Boston Flora

Tag: Polly Hill Arboretum

  • Wednesday, August 19, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Stunning Stewartias: Asiatic Stewartias and their Culture, Online

    Join Polly Hill Arboretum Executive Director Tim Boland online on Wednesday, August 19 at 3 pm as he shares the fascinating history, diversity, and culture of the beautiful white-flowering trees, the Asiatic Stewartias. Tim will detail Polly Hill’s own introduction to the group of trees which are highly valued for their camellia-like flowers, expressive bark patterns and garden adaptability. The PHA holds the national collection for the genus along with the Arnold Arboretum in nearby Boston. Come join us as we learn about new cultivated varieties and helpful suggestions as to how you can grow these trees in your own landscape. Free for PHA members, $10 for nonmembers. Proceeds benefit Polly Hill Arboretum and help make it possible for us to hold future affordable and free educational programs for our community. Thank you for support! Register here: bit.ly/Stewartias-Webinar-2020

  • Thursday, June 18, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – Yellow Magnolias Webinar Rescheduled

    Polly Hill Arboretum Executive Director Timothy Boland will present a webinar on June 18 from 1 – 2 on the origins and development of the Yellow Magnolias. Once rare, and now more readily available, which ones are the best for your garden? The webinar is free but registration is required. This has been rescheduled from its original date.

    Register: bit.ly/PHAMagnoliasWebinar20

  • Saturday, September 28, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Tool Maintenance

    If it’s metal and can hold an edge it can likely be sharpened.

    Join Polly Hill Arboretum Horticulturist Oliver Osnoss on September 28 at 10 am to see how Polly Hill Arboretum maintains its tools and learn how to keep your tools sharp and performing their best. This hands-on class at the Arboretum in West Tisbury will show you how to sharpen pruners, cultivators, mower-blades, and more. Bring in a tool you would like to sharpen, and leave with the know-how to keep your landscape tools in tip-top shape so they last and perform their best.

    $35 ($20 for PHA members). Space is limited. Please pre-register at least one week in advance, by calling 508-693-9426. For more information visit www.pollyhillarboretum.org

  • Wednesday, September 11, 5:30 pm – Fifty-Six Million Years of Acorns: The History of the World’s Oaks

    Oaks are one of the world’s great success stories: with an estimated 450 species worldwide, they dominate in a wide range of deciduous forests, savannas, and even evergreen broadleaf forests of east Asia. They are notorious hybridizers, moving variants around so readily that one species may shape the geographic and ecological range of another species, just through gene flow. They feed our wildlife, form homes for hundreds of gall-forming insect species, and serve as the raw material for much of human civilization. Yet until recently, the evolutionary history of the genus Quercus, the oaks, was poorly known. In this talk, Dr. Andrew Hipp, Senior Scientist and Herbarium Director at The Morton Arboretum, will present on recent and ongoing research into the evolutionary history of oaks, from their earliest known ancestors of 56 million years ago, to the present day.

    $10 / $5 for PHA members. The Polly Hill Arboretum lecture takes place September 11 at 5:30, and is sponsored by Bartlett Tree Experts and the Dukes Soil Conservation District. For more information visit www.pollyhillarboretum.org

  • Wednesday, August 21, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Edgartown Tree Tour

    Join Polly Hill Arboretum Grounds Manager/Arborist Ian Jochems on August 21 for an informative and fun evening walking tour of the many glorious mature trees of Edgartown. Among the hydrangeas and picket fences, many unique and fine specimen trees await discovery. As one past participant noted, “I will forever after see the town’s trees with new eyes and greater appreciation.” Sponsored by Donaroma’s Nursery and Landscape Services. $20 ($15 for PHA members). Pre-register by calling 508-693-9426.

  • Wednesday, August 14, 5:30 pm – Connect to Protect for Biodiversity

    The Annual David H. Smith Memorial Lecture at the Polly Hill Arboretum will take place Wednesday, August 14 at 5:30 pm and is funded by a grant from The Nature Conservancy, and sponsored by the Dukes Soil Conservation District.

    Jennifer Ceska, Conservation Coordinator at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, will share the Connect to Protect philosophy and gardening methodology. All gardeners have an opportunity to help support wildlife by layering native plants into their displays, even with potted plants on a patio or cheerful mailbox gardens. Displays can also be larger like grand formal borders, looser cottage style compositions, and even pocket prairies along roadsides, driveways, and rights-of-way. Grasslands, prairies, and meadows are essential on the land or we face losing bird and insect species within our lifetimes. We garden for ourselves and for the bees, butterflies, beetles, birds, bats, and box turtles that rely upon those plants. Native species have looks and personality; they have ecological relevance; and they warrant a spot in your garden.

    $10 / $5 for PHA members.

  • Wednesday, August 7, 5:30 pm – Deer, Ticks, and Tick-borne Illnesses on Martha’s Vineyard

    Richard Johnson, Director of the Martha’s Vineyard Tick Program will present the latest data on deer and ticks on the Vineyard, in a free lecture on August 7 at 5:30 at the Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury, Martha’s Vineyard. The presentation will start with a review of the three common ticks on the Island and their ecology, life cycles and the diseases that they carry. Then we will briefly review the role of the white tailed deer on the Island’s tick population. Next we will discuss personal protection and how to make your yard safer. Finally, Dick will present the latest information on the spread of the lone star tick and efforts to reduce the deer population on Martha’s Vineyard.

  • Wednesday, July 31, 7:30 pm – Offshore Entomology: Bees, Moths, and the Hidden Diversity of Vineyard Pollinators

    Visit The Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury on July 31 at 7:30 for a free lecture by Paul Goldstein, research entomologist with the USDA Systematic Entomology Laboratory in Washington, DC, where he is curator in the Lepidoptera (moth) collection at the Smithsonian. This presentation will showcase some of the highlights of 30 years of work devoted to the Island’s insects, and the unique diversity of its native bees, moths, and other pollinators. Featuring vivid images of these insects and their Island habitats, Dr. Goldstein will describe the fascinating biology of some of our most unusual, colorful, and beneficial insect residents, and their importance to understanding our environment.

  • Wednesday, July 24, 5:30 pm – Seasons in the Flower Garden at Wave Hill

    Join horticulturist Harnek Singh at the Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury on July 24 at 5:30 pm for a photographic tour of the Flower Garden at Wave Hill, a private estate turned public garden located along the Hudson River in the Bronx. Harnek will speak about how he selects plants to cultivate for the Flower Garden, how he edits self-sowing plants, and how flower shape, leaf texture, and color are carefully considered for an optimal display. $10 for general public, $5 for PHA members.

  • Wednesday, April 24, 5:30 pm – Curator’s Travelog: Todd Rounsaville in Japan

    On Wednesday, April 24 at 5:30 at Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury, Martha’s Vineyard, take a virtual trip to the mountains and forests of Japan with PHA Curator Todd Rounsaville. In September 2018, Todd traveled to Honshu, Japan in collaboration with staff from the Arnold Arboretum and Morris Arboretum to collect seed of rare and horticulturally important plants. Collecting predominately in mountainous forests, the group returned with many species have never been cultivated at their respective gardens, with an emphasis on azaleas, enkianthus, stewartia, maples, and hydrangeas. $10 general admission, $5 for PHA members.