Boston Flora

Tag: Robin Karson

  • Thursday, June 15, 6:00 pm – Warren Manning: Landscape Architect and Environmental Planner

    Warren H. Manning’s (1860–1938) practice comprised more than 1,600 design and planning projects throughout North America, from small home grounds to estates, cemeteries, college campuses, parks, and new industrial towns. Trained as a horticulturist and apprenticed with the Olmsted firm, Manning went on to mentor important designers such as Fletcher Steele and Dan Kiley. Under Robin Karson’s direction, contributors to the Warren H. Manning Research Project have worked for more than a decade, locating and assessing current conditions of his built projects. Karson, who is Executive Director of the Library of American Landscape History, will reveal the scope and significance of Manning’s career, showing how his approach to design and planning projects distinguished him from his early twentieth century colleagues. The event will take place in the Weld Hill Research Building of the Arboretum on Thursday, June 15 with the lecture beginning at 6, followed by reception and book signing. Fee Free, but registration requested. Seating is limited. Offered with Friends of Fairsted. Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

  • Monday, September 16, 9:30 am – 3:00 pm – Rolling Ridge Preservation Round Table and Workshop

    Monday, September 16, 9:30 am – 3:00 pm – Rolling Ridge Preservation Round Table and Workshop

    Rolling Ridge and the New England Landscape Design and History Association are excited and pleased to invite you to a Preservation Round Table and Workshop on the Fountains and Gardens of renowned landscape architect Fletcher Steele at Rolling Ridge, North Andover, Massachusetts on Monday, September 16, from 9:30- 3 pm.

    They are gathering some of the experts to help put Fletcher Steele and Rolling Ridge on the Massachusetts garden history map. As a destination place with a hidden gem up to this point, but it can be a showplace of the genius of one the nation’s great landscape architects. Two of Steele’s designs are designated National Historic Landmarks: Naumkeag in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and the Amphitheatre in Camden, Maine.

    Of the 500 plus gardens Fletcher Steele designed, Rolling Ridge ranks in the top three according to Robin Karson, author of Fletcher Steele, Landscape Architect. The garden rooms, the fountains and the layout reflect the genius of Steele in one of his earliest designs. Yet years of New England weather have deteriorated the concrete and stopped the water flow. Five presentations from Steele experts will illuminate Steele at Rolling Ridge, lead us on a tour the garden and fountains and tell of plans for restoration.

    Come see this historic gem, view the plans and ideas for restoration and share in the conversation on the future of this significant landscape. Register online at www.rollingridge.org.  The $75 fee includes a delicious lunch, presentations and tour. Rain or shine.  Garden Club of the Back Bay members enjoyed a memorable tour and lunch last spring at Rolling Ridge, and everyone attending saw the need for an influx of money, time and expertise to put Rolling Ridge back on the map.  The Club enthusiastically endorses this effort.

    wellhead