The North Andover Garden Club will present Bill Gette of the Massachusetts Audubon Society on Tuesday, July 12 at 7 pm at St. Michael’s Parish Hall, Main Street in North Andover, who will give a talk on Backyard Bird Sanctuaries. Learn many different aspects about birds and how to create your own backyard sanctuary to enjoy these amazing creatures.
Travel by Wellesley College van on Tuesday, July 12 to join Doreen Bolnick at the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary for a morning of sketching and nature journaling. Then go to Doreen’s home for a box lunch, followed by an afternoon of adding ink, color and research notes to your sketches. Return to Wellesley with a nature journal documenting a lovely habitat. Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens $85, nonmembers $110. Price includes transportation, admission and lunch. Register by calling 781-283-3094 or email wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu.
Whether you are new to native wildflowers or a long-time enthusiast, there is no better way to learn about regional flora than in the field. In this New England Wild Flower Society program, co-sponsored by Mass Audubon’s South Shore Sanctuaries, participants will learn to identify native flora in a variety of habitats. The walk will take place Saturday, June 4 beginning at 10 am in Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary in Marshfield, and will be led by Ted Elliman. Members of sponsor organizations $15, nonmembers $20. Register online at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/wildflower-walk
At the Annual Meeting of The Garden Club of the Back Bay held at the College Club on May 16, the membership voted to award the following grants to a group of worthy recipients whose projects fulfill our mission to protect, beautify and educate. In addition, we again commit $20,000 for tree care in our neighborhood.
Commonwealth Avenue Mall Committee – $5,000 for its tree care program, Dutch elm disease monitoring, and soil improvement.
Friends of the Public Garden – $5,000 for inoculation of certain mature elm street trees not located on the Mall, planted beyond Massachusetts Avenue.
The Esplanade Association – $4,000 allocated to tree pruning.
Boston Nature Center/Mass Audubon – $3,500 to support scholarships for BNC’s summer camp program for children ages 5 – 14, from local neighborhoods of Mattapan, Roslindale, and Jamaica Plain.
Emerald Necklace Conservancy – $2,500 to the Olmsted Tree Society for planting a pathway tree.
The Food Project – $2,000 for its Build A Garden Program, building raised bed gardens for neighborhood residents and community centers in and around Dorchester.
Charles River Clean Up Boat – $2,000 for continued operational expenses.
Friends of Copley Square – $1,500 for treating trees for root stress, with fertilizer and fungicide.
The Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America, Inc. – $500 to the Blossom Fund in support of the 9.2 mile Fairmount Indigo Corridor Planting Project.
Please click on to the links above, where available, to read more about these organizations and specifically the projects which we are helping to fund. The Garden Club thanks all our supporters who, through donations and patronage of our fund raising efforts, allow us to share our money and expertise in a substantial way.
No leaves? No problem! Boot Boutwell and the New England Wild Flower Society will use a combination of branching patterns, bud and bark characteristics, habitat, persistent fruits, galls, and marcescent leaves to help identify woody plants in winter. The program will begin indoors at the Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary on 127 Combs Road in Easthampton, Massachusetts. We will then head outdoors to the Sanctuary for a close-up look at 15- 20 common trees and shrubs. The program will conclude indoors with a twig quiz and a hot beverage. Bring a bag lunch and a hand lens if you have one. Co-sponsored with Massachusetts Audubon Society. $25 for members of a sponsoring organization, $30 for nonmembers. Register online at www.newfs.org. Image of Arcadia in winter courtesy of the Boston Globe.
Visit http://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count to learn everything you need to know to help with this Citizen Science project, the longest continuously running bird data survey nationwide. The event takes place all day Saturday, December 19. You can add to a century of science by signing up now.
Edible wild plants offer opportunities for people to connect to nature via their taste buds, thereby building enthusiasm and support for land stewardship. Reconnect with the many edible plants that are all around us.
Join tour guide, Russ Cohen, to view plants in the landscape through a new lens. Russ Cohen’s “day job†is serving as the Rivers Advocate for the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Ecological Restoration. He is also an expert forager and the author of Wild Plants I Have Known… and Eaten, published by the Essex County Greenbelt Association. For more than 25 years, Russ Cohen has been teaching foraging and leading foraging walks each year at a wide variety of venues throughout the Northeast, including talks for the Garden Club of the Back Bay.
On this Wednesday, June 24 early evening walking tour of the landscape at Mass Audubon’s Habitat property in Belmont, Russ will point out which commonly found native and non-native plants have edible potential. Russ will discuss how adding edible plants to a landscape can boost biodiversity as well as “spice up†the experience for garden visitors. Learn about dozens of tasty native and non-native plant species that area landscapes have to offer, some of which may already be growing on your property. If your landscape is not rich with edibles yet, let this presentation be your inspiration to add edibles to your landscape this season. Register ($15 ELA members, $25 nonmembers) and see more at: http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/edibles-in-the-landscape-foraging-and-growing-your-own/#sthash.S7t4kEYV.dpuf Photo below of the Habitat property from www.everytrail.com.
Pollinators are all the buzz these days, but what are they and why are they so important? In this New England Wild Flower Society class on Tuesday, June 9, from 10 – 12:30, you will learn how essential pollinators are to the reproductive success of the world’s flowering plants, and take away easy tips for attracting and supporting pollinators to your own garden and yard. The class is given by Ellen Sousa at Garden in the Woods in Framingham, and the fee is $33 for NEWFS and Mass Audubon members, $40 for nonmembers, co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Register online at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/gardening-for-pollinators-1. Image from www.extension.org.
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.
The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem has announced a special event to take place Friday, December 5, from 7:15 – 9:15. Attend a special screening of the award-winning film Chasing Ice by environmental photographer James Balog, a featured artist in the Museum’s Branching Out exhibition. His videos of Arctic glaciers reveal ancient mountains of ice disappearing at a breathtaking rate. Following the film, researcher and author Trevor Lloyd-Evans presents the effects of climate change on migratory birds. Chasing Ice, 2012, 75 minutes. Book signing follows. Co-sponsored by Mass Audubon and Essex County Ornithological Club. A brief business meeting of the E.C.O.C. is held 7-7:15 pm. Reservations not required. For directions, visit www.pem.org.
