Boston Flora

Tag: Tower Hill

  • Thursday, July 19, 10:30 am – 11:30 am – Mixed Container Tour

    Join Tower Hill Botanic Garden conservatory staff member Jessie Blum on July 19 at 10:30 am for an exploration of container gardening. Learn how to design using textures, colors, and growth habits, and get ideas for next year’s garden!

    Jessie Blum, Conservatory Horticulturist, has been at the Garden for three years. She graduated from Smith College in 2015, where she majored in Environmental Science and Policy, and minored in Biology with a plant focus. While at Smith, she worked at the botanic garden under the chief arborist. Free with admission to the Garden. For more information visit www.towerhillbg.org.

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  • Sunday, July 15, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm – Encaustics Painting Workshop

    In this one day Tower Hill Botanic Garden workshop on July 15 from 11 – 3, we will cover the basic techniques for creating an art piece using encaustic paint (pigmented beeswax). Create a series of small artworks with collaged paper, found objects, photographs, image transfer, incised and carved line drawings and fusing techniques. Supplies are included, but please bring any papers, photographs, photocopies or other objects you would like to use in your artwork. Beginners welcome.

    Instructor Suzanne Hauerstein (a piece of her encaustic art is pictured below) is a studio artist and art instructor based in Central Massachusetts. She began working with encaustics in 2005 after a decade long career as a ceramic artist. Her works have been included in museum and gallery exhibitions in Texas and throughout the east coast, including Brooklyn, New York, Mystic, Connecticut and multiple locations throughout Rhode Island and Central Massachusetts and the Greater Boston area. $75 for Tower Hill members, $85 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

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  • Saturday, July 14, 11:00 am – 1:30 pm – Daylilies and Their Friends, and Saturday, July 14, 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm – Daylily Show

    On Saturday, July 14, from 11 – 1:30, Debbie Carpenter will give a free with admission presentation entitled Daylilies and their Friends, showing perennials that make good companions in a daylily landscape. The beginning of the presentation will discuss general daylily information. Following the presentation Debbie will give the ever-popular demonstration on dividing a daylily clump. Immediately following the demonstration there will be a FREE raffle of the divisions from the demonstration to those in attendance. The event takes place at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, Massachusetts, and more information may be found at www.towerhillbg.org.

    Debbie Carpenter is a retired high school biology and horticulture teacher, NH master gardener, and life-long home gardener. Her undergraduate degree is from UNH, where she also took post graduate work in horticulture. Since retiring, she has discovered the nearly perfect perennial, the modern hybrid daylily.

    The class will be followed immediately by the Daylily Show presented by the New England Daylily Society from 1:30 – 4. The New England Daylily Society presents an exhibition of the most extraordinary, best-groomed daylilies grown by daylily enthusiasts from all over the region. Image from www.growingwithplants.com.

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  • Sunday, July 15, 10:30 am – 2:00 pm – The Savory Herbal Kitchen, with a Savory Herbal Lunch

    On Sunday, July 15, from 10:30 – 32at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, Betsy Williams will teach a class she calls The Savory Herbal Kitchen. Learn how use just-picked fresh herbs, from your garden or the farm stand, to enhance the flavors of ordinary condiments. Herb-enhanced condiments add savory layers of flavor to everyday family meals and can also become special gifts to friends and family! It’s simple, fun, delicious and very satisfying.

    Betsy will demonstrate how to create savory herb butters, vinegar, mustard, herb salts, two types of pesto and rosemary walnuts. We’ll discuss sourcing and qualities of basic condiments and how to preserve and store herb-enhanced homemade ones. Students will sample each condiment and then make a pint of herb vinegar and a container of herb butter  to take home. After class, you are invited to take an optional walk through Tower Hill’s beautiful herb and vegetable garden, smelling and chatting as we go.

    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 class is $75 for Tower Hill members, $90 for nonmembers, and you may register online at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—the-savory-herbal-kitchen-with-a-savory-herbal-lunch-

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  • Friday, July 13, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm – Trip to Bedrock Gardens and Fuller Gardens in New Hampshire

    Join Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Friday, July 13 and travel to Bedrock Gardens (pictured below) in Lee, New Hampshire to enjoy a garden tour followed by a picnic lunch and time to explore on your own. In the afternoon, visit Fuller Gardens in North Hampton, New Hampshire. The group will leave Tower Hill at 8 am and return at 5 pm.

    Bedrock Gardens is a unique garden oasis. A former dairy farm in rural NH has been transformed over the past 30 years into a stunning landscape of diverse plant collection, varied landscape design, hardscaping, and extensive sculpture collection made from repurposed farm equipment. The garden includes many structural elements such as paths, an espaliered fence, an arborvitae hedge, architecturally interesting rocks, pergola, and garden art. The beds have exceptional plant varieties, often started as seedlings, including many unusual specimens of perennials, trees and shrubs.

    Fuller Gardens is a public botanical garden that was once part of the summer estate of Alvan T. Fuller on the Seacoast of New Hampshire. It’s a delightful oasis situated a stone’s throw from the ocean. The gardens feature horticulture at the highest level, with thousands of rose bushes and hundreds of varieties that bloom all season long. Formal English perennial borders, a Japanese Garden and a tropical conservatory are all framed by sculpted hedges.

    Tower Hill Member $150, Non-member $175; includes transportation, admissions to Bedrock Gardens and Fuller Gardens, guided tour of Bedrock Gardens, and box lunch. To register, visit www.towerhillbg.org. If you wish to travel to the gardens on your own, call 508-869-6111 to coordinate meeting times.

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  • Sunday, July 8, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Floral Still Life Painting

    Working from direct observation, take time to study and paint a beautiful floral arrangement. Whether you’re an experienced artist, or just interested in experimenting with acrylic paint, this Tower Hill Botanic Garden class on Sunday, July 8 from 1 – 4 will be a fun, guided afternoon of creative exploration. All materials included in the fee ($45 for Tower Hill members, $55 for nonmembers).

    Instructor Julianne Martin is an artist whose work consists of paintings that celebrate nature and experience. Made from acrylic paint, graphite and glitter, Julianne’s work presents a convergence of delicate whitewashed rainbows, stained emblems of animal spirits, impressions of the night world, and enlivened botanical patterns. Julianne lives in Boston, where she offers art lessons, art parties and workshops. She also teaches art to children and adults at Brookline Arts Center. Julianne received her BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. She has an MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design at the Fine Arts Work Center. To learn more about Julianne, visit her website, http://www.julianne-martin.com. To register, visit www.towerhillbg.org.

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  • Saturday, June 9, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Cooking Up Compost

    Turn your yard wastes and household garbage into gardeners’ Brown Gold. This Tower Hill Botanic Garden workshop on Saturday, June 9 from 10 – 11:30 will teach students how to select safe compost ingredients, and how to blend and process them into a finished product that will improve and enrich the soil to grow healthier flowers, herbs and vegetables.

    Christie Higginbottom has worked as a costumed interpreter at Old Sturbridge Village since 1981. From 1984 to 2004 she coordinated the historic horticulture program researching, planning and planting the re-created kitchen and flower gardens at the museum’s historic households. She also supervised the Village’s Herb Garden collection, a garden exhibiting over 300 varieties of historic herbs. From 2004 to 2006 she researched and developed a series of self-guided walking trails interpreting people and the environment in the early 1800s. She researched and designed the 2007-2009 exhibit “Taking Root: Gardening in Pots in the early 1800s.” Now retired from full-time work at OSV, she continues to work in costume part-time and to present garden programs for the Village. $15 for THBG members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—cooking-up-compost

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  • Sunday, June 3, 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm – A Hummingbird Garden in a Container

    Experience the magic of watching a tiny, whirring hummingbird feed on flowers blooming close by! Plant a container for your patio or garden the hummingbirds, butterflies and other pollinators will love. Fill a 14″ container with 6 summer flowering plants that attract, and feed, pollinators. Bee balms, petunias, larkspurs, nicotianas, verbena, morning glories, salvias and many other long blooming, spilling, twining plants support our important pollinators. With proper care, your Hummingbird Garden will bloom all summer. All materials are supplied: plants, container, soil and a bamboo frame for climbing vines. Image below from http://whiteflowerfarm.com.

    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 class takes place at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Sunday, June 3 from 12:30 – 2:30. $80 for THBG members, $90 for nonmembers. Register at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—a-hummingbird-garden-in-a-container

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  • Saturday, May 19, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Bruso Rhododendron & Magnolia Garden Tour

    Take a guided tour of hybridizer and propagator Joe Bruso’s 3-acre woodland garden containing predominantly species and hybrid rhododendrons, magnolias and wildflowers. Many of the hybrids are of his own creation. The tour is scheduled at a time when the garden is normally at peak bloom, but attractive foliage is a main theme of this garden as well. Joe is a member of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Chapter, American Rhododendron Society. Directions will be sent upon registration. The Tower Hill Botanic Garden sponsored tour will take place Saturday, May 19 from 10 – 12. THBG members $25, nonmembers $35. Register at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—bruso-rhododendron-and-magnolia-garden

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  • Sunday, May 20, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – The Garden in Every Sense and Season

    Your garden could be so fulfilling, if you plug in. This Boot Camp for the Senses at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Sunday, May 20 from 1 – 2 explores the garden on all levels by attuning your nose to its scents and training your ears to listen. Learn to garden with eyes wide open, ears to the ground, and hands outstretched. Tailored to the current season, this lecture will awaken your senses and spark perceptions on all levels. Subtleties that you never noticed before will be uncovered and defined. We’ll share advice and ideas; we’ll explore a “Smellathon” to help get nostrils in gear. Want to broaden your horizons? After this presentation, your garden will be more savory, you will know its touch, smell its aromas, hear its voice, and see it anew.

    An avid (verging on obsessed) gardener indoors and outside, Tovah Martin is the author of many gardening books – most recently The Indestructible Houseplant (2015, Timber Press), The Unexpected Houseplant (2012, Timber Press) and The New Terrarium (2009, Clarkson Potter) as well as the popular Tasha Tudor’s Garden (1994, Houghton Mifflin). A freelance writer, her articles have appeared in publications throughout the country including Country Gardens, Garden Design, Traditional Home, Martha Stewart Living, O the Oprah magazine, Old House Interiors, Horticulture magazine, Yankee, Connecticut Cottages & Gardens and numerous others as well as The Daily Telegraph in Europe. In addition to being the 2012 Writer in Residence for the new Victoria magazine, she is an accredited Organic Land Care Professional through NOFA, an honorary member of the Garden Club of America and the recipient of their medal for outstanding literary achievement. In 2013, she received the Gustav Mehlquist Award—the highest honor bestowed by the Connecticut Horticultural Society. She has appeared on the Martha Stewart Show, PBS television series and the CBS Sunday Early Show as well as many other television and radio broadcasts. She speaks throughout the country and has lectured aboard the QE2. Tovah can be found at http://www.tovahmartin.com and she blogs at http://www.plantswise.com. $10 for THBG members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—the-garden-in-every-sense-and-season–talk–book-signing

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