Build a complete miniature bog with four temperate carnivorous plants in a 10 inch bowl. Learn about the plants, how to build a bog, and how to take care of it.
Instructor Lauren Sitterly is a member of the Carnivorous Plant Society. The class, which will be held twice, once on September 7 and once on September 8, runs from 3 – 4:30 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston. Register for either session ($45 THBG members, $59 nonmembers, includes materials) at www.towerhillbg.org.
With a backyard garden, you can grow sweeter and more nutritious produce than anything you can buy in the supermarket. It’s essential that you start with soil that is healthy and rich in micro-life. Learn what it takes to develop and maintain soil that produces bumper crops. In this Tower Hill Botanic Garden class on September 5 from 6 – 8 with Ben Barkan, we’ll discuss soil properties including texture, pH, plant nutrients and organic matter. Learn how to test your soil and interpret the results. We’ll also discuss how to cope with soil contamination and ensure food safety and nutrient density. The class is especially suited to those interested in growing food in an urban/suburban landscape while using sustainable and organic practices. $26 for THBG members, $31 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org
Inspired by working on more than 35 organic farms in New England, California, Oregon, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, and Costa Rica, Ben applies lessons learned to HomeHarvest’s unique custom garden installations. Ben earned a degree in Sustainable Agriculture from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture (4.0 GPA), is permaculture-design certified, and started HomeHarvest with just a bicycle and shovel in 2008. Ben is licensed in Massachusetts as a Construction Supervisor, Home Improvement Contractor, and enjoys designing and selling beautiful landscapes with custom construction and creative plant integration.
Join Tower Hill Botanic Garden on September 14 from 4 – 7 for a celebration of all that has grown at Tower Hill Botanic Garden and all that is to come. Toast the end of summer with a joyful afternoon in the iconic Lawn Garden, featuring botanical tours, live entertainment, lawn games, and seasonal small plates against the backdrop of George Sherwood’s mesmerizing sculptures. For a formal invitation, visit http://towerhillbg.org/momentsinmotion
It can happen in summer. You find yourself lingering over fruits and veggies in the market, examining the “amazing” ones, rearranging the displays. If this sounds familiar, you may need help. Time for a botanical art session at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on August 31 from 9:30 – 3:30 with Helen Byers. Choose a subject that “calls” to you, and join us to draw its portrait in colored pencil. Helen’s instructional tips and demos will help you achieve accurate colors, proportions, and textures. A materials list will be sent to registrants. This is an intermediate level class.
Helen Byers is an award-winning artist and educator whose botanical drawings and paintings have been internationally exhibited, published, and held in private collections. In recent years she has taught often at Tower Hill, as well as at Concord Center for the Visual Arts, Fruitlands Museums, Tin Mountain Conservation Center (NH), and Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center (NM).
Tower Hill Botanic Garden member price $84, nonmembers $94. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.
You’re loving how your annuals are looking in the late summer, so you’re wondering if there’s a way to save these plants over the winter. This August 25 Tower Hill Botanic Garden class explains how to save commonly planted annuals and tropical plants. Learn which plants are worth devoting indoor space to, which ones can be dormant in a cool location, and what plantings you shouldn’t try to save. Discover how to take cuttings, save tubers, and enjoy some flowering plants all winter. Come with questions about the plants you have and hear how to keep them for next summer. $30 for THBG members, $44 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.
C.L. Fornari is the author of seven books and numerous articles. She’s currently the host of GardenLine, on WXTK and co-hosts the Plantrama podcast. C.L. speaks to horticultural trade shows, gardening groups and public gatherings. She writes and runs a consultation service for Hyannis Country Garden, an IGC. Her not-so-secret mission is to start a gardening revival and promote all aspects of the horticultural industry… in the meantime she cultivates plants at Poison Ivy Acres on Cape Cod and blogs at www.GardenLady.com.
Cold frames are great season extenders, allowing vegetables to be planted 2-4 weeks earlier than unprotected plants as well as extending the growing season in the fall. They can also play a key role in the transition of seedlings of all kinds from the sheltered windowsill or greenhouse environment to the outdoors.
Build your very own cold frame which disassembles for easy transportation and storage, in this Tower Hill Botanical Garden workshop on August 24 from 9 – noon with Gretel Anspach. The cold frame’s footprint is 2′ x 4′, and slopes from 24″ at the back to 16″ at the front. All tools will be supplied (though you can bring your own drill or power screwdriver if you like), and no experience with woodworking is needed. Fee includes materials.
Gretel Anspach is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, a Trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon. Gretel helped to establish and maintain two food production gardens that have provided fresh produce to the Marlboro Food Pantry for the last eight years.
Summer is the high season for pestos, the time to gather savory fresh greens and turn them into flavorful sauces for winter enjoyment. A dish of fragrant, pesto-slathered pasta really warms up an icy winter day but, as a sauce, pesto has many other uses in the kitchen.
Pesto alla Genovese, the classic sauce of Genoa, and pistou, the traditional herb sauce of Provence, are made with basil. However basil is only one of many flavorful greens that can become the heart of a rich, flavorful pesto or sauce.
A wide variety of flavorful leafy greens—mints, kale, garlic mustard, parsley, spinach, sage, dandelion greens, cilantro, arugula—can be used to make pesto and savory herb sauces and pastes. Pesto and sauces can be with or without cheese, nuts and garlic. Pesto and herbal sauces freeze well and can be used all winter long to add delicious herbal flavor to soups, spreads, meats, salads and vegetables, as well as traditional pasta meals.
Class members will taste a wide variety of pestos and herbal sauces and discuss the ingredients used. After demonstrating how to make pesto and herb paste, each person will make a pesto or herb paste to take home. Recipe sheets and all supplies are included. This class will take place at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston on August 18 from 1 – 3:30, and is $65 for THBG members, $79 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.
Betsy Williams teaches, lectures and writes about living with herbs and flowers. A gardener and herb grower since 1972, Betsy trained as a florist in Boston and England. She combines her floral and gardening skills with an extensive knowledge of history, plant lore and seasonal celebrations. Betsy is the author of several books on the uses and stories of herbs and flowers. She has appeared on the Discovery Channel and greater Boston cable stations as well as local and national radio talk shows. Betsy lectures and teaches locally and nationally.
The New England Daylily Society presents an exhibition of the most extraordinary, best-groomed daylilies grown by daylily enthusiasts from all over the region. The show will take place July 27 from 1:30 – 4 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, and is free with admission. For more information visit www.towerhillbg.org.
Join Tower Hill’s librarian on either July 20 or 21 from 11 – noon to see and interact with beautiful and historic works from Tower Hill’s vault and learn about the history of botanical illustration. Class limit 10 per session. Free, but registration required at www.towerhillbg.org.
Using pencils, charcoal, and other materials, learn how to emphasize tonal values, texture, and the weight of line in the discovery of plant details from the garden. The two session Tower Hill Botanic Garden class on Fridays, July 12 and 19, 9 – 3, will involve a discussion and small technique sketches before approaching a larger comprehensive and completed drawing. A materials list will be sent upon registration.
The class will be taught by Carolyn Todd. Carolyn earned her BFA and MA in studio Fine Arts and Fine Arts education from the University of Texas and the University of Houston. She was selected as the “Artist in Residence” for the National Park Service, Amistad National Recreation Area. She enjoys helping students of all ages discover their personal expression by enabling critical thinking. Carolyn teaches drawing, and watercolor, oil, acrylic, gouache, and encaustic painting. She is currently teaching in the ALFA program at Fitchburg State University, and the Creative Minds program (Seven Hills Foundation) at the Worcester and Fitchburg Art Museums.
$156 for Tower Hill members, $176 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.
