Boston Flora

Tag: The Garden

  • Saturday, January 30, 2:00 pm – Garden Elements and Styles, An Online Conversation with Toby Musgrave and Timothy Tilghman

    Join Untermyer Gardens online for a virtual conversation with Toby Musgrave and Timothy Tilghman (2:00-4:30PM with intermission, on January 30, 2021) for an illustrated discussion of garden elements and styles from around the world and how they have been reflected at Untermyer Gardens. We will start by exploring examples from great gardens and consider their influence on the historic features and styles at Untermyer that were restored over the past decade. Following a break, we will continue to examine internationally renowned gardens for guidance as we prepare for our imminent historic restoration projects. Finally, and perhaps most interestingly, we will look to established gardens of the world as inspiration for new elements we aspire to create through our second decade at Untermyer. By purchasing tickets, you will be able to view live or on demand. $15 – Register at www.untermyergardens.org.

    Dr. Toby Musgrave is an authority on garden history and design. He devised and presented the BBC Radio 4 series The British Garden, and has written for many magazines and newspapers. He teaches garden history at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad, and has also lectured at Oxford University and the Royal Horticultural Society. He was consultant editor for The Gardener’s Garden (2014) and is author of Green Escapes (2018), both by Phaidon. Toby’s latest book, one of nine, The Garden: Elements and Styles (2020) provides the structure for this event.  Timothy Tilghman leads the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy’s ambitious restoration effort. Head Gardener at Untermyer Gardens since June 2011, he has more than 25 years of horticultural experience, with 19 years devoted to public horticulture. His previous positions include: Head Gardener, Rocky Hills, a Garden Conservancy Project Garden, Mt. Kisco, NY; Senior Garden Editor, Martha Stewart Living, New York, NY; Gardener, Wave Hill, Bronx, NY; Assistant Curator, Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA; Intern, Willowwood Arboretum, Chester, NJ; Intern, Powell Botanical Garden, Kansas City, MO. He holds a B.S. in Plant Science/Ornamental Horticulture from the University of Missouri, Columbia, MO.  ​​

  • Saturday, March 18, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – Wild About Perennials

    Noel Kingsbury, the author of Planting: A New Perspective shares his understanding of the naturalistic approach to planting design of landscape designers such as Piet Oudolf, Cassian Schmidt, Thomas Rainer, and Sarah Price. This Saturday, March 18 introduction to the naturalistic style explains the basic philosophy behind the practice of selecting plants for the ecology of the site and gives us lessons on how to create a landscape that looks natural and responsive to site, while also having the long season of interest that gardeners desire. Using his own extraordinary photographs, Kingsbury will illustrate the techniques used in creating these planting designs, with examples of his own work and that of the renowned Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf.

    Noel Kingsbury is an internationally known writer about plants, gardens, and the environment. Best-known for his promotion of what is broadly called an ecological or naturalistic approach to planting design, he has written some 20 books on various aspects of plants and gardens, 3 of them in collaboration with Dutch designer and plantsman Piet Oudolf. Over the years he has written for Gardens Illustrated, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Garden, Hortus, The New York Times, and many other publications. He also teaches and is a garden/planting designer and horticultural consultant.

    Advance registration is highly recommended, but walk-ins are always welcome, space permitting. BBG members $30, nonmembers $35. Register at www.berkshirebotanical.org. The lecture takes place at Berkshire Botanical Garden, Stockbridge, Massachusetts from 1 – 2:30 pm.

  • Tuesday, April 27, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – “The Garden” Film Screening

    Whole Foods sponsors “Let’s Retake Our Plates” film series at the Boston Public Library, Tuesday, April 27, from 7 – 9 pm. When bulldozers threaten a 14 acre community garden in South Central Los Angeles, concerned citizens unite and fight for the country’s largest urban farm.  This 2008 film takes an unflinching look at the struggle between urban farmers and the city, and powerful developers.

    The Garden centers around a community’s struggle to hold onto a fourteen-acre garden in South Central Los Angeles. The community’s struggle received widespread attention in 2004-2006, when the farmers were fighting the city of Los Angeles and developer Ralph Horowitz to maintain control of the garden, ultimately working to raise funds to buy the land. The community garden was established on government property following the 1992 riots and was the largest of its kind in the U.S.

    The details of the story provide great footage: a wealthy developer engages in a shady real-estate deal with the city of Los Angeles to acquire the property, a city council member helps push through the secret deal, tensions between the Black and Latino communities complicate matters, while the impoverished Latino farmers at the heart of the story struggle not just for land but their livelihoods.

    The fourteen-acre garden was originally owned by developer Horowitz but the city acquired it under eminent domain, paying him $5 million. He sued the city unsuccessfully but ultimately struck a back-room deal to buy it back for $5 million, despite property values having skyrocketed in the intervening years. When the farmers are forced to consider buying the garden, Horowitz raises the price tag to $16.2 million.

    The film is moving and expertly captures the intricacies of the farmers’ struggle. Where another documentary filmmaker might have shied away from some of the nuance such as divisions between communities of color, filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy delves into the tough subjects, highlighting complex racial and political dynamics. Free admission.

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