Boston Flora

Tag: mosses

  • Wednesday, February 5, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm Eastern – The Botany of Design, Online

    Using his book Understanding Perennials as a starting point, Bill Cullina tackles the thorny subject of garden design in an innovative way. In this fun and informative Mt. Cuba Center talk, he explores such things as the reasons for big leaves, variegation, red foliage and flowers and ways to create more satisfying designs without breaking the budget. He looks at life beyond the color wheel, and the importance of healthy soil and reveals some of his best horticultural secrets while weaving together aesthetics, psychology, botany, and ecology. Both beginning gardeners and seasoned pros will be able to learn from and enjoy this talk. Bill Cullina is the F. Otto Haas Executive Director of the Morris Arboretum. He is a well-known author, lecturer, and authority on North American native plants. His books include Wildflowers; Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines; Native Ferns, Mosses, and Grasses; and Understanding Perennials.

    This program takes place online on Wednesday, February 5, 2025. $25. Register at https://mtcubacenter.org/event/botany-of-design-online/

    Looking into the rear garden at 3 Bush Road, Kew. Plants included Fatsia japonica, Dicksonia antarctica, Phyllostachys nigra, Musa bajoo and Eriobotrya japonica.

  • Saturday, July 8, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Mosses for Beginners

    This full-day New England Botanic Garden class on July 8 is a systematic approach to identifying mosses in the field. Through activities both indoors and out, you will learn how and what to observe in the field, filtering what might be possible, how to make a guess and confirming that guess. Please bring a 7-10x hand lens and a notebook for drawing.

    Instructor: Susan Williams

    Sue Williams is an independent naturalist and bryologist instructor with more than 30 years of experience. She is the author of Ecological Guide to the Mosses and Common Liverworts of the Northeast, an essential introduction to identifying mosses and common liverworts found in the northeastern United States and Canada.

    $80 Member Adult; $95 Adult (includes admission to the Garden). Register at nebg.org.

  • Northern Forest Atlas Now Available – Free Downloads

    Northern Forest Digital Atlases are unique products developed to showcase high-resolution photography. Each contains 1,400 or more pictures, with notes on identification and ecology. The majority of the pictures can be zoomed to full screen or beyond; on a full-size monitor this gives magnifications from 3x to over 50x, and allows the atlases to function as digital microscopes, preloaded with 200 to 300 species each.
    The Digital Atlases are both useful and beautiful. Students and naturalists can use them for identification, review, and to meet plants they haven’t seen. Anyone who loves plants will enjoy the imagery, and to see thousands of details that have never been photographed clearly before.
    The Digital Atlases are supplied as pdfs for free download. They may be used for any personal, educational, or nonprofit purpose. Sedges (357 pages, 223 species) is currently available. Mosses (1,156 pages, about 330 species) and Woody Plants (724 pages, about 270 species) are now available for download. A digital atlas of grasses is currently under preparation and will be available in spring 2022. Visit www.northernforestatlas.org.

    Woody Plants of Northern Forest: A Digital Atlas

  • Monday, December 8, 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Webinar: The Magical Appeal of Moss Landscape Designs

    Moss landscapes offer a magical appeal with verdant expanses that seem to encapsulate our spirits with a sense of serenity. Yet, the environmental advantages of eco-friendly mosses add another element of magic through the creation of outdoor living spaces that complement natural ecosystems. As Planet Earth’s oldest living land plants (450 million years old), bryophytes – mosses and their cousins, liverworts and hornworts – are native to all parts of the world. Mosses not only survive but actually thrive in climates and conditions considered inhospitable to most other plants. The year-round green of mosses makes them excellent horticultural choices in gardens for all seasons, including the winter. Even when covered in snow, mosses will continue reproductive processes. When the snow melts, young colorful sporophytes (equivalent of flowers) can be present and the vivid greens of new growth will delight you. On Monday, December 8, at 7:30 pm, join Ecological Landscaping Alliance webinar host Annie Martin to learn more about the benefits of designing with mosses from the aesthetic to the practical, such as erosion control considerations. Annie will also discuss moss cultivation, harvesting regulations, and more.

    Annie Martin, known as Mossin’ Annie, is the owner of Mountain Moss. Her mossery is located in the mountains of western North Carolina. To learn more about mosses, please visit: www.mountainmoss.com. Live mosses for your projects (container trays, pre-vegetated moss mats, and lightweight panels for living moss walls or moss green roofs) are available through the online Moss Shop. As experts in moss-scapes, Mountain Moss offers consultation/design/installation services as well as educational lectures/workshops so that others can experience their own moss magic. Martin will be sharing her passion for moss gardening in her upcoming book (Timber Press, spring 2015).
    – See more at: http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-the-magical-appeal-of-moss-landscape-designs/#sthash.NJ2SOeRv.dpuf. Image from www.appvoices.org.