Boston Flora

Tag: New York

  • Friday, March 13, 3:00 pm Eastern – Making Space for Pollinators, Online

    The American Museum of Natural History will present Making Space for NYC Pollinators, in person in New York and online, on Friday, March 13 at 3 pm. Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/making-space-for-nyc-pollinators-virtual-event-tickets-1982882003450. Join New York City Pollinators online for a panel discussion on the joys and perils of creating pollinator habitat in the concrete jungle. What applies in New York applies in other metropolitan areas too.

    There is a “yuge” variety of pollinator gardens in the boroughs of New York City, from lush, sprawling plantings in public parks to lovely blooms in community gardens to humble oases in tree beds. Our panelists will share what it takes to create and maintain pollinator habitat where every square foot is a hot commodity and everybody’s got an opinion (or two). Join us online to celebrate these corners of our city, the folks who steward them, and the tiniest New Yorkers who call them home!

    Panelists:

    Jason Bonet, Bronx Green-Up Cheree Dillon , Wicked Friendship Garden / Street Tree Habitats Project Richard Hayden, The High Line Len Maniace, Jackson Heights Beautification Group Evelyn Manlove, Brooklyn Bridge Park Abby Scher, 40 Ocean Parkway Co-op Garden, Brooklyn

  • New York Botanical Garden Offering Online Classes

    Our thanks to member Penny Cherubino (http://bostonzest.com) for alerting us to an expansion of online learning experiences offered by the New York Botanical Garden during this Covid-19 stay at home period. During challenging times, the power of plants connects people and provides inspiration more than ever. While the Garden’s gates may be closed temporarily, their virtual gates are wide open. Stay connected with NYBG at Home, a new content hub featuring videos, plant guides, virtual events, recipes for kids, and so much more. As spring unfolds, they will bring you the brightness and color of the season, a reminder of how the natural world brings us joy. Access the full schedule at https://www.nybg.org/nybg-at-home/

  • Wednesday, August 9, 10:00 am – 2:30 pm – Gardeners Who Inspire

    A Berkshire Botanical Garden offsite field study on Wednesday, August 9 from 10 – 2 features two remarkable gardens in Dutchess County, New York. Our first garden (pictured), which was included in Jane Garmey’s book, Private Gardens of the Hudson Valley, features a sophisticated plant palette and a spectacular meadow of Sporobolus heterolepsis (prairie drop seed) framing a sculpture by Vivian Beer. Although this is not a low-maintenance garden, the owners rarely water anything after the second year and fertilize only container plants; elsewhere, compost feeds the soil without making it too rich while suppressing weeds. The collection of plants features more natives every year, including interesting native cultivars like Liquidambar  ‘Slender Silhouette.’ The owners, however, still enjoy the thrill of searching out exotic rarities. Our second garden is located on rolling terrain in Sand Lake, NY, and has evolved within a classic nineteenth-century arrangement of house, barn, meadows, and woods. A long peony border leads from the house to a five-acre pond surrounded by native plants. Between the house and barn large deep flower beds are bordered by a pergola on one side and an Italianate upper garden on the other. We will tour both sites with the owners and glean tips and techniques from these remarkable gardeners.

    Driving directions to two gardens in Dutchess County will be provided upon registration. Bring a bag lunch to picnic at the first garden. BBG members $40, nonmembers $50. Register online at www.berkshirebotanical.org.

  • Saturday, November 13, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm – A Horticultural History Tour

    The Massachusetts Horticultural Society is proud to announce a day-long series of lectures focused on the history of horticulture and landscape design in New England and beyond, to take place Saturday, November 13, from 9 – 4 at the Hunnewell Carriage House, Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley.

    The symposium will be hosted by John Furlong, FALA, emeritus director, Landscape Institute, Arnold Arboretum, faculty member of the Boston Architectural College, Distinguished Radcliffe Instructor, and recipientof the  Gold Medal and emeritus trustee, Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

    9:00 AM – Actor and interpreter Gerry Wright, as Frederick Law Olmsted, presents a biography of the landscape architect who was influenced by the natural landscapes of New England throughout his life. In 1850, at age 28, he traveled to England and was smitten with the countryside and a “democratic park” in Birkenhead. Olmsted’s two styles of landscape architecture were the creation of the “pastoral” and the “picturesque”. Beyond the creation for beauty, there was a sense of “service deeply rooted in his planning of public places.” New York City’s Central Park, Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum and the country estates on the Charles River in Wellesley and Dover are among the legacies of Olmsted and his firm.

    At 10:30, Allyson Hayward, garden historian, popular lecturer for The Garden Club of the Back Bay and author of Norah Lindsay: The Life and Art of a Garden Designer will deliver a new talk on two important New England estates, the Hunnewell estate, known as Wellesley, and Elm Bank, the Cheney/Baltzell estate which is now the home of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Today, these landscapes reveal a layering of New England’s garden history. Ms. Hayward will take you on an armchair tour of these exciting gardens with an illustrated lecture tracing the landscapes dating from 1850 to the present. You will revel in the beauty of the initial vision of Horatio Hollis Hunnewell and his Italian Garden and Pinetum at Wellesley. The lecture will continue with images of Elm Bank from its Victorian grandeur to its transformation into a 1920s grandiose playground for Boston society, complete with theme gardens that portrayed the owners’ sense of taste and style.

    11:30 AM – David Barnett, PhD., President and CEO of Mount Auburn Cemetery, will present Wilson’s China: A Century On, published by The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2009. Wilson was the Arnold Arboretum’s principal plant collector from 1906 and following Sargent’s death he was appointed the self-styled ‘Keep” of the Arboretum. In addition to introducing over 1,200 plants, Wilson was a popular author and lecturer and a MassHort Trustee. His remarkable achievements are a continuing inspiration to botanists, horticulturists and landscapers. The slides have been loaned to MassHort through the courtesy of the English authors, Tony Kirkham and Mark Flanagan, respectively Head of the Arboretum at Kew and Keeper of the Royal Gardens in Windsor Great Park.

    Following lunch, at 1:30 PM, you will hear Elizabeth S. Eustis, a garden historian and guest curator, former Trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, past President of the New England Wild Flower Society and faculty member of The Landscape Institute. She will speak on Romanticism in the Landscape, the subject of a 2010 exhibition that she co-curated for the Morgan Library in New York, Romantic Gardens: Art, Nature and Garden Design, with a catalog published by David R. Godine. Following the transition from formal classicism to more naturalistic garden design, Romanticism added a new emphasis on emotional and spiritual response to the landscape. The pervasive influence of Romanticism inspired artificial ruins, garden cemeteries, wild gardens, and contributed powerfully to the public parks movement. This talk will be extensively illustrated by recent photographs and historic works of art.

    3:00 PM – Meg Muckenhoupf is the author of Boston’s Gardens & Green Spaces, Union Park Press, 2010, which is a guide to the Arnold Arboretum, The Boston Public Garden, Mt. Auburn Cemetery, the Olmsted sites, Elm Bank and Boston’s historic and newer parks. Beautiful photos. You will discover delightful new spots to visit.

    Registration is $65 for MHS members, $75 for non-members, and the price includes lunch. You may register on-line at www.masshort.org/horticultural-history-tour or call 617-933-4995.