Boston Flora

Tag: propagation

  • Sunday, February 8, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Houseplant Propagation Workshop

    In this fun, hands-on New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill workshop on February 8 at 2 pm, you will explore several ways to propagate popular plants.

    Discover the joy of creating new life from the houseplants you already have. Through guided demonstrations and plenty of hands-on practice, you’ll learn multiple propagation techniques and the horticultural principles behind them. Instructor Betsy Szymczak is an avid vegetable and flower gardener who enjoys growing begonias, primarily as houseplants. As a longtime member of the American Begonia Society, she served as a certified judge and former ABS Judging Co-Chair. She has judged the begonia sections at the Philadelphia, Boston, and Newport RI flower shows. She is also a Gesneriad Society judge, and she grows about 75 dahlia varieties in a relatively small suburban garden in Natick.

    Betsy is a Principle Certified MA Master Gardener and volunteers at Elm Bank in Wellesley and the Longfellow House in Cambridge, MA.

    Participants will head home with a curated assortment of propagated plants ready to grow on their own. $55 for NEBG members, $66 for nonmembers. Register at www.nebg.org

  • Saturday and Sunday, January 4 & 5, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm – The Science of Plant Propagation

    In this two day Berkshire Botanical Garden in person course on January 4 and 5 from 9 – 4, learn the art and science of plant propagation with a focus on the basic botany needed to understand and successfully propagate plants. Sexual and asexual propagation methods including sowing seeds, cuttings, grafting, layering, and division will be covered. Students will learn the fascinating science behind propagation along with the various techniques used to create new plants.

    Adam Wheeler started working and playing with plants at Broken Arrow Nursery in 2004 after completing his BS degree in Urban Forestry and Landscape Horticulture at the University of Vermont. His favorite role at Broken Arrow Nursery is plant propagation and the acquisition and development of new plants. Adam is a past recipient of the Young Nursery Professional Award from the New England Nursery Association and is the current Vice President of the North American Maple Society. He loves to share his passion for plants through photography and educational outreach. As a result, he lectures widely on a variety of subjects and is also an adjunct lecturer at Naugatuck Valley Community College and the Berkshire Botanical Garden. With his spare time he enjoys cultivating his eclectic collection of rare and unusual plants, rock climbing and competitive giant pumpkin growing!

    $215 for BBG members, $240 for nonmembers. Register at www.berkshirebotanical.org.

  • Thursday, August 1, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Making More Plants Workshop: Division, Propagation, and Seeding

    This small-group Heritage Museums & Gardens workshop session is geared toward home gardeners who wish to learn practical how-to techniques for making more plants using several techniques, including division, propagation, and seeding. Mal Condon, Heritage’s Curator of Hydrangeas, will lead this program and while hydrangeas will be the main focus of this demonstration, these practices can be applied to many other woody ornamentals you would plant on Cape Cod. During this hands-on experience, participants will prepare and “strike” their own cuttings and take them home to nurture and develop into well-rooted plants. Plenty of time will be allotted for questions and discussion and, in addition to cuttings and rooting mix you’ll take home, following the program you’ll also receive a PDF file including presentation content via email for your reference. Advance registration is required.

    Please note: this program will take place rain or shine. In good weather, it will take place outdoors in the gardens. In the event of inclement weather, the program will be held indoors inside the Heald Center at the J.K. Lilly III Automobile Gallery.

    Program fees fund Heritage’s mission to inspire people of all ages to explore, discover, and learn together. Thank you for your support. Program Registration Fee: $30 Members, $40 Non-Members Register at https://heritagemuseumsandgardens.org/mecevents/making-more-plants/?occurrence=2024-08-01

  • Saturday, December 3, 7:00 pm – Wild Seed Project: Grassroots Seed Propagation of New England Native Plants

    The New England Botanical Club will hold its December meeting on December 3 at 7 pm at Haller Lecture Hall at Harvard University, Geological Museum, 24 Oxford Street in Cambridge. Heather McCargo, Founder and Former Executive Director, The Wild Seed Project in North Yarmouth, Maine, will speak on the Wild Seed Project: Grassroots Seed Propagation of New England Native Plants. Native plants are beautiful, important for our local ecosystems, and do not need the high nutrient and water inputs of commonly cultivated plants. In this presentation, Heather covers the many reasons we all should care about our region’s native flora and the importance of bringing these native plants back into our gardens and developed landscapes. She also discusses current native plant trends and issues in the nursery trade (including cloning and the loss of genetic diversity), and explains how we all can support our native flora by planting seed-grown native plants. The meeting is free and open to the public.

    The goal of Wild Seed Project is to build awareness of the vital importance of native plants and to provide people with the tools to restore biodiversity in their own communities. The organization equips community members, public officials and municipalities, and land-holding individuals and organizations – from farmers to land trusts – with the skills and resources they need to collectively repopulate landscapes with native plants that expand wildlife habitat, support biodiversity, and build climate resilience.

    Zizia aptera

  • Friday, November 18, 12:30 pm – 4:00 pm – Propagation: Native Seeds

    In this Native Plant Trust interactive workshop on November 18 at Nasami Farm, 128 North Street in Whately from 12:30 – 4, we will learn how to grow native plants from seed and why the skill is relevant in a horticultural context.

    Topics covered include:

    • Germination requirements
    • Seed cleaning
    • Seed-sowing techniques for many of our native species

    We will also cover proper wild collection protocols and venture into the field to collect some common native species found here at Nasami Farm.

    Instructor: Alexis Doshas, Propagator and Facilities Coordinator, Nasami Farm, Native Plant Trust

    Tickets: $72 Members  –  $88 Non-Members. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/propagation-native-seeds/

  • Saturday, September 24, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm – Propagation by Cuttings with Adam Wheeler

    Come join Adam Wheeler, Horticulture and Container Production Manager at Broken Arrow Nursery for this fun-filled, hands-on workshop focused on the propagation of plants from stem cuttings. Participants will be given a brief lecture that examines the techniques and skills required to grow plants from cuttings. Following the lecture, participants will construct their own home propagation systems and stick a selection of cuttings. The class will take place September 24 at Hollister House Garden, 300 Nettleton Hollow Road in Washington, Connecticut (Berkshires).

    Adam started work at Broken Arrow in 2004 after completing his BS degree in Urban Forestry and Landscape Horticulture at the University of Vermont. Adam manages plant propagation, container production and the acquisition and development of new plants. He is a past recipient of the Young Nursery Professional Award from the New England Nursery Association. He loves to share his passion for plants through photography and educational outreach. As a result, he lectures widely on a variety of subjects and is also an adjunct lecturer at Naugatuck Valley Community College and the Berkshire Botanical Garden. With his spare time he enjoys cultivating his eclectic collection of rare and unusual plants, rock climbing and competitive giant pumpkin growing.

    Advance registration required.Limited to 15 participants. HHG members $40 Non-members $50 Register HERE.

    Abies koreana

  • Tuesday, September 21, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Introduction to Propagation, Online

    Garden Centers are bursting with beautiful annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees, but filling your garden from these nurseries costs more than most people can afford. Tune in on September 21 at 7 pm with the Massachusetts Horticultural Society to learn how to garden for less with seedlings, divisions, cuttings, etc. from your friends and neighbors and your own garden. 

    This lecture will be led by Gretel Anspach. Gretel is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, a Trustee of Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon. Gretel helped to establish and maintain two food production gardens that have provided fresh produce to the Marlboro Food Pantry for the last eight years.

     Interested in becoming a member? Click here to learn more!

    $18/member
    $27/general admission

  • Saturday, February 2, 9:30 am – 11:30 am – What to Propagate and How To Do It

    So many propagation classes focus on the details of seed sowing, cuttings, divisions, and while this is indeed essential information the missing element is what you should be propagating. Sow hobblebush into a seed flat and you’d be lucky to see any seedlings come spring, sow bluets into that same seed flat and you will have bluets within the month. Join Dan Jaffe at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on February 2 from 9:30 – 11:30 to learn not only how to propagate, but what to propagate to maximize plantings.Go home with seed flats that you’ve sown in class for planting in your garden this spring. All materials included.

    Dan Jaffe is the Propagator and Stock Bed Grower as well as the staff photographer at New England Wild Flower Society’s Garden in the Woods. He received a degree in botany from the University of Maine, an advanced certificate in Native Plant Horticulture and Design from New England Wild Flower Society, and has nursery management experience. Dan Jaffe’s photography has been used in numerous publications and his book Native Plants for New England Gardens was released last spring. $50 for THBG members, $64 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.towerhillbg.org.

    Image result for bluets

  • 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.

    Image result for Helia Native Nursery

  • Saturday, January 27, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Propagating Native Plants from Seed: Part 1

    Part 1: Seed Dormancy and Sowing Techniques

    Learn to propagate native plants from seed in this two-part, New England Wild Flower Society hands-on workshop at Nasami Farm Nursery in Whately that focuses on practical methods for small-scale propagation. This Saturday, January 27 workshop from 5 – 8 is appropriate for beginners and propagators with some experience. Take one or both classes. During part 1 of this series join us to explore seed biology and practice sowing seed. Take home your work.

    Part 2: Seedling Germination and Establishment, has yet to be scheduled and will take place in spring 2018. In Part 2 of this series you will learn the science behind successful seed starting and practice transplanting. Take home your work.

    $40 for NEWFS members, $48 for nonmembers. Image from www.ecolandscaping.org. Register online at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/propagating-native-plants-from-seed-part-1-seed-dormancy-and-sowing-techniques