Boston Flora

Tag: Tower Hill Botanic Garden

  • Sunday, May 21, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Pollinator Friendly Gardening

    Pollinators are declining at an unprecedented rate worldwide due to human-induced rapid environmental change. These declines pose a significant threat to our food supply and consequently, there has been major focus on the development and implementation of conservation strategies to maintain pollination services to crop plants. However, the overwhelming majority of current strategies do not consider the keystone role that pollinators play in natural ecosystems, making them an ineffective tool for maintaining and restoring biodiversity. Dr. Robert Gegear of WPI Department of Biology and Biotechnology will discuss the importance of developing an ecologically-focused approach to developing and maintaining your garden, citing examples from his ongoing field research in Massachusetts. The lecture will take place Sunday, May 21 from 1 – 3 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Massachusetts. He will also provide information on how to identify local bumblebee species in order to help you assess the ecological ‘friendliness’ of your garden. After the presentation, join Dr. Gegear in a walk through the gardens to learn how your new knowledge can be put into practice. Free with admission to the Garden.  Image from www.whiteflowerfarm.com.

  • Wednesday, May 17, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Flowing Florals Art Exhibit Opening Reception

    Join Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, on Wednesday, May 17 from 5 – 7 for the opening reception for the Flowing Florals Art Exhibit.  Enjoy abstract and representational watercolor paintings of flowers and botanic forms by artists from across the country.  Free with admission.  For more information visit www.towerhillbg.org.  The exhibit will run through June 25.

  • Saturday, May 13, 11:00 am – 12:00 noon – Foraged Flora: A Year of Gathering and Arranging Wild Plants and Flowers

    A special Tower Hill Botanic Garden treat for mothers and others on Saturday, May 13 from 11 – noon.  Author Louesa Roebuck will demonstrate how to create a beautiful seasonal arrangement while talking about her book Foraged Flora. The book is a gorgeously photographed new take on flower arranging using local and foraged plants and flowers to create beautiful arrangements, with ideas and inspiration for the whole year. Roadside fennel, flowering fruit trees, garden roses, tiny violets; ingredients both common and unusual, humble and showy, Foraged Flora is a new vision for flowers and arranging. It encourages you to train your eye to the beauty that surrounds you, attune your senses to the seasonality and locality of flowers and plants, and to embrace the beauty in each stage of life, from first bud to withering seedpod. Organized by month, each chapter in this visually arresting and inspiring book focuses on large and small arrangements created from the flowers and plants available during that time period and in that place, all foraged or gleaned nearby. The authors reflect on surprising and beautiful pairings, the importance of scale, the scarcity or abundance of raw materials, and the environmental factors that contribute to that availability.

    Whether picking a small tendril of fragrant jasmine, collecting oversized branches of flowering quince, or making a garland of bay laurel, Foraged Flora is an invitation to seek out the beauty of the natural world.

    Louesa Roebuck is a printmaker, painter, floral artist, and author who divides her time between the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, currently residing in Ojai, California. She has created flora installations from foraged and gleaned materials for high-end clients like Vivienne Westwood, John Baldessari, and Alice Waters. In addition to her work with flora, Roebuck has worked in fashion for many years and paints monotypes and works in textile design. Tower Hill member price $15, nonmembers $25.  Register online at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Saturday, May 6, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm, and Sunday, May 7, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Daffodil Show

    Saturday, May 6, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm, and Sunday, May 7, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Daffodil Show

    The Seven States Daffodil Society presents a Daffodil Show at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, on Saturday, May 6 from 1-5, and Sunday, May 7 from 10 – 4.  Free with admission to the garden.

  • Saturday, May 6, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm, and Sunday, May 7, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Primrose Show

    Saturday, May 6, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm, and Sunday, May 7, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Primrose Show

    The New England Chapter of the American Primrose Society will host its annual Primrose Show at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, on Saturday, May 6 from 10 – 5 and Sunday, May 7 from 10 – 4.  Free with admission to the garden.

  • Saturday, April 29, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm, and Sunday, April 30, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – African Violet Show

    Come to Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Saturday and Sunday, April 29 and 30, and enjoy a juried show put on by the Bay State African Violet Society. The Bay State African Violet Society was organized in 1959, as an affiliate of the African Violet Society of America (AVSA), the national organization for African Violet enthusiasts. BSAVS provides a forum for lovers of African violets to share their interest in the propagation and culture of these beautiful gesneriads. Free with admission to Tower Hill. Image from www.nsdu.edu.

  • Sunday, April 23, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – Urban Forests: A Natural History of Trees and People in the American Cityscape

    Urban Forests is a celebration of urban trees and the Americans – presidents, plant explorers, visionaries, citizen activists, scientists, nurserymen, and tree nerds – whose arboreal passions have shaped and ornamented the nation’s cities, from Jefferson’s day to the present.

    Jill Jonnes is the author of Urban Forests, Conquering Gotham, Empires of Light, and South Bronx Rising. She is the founder of the Baltimore Tree Trust. She was named a National Endowment for the Humanities scholar and has received several grants from the Ford Foundation. She will speak on Sunday, April 23 from 1 – 2 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston. THBG members $7, nonmembers $20. Register online at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—urban-forests-a-natural-history-of-trees-and-people-in-the-american-cityscape-talk–book-signing

  • Saturday, April 22, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm – Portable Herb Garden

    Grow ready-to-use culinary herbs right outside your door. Available for snipping May to November, nothing enhances a meal like the taste of your own fresh herbs. Create an herb garden that can be moved from place to place to take full advantage of available sunlight. Plant 6 classic culinary herbs in a 14 inch container to grow on a sunny balcony, porch, patio or doorstep. With proper care, your herb pot will supply you with fresh herbs for the entire growing year. Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, hosts instructor Betsy Williams on Saturday, April 22 from 10:30 – 12:30 – $80 for THBG members, $95 for nonmembers.

    Please bring an apron and floral scissors to class. All materials included. Register online at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—portable-herb-garden

    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.  Image from http://www.owtdoor.com.

  • Saturday, April 15, 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm – Thoreau and the Language of Trees

    Richard Higgins will speak at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Saturday, April 15 beginning at 12:30 on his new book, Thoreau and the Language of Trees. Free with admission. pre-registration requested at www.towerhillbg.org. Trees were central to Henry David Thoreau’s creativity as a writer, his work as a naturalist, his thought, and his inner life. His portraits of them were so perfect, it was as if he could see the sap flowing beneath their bark. When Thoreau wrote that the poet loves the pine tree as his own shadow in the air, he was speaking about himself. In short, he spoke their language.

    In this original book, Richard Higgins explores Thoreau’s deep connections to trees: his keen perception of them, the joy they gave him, the poetry he saw in them, his philosophical view of them, and how they fed his soul. His lively essays show that trees were a thread connecting all parts of Thoreau’s being-heart, mind, and spirit. Included are one hundred excerpts from Thoreau’s writings about trees, paired with over sixty of the author’s photographs. Thoreau’s words are as vivid now as they were in 1890, when an English naturalist wrote that he was unusually able to “to preserve the flashing forest colors in unfading light.” Thoreau and the Language of Trees shows that Thoreau, with uncanny foresight, believed trees were essential to the preservation of the world.

    Richard Higgins is a former longtime staff writer for the Boston Globe whose writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, Christian Century, and Smithsonian. He lives in Concord, Massachusetts.

  • Saturday, April 1, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Garden-Inspired Table Decor

    March 27 is the deadline to sign up for a Tower Hill Botanic Garden workshop on Garden-Inspired Table Decor, to be held Saturday, April 1 from 2 – 4 at the garden located at 11 French Drive in Boylston. Create and take home a simple arrangement to enhance your table and watch while we style garden-inspired everyday and wedding tablescapes. From the colors and textures to arrangements and place settings we will teach you how to entertain with fresh, organic items that will make your guests swoon and bring a lush garden feel to any event. Materials included.

    The Romanticist Studios are dedicated to creative direction, unique and heartfelt designs, curated memories & perfectly styled details. We create modern and romantic events for couples in New England and in destinations like France and Italy

    Instructor Roberta West holds an MBA in Operations Management and spent several years in international logistics prior to becoming a creative director. Her styling aesthetic is romantic and timeless like the beautiful celebrations and editorials she designs for her clients. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and baby boy. $40 THBG members, $55 for nonmembers. Register at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—garden-inspired-table-dcor