Boston Flora

Tag: Tea

  • Friday, April 25 – Monday, April 28 – Art in Bloom

    As part of the MFA’s 2014 Season of Color, join them for this exuberant spring festival of art and floral design! Once again, garden clubs and professional designers from across New England will create floral arrangements inspired by the MFA’s works of art. Art in Bloom is open during regular Museum hours (10 am–4:45 pm) and is free with Museum admission; no reservations are required to see the floral arrangements and participate in most of the programs listed below. Events with prices require tickets.

    This year’s featured speaker is Emily Thompson.  Born in Vermont, she came from the north woods with her artist’s eye, a love of nature, and an unfettered imagination to become one of the nation’s most sought-after creators of organically beautiful, yet classically composed, floral designs.  Thompson, a sculptor, is one of New York’s premier floral artists, and received significant acclaim for her exquisite 2011 holiday decoration of the White House.

    ‘Tinis and Tulips Preview Party
    Shapiro Family Courtyard
    Friday, April 25, 7–9:30 pm
    Swing into spring at the MFA’s inaugural Season of Color preview party and enjoy a festive evening of colorful cocktails, light bites, music, and a scavenger hunt. Open to visitors 21+. Valid ID with proof of age required for entry. Tickets: Members $25; Adults (nonmembers) $50.

    Emily Thompson: Master Class I
    Druker Family Pavilion 160
    Saturday, April 26, 10:30 am–12:30 pm
    Hands-on flower instruction from a renowned, highly innovative sculptor turned floral designer. Tickets $250.

    Emily Thompson: Master Class II (advanced)
    Druker Family Pavilion 160
    Sunday, April 17, 10:30 am–12:30 pm
    Hands-on advanced flower instruction from a renowned, highly innovative sculptor turned floral designer. Tickets $250.

    Emily Thompson: Spring in the Wild Kingdom
    Remis Auditorium
    Monday, April 28, 10:30 am–12:30 pm
    A floral demonstration and lecture by Emily Thompson whose highly innovative and dramatic arrangements combine her love and reverence for nature with classical ornamental design. Tickets $55.

    Elegant Tea
    Koch Gallery 250
    Saturday. April 26, 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm
    Sunday, April 27, 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm
    Monday, April 28, 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm
    Tickets required. Limited tickets available each day for purchase at the box office in person.
    Tickets: Adults $30, Children under 12 $10.
    Parties may be combined as needed.

    Marc Hall and Janie Haas: A Blooming Affair
    Alfond Auditorium
    Monday, April 28, 3–4 pm
    Enjoy learning about the latest in design trends for events and weddings from Marc Hall, a renowned designer and event planner and Janie Haas, a 2013 award winner of Boston Magazine’s “Best of Boston.” Tickets $25.

    Tom Strangfeld: The Entry Courtyard Garden
    Alfond Auditorium
    Saturday, April 26, 3–4 pm
    Come let Tom show you how your front yard is far more than just another part of the landscape… rather it is the first room in your home, welcoming family and friends.

    Art in Bloom French, Italian, and Russian Tours
    Meet at Sharf Visitor Center
    Saturday, April 26, 2:45–3:45 pm
    Tours given in French, Italian, and Russian include art and floral arrangements throughout the galleries.

    Members’ Night
    Saturday, April 26, 6–9 pm
    Doors open at 5:30 pm.
    Enjoy a members-only viewing of the MFA’s 38th annual festival of fine art and flowers.

    Family Day
    Various locations throughout the Museum
    Sunday, April 27, 10 am–3 pm
    Celebrate Art in Bloom with family-friendly activities for all ages including live entertainment, art-making activities, and storytelling.

    Dora Lee: Celebrate the Season of Color with Ikebana
    Alfond Auditorium
    Sunday, April 27, 3–4 pm
    Drop in to see Dora Lee demonstrating Sogetsu Ikebana from basic to freestyle.

    https://www.mfa.org/sites/default/files/images/artinbloom2014_main_web.showcase_3.jpeg

  • Eliot Memorial Restoration Project Update

    Eliot Memorial Restoration Project Update

    Over the past two years, The Garden Club of the Back Bay has contributed $7,500 to The Esplanade Association in connection with its Eliot Memorial Restoration project.  TEA’s contractor Sequoia has been hard at work at the site and has made great progress. The granite pavers and curbing, and the new pavement, have been fully installed and look fantastic.  The soil remediation, irrigation and electrical work also have been completed, and the plant material has arrived – planting has begun. There will be many new and exciting additions in the next few months: restoration of the historic overlook fence, preparation of the lawn areas, installation of the new benches, and completed demolition of 3 feet of asphalt on the main pathway to reclaim green space.  If you are interested in contributing to the project, contact Jessica Pederson, Director of Operations, at jpederson@esplanadeassociation.org.

    Eliot Memorial

  • Saturdays, April 20 and May 18, 1:00 pm, 2:00 pm, and 3:00 pm – The Art of Entertaining

    A House Museum Alliance of Downtown Boston Focus Tour will take place at the Otis House, Nichols House, and Gibson House on Saturday, April 20 and Saturday, May 18, with tours at 1, 2 and 3 pm.  Each tour will take approximately 40 minutes, and admission is $5 at each museum.  Children under 12 free.  Three Boston house museums will draw on their rich collections to illuminate a variety of amusements in 18th, 19th, and 20th century Boston.

    Teas, dinners, musical entertainment and dances were all part of daily life for Boston’s elite in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. For the hosts, entertaining was not just a way to spend time, it was also a way to impress, and to make important social, business and political connections. Learn how Boston mayor Harrison Gray Otis and his endearing wife Sally charmed and entertained guests at their home, including some of their harshest critics.  Tour the public rooms of the Otis House Museum, 141 Cambridge Street in Boston, and explore the splendor and entertaining traditions of the federal era that helped make the Otises one of the most prominent and popular couples in Boston.

    For Rose Standish Nichols, the best form of entertainment was interesting conversation. At her famous salon-style afternoon tea parties at 55 Mount Vernon Street, she hosted artists, intellectuals, writers, politicians, religious leaders, and other accomplished individuals for discussions about current events, the arts, and philosophy. Rose Nichols continued the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Beacon Hill tradition of women promoting social causes through gatherings in their homes. Come to the Nichols House, 55 Mount Vernon Street, to learn of the fascinating ways women on Beacon Hill, including Rose Nichols, used their homes as gathering places for discussion and activism. After the tour, guests will be able to taste the strong Hu-kwa tea Rose famously served at her tea parties!

    Be charmed by the Gibson family traditions. Learn about the different types of tea gatherings – simple tea and formal tea. At each of these tea ceremonies, the most important aspect was the appearance of the tea table. A well-equipped table was typically adorned with fine china, gleaming silver, and flowers. Tea time was the most fashionable part of the day for women. A formal tea often took place when one wished to invite eighteen to twenty guests but did not want to undertake the trouble or expense of dinner. Drinking tea became more popular as the Victorian era progressed.  Learn more about the Gibson family and the very important social event of tea time. The Gibson House is located at 137 Beacon Street.

    http://www.angelpig.net/victorian/tea/tea_victorian1.jpg

  • Thank You to The Catered Affair

    Thank You to The Catered Affair

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay held its annual January Tea this year at The Catered Affair at The Boston Public Library, and we would like to thank Holly Safford, the magnificently talented owner of The Catered Affair, and most especially Food and Beverage Manager Markos Doyle, for the delicious and elegant tea.  Pictures of members enjoying themselves can be found on our Facebook Page, but below are a couple of photos to tempt you – tea is served Wednesday through Friday, 2 – 4.

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  • Tuesday, November 6, 4:00 pm – Tea Horse Road

    Ethnobotanist Dr. Selena Ahmed, co-author of Tea Horse Road: China’s Ancient Trade Road with Tibet, explores the culture, ecology and health attributes of Tea (Camellia sinensis,) on Tuesday, November 6 at the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens.  Also learn about Selena’s discoveries of the effects of climate change and land-use practices on tea.  Enjoy beautiful images by co-author, award-winning photographer and writer Michael Freeman, one of whose photos is shown below.  Sample a variety of teas traded along the ancient tea route.  $10 for WCBG members, $15 for non-members.  Register by calling 781- 283-3094.

  • Monday, October 15, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Gibson House Tea at the College Club

    Join the Board of The Gibson House Museum for afternoon tea at the College Club, 44 Commonwealth Avenue, on Monday, October 15, from 3 – 5. Enjoy traditional English fare of mini sandwiches, scones, cookies, breads, assorted teas, and coffee. Sit back and relax with friends while Etiquetteer Robert Dimmick entertains us with a talk about Failures in Brahmin Entertaining. Even Rosamond didn’t get it right every time. Cost per person is $45. Seating is limited and reservations are required. RSVP: 617.267.6338 or email: lauragresh@thegibsonhouse.org.

  • Wednesday, June 13, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – The Esplanade Association Annual Meeting

    On June 13th, The Esplanade Association (TEA) will host its 11th Annual Meeting at The Hampshire House, 84 Beacon Street, Boston, and they hope you will join them.  Edward M. Lambert, Jr., Commissioner, Department of Conservation and Recreation, will also address the audience.  With the unveiling of Esplanade 2020: A Vision for the Future earlier this year, increased horticulture care, organizational growth, and more, there is much to update you on.

    TEA is pleased to welcome Lawrence R. Hott as the Keynote Speaker. Mr. Hott will present a short clip of his new film on Olmsted which will set the stage for his talk,The Boss of Free Time: Olmsted and the Democratization of American Leisure.  Lawrence R. Hott has been producing documentary films since 1978, when he left the practice of law to join Florentine Films. His awards include an Emmy, two Academy Award nominations, a George Foster Peabody Award, the duPont-Columbia Journalism Award, the Erik Barnouw Award, five American Film Festival Blue Ribbons, Fourteen CINE Golden Eagles, screenings at Telluride, and first-place awards from the San Francisco, Chicago, National Educational, and New England Film Festivals.

    Hott was the Fulbright Fellow in Film and Television in the United Kingdom in 1994. He received the Humanities Achievement Award from the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities in 1995; a Massachusetts Cultural Council/Boston Film and Video Foundation Fellowship in 2001; and the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism in 2001. He has been on the board of non-fiction writers at Smith College and has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Massachusetts Cultural Commission, and the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Director’s Guild of America.

    His recent films for national PBS broadcast include Through Deaf Eyes, American Masters John James Audubon: Drawn From Nature, Niagara Falls, The Return of the Cuyahoga, Imagining Robert and The War of 1812. He is now producing Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America and Rising Voices: The Revitalization of the Lakota Language. Edward M. Lambert, Jr., Commissioner, Department of Conservation and Recreation, will also be in attendance and has offered to say a few words to the audience.

    TEA’s Annual Meeting is a member event. If you are not a member, but would like to attend, please join today!

    For more information and to RSVP, visit www.esplanadeassociation.org.

  • Monday, March 26, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Tea Horse Road: China’s Ancient Trade with Tibet

    Ethnobotanist Dr. Selena Ahmed, co-author of the book Tea Horse Road, tackles the origins, culture and diversity of tea on Monday, March 26, from 7 – 8:30 at the Weld Hill Research Building at the Arnold Arboretum. Camellia sinensis is a species with a long history of cultivation, trade and consumption for well being. Hear about Selena’s discoveries of tea’s journey from the birthplace of the tea plant along the oldest tea trade road from a historical and contemporary perspective. Enjoy some of the beautiful photographs of southwest China by co-author, award-winning photographer and writer Michael Freeman. Sample a variety of teas traded along the ancient tea route, tea-infused gin, and tea candies presented in collaboration with botanist Rachel Meyer, Brooklyn Gin and Strawberry Hill Confectionery. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Read about Selena and view a slideshow of images by Michael Freeman. Free, but registration requested at www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

  • Wednesday, February 29, 3:00 pm – Garden Club of the Back Bay Annual Member Tea

    This year’s Garden Club of the Back Bay Annual Member Tea will take place under the dome at The Lenox Hotel, 61 Exeter Street in Boston, on Wednesday, February 29, from 3 – 5.  The menu will include smoked salmon finger sandwiches with shaved cucumber and dilled cheese on dark rye, shaved prosciutto di Parma with roasted red pepper aioli and smoked mozzarella on a baguette, a garden vegetable sandwich with alfalfa sprouts, bibb lettuce, cherry tomato, balsamic mayonnaise, and roasted portabello mushroom, and sliced rosemary chicken breast with watercress and  red grapes in a curry vinaigrette.  Assorted scones (blueberry, lemon, plain and pumpkin) and a rich cheese assortment (manchego, gruyere, brie, chedder, chevre and pecorino) will be followed by a variety of freshly baked cookies.  Members will receive written notice of the event.  Guests are welcome.  The price per person is $40 for our members, $50 for guests.  If you are not a member but are interested in attending, please email info@bostonflora.com. The photo below was taken at a wedding in the Dome Room by Lisa Rigby Photography.

  • Thursday, February 9, 6:00 pm – Esplanade 2020 Unveiled

    The Esplanade Association (TEA) will hold a public meeting—“Esplanade 2020 Unveiled”—on Thursday, February 9, at 6:00 p.m. in the Rabb Auditorium of the Boston Public Library Central Branch to present a community vision for the Charles River Esplanade. An initiative of The Esplanade Association, Esplanade 2020 has brought together community members, public officials, and design professionals to craft a shared vision for the future of the Esplanade. The meeting will provide the public with an opportunity to hear and comment on the recommendations set forth in Esplanade 2020.

    As part of the park’s centennial in 2010, TEA assembled a team of leading Boston design and planning specialists, the Esplanade 2020 Committee, to take a fresh look at every element of the park. Working closely with the Department of Conservation and Recreation, park users, and major stakeholders, this group of volunteers spent more than a year crafting a vision for the Esplanade. The committee held more than a dozen meetings with the general public and a variety of stakeholders to gather input, which helped the committee establish guiding principles, create a vision statement, and define objectives.

    Esplanade 2020 illustrates ways in which these core principles, consistently applied, can transform Boston’s waterside park into one of the world’s great urban outdoor spaces.

    The objectives of Esplanade 2020 are to present recommendations for the continued restoration and enhancement of the Esplanade for the next 100 years. Some ideas are big and ambitious, others more readily implemented. These ideas can provide context for very specific restoration projects and can serve as an inspiration and as a road map for future improvements on the Esplanade.

    For more information on the project, please visit www.esplanadeassociation.org. To offer your thoughts, please send an e-mail to info@esplanadeassociation.org (please put “Esplanade 2020 Unveiled” in the subject line) or write to The Esplanade Association, Attn: Esplanade 2020, 376 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116.