Boston Flora

Tag: nature walk

  • Saturday, August 17, 9:30 am – 12:00 noon – Plant Identification Walk with Jeff Adams

    Learn about the trees, plants, and shrubs native to New England in late summer. Naturalist Jeff Adams will teach you all the basic characteristics as you stroll around Wright-Lock Farm and Whipple Hill in Winchester on August 17 from 9:30 – noon. Beginners are welcome on this very educational walk. Tiered pricing available:
    Tier A $25 (pay-it-forward/Cummings Foundation match!)
    Tier B $20 (cost to run the class)
    Tier C $15 (reduced price)

    Register at https://www.wlfarm.org/adult-education-programs/

  • Sunday, August 20 and Saturday, August 26, 10:00 am – Summer Nature of Franklin Park

    Join Jef Taylor in Franklin Park, at the Tennis Courts in front of the Shattuck Hospital, on either August 20 or 26 at 10 am for a free walk on The Summer Nature of Franklin Park. Even in the heart of the city, we’re surrounded by incredible wildlife. On these upcoming walks, learn how to look for and identify a range of native species from insects to birds to small mammals. Participants should come prepared to walk in the woods and should dress accordingly by wearing long pants, sturdy walking shoes, and bug spray. If raining, the walk will be cancelled. Please check the website to make sure the scheduled walk is happening. Pre-registration is required at https://www.zoonewengland.org/engage/biodiversity-walks/

  • Friday, June 18, 9:30 am – 12:00 noon – Summer Solstice Celebration

    Summer arrives with the summer solstice, which marks the longest day of the year and the day when the midday sun reaches its highest point in the sky. The summer solstice occurs this year on Sunday, June 20, but Wright-Locke Farm in Winchester will celebrate on the 18th with a nature walk through the farm and forest to enjoy the beauty of the natural world.  The walk will focus on plant identification, plus fun and interesting natural history about past and present human uses as well as tales and legends about the plants we see. We’ll also celebrate the season with a little poetry and solstice lore. 
    Cost: $30 per person. Register HERE.

  • Saturday, August 26, 9:30 am – 11:30 am – Nature Walk with Dr. Bob

    What is that bird you hear? What wild animals live beyond those trees? What marine life swims just offshore? Are those mushrooms poisonous? Dr. Bob has the answers. He shares his wide-ranging experience of the natural world during a walk through the fields, woodlands, and coastline of Historic New England’s Casey Farm, 2325 Boston Neck Road in Saunderstown, Rhode Island on Saturday, August 26 from 9:30 – 11:30 am. This Historic New England guided tour changes depending on the season and what Mother Nature puts in your path.

    Bring comfortable walking shoes, sunblock, bug spray, and water. Be sure to dress appropriately for the weather. Meet at the Casey Farm tour table at the Coastal Growers’ Market.

    Free to Historic New England members; $6 nonmembers; $3 nonmember children ages five to twelve. Please call 401-295-1030 ext. 5 for more information.

  • Saturday, November 22, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Looking for Green in a Brown Landscape: Evergreen Plants Around Harvard Pond, Petersham

    Join leaders Joe Choiniere and Wendy Howes of the Hubbardston-Ware River Nature Club for a hike around Harvard Pond as they look for all manner of evergreen plants. Many trees, ground mosses, woody shrubs, and more are bright and fresh-looking amongst the browns and grays of the late-fall landscape. You’ll also watch for waterfowl and any other bird species that happen to come our way. This hike is approximately 3 miles of mostly-flat terrain. You’ll encounter at least one beaver-impacted muddy area. Wear appropriate foot gear and dress for the weather. Bring binoculars and magnifying lens. Details of meeting place to be announced. Call 413-477-9229 or email chenshaw@eqlt.org for more information. Photo from http://www.endlessvelolove.blogspot.com.

  • Sunday, May 16, 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm – All About Flower Shapes and Colors

    On Sunday, May 16, beginning at 1:30 pm,  enjoy a free lecture at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden led by environmentalist and naturalist Katie Griffith.  Explore how a flower’s shape and color attracts the right pollinator for the plant.  Dress appropriately for going outdoors, and children are encouraged to attend, accompanied by an adult.  Pre-registration is required by calling 781-283-3094, or by emailing horticulture@wellesley.edu.

    http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/willow/flower-info0.gif

  • Sunday, April 11, 1:30 – 4:00 pm – All About Seed Dispersal

    This free family exploration of seeds of all sorts and how they move away from the mother plant will take place Sunday afternoon, from 1:30 – 4 pm, on April 11, at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden in Wellesley, and will be taught by Katie Griffith, Wellesley College Visiting Scholar, a naturalist and environmental scientist with a strong interest in family education.  Dress appropriately for going outdoors.  Pre-registration is required, and space is limited.  Please call 781-283-3094, or email horticulture@wellesley.edu.

    http://www.yallaroo.com.au/images/Seed_dispersal.JPG

  • Tuesday, November 17, 6:30 pm – Reanimating Extinct Plants

    Science for the Public presents Dr. Jonathan P. Wilson, California Institute of Technology, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, at the Boston Public Library on Boylston Street in a free lecture on Tuesday, November 17 beginning at 6:30 pm.

    A nature walk in New England 300 million years ago would have looked quite different from one near Boston today. Instead of forests composed of oaks, maples, and pines, the area would have been dominated by unusual extinct forms: mostly climbing ferns and seed plants under a canopy of trees that more closely resemble telephone poles than anything in a modern garden. How did these plants work?
    In this talk, he will explore how recent advances in plant physiology allow paleontologists to understand, in a quantitative fashion, how extinct plants functioned. Are there fundamental physiological differences between extinct plants and living ones? What can we learn about ancient environments and ecosystems from looking at fossil plants? For more information, log on to www.cityofboston.gov.

    http://www.plantcare.com/oldSite/httpdocs/images/MM/IMG0504090.jpg

  • Saturday, November 21 – Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation Conservation Walk

    Sheriff’s Meadow holds its series of public walks, in each month of the year, on properties that they own or hold conservation restrictions over. Pre-registration is required as space may be limited.  The Saturday, November 21 walk will be through the Edgartown Pond Lot in Edgartown. Visit http://www.sheriffsmeadow.org site for starting times, directions and other information.  You may also telephone 508-693-5207.  Another walk, in Chappaquiddick, will take place on Saturday, December 19.

    The mission of Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation is to conserve, administer and manage natural habitats for wildlife, and all other lands that represent the beautiful, rural, natural character of Martha’s Vineyard.  Henry Beetle Hough and Elizabeth Bowie Hough founded Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation to conserve land that no other organization would. Editor of the Vineyard Gazette, Henry and Elizabeth lived on Pierce Lane in Edgartown.  Overseen by a Board of Directors, Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation now employs six year-round and two seasonal staff. The Foundation’s properties represent all the major Martha’s Vineyard habitats: beaches, sand dunes, coastal ponds, wooded moraine, forests, swamps, marshes, agricultural lands, meadows and more.

    http://ic2.pbase.com/v3/29/553829/4/44235564.EdgartownGreatPondSunset.jpg

  • Three Corn Maze Opportunities

    Have you ever walked through a corn maze?  This autumn, three fantastic opportunities await, one in Sterling, one in Sunderland, and one in Ipswich. The picture below, by the way, is not one of these featured mazes, but gives you an idea of what’s in store.  Pick a sunny day and commune with your inner child:

    Mega Maze Corn Maze — Sterling
    Now through November 15, 2009
    Every year brings a whole new puzzle, theme, and challenge.  Davis’ Mega Maze features more bridges than any other field maze in the world and the only double-decker bridge. There is more than one solution to the Mega Maze and there are several different levels of intensity at which the maze can be completed. All offer varying degrees of difficulty and a new maze experience. Location: Davis’ Mega Maze, 145 Redstone Hill. Time: August 6-Labor Day, open daily, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; September 8-10, closed; September 11-October 31, open weekends only, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; November 1-November 15. open weekends only, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Weather Decisions are made each day by 8 am. Cost: Adults, $16.95; seniors older than 60 and children age 5-12, $12.95. Information: 978-422-8888 or visit www.davisfarmland.com/megamaze.

    Mike’s Corn Maze at Warner Farm – Sunderland
    Now through October 31, 2009
    The 2009 Maze celebrates the 173rd anniversary of the conclusion of the voyage of The HMS Beagle. The maze features the famed British naturalist Charles Darwin with his penetrating gaze chiseled out of solid corn. Darwin is pictured with an assortment of the Galapagos finches whose habitats were isolated volcanic islands. Put on your farm appropriate footwear and come for a nature walk along miles of corn-lined trails. No pets. Location: Warner Farm, 25 South Main Street. Time: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Cost: Adults over age 13, $9; students and seniors over age 60, $8; children age 4-12, $6. Information: 413-665-8331 or visit www.mikesmaze.com.

    Marini Farm Corn Maze – Ipswich
    Now through October 31, 2009
    Experience one of the largest and most challenging corn mazes in the New England region. Travel ear to ear in 8 acres of interactive learning and adventure. Maize Quest is great fun for families, scouts, youth groups, and birthday parties. Location: 259 Linebrook Road. Time: Thursday and Friday, 3-6 p.m.; weekends, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Cost: Adults, $9.50; children younger than 12, $7.50. Information: 978-356-0430 or visit www.marinifarm.com.