Boston Flora

Tag: Martha’s Vineyard

  • Saturday, February 21, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Winter Tree Identification

    Break up the winter doldrums by getting outside and learning winter tree identification from Polly Hill Arboretum Director of Grounds & Facilities, Ian Jochems. Participants will learn how to use the characteristics of bark, twigs, buds, and more to identify common deciduous and evergreen trees.

    Registration Required. $20 for members, $30 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.pollyhillarboretum.org/event/winter-tree-identification/?instance_id=2634 Please meet at the Polly Hill Arboretum Visitor Center.

    This class will be indoors and outdoors, please dress appropriately for the weather.

    The dogwood allée in January 2017.

  • Saturday, January 24, 10:00 am – 11:00 am – Polly Hill Arboretum Seasonal Staff-Led Tour

    For the first seasonal tour of the Polly Hill Arboretum in Martha’s Vineyard of 2026, take a walk through the Arboretum Woods with PHA Director of Grounds & Facilities, Ian Jochems. Ian will discuss basic tree identification; a primer for his in-depth Winter Tree ID workshop on February 21! The walk is included with the $5 admission fee (free for PHA members). Meet at the Arboretum Visitors Center.

  • Sunday, October 19, 1:30 pm – Martha’s Vineyard Crop Hunger Walk

    In the face of the continuing and rising needs of hungry people around the world, in our nation, and on Martha’s Vineyard, especially in a time of natural disasters, wars, economic despair, cuts in humanitarian aid, and millions of displaced people, Martha’s Vineyard Crop Hunger Walk remains steadfast in its commitment to raising money in the fight against hunger through annual hunger walks. Over the course of 34 years, the MV CROP Hunger Walks have raised almost $700,000 (to be exact: $699,914) to benefit the poor and hungry around the world and on Martha’s Vineyard. Last year, we once again were one of the top walks in the nation, raising $41,130 – our best total ever and 30th highest in the country. We’re grateful for all our walkers and donors who join us year after year. We will gather at 1:30 pm at St. Augustine’s Church in Vineyard Haven. Walkers will start in two or three stages as soon as each team has assembled and checked in. At the end of the walk, walkers will be welcomed back with a Walk Day Festival with music, food, and fun for all. We will gather at 1:30 pm at St. Augustine’s Church in Vineyard Haven. Walkers will start in two or three stages as soon as each team has assembled and checked in. At the end of the walk, walkers will be welcomed back with a Walk Day Festival with music, food, and fun for all. For more information, and to register, visit https://events.crophungerwalk.org/crophungerwalks/event/marthasvineyard

  • Now Through October 18 – Minificence: Libby Ellis Photography Exhibit

    If you find yourself on Martha’s Vineyard this fall, you are warmly welcome to experience award-winning photographer Libby Ellis’s new collection of black-and-white photographic portraits of garden-grown flowers. Interweaving “little particles of dream,” Ellis has reenvisioned the Kunstkammers, or Collector’s Cabinets, in the reading room at The Carnegie, part of the Vineyard Preservation Trust, in the seaside village of Edgartown.

    Libby Ellis is a photographer creating contemplative photographic portraits of garden-grown flora. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries in the US and Europe, including the Saatchi Gallery in London. Ellis’s flora portraits have been awarded distinguish by the Royal Horticultural Society and can be found on exhibit in the permanent collections of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the Harvard Divinity School.

    The free exhibition is mounted at 58 N. Water Street in Edgartown. For more information visit https://vineyardtrust.org/event/minificence-by-photographer-libby-ellis/

  • Tuesday, July 29, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Regenerative Farm Tour, Talk, and Tasting

    You’re invited to Island Grown Farm, 80 Stoney Hill Road in Vineyard Haven, Massachuestts, on July 29 from 3 – 5 for an inside look at our regenerative farming practices with Andrew Woodruff, Regenerative Agriculture Consultant, and Tim Connelly, Farm Director. After the tour, hear from our Co-Executive Directors, Noli Taylor and Caroline Pam, as they share more about IGI’s mission to build a regenerative and equitable food system. Then stay to enjoy a tasting featuring farm-grown food and great conversation.

    Please be sure to wear comfortable shoes to walk in as it’s a working farm and can be dusty or wet. $25. Buy tickets at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/islandgrowninitiative/event/tour/

  • Wednesday, July 2, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm – Tiny Beetle, Big Impact: Southern Pine Beetle Biology, Ecology, and Management

    Join The Polly Hill Arboretum on July 2 at 5:30 pm for a journey into the biology and ecology of the southern pine beetle. Although this tiny beetle is a newcomer on Martha’s Vineyard, where it is causing extensive pitch pine mortality in parts of the island, it is well known in the southeastern United States. Caroline will share what scientists know about the southern pine beetle from research throughout its range, including how to manage for this native (yet sometimes destructive) insect. Dr. Caroline Kanaskie is a forest entomologist and community ecologist. She recently earned her Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Science at the University of New Hampshire, where she studied the southern pine beetle at its northern range limits.  This special lecture is co-sponsored by BiodiversityWorks MV.

    This event is free. Please pre-register here.

  • Thursday – Sunday, August 15 – 18 – Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Fair

    No better way to spend a day – visit the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Livestock Show & Fair, beginning Thursday, August 15 at 4 pm, and running through Sunday, August 18 at 10:00 pm. The event takes place at 35 Panhandle Road in West Tisbury. For complete information, visit https://marthasvineyardagriculturalsociety.org/the-fair

  • Wednesday, August 7, 5:30 pm – Deer, Ticks, and Tick-borne Illnesses on Martha’s Vineyard

    Richard Johnson, Director of the Martha’s Vineyard Tick Program will present the latest data on deer and ticks on the Vineyard, in a free lecture on August 7 at 5:30 at the Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury, Martha’s Vineyard. The presentation will start with a review of the three common ticks on the Island and their ecology, life cycles and the diseases that they carry. Then we will briefly review the role of the white tailed deer on the Island’s tick population. Next we will discuss personal protection and how to make your yard safer. Finally, Dick will present the latest information on the spread of the lone star tick and efforts to reduce the deer population on Martha’s Vineyard.

  • July 12 – July 28 – New Horizon

    In July 2019 Doug Aitken and The Trustees will present NEW HORIZON, a multifaceted art event/ journey through the landscape by air, that challenges the notion of art in the 21st-century. The project is composed of a series of live events across the state of Massachusetts, centered around a stunning reflective hot air balloon and gondola.

    One of the great American mythologies is the road trip. New Horizon is a 21st century version of a journey, traveling through the landscape by air. The project is composed of a series of live events across the state of Massachusetts. At each stop the mirror balloon touches down becomes a happening. It is both an artwork and an event where ideas, conversation, music and art are shared. The journey creates a continuous, flowing event, encountering unique individuals and providing an insight into the future of our culture.

    Happenings will take place at a selection of iconic Trustees properties, starting at Long Point Wildlife Refuge in Martha’s Vineyard on July 12, followed by stops in the greater Boston area, including the Crane Estate in Ipswich and ending on July 28, in the Berkshires. For more information visit www.thetrustees.org/newhorizon.

  • Saturday, July 8, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – The Garden Conservancy’s Martha’s Vineyard Open Day

    Saturday, July 8, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – The Garden Conservancy’s Martha’s Vineyard Open Day

    Enjoy a full day of garden tours and activities on Martha’s Vineyard on Saturday, July 8, sponsored by The Garden Conservancy. Admission to each garden is $7 for Garden Conservancy members and advance purchase ticket holders.  Visit https://www.gardenconservancy.org/open-days/open-days-schedule/martha-s-vineyard-ma-open-day-2 to register.

    25 Osprey Lane in Chilmark: Nature sets the theme for this rolling oceanside garden. A natural meadow extends from the house to the water’s edge and subtle topography creates foreground views that compete for attention. Occasional glimpses of meandering inlets complete a compelling image of land meeting water. The garden, made up of layered masses of perennials, occupies the space immediately around the house and seems to flow naturally into the meadow. The plant palette was carefully selected for seaside conditions: plants are resistant to salt spray and heavy ocean winds. A mown grass path, invisible when viewed from the house, separates the perennial garden from the meadow, ensuring the meadow will not invade the garden and vice versa. Strategically placed boulders in the foreground tie the space visually to the ocean’s rocky shoreline. The garden is designed to gently transition through a series of views that progress with increasing simplicity: from the intricate perennial garden to the natural seaside meadow to the beach and ocean in the distance. Garden designed by Oehme van Sweden Landscape Architecture Firm.

    Jethro Athearn Homestead Garden (directions will be provided at additional gardens open on this date, or by calling 1-888-842-2442 weekedays 9 – 5): This garden features 1,000 square feet of terraced herbaceous borders in an agricultural setting. Ben and Susanne Clark designed and created their property beginning in 1992 on a wooded hillside overlooking a working farm. Ben, whose profession was architectural restoration and preservation, moved the circa 1730 house from another part of the island. Susanne designed the garden, which takes its inspiration from one designed by the English garden designer, Gertrude Jekyll in the 1920s. Highlights include the warm and cool borders, stone terraces, and a garden house. The plantings continue to evolve as Susanne moves, divides, and edits the plants each year. Please note that at 2:00 pm there will be a Digging Deeper:Inspired by Gertrude Jekyll talk at this garden. Susanne Clark, owner of the Jethro Athearn Homestead Garden, will share her twenty-plus years’ experience of creating a garden inspired by Gertrude Jekyll. She will cover the original plans for the herbaceous borders, design considerations in creating the overall setting for the beds, adapting to the climate, and extending the season of interest. This is an all-absorbing passion for Susanne, and she will talk about the unusual process she uses to continually refine the garden. A resource list will be provided, including favorite nurseries to order from, most used reference books, and frequently accessed websites, as well as a list of the plants (nearly 200 cultivars) now in the garden, indicating some of the plants that contribute the most to the garden’s long season of appeal. Part of the time will be spent in the garden and part of the time in her historic 1730 house. The Digging Deeper event is $30 for members of the Garden Conservancy, $35 for nonmembers, which includes admission to this garden.

    85 South Water Street in Edgartown: The original parts of this house are believed to date from the 1840s. More than fifty years ago a former owner and founder of the Marthas Vineyard Garden Club set out the sunken geometric garden in the shape of a Union Jack. In the late 1990s, the English garden designer Penelope Hobhouse added some important features to the garden, particularly the enclosure of the sunken flag garden to create an outdoor “room”. The garden contains some rare and unusual, as well as native, plants. Currently, the owners, who are hands-on gardeners from England, work closely with Leandro da Silva to implement further design changes.

    G.G. Ma’s Garden in Edgartown: G.G. Ma’s garden has been under the diligent gardening hands of Hope Whipple since the early 1950s, when she purchased the house at 114 North Water Street. Over the years, this garden has been a place of study and experimentation, with many unique varieties of trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals. Ms. Whipple is an incredible plantswoman, traveling the world, including Europe, Africa, to build on her knowledge of plants. G.G. Ma’s gardening is a unique blend of cutting, woodland, and rose gardens, with the unique challenge of Martha’s Vineyard weather conditions – salt spray, high winds, humid summers. Ms. Whipple and her gardener, Sarah Monast, diligently tend to the garden together, with observational walks of the property several times a week.

    Helman Garden in Edgartown (pictured): This walled garden was designed to be protected from the elements and not to compete with the natural beauty of the property. I wanted a private garden with formal bones. We designed square and rectangle beds to use as I wished. Some are just for flowers, some for herbs, some for vegetables, and some are mixed. It is a very personal place that ebbs and flows each year. There are four stone semi-circles that we call “ectetras” [sic]. The garden was designed by Daisy Helman and Diane McGuire. (Again, directions will be provided on day of tour at other gardens, or by calling the number above.) Also at the Helman Garden, at 9:30 am, Garden Collage girls will be making flower crowns with children in our new cutting garden. We will have fun lemonades made with herbs and flowers from the garden and recipes cards to take home along with their crowns. This program will be sponsored and staffed by Garden Collage, a new lifestyle magazine, founded by Daisy Helman, that celebrates a modern approach to nature. Our stories cover the global intersection of contemporary life and the natural world. Gardens, beauty, politics, farm-to-table, apothecary, culture, and design. Adults must stay with the children in their care at all times.