7:30 will also be RECORDED and available for 2 months to all registrants. $10 for Tower Hill members, $15 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

    Leslie Duthie, the instructor, is the horticulturist/plant propagator at Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary in Wales, Massachusetts, where she gardens for wildlife and habitat types. She has 40 years of experience in native plant gardens.

  • Wednesdays, September 9 & 16, 10:30 am – 2:30 pm – Introduction to Go Botany

    Native Plant Trust’s Go Botany online platform is a critical tool for New England native plant identification. This two session Native Plant Trust program serves as a review on field guide identification and forms a bridge between identification by book and identification by online resource. We will use common wildflower identification guidebooks to review how to use a key to identify plants, including terminology and plant characteristics. From there, we learn how to apply similar skills to use Go Botany to identify plants. Class is scheduled to meet at Garden in the Woods on two Wednesdays, September 9 and 16, from 10:30 – 2:30, and is $120 for NPT members, $144 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/introduction-go-botany/

  • Saturday, November 2, 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm – Seed Collecting

    Learn techniques for collecting, storing and stratifying seed to increase your plant collection. Not all plants produce seed that will come true, but our native plants are easy ones to collect, store and grow. The Tower HIll Botanic Garden class will spend some time in the garden collecting seed and discussing how to handle that seed, we will clean some seed and each student will have the opportunity to take home some seed. Finally we will discuss the best ways to germinate most seed. Class takes place November 2 from 1:30 – 4:30 (rain date November 3), and is $39 for Tower Hill members, $53 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

    Leslie Duthie is the horticulturist/plant propagator at Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary in Wales MA where she gardens for wildlife and habitat types. She has 40 years of experience in native plant gardens.

  • Thursday, September 19, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Native Grasses for Garden Interest

    Thursday, September 19, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Native Grasses for Garden Interest

    Warm season grasses are important for many of our native insects and provide late summer and winter interest in the garden. Grasses are great as background plants and also as specimens in the garden. Explore the unique qualities that makes them useful in our gardens in this Tower Hill Botanic Garden class on September 19 from 6 – 8 at 11 French Drive in Boylston with instructor Leslie Duthie.

    Leslie is the horticulturist/plant propagator at Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary in Wales, Massachusetts, where she gardens for wildlife and habitat types. She has 40 years of experience in native plant gardens. $26 for Tower Hill members, $31 for the general public. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Mondays, July 22 and August 26, 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Native Herbaceous Plant Materials

    Discover numerous native perennials suitable for New England gardens in this two session Native Plant Trust class on July 22 and August 26 from 1 – 3:30 at Garden in the Woods in Framingham. This course covers native herbaceous plants that bloom in late summer and fall, focusing on their characteristics and environmental preferences as well as their uses in landscapes and gardens. Be prepared to walk in the Garden each day. This class is appropriate for landscape professionals and avid home gardeners. Taught by Leslie Duthie, the fee is $77 for NPT members, $91 for nonmembers. Register at www.nativeplanttrust.org.

  • Thursday, July 11, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm – Growing Ferns from Spore

    Join the Ecological Landscape Alliance and the Native Plant Trust at 10 am on July 11 at Nasami Farm in Whately and learn easy methods for growing ferns from spores for your home! This class covers the morphology, life cycle, and vegetative propagation of ferns. You will also learn spore collection and storage techniques, and tips on how to identify when spores are ripe. Before you know it, you’ll have your own sporophytes! $33 for sponsor members, $40 for nonmembers. Register at www.ecolandscaping.org.

    Leslie Duthie is a horticulturalist at Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary. She has dedicated her career to learning about, gardening with, and propagating native plants. A life-long gardener, Leslie’s devotion to ferns began the first time she grew a fern from spore. The gardens of Norcross are full of plants that she has raised and her knowledge of the ferns is extensive. Leslie has a BS in Plant Science and has experience in greenhouse growing of both landscape plants and native plants. She works with the local Land Trust and Conservation Commission to preserve land for both our native plants and wildlife as well as for people to enjoy.

  • Thursdays, July 26 and August 30, 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Native Herbaceous Plant Materials: Late Season

    Discover numerous native perennials suitable for New England gardens. We’ll look at native herbaceous plants that bloom in late summer and fall, focusing on their characteristics and environmental preferences as well as their uses in landscapes and gardens. Be prepared to walk in the Garden each day. This New England Wild Flower Society two session class is appropriate for landscape professionals and avid home gardeners. The instructor is Leslie Duthie, and the classes will be held at Garden in the Woods on Thursdays, July 26 and August 30, from 1 – 3:30. $77 for NEWFS members, $91 for nonmembers. Register online at http://www.newenglandwild.org/learn/our-programs/native-herbaceous-plant-materials-late-season-1

    Image result for native sneezeweed Go Botany

  • Tuesday, June 5, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Ferns and Native Beauty at Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary

    Starting with a 100 acre woodlot, Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary founder and benefactor – Monson, Massachusetts native Arthur D. Norcross Jr. (1895-1969) – bought, bartered and traded to amass over 2,000 acres that he dubbed the Tupper Hill Sanctuary. Today, the Sanctuary is operated by the Norcross Wildlife Foundation and has grown to over 8,000 acres of forests, meadows and wildlands in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The Sanctuary is managed and maintained for the benefit of native plants and animals of New England, as Mr. Norcross originally directed.

    There are just under three miles of walking trails that traverse a variety of habitats and naturalistic wildflower gardens in the 75 acre Pocket Sanctuary, which represents the diversity that can be found at Tupper Hill. Plants grown here are native to the eastern seaboard, from the Carolinas to Canada.

    Hundreds of plant species can be found in the various habitats and 14 gardens maintained at the Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary. Among the wildflower collection are also a variety of ferns. Over 50 species of native ferns can be found along the trails ranging from the small, Dissected Grapefern (Botrychium dissectum), to the very large, Log Fern (Dryopteris celsa), and from the wetlands Netted Chain Fern (Woodwardia areolata) to the rock garden Wooly Lipfern (Cheilanthes lanosa). There is a variety of ferns growing in various habitat gardens. A walk through the gardens can help you identify ferns for every garden situation.

    Part of the conservation mission includes rescuing plants destined for destruction. Probably the most remarkable salvage operation involved rescuing the flora of a parcel in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey and transporting it lock, stock and Gentiana autumnalis (Pine Barren Gentian) to Massachusetts, where it still sits today. White cedars, gentians, cattails, pitcher plants, cranberry bushes, sphagnum moss, grasses and sedges, and several species of orchids all made the trip.

    You are welcome to bring a lunch to enjoy in the picnic area at the conclusion of this Ecological Landscape Alliance tour on June 5.

    Tour guide, Leslie Duthie will lead this inspiring walking tour through many gardens and wildlands and will provide detailed information about the wide array of native ferns that make their home in the Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary. Leslie Duthie, is a horticulturalist at Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary. She has been working in native plant horticulture and propagation for over 35 years. Her devotion to ferns started the first time she grew a fern from spore. The gardens of Norcross are full of plants that she has raised and her knowledge of the ferns is extensive. Leslie is a life-long gardener starting with her BS in Plant Science and includes experience in greenhouse growing, both landscape plants and native plants.

    Directions to the Norcross Sanctuary:

    The Sanctuary is located in Wales, MA between Rt. 32 and Rt. 19 on the Monson-Wales Road. If you use a GPS, enter 30 Peck Road, Wales, MA 01081. Turn onto Peck Road and then turn left into the parking lot.

    $20 for ELA members, $30 for nonmembers. Register online at https://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/eco-tour-ferns-and-native-plants-at-norcross-wildlife-sanctuary/

    Image result for norcross wildlife sanctuary