Boston Flora

Tag: Pollinators

  • Saturday, August 4, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Pollinator-Friendly Gardens and Landscapes

    Bees and other pollinators are all the buzz these days. Pollinator populations are crashing locally and worldwide, but these tiny forms of wildlife are vital to food production, pest management, and environmental stability. Even in a small backyard, you can help support pollinators through careful plant choices and a basic knowledge of the varied habitat needs of native bees and other beneficial insects. In this Tower Hill Botanic Garden class with Ellen Sousa on August 4 from 10 – noon, you’ll learn to identify some of the good – and bad – bugs flying around your gardens, and at the same time welcome a whole new dimension to your enjoyment of gardening and the natural world. We’ll also spend some time exploring the gardens looking for pollinators in their garden habitats.

    Ellen Sousa is a garden coach, designer and author from Turkey Hill Brook Farm in Spencer MA, a small native plant nursery and habitat farm. Since 2007, Ellen has worked with homeowners, landowners and non-profit organizations to design and manage landscapes that support local biodiversity. She is the author of the book The Green Garden: A New England Guide to Planning, Planting & Maintaining the Eco-friendly Habitat Garden. Tower Hill member price $20, non-members $30. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

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  • Thursday, June 7, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Gardening for Us and Them: How Native Plants Can Feed Both Pollinators and Humans

    People typically begin to create gardens for aesthetic reasons. However, many soon find that they want more than simple beauty and look to incorporate plants that contribute on multiple levels. On Thursday, June 7 at 7 pm in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum, Dan Jaffe will address a current trend (one that we hope is lasting) for gardening with pollinator-friendly and edible plants. He’ll explain which flower shapes and colors attract insects, which edibles are more resistant to diseases and pests, and how to provide for pollinators across the growing season. Armed with a bit of knowledge and a selection of low-maintenance native plants, you can create a multi-tasking garden that nourishes the needs of both humans and pollinators. Dan’s book with co-author Mark Richardson, Native Plants for New England Gardens, will be available for purchase and signing. Fee is Free for Arboretum members; $10 nonmember. Register at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

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  • Saturday, May 26, 10:30 am – 12:00 noon – Native Plant Propagation

    Learn how to propagate native plants using organic earth-based techniques at Helia Native Nursery on Saturday, May 26 from 10:30 – noon. Helia Native Nursery is situated on Sky Meadow Farm, a beautiful 109-acre farm in Alford, Massachusetts. They are a small nursery in Berkshire County that specializes in growing native perennials, as well as trees and shrubs.

    Their mission is to preserve native genotypes through seed banking on the farm and propagating them in our plant nursery. Their plants are available for the landscaping community, homeowners, and nature enthusiasts. Many of the species propagated are not available in the standard nursery industry.

    Their land stewardship on the farm focuses on restoring  wildflower meadows for pollinators, woodlands and fens for rare fauna. They have a long term forestry plan written with help from Massachusetts Woodland Institute and Peter Tucker to remove invasive shrubs to create song bird habitat. Removing the invasive species will benefit the wildlife on the farm as well as reduce the number of ticks in the community at large. A high volume of native plant diversity will create optimal habitat for birds, butterflies, pollinators, amphibians, and dragonflies and boost the resilience of this ecosystem.

    Their techniques of propagation are strictly organic and earth-based. They use the highest quality organic potting material and inoculate the potting soil with compost, topsoil from the farm, and mulch to create a diverse soil food web. These practices allow for healthier, less disease-prone plants. If pest or disease control is required, they only use organic methods.

    To achieve greener nursery practices they only use a passive solar greenhouse, and reuse all  pots. They are conscious about daily water use and have a strict non-chemical approach to plant propagation and pot maintenance. All of these efforts lower their ecological footprint.

    The workshop costs $20 per person and includes an eco-tour of Sky Meadow Farm. If you are interested in attending email helianativenursery@gmail.com.

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  • Saturday, April 14, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Native Pollinator Biology and Conservation

    Pollinators have received a lot of attention in recent years, mostly because of the decline in honey bee populations due to colony collapse disorder. Native pollinators are important cousins of honey bees and are in need of help, too. Come to French Hall at UMass/Amherst, 230 Stockbridge Road in Amherst on Saturday, April 14 from 10 – 12 to learn about the many types of pollinators present in our region and how to protect and encourage them in your landscape. The end of the class, to be taught by Sonia Schloemann, we will tour the UMass Permaculture Garden. $35. Image from www.justroots.org. Register at http://ag.umass.edu/fruit/news-events/mass-aggie-seminars/mass-aggie-seminars-2018.

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  • Tuesday, March 20, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Attracting Pollinators to Your Landscape

    Celebrate the first day of spring with this illustrated evening program on transforming gardens and landscapes into native bee habitat. Learn about native bees and what steps we can take to create pollinator friendly landscaping including providing food for bees and nesting opportunities to raise their young. Join Tom Sullivan, M.A.L.D, of PollinatorsWelcome.com, for an evening filled with ideas and inspiration – from simple techniques to community practices focusing on connectivity. Tom is a pollinator habitat designer, land consultant, and educator with a special focus on native bees. He gives talks and workshops on the nesting, foraging and life cycles of native bee species in New England. A beekeeper in his youth, Tom switched his interest from honeybees to native bees in 2008 after Colony Collapse Disorder emerged and it became clear how intricately tied whole ecosystem health is to pollinator well-being and human survival. This event is co-sponsored with the Northfield Bird Club and the Athol Bird and Nature Club. Free and open to all, at the Northfield Mountain Recreation and Environmental Center 99 Millers Falls Road Northfield, MA 01360. For more information contact (413)659-4462 or visit http://www.h2opower.ca/recreation/northfield-mountain-recreation-and-environmental-center/

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  • Saturday, October 28, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Growing Plants for Pollinators from Seed

    The fates of native plants and pollinators are intricately interwoven; both are essential to our environment. In this New England Wild Flower Society class on October 28 from 6 – 8 at Nasami Farm, Kate Stafford will teach you how to grow the best native plants for pollinators from seed—an affordable solution for creating pollinator habitat in your yard.  Image below by Maryanne Duca. $30 for NEWFS members, $36 for nonmembers. Register online at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/growing-plants-for-pollinators-from-seed

  • Saturday, June 10, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Natives for Pollinators

    Join New England Wild Flower Society’s Dan Jaffe for a free pollinator-themed walk at Minton Stable Community Garden and Park at 110 Williams Street in Jamaica Plain. Learn which plants offer the most for beneficial pollinators from caterpillars, to bees, to butterflies, to birds. Emphasis will be placed on all stages of the pollinators’ life cycles. We will discuss already existing plants as well as brainstorm additional species that could fit in this garden or in your own.

    Email mdelima@thetrustees.org or call 617.542.7696 x2115 to sign up.  Image from www.ecobeneficial.com.

  • Thursday, June 1, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Pollinator-Friendly Gardens and Landscapes

    Bees and other beneficial insects are all the buzz these days – and for good reason. Pollinator populations are crashing both locally and worldwide, yet these small forms of wildlife are vital to food production, pest control, and environmental stability. With just a few changes in your property management, you can help support and maintain a diversity of pollinator and beneficial insect species in your backyard or farm. On Thursday, June 1 at 7 pm, learn to identify the good – and bad – bugs flying around your gardens, and at the same time welcome a whole new dimension to your enjoyment of gardening and nature. The lecture will be held at the Gardens at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley.

    Ellen Sousa is an author, garden coach and designer from Turkey Hill Brook Farm, a habitat farm and native plant nursery in Spencer, MA. Since 2007, Ellen has worked with homeowners, landowners and non-profit organizations to design and manage landscapes that support food production and local biodiversity. She is the author of the book The Green Garden: A New England Guide to Planning, Planting & Maintaining the Eco-friendly Habitat Garden.

    Mass Hort Members: $12; General Admission: $20. Sign up online at www.masshort.org.

  • Sunday, May 21, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Pollinator Friendly Gardening

    Pollinators are declining at an unprecedented rate worldwide due to human-induced rapid environmental change. These declines pose a significant threat to our food supply and consequently, there has been major focus on the development and implementation of conservation strategies to maintain pollination services to crop plants. However, the overwhelming majority of current strategies do not consider the keystone role that pollinators play in natural ecosystems, making them an ineffective tool for maintaining and restoring biodiversity. Dr. Robert Gegear of WPI Department of Biology and Biotechnology will discuss the importance of developing an ecologically-focused approach to developing and maintaining your garden, citing examples from his ongoing field research in Massachusetts. The lecture will take place Sunday, May 21 from 1 – 3 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Massachusetts. He will also provide information on how to identify local bumblebee species in order to help you assess the ecological ‘friendliness’ of your garden. After the presentation, join Dr. Gegear in a walk through the gardens to learn how your new knowledge can be put into practice. Free with admission to the Garden.  Image from www.whiteflowerfarm.com.

  • Saturday, March 25, 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm – Plants, Pollinators, and How to Support Them

    On Saturday, March 25 at 1:30 pm at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, Joseph Tychonievich explains the interesting ways plants have evolved to attract their preferred pollinators. Along with a tour of nature’s most creative (and sometimes disgusting) methods of connecting pollinators and plants, Joseph discusses ways to foster biodiversity in your own garden and shows examples of managing garden pests by letting other insects do the dirty work.

    A life long gardener and lover of plants, Joseph earned his BS in horticulture from Ohio State University, went on to work for Shibamichi Honten Nursery in Saitama, Japan, has been a repeated guest on public radio’s food show The Splendid Table, wrote a book, Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener,  Timber Press, 2013), spent two years working at the famed rare plants nursery Arrowhead Alpines and was named by Organic Gardening Magazine as one of “…six young horticulturists who are helping to shape how America gardens.” Joseph’s most recent book is Rock Gardening: Reimagining a Classic Style (Timber Press, 2016). Currently Joseph lives and gardens with his husband and an adorable black cat in SE Michigan. $15 for Tower Hill members, $25 for nonmembers. Register online at www.towerhillbg.org.