Boston Flora

Tag: Pacific Horticulture Society

  • Saturday, April 18 – Saturday, May 2 – The Sikkim & Darjeeling Himalayas: Landscapes and Flora

    Travel with Pacific Horticulture Society April 18 – May 2, 2015 to the far north of India where the spectacular scenery and cooler climate of the hill country first beckoned early British travelers. At 6,000 feet Darjeeling and Changtok cling to hilltops with views of the Himalayan Mountains beckoning around every turn of the road. Sikkim, an Indian state, is bordered by Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet. – See more at: http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/tours/the-sikkim-darjeeling-himalayas/#sthash.Ra9Wjnr9.dpuf.

    Itinerary includes:

    Makaibari Tea Estates where tea is produced within an integrated forest management system.
    Lloyd Botanic Garden in Darjeeling featuring indigenous Himalayan plants, alpine plants and ferns, and plants and trees from China, Japan, and beyond as well as traditional British style glass conservatories housing many of the garden’s extensive orchid collections.
    A trip on the nearly hundred-year old Darjeeling Himalayan Railway providing a breathtaking view of neighboring cities from the narrow-gauge tracks that cling to the hillsides and a chance to experience life as it’s been since the 1800s.
    Yumthang, the “valley of flowers,” and the site of the Shingba Rhododendron Sanctuary.

    Other stops on this 15-day tour provide insight into the people of this high country who call this area of the world their home and include visits to cultural, historic, and craft centers in Darjeeling, Changtok, and Kalimpong. PHS Board member Paul Graves will accompany the trip.

  • Friday, April 10 – Tuesday, April 14 – Spring Break in San Diego

    Friday, April 10 – Tuesday, April 14 – Spring Break in San Diego

    San Diego County has more biodiversity than any other county in North America and, along with the rest of California, is among the top 10 biodiversity regions on earth. The mild, Mediterranean climate—hot dry summers and cool, wet winters—and varied landforms create a number of distinct habitats, including: beaches, salt marshes and lagoons, coastal sage scrub, grasslands, chaparral, oak woodlands, stream sides, mixed conifer forests, freshwater marshes and meadows, and desert.

    Join Pacific Horticultural Society for a long weekend in San Diego—our first PHS Weekender Tour*— as we explore diverse public and private gardens and parks from the Pacific Ocean to the Anza Borrego desert.

    Locally hosted by PHS Board Member Scott Borden, in cooperation with the San Diego Floral Association and the San Diego Horticultural Society.

    *Weekender tours are locally hosted using well-located mid-range hotels. These shorter tours have larger group sizes and lower pricing while maintaining the high standard of quality sights and visits found in longer Pacific Horticulture Society tours.
    – See more at: http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/tours/spring-break-in-san-diego/#sthash.rFinUea6.dpuf.

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  • Tuesday, November 4 – Saturday, November 15 – Australia: Springtime Down Under

    Join the Pacific Horticulture Society for a special opportunity to visit gardens in Australia when it’s springtime down under.

    Our tour starts in the vibrant city of Sydney and continues on through the Blue Mountains and scenic highlands of New South Wales to the capital city of Canberra. Continuing to the state of Victoria, we’ll visit charming townships like Daylesford, Dunkeld, and Sorrento, and Grampians National Park. The tour will end in the cultural city of Melbourne. Tour attendees may want to add a few days to their trip and take in the Melbourne Garden DesignFest, taking place the following weekend, before heading home or continuing their travels in Australia or beyond.

    Throughout our tour you’ll take in a wide variety of interesting and enjoyable public and private gardens often using indigenous plants. You’ll see wildflowers and visit specialty nurseries like Lambley Nursery as well as gardens designed by leading landscape architects including Paul Bangay and Sam Cox. We’ll take in country estates, historic gardens, small urban gardens, wineries, galleries with sculpture parks, and important botanic gardens such as Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne. All carefully chosen to show you the best that Australia has to offer.

    Most importantly, our tour emphasizes fun, quality experiences, and good food. You’ll meet the locals, be entertained in their homes, and leave Australia knowing what a dinkum Aussie is!

    PHS board member Andrea Testa-Vought will escort this tour. For complete information, costs, and a detailed itinerary visit Sterling Tours at http://www.sterlingtoursltd.com/Australia2014.html.

  • Friday, May 9 – Saturday, May 17 – Morocco: Gardens, Culture and Cuisine

    Friday, May 9 – Saturday, May 17 – Morocco: Gardens, Culture and Cuisine

    Discover the imperial cities of Morocco—Rabat, Meknes, Fes, and Marrakech—and travel back in time with visits to the ancient Roman city of Volubilis, the medina of Fes, and villages in the Atlas Mountains.

    Along with the Pacific Horticulture Society, you will experience the fascinating culture of Morocco through its gardens, workshops devoted to Moroccan arts, and visits to private homes. The itinerary also includes a visit to a winery near Fes, and an ethno-botanical adventure in Marrakech. Katherine Greenberg, PHS board member, will escort this tour.

    For more information and a detailed itinerary, contact Sterling Tours at 800-976-9497 or visit http://sterlingtoursltd.com/Morocco2014.html.

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  • February, 2014 – People to People Tour of Cuba

    The Pacific Horticulture Society is thrilled to offer a third Cuba tour in February, 2014, escorted by PHS board member Katherine Greenberg.   The People-to-People Exploration of Cuba begins in Havana. You’ll visit botanic gardens, a community project for sustainable agriculture, as well as the reforestation project at Las Terrazas, Orquideario Soroa, and the vast wetlands of Zapata National Park, the mountain station at Topes de Collantes, and the extraordinary plant life in the Sierra De Escambray.  The itinerary also includes the fascinating colonial cities of Trinidad and Cienfuegos on the south coast.   The tour is pending renewal of Pacific Horticulture’s travel license.  Space is limited to twenty people and is expected to fill quickly.  For more information contact Betchart Expeditions at 800-252-4910 or www.betchartexpeditions.com.

    http://images.travelpod.com/tw_slides/ta01/011/176/in-topes-de-collantes-n1-trinidad.jpg

  • Wednesday, March 6 – Monday, March 11 – Gardens & Wildflowers of the Desert Southwest

    Take part in a five-day exploration of the beautiful Tucson area, timed for peak spring wildflower bloom, on March 6 – 11 with Pacific Horticulture magazine. In addition to exclusive private garden visits, guests will experience inside looks at the famous Arizona Desert Museum and Tohono Chul Park (below, photo courtesy of www.gardentourist.org). Included are nursery visits and meals highlighting the delicious cuisine of the Southwest.

    This tour is escorted by Lorene Edwards Forkner, editor of Pacific Horticulture magazine. It also features a special presentation on “Gardening in Tucson” by Dick Hildreth, co-founder of the Pacific Horticulture Society, and noted southwest gardening expert, Scott Calhoun.

    Read the complete itinerary of this spring-time trip to the Tucson area at the Sterling Tours website, www.sterlingtoursltd.com. You can also call them for additional information at 1-800-976-9497. This upcoming tour is limited to 24 people; reserve your space to ensure you don’t miss this opportunity to see the desert southwest at its best.

  • Saturday, April 14 – Tuesday, April 24 – Mallorca & Menorca: Gardens, Art, and Cuisine

    A trip to the Mediterranean is planned by the Pacific Horticulture Society and the Northwest Horticultural Society April 14 – 24, led by Sofia Barroso, and escorted by Katherine Greenberg. Join them for a spring tour of Mallorca, where you have invitations to visit spectacular private gardens and art collections.
    The tour will take you from the lovely patios of Palma to elegant country estates and charming seaside villages. You will also explore the island of Menorca, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve with fascinating archaeological sites and distinctive architecture. Along the way, experience the generous hospitality, regional cuisine, and scenic beauty of the Balearic Islands.

    Tour escort Katherine Greenberg is a garden designer with a special interest in Mediterranean gardens. She is a past president of Pacific Horticulture Society and the Mediterranean Garden Society (MGS). Katherine studied at the University of Madrid, and she has led a number of tours to Spain with a focus on gardens, culture, and cuisine. During her term as president of the MGS, she started a branch of the Society in Mallorca.  This tour is planned for a small group. Early reservations are encouraged.  Image of a garden in Palma shown below is from the excellent website www.onbotanicalphotography.blogspot.com. The complete trip itinerary is available online: http://www.sterlingtoursltd.com/Mallorca2012.html.

  • October, 2011 – Chile: From Desert to Forest

    This Pacific Horticulture Tour will be escorted by Kathy Musial, Curator of Living Collections, Huntington Botanical Gardens, and board member, Pacific Horticulture Society in October 2011. Join her as she visits central Chile and “Norte Chico” to see spring wildflowers and magnificent forests. You will begin in Chile’s capital, Santiago, where you’ll see the new Chagual Botanic Garden and visit private gardens featuring native plants, including those of Juan Grimm, Chile’s leading landscape architect. You then head north to the edge of the Atacama Desert, where, if the rains have been good, you’ll be treated to the spectacular “Desierto Florido” (the Flowering Desert), with carpets of bulbs and annuals. Traveling southward, you’ll explore the Mediterranean climate vegetation of central Chile, similar to California’s chaparral but sprinkled with puyas and cacti. South of Santiago, you’ll visit forests with vegetation transitioning from Mediterranean to rain forest, ending up at magnificent stands of monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana – image below from www.redwoodgardenbridges.com), one of Chile’s signature plants.  For more information please contact: Hidden Treasures Botanical Tours at (573) 881-6316, or log on to http://www.hiddentreasuresbotanicaltours.com/pacific.html.  Please note that prior trips organized for Pacific Horticulture had been managed by a different tour operator, and some potential travelers (including me!) had difficulty communicating with the other company. Hidden Treasures promises to be much more responsive.

  • Saturday, July 9 – Thursday, July 14 – Gardens of Portland, Oregon

    Join Pacific Horticulture Society members and friends on a fabulous garden tour to Portland, Oregon July 9 – July 14. Visit nine private gardens featuring creative use of plant materials. The gardens range from a small, exquisite, designer’s city garden, to artist, landscape architect Jeffrey Bale’s mosaics and stonework in his own “heavenly paradise”, featured in many magazines and books, to an urban farm complete with chickens, ducks, bees, vineyard and aquaponic herb garden, to woodland gardens and a quirky garden shown on Canadian television, where “plants and art mingle”.  For more information please contact Sterling Tours – Portland, at 619-299-3010, or log on to www.sterlingtoursltd.com/Portland2011.html. Photo of Portland’s Japanese Gardens from Savvy Style at Bella Figura.