Boston Flora

Tag: Rick Darke

  • Tuesday, April 28, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm Eastern – What is Wild & Why It Matters, Online

    Most landscapes are designed to be controlled. But they don’t actually function that way. They grow, shift, and reorganize over time. The session offers a way to think about landscapes as dynamic systems, with real examples from residential design.

    Join Rick Darke online on April 28 at 11 am Eastern for a conversation about how to design with those dynamics rather than against them. Can’t make it? A recording will be available following the program. Cost is free – $25 (pay what you can.) The event is a fundraiser for Homegrown National Park and Wild Ones.

    Rick Darke is an award-winning landscape designer, author, photographer, and educator known for shaping how we think about wildness in managed landscapes. His work bridges ecology, cultural geography and aesthetics, showing that residential landscapes can be biologically rich and visually compelling at the same time.

    Register HERE.

  • Thursday, April 17, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Eastern – How Can I Help? Saving Nature with Your Yard, Online

    In this American Horticultural Society online talk on April 17 at 2 pm Eastern, Dr. Douglas Tallamy shares his new book to address questions about ecological landscaping and further motivate people to help restore ecosystem function where they live, work, play, worship, and farm. Tallamy will offer insight on topics such as ecology and evolution, biodiversity, invasive species, insect declines, native and non-native plants, conservation and restoration, residential and city landscapes, urban issues, oak biology, keystone plants, Homegrown National Park, monarchs, supporting wildlife at home, and more.

    Doug Tallamy is the T. A. Baker Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has authored 114 research publications and has taught insect related courses for 45 years. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. His books include Bringing Nature Home, The Living Landscape, co-authored with Rick Darke; Nature’s Best Hope, a New York Times Best Seller; and The Nature of Oaks, winner of the American Horticultural Society’s 2022 book award. In 2021 he co-founded Homegrown National Park with Michelle Alfandari (HomegrownNationalPark.org). His awards include recognition from The Garden Writer’s Association, Audubon, The National Wildlife Federation, Allegheny College, Ecoforesters, The Garden Club of America, The Herb Society, and The American Horticultural Society.

    REGISTER NOW. $15 for AHS members, $20 nonmembers.

  • Wednesday, March 2, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Restoring Nature’s Relationships at Home

    If we are to make our residential landscapes truly living ecosystems once again, we need to understand the specialized relationships that make plants and animals interdependent. Who better to take us on an in-depth journey into this fascinating and complex world than Doug Tallamy? On Wednesday, March 2 at 7 pm at the Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, he will give us detailed examples of these co-evolutionary relationships, showing us how they determine the stability and complexity of local food webs providing birds with insects and berries, dispersing bloodroot seeds, pollinating goldenrod, and much more. This knowledge equips us to knowingly select plants and to construct landscapes that restore nature’s relationships at home.

    Doug Tallamy is a Professor of Entomology and Wildlife Biology at the University of Delaware. His groundbreaking book, Bringing Nature Home, was published in 2007 and continues to have national impact; it was awarded the 2008 Silver Medal by the Garden Writers Association. In 2014, he co-authored The Living Landscape with Rick Darke. Doug’s conservation work and science-based advocacy for native plants has earned him numerous awards. Sponsored by Grow Native Massachusetts – admission free.

  • Wednesday, November 4, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Bringing Nature Home

    On Wednesday, November 4, from 7 – 8:30 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Doug Tallamy will discuss the important ecological roles of plants in landscapes, and emphasize the ecological, educational, physical and emotional benefits of designing landscapes with these roles in mind. Tallamy is a professor at the University of Delaware and won the Silver Medal from the Garden Writer’s Association for his book, Bringing Nature Home. His most recent book, with Rick Darke, is The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden. Tower Hill members $15, nonmembers $25.  Register online at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Friday, May 8, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm – Naturalistic Garden Symposium

    “What’s past is prologue.” After decades of landscape design that emphasized form over function, often at the expense of environmental quality, it is now commonplace for our landscapes to reflect many of the principles developed by early 20th-century naturalistic landscape designers like Warren Manning and Will Curtis, founder of Garden in the Woods. Learn about the intriguing connections between the wild gardens of old and the new naturalism of today, and about the plants that support our efforts to develop beautiful, ecologically-sensitive gardens, on Friday, May 8, at the New England Wild Flower Society’s Naturalistic Garden Symposium. The day will include:

    Wild Gardens: Past, Present, and Future
    Rick Darke, President of RICK DARKE LLC, a Pennsylvania-based consulting firm that blends art, ecology, and cultural geography in the design and management of living landscapes

    William Robinson’s 1870 classic The Wild Garden challenged tradition by suggesting that managed, self-perpetuating plant populations were essential to resource-conserving gardens. This concept resonated with progressive British, northern European, and American gardeners alike, inspiring diverse naturalistic designs. Rick Darke will look at how wild gardening has evolved and why it is more relevant than ever to today’s and tomorrow’s conservation-based gardens.

    The Natural History of Spring Wildflowers: A Closer Look
    Carol Gracie, naturalist and author of Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast: A Natural History

    The wildflowers that brighten our woodlands in spring are more than just a delight for the eye and a lift for the winter-weary spirit. Each has a role in the environment, including interesting interactions with pollinators and seed dispersers. Learn about the fascinating life histories of some favorite spring wildflowers as we examine them in depth.

    A Sense of Where You Are: Finding a New Naturalism
    Tobias Wolf, award-winning landscape architect and the owner of Wolf Landscape Architecture

    What if we asked our landscapes to do more than just look good? Gardens and landscapes can support biodiversity, cleanse and absorb stormwater, and improve soil health. Just as important, they can invite us outdoors and help us feel connected to the world around us. Landscape architect Tobias Wolf will share his experience in shaping landscapes that combine ecological performance with a distinct sense of time and place. He will show how urban and suburban landscapes can incorporate the qualities we value in wild places, and how design that is informed by the structure and function of native plant communities can bring new vitality to public spaces and private gardens.

    Registration includes continental breakfast and lunch. $92 for NEWFS members, $115 for nonmembers. Register online at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/naturalistic-garden-symposium.

  • Friday, April 10 – Sunday, April 12 – Colonial Williamsburg 69th Garden Symposium: Layers of the Living Landscape

    Planting in layers allows gardeners to take full advantage of their space and include a diversity of plants that provide beauty and benefit wildlife.  The Colonial Williamsburg 69th Garden Symposium, co-sponsored with the American Horticultural Society Friday, April 10 – Sunday, April 12, includes presentations by Rick Darke and Douglas W. Tallamy, authors of The Living Landscape, and two of the most important voices in sustainability and horticulture.  For full information on fees, lodging, and transportation, visit www.history.org/conted, or call 1-800-603-0948.

  • Sunday, June 2, 2:00 pm – Rick Darke: The Wild Garden

    The Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites, along with its park partner The Beatrix Farrand Garden Association and The Landscape and Arboretum Program at Bard present the 7th Annual Bellefield Design Lecture on Sunday, June 2 at 2 pm at the Henry A . Wallace Visitor Center at the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt Historic Site and The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, 4079 Albany Post Road in Hyde Park, New York.  There will be a garden reception with book signing, an heirloom plant sale and a garden boutique sponsored by the Roosevelt-Vanderbilt Historical Association to follow in the Garden at Bellefield.

    Rick Darke, renowned author, photographer and landscape consultant will present his recently expanded edition of William Robinson’s influential book, The Wild Garden. first published in 1870. Robinson’s approach inspired Beatrix Farrand throughout her career, and now Darke reintroduces this groundbreaking text on the creation of sustainable landscapes to a new generation of gardeners.

    Tickets are $35/$30 for Beatrix Farrand Garden Association members. Visit http://www.beatrixfarrandgarden.org/events.html to purchase tickets.

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  • Saturday, April 17, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm – Cape Cod Horticultural Conference

    Come to the Barnstable High School Performing Arts Center, 744 West Main Street in Hyannis on Saturday, April 17, for a full day conference beginning at 8:00 am – 4:00 pm, sponsored by the Master Gardener Association of Cape Cod.  The program will feature:

    Rick Darke, The Wild Garden: A fresh look at the wild garden concept and will illustrate why it is the most enjoyable, sensible approach for livable, ecologically sustainable modern landscapes;

    Vincent Simeone, Wonders of the Winter Landscape: How to enhance the aesthetic value and interest of the garden by using horticultural treasures such as winter fruiting plants, broadleaved evergreens, conifers and trees with interesting bark;

    C.L. Fornari, The Top 25: 25 plants that she thinks you should know about, along with the 25 most interesting/amusing/useful bits of gardening information she has learned in over 25 years of gardening.

    Book signings with speakers, lunch, marketplace, and a raffle will be part of the day. MCLP and MCH professional credits are available.  The cost of $60 includes lunch.  For more information, call 508-375-6690, or email tramos@barnstablecounty.org.  You may also find information at www.capecodextension.org.

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