Boston Flora

Tag: NEWFS

  • Saturday, April 14, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm – Northern Gardening Symposium

    The New England Wild Flower Society will sponsor the Northern Gardening Symposium on Saturday, April 14, from 9 – 2 at Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center, Vermont, cosponsored by The Fells, Hardy Plant Club, Friends of the Hort Farm, and Master Gardeners. The morning session features landscape designer Judith Irven speaking on “A Sense of Place: Gardens that Celebrate the Natural Landscape.”  New England’s spectacular rural landscape — with its mountains, farms and canopied forest – can inspire gardens that echo this wider world. Landscape architect Ann Milovsoroff then presents “Gardens around the World,” an exploration of contemporary garden design trends gathered from public, private, and exhibition gardens around the world. See images that delight, entice and provide ideas for northern New England gardens. After lunch, there will be a presentation by nationally recognized taxonomist and botanist Arthur Haines on the reasons for and stories behind his newly published Flora Novae Angliae.  Fee is $40 for members of the sponsoring organizations, or $47 for non-members.  To register, visit www.newfs.org, or telephone 508-877-7630.

  • Saturday, April 14, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Recovery from Construction: A Case Study

    Perkins School for the Blind broke ground for two large new buildings in the fall of 2009, involving the removal and replacement of over 100 trees.  Two years later, the new trees are planted, the new design is done, but at what cost to the trees, the soil, the other plantings, and the environment?  Tour the site on Saturday, April 14, from 10 – 2, to see firsthand how issues like tree protection, soil compaction, and remediation actually worked out.  Visit the state of the art greenhouse and other new buildings on this historic and beautiful campus with Sonia Baerhuk, Lead Groundsperson at Perkins School for the Blind.  Please bring a bag lunch.  Fee is $44 for members of the Ecological Landscaping Association or the New England Wildflower Society, and $50 for nonmembers.  Register on line at www.ecolandscaping.org.  Image courtesy of www.boston.com.

  • Wednesday, April 4, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Living Walls: Verticulture ™ Life Off the Wall

    Though the idea of living walls and green facades is not new, the modern day applications and the infinite design and business possibilities are.  Explore the benefits of living wall technology, the opportunities it presents, and learn how to incorporate the artfulness of living walls into your landscape or home.   Learn about the environmental value of living walls and see how they can serve as an innovative way to overcome landscape challenges in confined spaces with dynamic results, and learn to take Urban Farming to new heights.  This Ecological Landscaping Association seminar is co-sponsored by the New England Wild Flower Society, and will take place Wednesday, A;pril 4, from 6:30 – 8:30 at Garden in the Woods in Framingham.  Your instructor Trevor Smith is a landscape designer and LEED Green Associate with Land Escapes.  Fee is $24 for ELA and NEWFS members, $29 for nonmembers.  Register on line at www.newfs.org.

  • Thursday, March 22, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Forget-Me-Nots: Working with Clients

    Anyone in pursuit of a career as a designer or builder of landscapes will eventually have to face one possibly distasteful reality.  Like it or not, part of you will have to function as a salesperson.  During our education, most of us designed in a nurturing vacuum, never forced to confront the reality of the needs, wants, personalities, tastes and budgets of clients with an ultimate veto power.  Embracing that reality needn’t be painful, although it can be if not done properly.  This Ecological Landscaping Association and New England Wild Flower Society seminar, to be held Thursday, March 22, from 7 – 9 at Garden in the Woods in Framingham, will introduce you to some of the “Forget-Me-Nots” that Tom Strangfeld, the instructor, learned by ignoring the consequences of forgetting them.  $24 for NEWFS or ELA members, $29 for nonmembers.  Register at www.newfs.org.

  • Tuesday, February 28, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Volunteer Fair at Garden in the Woods

    Learn about volunteer opportunities at Garden in the Woods and beyond on Tuesday, February 28 from 10 – noon. Support the native plant conservation mission of New England Wild Flower Society, while making new friends and learning about our local plants.

    Volunteers are needed to lead garden tours for adults or children, to work in the garden, to help with plant propagation in the stockbeds, to assist in the library, and to volunteer beyond the garden gates working as a Plant Conservation Volunteer or with invasive plant management projects.

    Attend a brief presentation about volunteer opportunities, followed by refreshments and a tour of the facilities at 180 Hemenway Road in Framingham. For more information, telephone 508-877-7630, ext. 3302, or visit www.newenglandwild.org.

  • Monday, October 24, 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm – Wild Food: Foraging for Edible Plants and Mushrooms

    Join professional environmentalist and wild foods enthusiast Russ Cohen, author of Wild Plants I Have Known…and Eaten, to learn about foraging for wild plants, followed by a walk outside at Wellesley College to see what might be available at this season. Keys to the identification of each species are provided, as well as information about its edible portion(s), season(s) of availability, flavor, and nutritive value, and some tips on preparation. Learn guidelines for safe and environmentally responsible foraging. Tea will be served at 2 pm, followed by the lecture and walk from 2:30 – 4:30. This afternoon is co-sponsored with Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, the New England Wild Flower Society, and the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture. $10 for members of the sponsoring organizations, $15 for non-members. Sign up at www.wellesley.edu/WCFH, or call 781-283-3094.

  • Tuesdays, September 20 – November 29, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Introduction to Botany

    Register now for the fall semester of Introduction to Botany with K.N. Gandhi, Botanist with the Harvard University Herbaria.  The ten session course will take place at the Herbaria in Cambridge on September 20, 27, October 4, 11, 18, 25, November 1, 8, 15, and 29 from 6:30 – 8:30. Among the topics to be explored: plant cells and tissues, anatomy and morphology, reproduction, nutrition, growth and development, plant diversity, evolution, classification, and nomenclature.  Fee $280 Arboretum and NEWFS members, $372 nonmembers. Offered with the New England Wild Flower Society.  Register at www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

  • Tuesdays, September 6 – 20, 6:30 pm – 8:45 pm, and Sundays, September 11 – 18, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm – Native New England Shrubs

    The many species of native New England shrubs display a wide variation in size, shape, color, and in characteristics of their bark, flowers, and fruits. This New England Wild Flower Society course introduces students to about 50 species growing in this region. Instructor Roland “Boot” Boutwell will emphasize identification and you will become familiar with family characteristics and historic uses. Bring a hand lens to each session. Field sessions held in locations off-site with directions provided during the first class, which will take place at Garden in the Woods in Framingham. NEWFS members $215, non members $258. Register online at www.newfs.org.

  • Saturdays, August 27 and September 10, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Asters of Field and Woodland

    Garden in the Woods in Framingham will present Arieh Tal on two Saturdays, August 27 and September 10, from 1 – 4, for a course entitled Asters of Field and Woodland. Although among the more difficult species of native plants to identify in the field, asters are an important family of plants to know, for they comprise a substantial proportion of the late summer and fall-blooming herbaceous flora of our region. They’re also beautiful and have an exquisite structure which makes them exciting to study. This workshop will focus on 15-20 of the most common species – the ones most likely to be found in the wild most of the time. An identification key and other handouts will be provided. Bring hand lens and camera for the field session, to be held in a site in central MA with a high diversity of aster species.  Fee for New England Wild Flower Society members is $72, $84 for nonmembers.  Register at www.newfs.org.  Image from www.wildherb.com.

  • Saturday, September 17, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm – Native Gardens in Newton

    Learn how a landscape designer working with urban properties and their sustainably- minded owners can create enticing native gardens in small spaces. The first garden we visit, situated around a Victorian house, received a front yard overhaul, which was achieved by removing lawn and creating a habitat garden by adding many natives with four-seasons of interest. A photo of this property illustrated an article in Money Magazine naming Newton as one of the best places to live in America. The second homeowner wished to make her garden as eco-friendly as possible, reducing its carbon footprint, reusing materials and creating habitat for wildlife. A walkway of recycled brick was installed, rain gardens improved drainage around the existing edible garden, and 100-year old recycled seawall blocks were installed as sitting walls. Shrubs from the front of the property were replanted in the back and a mostly native woodland garden was created under a red maple. The New England Wild Flower Society tour is co-sponsored by the Ecological Landscaping Association. Fee is $22 for members of the sponsoring organizations, and $25 for non-members.  Register at www.newfs.org.  Photo of a Newton garden space by Lorianne DiSabato, published on her blog, www.hoardedordinaries.wordpress.com.