Boston Flora

Tag: Markley H. Boyer

  • Thursday, November 10, 7:00 pm – Gardner Museum Landscape Lecture: Julie Bargmann

    Julie Bargmann is a leader in designing and building regenerative and environmentally appropriate landscapes. She founded D.I.R.T. studio in 1992. Highly regarded for her versatility and hands-on approach (she likes to get her hands dirty), Bargmann’s work hews to themes of sustainability, economy, community engagement, respect for site histories, and above all a love of the landscape. For Vintondale Reclamation Park in rural Pennsylvania, she collaborated to create a large-scale natural filtration system for a waterway polluted by acid-mine drainage. The project earned D.I.R.T. the 2001 National Design Award from the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt Museum. Landscape Lectures begin at 7 pm in Calderwood Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Lectures include Museum admission and require a ticket; tickets can be reserved online, in person at the door, or by phone: 617 278 5156. Museum admission: adults $15, seniors $12, students $5, free for members. This Thursday, November 10 event is sponsored by an anonymous donor. Landscape and Horticulture public programs are supported by the Barbara E. Millen and Markley H. Boyer Endowment Fund. This program is supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which receives support from the State of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

    Save

  • Through November 30 – Chrysanthemums at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

    Dozens of varieties of chrysanthemums appear in the courtyard in late October. Japanese-style single-stem chrysanthemums mix with traditional types in an explosion of color and texture.

    To create this unique exhibit, Museum gardeners and volunteers work from June to October using Japanese cultivation methods to create a single stalk and a single flower on each specimen plant. Over the spring and summer, each plant is pinched weekly (this is called disbudding) and fertilized at specific intervals. This style, which produces a large single bloom, is called ogiku.

    The Japanese technique of training chrysanthemums became popular in the West around the turn of the century. Within Isabella Gardner’s lifetime, many chrysanthemums were grown on her Brookline estate, Green Hill, and won awards at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s fall flower shows. The Museum later won top awards from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for its chrysanthemums in 1934 and 1936.

    Chrysanthemums were first cultivated as an herb in ancient China and arrived in Japan in the 8th Century. Cultivation of the flower was originally permitted only in the gardens of the emperor and the nobility. They were introduced to the western world in the 17th Century. Today, sumptuous festivals are held in celebration of the flower throughout Japan.

    The Chrysanthemums display is made possible in part by the Barbara Millen and Markley H. Boyer Endowment Fund for Horticulture. The Museum thanks Longwood Gardens and the Botanic Garden of Smith College for their generous donations of single-stem chrysanthemum cuttings for the 2014 Chrysanthemums display.

    The Courtyard features plants that are actively growing and constantly changing. Courtyard images include plants that are representative of each display, but plants will be added or replaced over the life of the display. For more information visit www.gardnermuseum.org.