Boston Flora

Tag: Tower Hill

  • Thursday, September 29, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Foraging for Wild Edibles Walk

    Worcester County is home to more than 100 species of edible wild plants, many of which are more nutritious and/or flavorful than their cultivated counterparts. Join wild edibles enthusiast Russ Cohen, author of the book Wild Plants I have Known…and Eaten, on a two-hour ramble around New England Botanic Garden to learn about the comestible qualities of at least eighteen wild plant species. Pending favorable weather conditions, several edible wild mushroom species may be encountered as well. Keys to the identification of each species will be provided, along with info on edible portion(s), season(s) of availability and preparation methods, as well as general guidelines for safe and environmentally-responsible foraging.

    Until his retirement in June of 2015, Russ Cohen’s “day job” was serving as the Rivers Advocate for the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Ecological Restoration, where one of his areas of expertise was in riparian vegetation. Now Russ has more time to pursue his passionate avocation, which is connecting to nature via his taste buds, and teaching others how to do the same. Russ is now playing the role of “Johnny Appleseed” for edible native species. He has set up a small nursery (in Weston, MA) where he grows/keeps over 1,000 plants that he propagates from seed (some of which he collected himself), as well as obtained from other sources, such as the Native Plant Trust. He is then partnering with land trusts, cities and towns, schools and colleges, state and federal agencies, organic farms, tribal groups and others to plant plants from his nursery in appropriate places on their properties. Russ has initiated over two dozen such projects in the past five years.

    $35 Member Adult; $50 Adult (Registration includes admission to the Garden) Register HERE.

  • Wednesday, September 28, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Hydrangeas 101, Online

    One of the most popular and beloved garden plants is the Hydrangea. The great shape, large and abundant flowers, attractive foliage and options for many growing situations make it a great landscaping plant. Yet, as changing climate conditions persist, this plant can puzzle even the most experienced gardener. Landscape designers are often asked many questions about this curious plant. Why has my Hydrangea stopped blooming? What made the blossom color change? Should the plant be pruned? My plant is drooping badly, did I kill it? This New England Botanic Garden webinar on September 28 at 6:30 pm will tackle those questions and many more as we get to know the different types of Hydrangeas and explore tips and care to help your plants become outstanding performers.


    Cheryl Salatino is the principal designer and owner of Dancing Shadows Garden Design, a residential landscape design and services firm. She has been designing gardens across Massachusetts since 2002. Cheryl is a Certified Landscape Designer and a Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist (MCH). She received her certificate in landscape design from the Radcliffe Seminars Landscape Design Program of Harvard University. She was awarded the status of Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist by the Massachusetts Nursery & Landscape Association (MNLA) as evidence of achieving the industry’s highest standards in nursery and landscape professionalism. Cheryl has also earned an Advanced Certificate in Horticulture and Design as part of the New England Wildflower Society’s Native Plant Studies Program. $10 Member Adult; $15 Adult  Register at www.nebg.org

  • Sunday, September 11, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Chinese Brush Painting: Plum Blossoms

    This New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill course on September 11 introduces you to “the four treasures” of Chinese brush painting—ink stone, ink sticks, brush, and paper—allows you to explore a variety of techniques. Through demonstration and hands-on practice, you will learn the Chinese brush methods of painting Plum Blossoms as well as compositional development.  Because the plum is the first flower to bloom while the winter air still bites, it represents the vitality and vigor of nature. And in classical Chinese writing, the character for plum blossom expresses the virtues of courage and strength. Take this two hour class to relax, create, and meditate with Chinese brush painting inspired by the beautiful garden at Tower Hill. Material required, not included with registration, are two containers (one for clean water and the other for cleaning brushes, minimum size 2 cups) and two flat white 6 – 8 inch plates (small dinner plate will be ok.)

    Sau-Mei Leung is a graduate with the Natural Science Illustration Certificate from Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Education. She also has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from University of Connecticut. Her interest in art was sparked by studying Chinese calligraphy in primary school in Hong Kong. Mei has exhibited in many shows including Davis Art Gallery, Tower Hill Botanical Garden, and Art Providence. One of her watercolor paintings was also featured in Scenes and Seasons of a Small New England Village published by Leonard A. Haug. Mei is passionate about teaching and sharing her love of art, nature, and science. $55 NEBG members, $70 nonmembers. Register at www.nebg.org.

  • Saturday, September 10, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm – Winterizing Your Roses

    Roses are a classic plant that can brighten up any garden or home. In this September 10 New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill program, Teresa Mosher provides tips for choosing hardy roses, fertilizing, rose dormancy, fall rose care, and winter protection. Photos from her locally revered Zone 5 garden in Methuen are incorporated into the PowerPoint presentation. Each participant will take home a signed copy of Teresa’s book A Year in my Rose Garden. filled with very helpful rose caring information, photos, information on ordering roses, a list of tools and supplies, her favorite books to read, rose terms, favorite roses and much more.

    Teresa Mosher is one of the leading garden and rose consultants in New England. She has over 30 years of experience as an avid gardener and cares for forty flower beds, 250+ roses, and over 2000 perennials, shrubs and trees in her garden. She is currently president of the New England Rose Society, a Horticulture Rose Judge, and Consulting Rosarian for the American Rose Society.

    $35 Member Adult; $50 Adult (Registration includes admission to the Garden) Register HERE.

  • Saturday, August 27, 10:30 am – 1:30 pm – Garden Portrait Photography

    Take your Garden Photography from good to great by capturing New England Botanic Garden at its most beautiful. Join Steve McGrath as he reveals his tips and techniques for taking quality close up as well as Landscape Photography in the gardens. We will discuss how to use wide-angle, normal and telephoto lenses most effectively in the garden to strengthen your composition for maximum impact. You will also learn to use creative white balance and ISO for expanding you images. We will also view our images after an extensive day in the gardens.

    This course is ideal for the Photographer with some knowledge of manual camera settings that want to take their abilities to the next level. This course is informative for both Digital and SLS (film) photographer. If you are an Intermediate to Advanced photographer, looking to fine tune your skills and expand your knowledge of Photography then this course is for you. Cameras are not provided. Please bring a camera with macro capabilities, a sturdy tripod and a large memory card. Tripod is not required.

    Steve McGrath is a professional freelance photographer and photography teacher who has been creating images for 20 years. Steve first began by shooting sports photography for local high schools, then weddings, and stock agencies. Then his love of the outdoors led him to focusing more on his true passion, “nature photography”. Steve was an active member of the Gateway Camera Club for many years, and has won many ribbons and awards at fairs and competitions through the group and on his own. Several of his images have been published in school text books. His favorite places to shoot are Acadia National Park in Maine, the Green Mountains of Vermont, and the Cape Cod National Seashore. $60 NEBG members, $75 nonmembers. Register at www.nebg.org

  • Sunday, August 14, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – Mushrooming Beyond the Basics

    On August 14 from 9:30 – 12:30, go a little further and learn about some medicinal mushrooms, and more about mushroom features and methods of identification. Our talk, with visuals, will cover additional types of mushrooms to take you further on your mushrooming journey. Afterwards, we will go out on the New England Botanic Garden trails to find some wild mushrooms! 

    Wear good walking footwear, insect repellant, and bring a cloth or paper bag or basket. Rachel will also have wild-foraged mushroom tincture, wild herbal salve for poison ivy and eczema, wildflower jelly, natural lotions and other wild-crafted goods for purchase before and after the lecture.

    Rachel Goclawski is a Massachusetts Certified Educator and is State-Certified in Mushrooming, Programming Partner with the Museum of Natural History, Sudbury Valley Trustees, Girl Scouts of MA and is the Resident Naturalist at Waters Farm Preservation in Sutton. Rachel is a Contributing Writer for the Cook’s Magazine and for her “day job,” she is an IT Specialist for the Dept. of Defense.

    $55 Member Adult; $70 Adult (Registration includes admission to the New England Botanical Garden at Tower Hill) Register at www.nebg.org

  • Wednesday, June 15, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm – Restoring the Heirloom Apple Orchard at Tower Hill, Online

    Learn about the restoration of New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill’s heirloom apple orchard. This free webinar on June 15 at noon is sponsored by the Ecological Landscape Alliance. Register at https://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/restoring-the-heirloom-apple-orchard-at-tower-hill/ Mark Richardson is Director of Horticulture for The New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill in Boylston, MA, where he oversees the horticulture and horticulture outreach staff and serves as chair of the garden’s sustainability committee. Prior to joining the staff at Tower Hill, Mark served as Botanic Garden Director for Native Plant Trust, where he oversaw Garden in the Woods and Nasami Farm native plant nursery. He has a passion for ecological horticulture and native plants and is co-author of Native Plants for New England Gardens (Globe Pequot, 2018).

    Copyright: c Mary Kocol

  • New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill – New Name, New Garden

    You probably know this by now, but Tower Hill Botanic Garden is now New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill. The press release says :

    “Our new name is not about redefining who we are as a horticultural society and a Garden but embracing who we have become and opening up the possibilities to be more. Our members, visitors, and supporters have long cherished us as a beautiful place, a horticultural resource, and a place for recreation and rejuvenation. Now it is time to extend those opportunities to the whole region. In honor of our history and the fact that our Garden opened in 1986 on Tower Hill Farm in Boylston, we have kept “Tower Hill” as part of the name. As New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, we want to keep delivering our mission: to create experiences with plants that inspire people and improve the world.” The new logo, an apple blossom in an arch, represents the historic apple orchard, a signature plant collection at the Garden. And the arch in the logo celebrates the beautiful arches that you can find around our Garden throughout its architectural features.

  • Sunday, May 15, 9:30 am – 11:30 am – Wildflower Field Study

    May is the perfect time to explore our local habitats for wildflowers. This field study throughout the gardens of Tower Hill will explore the great variety of spring blooming wildflowers in the property’s woods, wetlands, and meadows. The class will focus on each plant’s key identification features of flower, leaf, and stem, and note the particular habitats in which they grow.

    Ted Elliman has been engaged in plant conservation in the northeast for over forty years. As a plant ecologist at the Native Plant Trust in Framingham, Massachusetts, he conducted botanical inventories, natural community surveys, and invasive species control programs. Ted also worked as a contract ecologist for the National Park Service. He is the author of Wildflowers of New England and co-author of Grasses, Sedges, Rushes: An Identification Guide.

    $35 Member Adult; $50 Adult (Registration includes admission to the Garden) Register HERE.

  • Friday, April 29, 10:30 am – 1:00 pm – Celebrate & Explore the Growth of Trees on Arbor Day

    Have you been yearning to know more about trees? Arbor Day is the perfect time to learn about them. No single view of a tree is a fixed snapshot in time that tells the complete story. Join Michael Wojtech (one of the Garden Club of the Back Bay’s speakers this season) on April 29 at The New England Botanical Garden at Tower Hill in Boylston and discover how trees grow, reproduce, and interact with their environment across days, weeks, seasons, and years and over varying scales—from the intricate details of buds, flowers, and leaves that we use for species identification to the collaborative roles of trees in ecosystems. Learn more about the function and experience the beauty of overwintering buds, lobed or toothed leaves, flowers by the thousands, seeds that fly on the wind, and more.

    Michael Wojtech is the author of Bark: A Field Guide to Trees of the Northeast. As a naturalist and educator, Michael strives to share the science and wonder of trees in an accessible and compelling fashion. He writes, photographs, illustrates, and presents programs about the structure, growth processes, and ecology of trees-including their bark, buds, leaves, roots, and wood-for audiences at all levels of experience. He is especially interested in the process of discovery and engagement, and draws his greatest inspiration from sharing the sense of wonder, awe, and the recognition of beauty that result from these investigations.

    $60 Member Adult; $75 Adult (Registration includes admission to the Garden) Register at www.nebg.org.