Boston Flora

Tag: Tower Hill Botanic Garden

  • Saturday, March 21, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Indian Cooking 101

    Learn the basics of Indian cooking on March 21 from 2-4 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, through this cooking demonstration and tasting. Students will be able to sample a complete vegetarian and vegan meal. Take home recipes and tips to create your own healthy plant-based Indian meal.

    Batul Juma is an herbalist and private cook with over 20 years experience. She uses her knowledge of herbs, healthy eating, and natural living to support her clients in leading a holistic lifestyle. The class fee is $36 for Tower Hill members, $50 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Thursday, March 19, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Our Ecosystems and Climate Change

    Dr. Caitlin McDonough Mackenzie, David H. Smith conservation research postdoctoral fellow and Second Century Stewardship fellow at the University of Maine, will speak at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on March 19 at 6:30 about her research on specifics of climate change’s current effects on local plants and ecosystems. The lecture is free. For more information visit www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Thursday, April 2, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm, & Friday, April 3, 8:15 am – 12:45 pm – Gardening Study School Course 3

    The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts’ Gardening Study School. Course 3, Series 11, will take place April 2 and 3 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston.

    Subjects covered: Thursday, April 2 (Tested subjects) Factors that Influence Plant Growth – Dr. Judith Sumner, Botanist

    New Plant Development & Evaluation – Dr. Judith Sumner, Botanist Teaching Tour of Tower Hill – Joann Vieira, Horticulturalist

    Supporting the Wild – Joann Vieira, Horticulturalist (non-tested)

    Friday, April 3, (Tested subjects) Container Gardening – Betty Sanders, Master Gardener

    Houseplants – Betty Sanders, Master Gardener

    Test for those becoming consultants begins at 1:45 PM. Registration deadline March 25.

    Make checks payable to GCFM and mail with your name, address, telephone number, email, Garden Club affiliation, to Linda Jean Smith, 23 Bentley Lane, Chelmsford, MA 01824. $110 GCFM Student Member, exam fee included, $100 Refresher, $140 non-member (2 day fee), $70 one day registration, & available box lunches $18/day (choose chicken, roast beef, or vegetarian wrap) For further information contact Joy DeMaggio at jmarykay2@outlook.com

  • Sunday, March 15, 10:30 am – 4:30 pm – Drawing Plants and Flowers

    Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston will hold a Drawing Plants and Flowers Class with Carolyn Todd on March 15 from 10:30 – 4:30. Students will be encouraged to develop observation skills to assist in the discovery of the anatomy of selected plants and flowers. Drawing and capturing the rhythm and shapes of live plants is superior to drawing from photographs or publications. Students will learn about drawing tools and specific drawing techniques to enhance drawing skills and critical thinking. Along with building technical skill, students will also be encouraged to promote a creative, unique, and personal drawing style. A materials list will be sent upon registration. $78 for THBG members, $88 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

    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.

    copyright Carolyn Todd, Blue Landscape

  • Tuesday, March 10, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Orchids of Massachusetts

    Orchids are a source of fascination for many, with their dramatic and unusual flowers, especially in the tropics. They are also important to a diverse suite of pollinators. Massachusetts has its own fair share of native orchid species, many of great beauty or unique in their own way. Two botanists with the Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program work to protect our orchids species, all across the state, from Martha’s Vineyard to Williamstown to Gloucester. Some of these are very small and difficult to find, located deep in the swamp. Others have such bright flowers they can be seen from quite a distance. How many species are in the state, which ones are rare, where are they found, which are federally listed, which have disappeared, and what are the threats they face? The questions will be discussed as Bob Wernerehl (state botanist) and Karro Frost (Plant Restoration Biologist), and who will present examples of the state’s native species of orchids. The lecture will take place at Tower Hill Botanic Garden from 6 – 8 on March 10, and is $15 for THBG members, $20 for nonmembers. Register online at www.towerhillbg.org

  • Thursday, March 5, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Landscape Design: Why I Like What I Like!

    Thursday, March 5, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Landscape Design: Why I Like What I Like!

    On March 5 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, enjoy a fast-paced interactive discussion focused upon the underlying basics of landscape design. Once known, the reasons under-pinning our often-shared design preferences, can be replicated, improved and extended. Problems can be more quickly articulated, and remedies identified.

    As an artist and landscape architect, lecturer Walter Cudnahufsky will share insight and principles that use the visual landscapes as a starting point but dig to discern why and how those landscapes serve and please. In his recent book, Cultivating the Designer’s Mind, Walter outlines the design process essential actions to more regularly assure high quality design decisions and landscapes. We can and must be more discerning consumers of designed consulting work and become better more efficient designers! At minimum, from this workshop, we can more fully explain why we like what we like. There is real potential and intention that you will not again see designed landscape in precisely the same way.

    Walter Cudnohufsky is a registered Landscape Architect with over forty-four years experience ranging from the plaza design for the Toronto City Hall to regional planning studies for the North Atlantic Regions to private residences in the Berkshires. He received his M.L.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and B.S.L.A. from Michigan State University. Walt’s interest in analysis, concept development and design process led him to found the nationally recognized graduate program at the Conway School of Landscape Design in 1972. In 1992, after 20 years as CSLD director, he returned full-time to his ongoing private practice.

    Walt is quick to identify attributes and constraints, offer compelling ideas, and define simple, innovative concepts that lead to uniquely appropriate design solutions. He is a regular speaker and workshop leader at regional and national forums, and frequently facilitates energizing and productive meetings for a wide variety of organizations and institutions.

    The session begins at 6 pm. $32 for Tower Hill members, $46 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Saturday, February 29, 10:30 am – 4:30 pm – Observational Drawing in the Conservatories

    On February 20 from 10:30 – 4:30, spend the day in the peaceful surroundings of the Tower Hill Botanic Garden conservatories and enjoy drawing the beauty of green leaves and flowers. It’s a perfect remedy for winter doldrums. Carol Schwartz’s guidance will help you discover correct shapes and tonal values just right for your drawings and you’ll create beautiful memories of your day in the garden conservatories. A materials list will be sent to registrants.

    Carol Schwartz is an award-winning artist and educator whose work can be found in magazines, posters, galleries, and over 60 nonfiction books. She teaches illustration at Eastern Connecticut State University, New Hampshire Institute of Art, and Tower Hill Botanic Garden. She is a member of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators and the Society of Illustrators. $84 for Tower Hill members, $94 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

    Image copyright Laurie Andrews

  • Sunday, February 16, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm – What’s My Orchid Telling Me Now?

    Orchids are the largest family in the plant kingdom and grow all over the world! Some grow in soil and others grow on rocks and trees. Learn orchid anatomy and plant structure, as well as the difference between terrestrial and epiphytic orchids, so you can understand what your orchid is telling you. Matt Tetreault, Tower Hill Botanic Garden’s conservatory horticulturalist, is an orchid expert and develops orchid displays for Tower Hill’s annual shows. Matt will teach you how to assess an orchid’s health and what steps you can take to bring an orchid back to good health. The session will take place February 16 from 1:30 – 3, and is $15 for Tower Hill members, $29 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

    Matt Tetreault graduated from Worcester State with degrees in biology and chemistry. His diverse experience includes studying mangroves and other subtropical plants in the Dominican Republic, sequencing tropical spider DNA, and working on a salamander population study. After working as an intern at Tower Hill, he was brought on as a conservatory gardener in January 2018 and was promoted to conservatory horticulturist in December 2018. Matt was responsible for all the beautiful forced bulb displays at Tower Hill in the early months of 2019.

  • Thursday, February 6, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm – Urban Tree Symposium: The Future of the Urban Forest

    Join Tower Hill Botanic Garden and the Ecological Landscape Alliance on February 6 from 8:30 – 4:30 (snow date February 7) as experts in the field explore the importance of our urban forests, as well as ways we can create sustainable urban forests for the future.

    Lectures include:

    The State of the Urban Forest in the Northeast – Chris Roddick, Head Arborist, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

    Using Technology to Manage the Urban Forest – David J. Nowak, PhD, Senior Scientist / i-Tree Team Leader, US Forest Service

    Management Options for Insect Pests of Trees and Shrubs – Tawny Simisky, Extension Entomologist, UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery, and Urban Forestry Program

    Tree Selection, Establishment, and Care – Bill Logan, Founder and President of Urban Arborists

    How to Increase the Urban Canopy – Panel Discussion

    Breakfast and lunch are included. $110 for members of sponsoring organizations, $125 for general public. Register online at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Saturday, February 1, 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm – Warm Room

    Warm Room: Photographs from Historic Greenhouses (2019) is the culmination of a twenty year project that began at the Planting Fields Arboretum on Long Island where the author Peter Moriarty lived in 1996. Significant American sites were added as the series of gelatin-silver prints evolved. Site notes were made for each of the locations. In 2010 a major grant permitted the addition of British and European works to contrast with the American photographs. Research at the Mertz library at the New York Botanical Garden set the itinerary for a two month excursion. There are 58 photographs in the book, which have been carefully scanned by Thomas Palmer. In addition there are 13 architectural drawings from both Royal and public archives in the US, UK, BE and FR. Botanists at the various conservatories have provided the proper Latin names for plants within his photographs. Ernesto Aparicio designed the book, which will we be printed by Verona Libri, Italy in October, 2019. Prints from this project are now in several collections (Princeton Art Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, Davison Art Gallery at Wesleyan University, Mt. Holyoke College Art Museum, Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College and the Worcester Art Museum) and a key set is in the Mertz Library. Moriarty published Lotte Jacobi Photographs with David Godine (Boston, MA 2003). BigTown Gallery in Rochester, Vermont represents his work.

    Peter Moriarty’s Warm Room photographs and photogenic subject matter lend themselves beautifully to the gelatin-silver technique. The striking plant forms juxtaposed with glass house architecture provides an intriguing contrast between the built and natural environments. The Warm Room series is rich in tonal variation and texture offering a unique viewpoint into a world rarely imagined. Peter Moriarty is an emeritus professor of art, who taught both in the Vermont State Colleges and at the Trinity School in NYC. He is the author of Lotte Jacobi Photographs (2003) and his prints are represented by BigTown Gallery in Rochester, Vermont. His work is in numerous public collections including the Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Mt.Holyoke.

    Join the author for a talk and book signing on February 1 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden beginning at 1:30 pm. $10 for Tower Hill members, $20 for nonmembers. Books will be available for purchase (extra).