Boston Flora

Tag: Magnolias

  • Tuesday, April 1 – Sunday, June 1 – Magnolias of the Back Bay Self Guided Tour 2025

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay presents a self-guided Magnolia Tour. Learn interesting facts about the historical Magnolias of Back Bay. On this self-guided Magnolia Tour, you’ll walk a loop starting on the sunny side of Commonwealth Avenue at Arlington Street, up to Mass Ave, continuing onto Beacon Street back toward Arlington. Along the way you’ll learn some fascinating information about magnolia trees, their history, the history of some buildings where they are located, and what our Club has been working on as it relates to these and other beloved trees.

    When you register, you will receive a link in your email confirmation under “additional information” that will let you print the tour at home, or view it on your mobile device using the Google Docs app. The Eventbrite registration link is: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/copy-of-magnolias-of-the-back-bay-self-guided-tour-2025-tickets-1305755382499?aff=ebemoffollowpublishemail&ref=eemail&utm_campaign=following_published_event&utm_content=follow_notification&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eventbrite

    The tour is free, but as an all volunteer organization a recommended donation of $5 or more will enable the Garden Club to continue to care for Back Bay’s street trees, community gardens and updated tree walks. Thank you in advance for your support!

  • Thursday, March 20, 5:30 pm – 6:45 pm Eastern – Magnolias at a Glance: An Informative Look at a Most Fascinating Group of Flowering Trees, Online

    Magnolias continue to be one the premier groups of flowering trees available for northeastern gardens and landscapes. Known worldwide for their enchanting spring and summer blooms, everyone should have at least one magnolia in their garden. In this Newport Tree Conservancy virtual presentation on March 20 at 5:30 Eastern, NTC Living Collections Manager Joe Verstandig will discuss the fascinating history of Magnolias, feature Newport’s most impressive specimens, and discuss the many great cultivars available to Rhode Island gardens. Plant Production Manager Morgan Palmer will discuss the propagation and growing of magnolias at NTC’s Heritage Tree Center. This is something you do not want to miss! Register at https://www.newporttreeconservancy.org/events/magnolias-at-a-glance-an-informative-look-at-a-most-fascinating-group-of-flowering-trees

  • Saturday, September 9, 8:00 am – 6:00 pm – Garden Study Weekend VII Symposium: The Exuberant Garden

    Be inspired by a day long symposium on Saturday, September 9 at the Hollister House Garden, 300 Nettleton Hollow Road in Washington, Connecticut,
    featuring:

    Jacqueline van der Kloet – The celebrated Dutch landscape designer will talk about Magical Mixes in the garden. She is known world wide for her innovative designs and her artful combinations of perennials and bulbs in the garden, She has worked on projects ranging from private gardens and city parks to national and international flower exhibitions. She is also the author of nine books, including Colour Your Garden. In this talk Jacqueline will show us her own garden in Weesp as well as her many international projects.

    Tom Coward – Tom will speak on leading the restoration of William Robinson’s legendary gardens at Gravetye Manor, where he has been the head gardener in Sussex, England since 2010. Previously he was assistant head gardener at Great Dixter, working under Fergus Garrett. The gardens at Gravetye Manor were first developed in the 1880’s by the legendary gardener William Robinson, who wrote some of the most influential gardening books of his generation, and used the landscape at Gravetye to put his ideas into practice. Over the past seven years Coward has led a team working to restore the historical detail of the site, renovating the garden to its former glory while attempting to move it forward into the modern age.

    Andrew Bunting – Andrew Bunting, Assistant Director and Director of Collections at Chicago Botanic Garden, is an expert on woody plants and author on Plant Lover’s Guide to Magnolias. Prior to coming to Chicago, he was curator at the Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College, and is past President of the Magnolia Society International. Andrew will describe the many and diverse magnolias that can be cultivated in the Northeast.

    Jane Garmey– Jane is a noted author and passionate gardener, author of Private Gardens of the Hudson Valley, and Private Gardens of Connecticut. She will speak on A Sense of Place: Challenges, Approaches and Solutions to Creating Gardens. She has also written about gardens for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Her newest book, City Green, will be published next year. In this talk she will give us an inside look at a wide variety of private gardens and will focus on the challenges facing those who set out to make their own gardens and show how inventive and individual their solutions can be.

    The symposium is moderated by Todd Forrest, Arthur Ross Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections at New York Botanical Garden.

    Each reservation includes continental breakfast and lunch at the symposium and cocktails and preview buying at the Sale of Rare and Unusual Plants at Hollister House Garden. The Heritage Hotel has reserved a block of rooms for symposium attendees ($129 + tax) per night. To reserve please call 203-264-8200 and mention Hollister House Garden to secure this special rate.

    Patron $500 – includes invitation to the speaker dinner on Friday evening at Hollister House Garden and reserved seating at the symposium. ($200 of this ticket is tax deductible)
    Friend $185 – HHG and Garden Conservancy members
    Non-members $200
    No cancellations after August 1. To register, visit https://app.etapestry.com/onlineforms/HollisterHouseGardenInc/symposium.html

  • Magnolia News – Spring Troubles Are Reversible

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay has a long history with the magnolia tree. Our Club was founded by the very women who led the charge to plant the magnificent Saucer Magnolias along Commonwealth Avenue in the 1950’s. Our major annual award is named after the flower. Anyone walking the streets of Back Bay this spring (and this is happening in other communities as well) will notice a marked decrease in flowers and even leafing. Magnolias are suffering stress after a period of unseasonable winter warmth, followed by a deep freeze; especially hard hit were Saucer Magnolias in sunny locations. Many did not bloom this year and are leafing out very sparsely – but they are not dead and will probably recover.

    Tips to help trees recover:

    Fertilize now, and again in the fall with a light, liquid, stress relief organic fertilizer, preferably a compost tea.

    Keep the trees well watered all summer.

    Please spread the word, educate the public, to be sure all Magnolias are well cared for and to ensure they recover. Photo from www.gbsgardencentre.com

  • Tuesday, April 12, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Magnolias for New England

    For many New Englanders, magnolias blooming in April symbolize the much anticipated arrival of spring. Though a cold night can freeze the buds or blossoms and turn petals to a brown wilt, our anticipation for the coming season has already been unleashed and can’t be suppressed. That is the effect of this early-blooming flower after months of cold and snow.

    Andrew Bunting, magnolia expert and Assistant Director of the Garden and Director of Plant Collections at the Chicago Botanic Garden, presents an in depth look at the best ornamental magnolias for the New England area. Many are highlighted in his newly released book, The Plant Lovers Guide to Magnolias.

    The lecture will take place in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway in Jamaica Plain. Fee $5 for Arboretum members, $10 for nonmembers. For more information visit www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

  • Saturday, February 12, 10:30 am – 12:00 noon – Magnificent Magnolias for Northern Gardens

    Magnolias are without doubt the most spectacular flowering trees that can be grown in temperate climates. Luckily for gardeners, the genus Magnolia is going through a “golden age” of new plant development. The result is rapidly expanding options for cold-climate gardens. Come to  the Berkshire Botanical Garden on Saturday, February 12 from 10:30 – noon and see some of these gorgeous new hybrids, some old favorites that still deserve planting, and see what beauty may result if you try growing your own magnolias from seed. Your garden (and your life) may never be the same!

    Stefan Cover works at Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology where he studies North American ants. He moonlights as a botanist/gardener with special interest in ornamental woody plants, especially magnolias. He runs the international seed exchange for the Magnolia Society and cultivates many of these lovely trees in his Zone 5B frost-pocket garden in Stow, Mass. $20 BBG members, $25 non members. To register, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.

  • Saturday, November 21, 1:00 – 3:30 pm – Great Magnolia Swamp Hike

    Celebrate Ravenswood and get some exercise on this guided four mile long hike discovering swamp ecology in this rugged yet beautiful habitat.  You’ll get a closer look at Ravenswood’s geological features on Saturday, November 21, from 1 – 3:30 pm.  Sponsored by the Trustees of Reservations, free to members, $5.00 non-members. For more information and driving information email needucation@ttor.org.

    Ravenswood Park offers 600 acres for solitude and quiet contemplation of nature. Whether you prefer to surround yourself with snow-covered hemlocks, experience spring emerging in a burst of color and aroma, or escape the summer’s heat – you’ll find a refuge here. The park is a testament to one man’s conservationist philosophy, and to all those who have cared for this special place.

    With 10 miles of carriage paths and trails that meander through the park, you can find plenty of room to picnic, bird watch, walk, cross-country ski, and simply appreciate the outdoors. Children love the Ledge Hill Trail – a 2-mile round-trip walk among magical-looking, fern-covered boulders. You don’t want to miss trekking to the overlook to Gloucester Harbor or traversing the boardwalk through the Great Magnolia Swamp, home to native sweetbay magnolias (Magnolia virginiana).

    http://www.yorkseed.com/catalog/images/Magnolia-Sweetbay-2.jpg