Boston Flora

Tag: Smith College

  • Friday, October 3 – Saturday, October 4 – Plant Migration in a Changing Climate

    This fall, New England Botanical Society, along with Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, will be hosting a conference, Plant Migration in a Changing Climate. The conference will be held October 3-4, 2025 at The Gardens in Boothbay, ME. Our featured plenary speakers will be Jesse Bellemare, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at Smith College; Bethany Bradley, Professor of Environmental Conservation at University of Massachusetts Amherst; and Jay Wason, Associate Professor of Forest Ecosystem Physiology at The University of Maine.

    General conference details are below and will be updated as we get closer to the conference. If you are not a NEBS member and are interested in receiving conference updates, including application forms to give an oral presentation or submit a poster, please complete this brief form. Register and Pay here. Standard $100, NEBS member $75, Student $30, NEBS Student Member $15.

  • Tim Johnson Named Chief Executive Officer of Native Plant Trust

    The Board of Trustees of Native Plant Trust today announced the appointment of Tim Johnson as its new Chief Executive Officer. Native Plant Trust is the nation’s first plant conservation organization and the only one solely focused on New England’s native plants. Johnson joins Native Plant Trust from Smith College, where he was Director of the Botanic Garden and Professor of Practice.

    Johnson will lead the conservation and horticulture organization, including 45-acre Garden in the Woods in Framingham, MA; Nasami Farm, a native plant nursery in Whately, MA; and expanded seed-processing and storage facilities
    to support the new Northeast Seed Network, a regional initiative led by Native Plant Trust to create a sustainable source of seed to meet the increased demand for native plants. Johnson brings a background in environmental horticulture and biological science to a long-standing career in conservation and botanic garden administration and leadership, pillars of Native Plant Trust’s mission and organization.

    At Smith College, Johnson expanded the impact of scientific programming and conservation science research, mentorship and education. He oversaw the financial management of the renowned botanic garden, and guided the development of organizational vision in alignment with mission. He grew the botanic garden’s fundraising capacity, led strategic planning including the first comprehensive plan in its 128-year history, and restructured and strengthened internal and external communications. He modernized links to the college curriculum, oversaw membership growth, audience diversification and founded the garden’s germplasm conservation collections by partnering with Botanic Gardens Conservation International. Prior to his role at Smith, Johnson was Head of Preservation and

    Seed Bank Manager at Seed Savers Exchange, an international non-profit that stewards America’s culturally diverse and endangered garden and food crop legacy through the preservation and collection of 27,000 heirloom seed varieties.

    A native of Wisconsin, Johnson focused his studies on biology and environmental horticulture, earning a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences at the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire and a PhD in environmental horticulture from the University of Florida. The appointment is the culmination of a national search, and follows the retirement of Executive Director Debbi Edelstein in January 2024 after fifteen years of distinguished service to the organization. Johnson will begin his role as CEO at Native Plant Trust on January 29, 2024.

  • Saturday, November 4 – Sunday, November 19, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Fall Chrysanthemum Show

    Saturday, November 4 – Sunday, November 19, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Fall Chrysanthemum Show

    Each fall as colors fade outdoors, a riot of color erupts indoors in the Lyman Conservatory at the Botanic Garden of Smith College. While not as widely known as the Spring Bulb Show, this autumnal display is even more spectacular, with vibrant oversized blooms reaching 8 inches across, floral walls of color, and chrysanthemums overflowing the greenhouses.

    The Fall Mum Show has been a popular college and community tradition since the early 1900s and has served as a showcase for the hybridizing experiments of the horticulture class. That tradition continues to this day: the Chrysanthemum Show shows off a variety of multicolor chrysanthemums that were hybridized by the previous year’s horticulture students. The public is then invited to vote for their favorites.

    The Chrysanthemum Show at the Lyman Conservatory is open to the public from Saturday, November 54through Sunday, November 19,  from 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. Friday hours are 10:00 am – 8:00 pm. The Botanic Garden is open to the public and a donation of $5 or more is appreciated.  The site is wheelchair accessible. Parking is available on College Lane for the two weeks of the Mum Show. For more information on the show and other events, please contact the Botanic Garden at (413) 585-2740 or visit www.smith.edu/garden.

     

  • Saturday, November 6, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm – Introduction to Essential Oils

    This Tower Hill Botanic Garden lecture by Linda Patterson on November 6 from 1:30 – 3:00 will cover the health benefits of essential oils, how to work with them safely, and the importance of quality. We will discuss the safety hazards surrounding oils and their applications. Essential oils will be passed through the lecture hall to allow the audience to experience practitioner quality. Essential oils have grown in popularity over the past couple years.

    Linda Patterson, M.A. founder and director of the Eclectic Institute of Aromatherapy and Herbal Studies has over thirty years of experience working with herbs and essential oils. Her love for plants inspired her to complete an education in the sciences at Smith College to better understand plants, their functions, and the challenges they now face in their ever changing environments. This love has led her to become a Master Gardener as well as a Flower Essences Practitioner. Linda teaches internationally as well as throughout the New England area. Her dynamic style of teaching encompasses a wide variety of healing modalities, which embrace a holistic approach to health and well-being.

    $30 for Tower Hill members, $40 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

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  • Friday, November 1, 7:30 pm – Space for Well-being: Japanese Spatial Concepts in Gardens and Architecture

    Why do we feel contemplative in Japanese gardens and architecture? Can our physical environment foster our mindfulness and well-being? Yoko Kawai, lecturer at Yale School of Architecture and co-founder of Mirai Work Space, discusses the mind-body-space relationship found in Japanese gardens and architecture that is instrumental to mindfulness. Japanese spatial concepts like ma (in-between-ness), utsuroi (transience) and yugen (the unknown) are examined as key concepts. Tea gardens and teahouses are introduced as traditional examples from which we can learn for the contemporary mindful environment. The event is the opening lecture of the Chrysanthemum Show in the Lyman Plant House and Conservatory at Smith College, and begins at 7 pm on November 1. The show will run from Sunday, November 2 – Sunday, November 17. Free and open to the public. For more information visit https://garden.smith.edu/events

    Yoko Kawai, PhD, is a lecturer at Yale School of Architecture. Her mission is to create “space for well-being” by utilizing the Japanese spatial concepts. She co-founded Mirai Work Space Alliance in New York to bring this idea to contemporary workplaces. She is also the cofounder and principal of Penguin Environmental Design in Hamden, CT, which focuses on incorporating landscape into architecture. Its works include a residential project that received CTC&G Award in 2015 and a Japanese garden at Frost Valley YMCA in 2014. Yoko has published articles in various scholarly journals, including Journal of Green Building and Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering.

  • Thursday, May 23, 5:30 pm – 7:45 pm – Spring Greetings from Woodland Wildflowers

    This Grow Native Massachusetts workshop on May 23 from 5:30 – 7:45 pm will be conducted entirely in the field.

    Every spring in New England, we are greeted by a beautiful bouquet of flowers blooming throughout our woodlands. Many of these plants emerge early to soak up the sun before the forest canopy has fully leafed out, and quite a few species have co-evolved with early-emerging insect pollinators, resulting in unique, interdependent life cycles. Spring wildflowers are often delicate in appearance, belying their amazing toughness and adaptability. Join Meredith in a diverse and beautiful area of the Fells to get to know some of these flowers, and learn the best ways to incorporate them into a designed landscape.

    Meredith Gallogly is the Manager of Programs at Grow Native Massachusetts. She is a skilled botanist, and much of her plant identification knowledge comes from her explorations of metro-Boston area parks and reservations. She holds a B.A. in Biology from Smith College.

    https://connect.clickandpledge.com/w/Form/8ba7cfca-b5a9-4919-ae68-1ad2db248d21

  • Friday, November 2, 7:30 pm – American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic

    Family doctor and friend to both Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, and attending doctor at the famous duel, David Hosack is today a shadowy figure; the great achievements of his life forgotten. In this Smith College Chrysanthemum Show Opening Lecture on November 2 at 7:30 in the Campus Center Carroll Room, featuring her book, American Eden, Victoria Johnson rescues Hosack from obscurity and highlights his significant contributions to botany and medicine.

    In 1801, on twenty acres of Manhattan farmland, Hosack founded the first botanical garden in the new nation, amassing a spectacular collection of medicinal, agricultural, and ornamental plants that brought him worldwide praise from the likes of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander von Humboldt. Hosack used his pioneering institution to train the next generation of American doctors and naturalists and to conduct some of the first pharmaceutical research in the United States. Today, his former garden is home to Rockefeller Center.

    Victoria Johnson is an Associate Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College in New York City. She earned her undergraduate degree in philosophy from Yale University and her PhD in sociology from Columbia University. Before joining Hunter College, she taught at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for thirteen years. Her first book, Backstage at the Revolution, a history of the Paris Opera under the Old Regime, was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2008. In the 2015-2016 academic year, she was a Fellow at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, and in the summer of 2016 she was a Mellon Visiting Scholar at the New York Botanical Garden, where she conducted some of the research for her new book, American Eden. The lecture is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a reception, book signing, and view of the Chrysanthemum Show at the Lyman Plant House. For more information visit www.smith.edu/garden/

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  • Thursday, July 19, 10:30 am – 11:30 am – Mixed Container Tour

    Join Tower Hill Botanic Garden conservatory staff member Jessie Blum on July 19 at 10:30 am for an exploration of container gardening. Learn how to design using textures, colors, and growth habits, and get ideas for next year’s garden!

    Jessie Blum, Conservatory Horticulturist, has been at the Garden for three years. She graduated from Smith College in 2015, where she majored in Environmental Science and Policy, and minored in Biology with a plant focus. While at Smith, she worked at the botanic garden under the chief arborist. Free with admission to the Garden. For more information visit www.towerhillbg.org.

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  • Friday, June 1 – Saturday, June 2 – Invasiveness of Intra-continental Exotic Plants in New England: Implications for Assisted Migration

    The New England Botanical Club will host an away meeting in western Massachusetts on June 1 and 2. Field trips are being planned for both Friday and Saturday to botanical hot spots around the Northampton area. On Friday afternoon-evening, there will be a reception and open house at the Smith College Botanic Garden in Northampton from 4-6PM, followed by a lecture by Dr. Gretel Clarke, Department of Biological Sciences, Smith College, on Invasiveness of intra-versus inter-continental exotic plants in New England: Implications for Assisted Migration.  On Saturday, there will be two workshops:

    Bryophyte Identification with Sue Williams – This workshop, based at Smith College’s MacLeish Field Station in Whately, MA, will provide an introduction to the basics of bryophyte ecology and identification. The workshop will begin with a short hike through an old hemlock and sugar maple forest area with a diverse assemblage of bryophytes. Samples will be collected for later observation and identification at the Bechtel Environmental Classroom building at the MacLeish Field Station; dissecting microscopes will be available. This workshop will run until mid-afternoon, please bring a bagged lunch.

    Herbarium Skills with Roberta Lombardi – This workshop, based at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst Herbarium, will focus on the techniques involved in collecting, pressing, mounting, and preserving plant specimens for herbarium collections. The workshop will start with a short field foray, after which participants will return to the UMass Herbarium to work with plant specimens, walk through the steps involved in mounting and labeling specimens, and get an overview of how large herbarium collections are organized and managed. This will be a valuable workshop for those interesting in formally documenting their local flora or preparing voucher specimens of plant species documented in their research.

    Saturday’s Field Trips include:

    Montague Sandplain and Will’s Hill – The trip will begin with a walk through the pitch pine-scrub oak communities of the Montague Sandplain, with huckleberry, chokeberry, sand cherry and others in flower, and passing through a well-managed population of native blue lupine. Next, we will traverse a powerline corridor over Will’s Hill, with species of “rich & rocky” sites like yellow star-grass, red columbine, and perfoliate-leaved bellflower, plus a healthy population of American bittersweet. As time & interest permit, we may also visit a few rich seepy sites on the forested portion of the Hill, with abundant spicebush, nodding trillium and others. Also be prepared for incidental reptiles and birds! Plan on 2.5-3 miles walking on level to gentle slopes. Please bring a bagged lunch and water.

    Historical Land Use Patterns and Forest Vegetation at the MacLeish Field Station (pictured below) – This field trip will explore the upland forests of Smith College’s MacLeish Field Station in Whately and Conway, MA with a particular focus on how 19th century agricultural land use patterns continue to affect plant species distributions and vegetation patterns in 21st century forests. We will explore old farm sites, see evidence of 19th century plow lines, and visit a remnant area of primary forest with increased plant diversity. Please bring a bagged lunch and water.

    Botanical Foray with members of the Franklin County Flora team – This field trip will be with key contributors to the Franklin County Flora project, and will explore sites of botanical interest in Franklin County. Please bring a bagged lunch and water.

    For full registration details visit http://www.rhodora.org/meetings/upcomingmeetings.html

  • Wednesday, February 28, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – How Forests Will Define the Future of Our Climate

    Join The Kestrel Land Trust  and the Smith College Center for Environment, Ecological Design and Sustainability in the Weinstein Auditorium in Wright Hall at Smith College in Northampton for a talk by internationally renowned climate scientist Dr. Bill Moomaw: Forests, the Critical Component for Addressing Long-Term Climate Change.

    Human civilization evolved in a global climate that enabled us to thrive over the past 10,000 years. Unfortunately, this relatively benign climate is being dramatically disrupted because of human activities. Science tells us that to slow or reverse this trend, it’s essential that we quickly reduce heat-trapping gas emissions, and begin removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. What role do forests play in all of this?

    On Wednesday, February 28 at 7 p.m.,  Dr. Bill Moomaw, Professor Emeritus of International Environmental Policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, will conduct the  discussion of how our forests can help mitigate global climate change. Dr. Moomaw will present his perspective on a crucial part of the solution — how the protection and restoration of forests, wetlands, and grasslands could enable us to sequester carbon dioxide for many centuries to come. He will also share his insights on the drawbacks of using bioenergy as an alternative to fossil fuels. There will be time for a facilitated Q&A session after the presentation. Free and open to the public, but registration is strongly encouraged at https://www.kestreltrust.org/calendar/bill-moomaw-2018/