Boston Flora

Tag: Uli Lorimer

  • Friday, December 4, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm – ELA Virtual Ecological Plant Conference

    Friday, December 4, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm – ELA Virtual Ecological Plant Conference

    As greenery unfurls in spring, our deep relationship with nature renews us and lifts our spirits. But this spring with COVID threats and uncertainties, reconnecting with nature took on more significance than ever.

    On the most basic level, plants nurture our bodies and souls. Our relationship with plants, however, is more complex than simply food and survival. For millennia, plant-based medicines have been used for healing and time spent in the forest or garden has been recognized for its ability to reduce stress while improving health and well-being.

    On December 4th, The Ecological Landscape Alliance invites you to spend a day reconnecting with familiar plants, learning about new plant options, exploring garden insects, and reconsidering our relationship to plants. Five experts will invite us to examine different attributes, uses, and values of plants and the insects that inhabit our gardens.

    Innovative tools and interactive collaborations will ensure that this online conference provides participants with an engaging and inspiring experience. Dan Jaffe Wilder will speak on How To Grow Food Anywhere, Nadia Ruffin will present Garden Insects: Good Bug? Bad Bug? Who’s Who and What Do They Do?, Uli Lorimer will discuss Native Species, Hybrids, Selections and Cultivars, Abra Lee’s lecture is entitled Power to the Trees, and finally, Rebecca McMackin presents Pollinator Ecology. Full descriptions and biographies, and registration links, are found at https://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/ela-ecological-plant-conference-2020/ $139 for nonmembers.

  • Wednesday, October 28, 9:30 am – 4:30 pm – 2020 Season’s End Summit: Online

    As The Ecological Landscape Alliance approaches the end of the 2020 landscape season, we reflect upon many highs and lows. The intense weather events of record heat/drought/floods, a worldwide pandemic, and the long-overdue scrutiny of social injustice could not deter the one dependable constant, the tenacity of nature to carry on. While quarantining and isolating this spring, it was the re-greening of the landscape around us that brightened our days and gave us reason to hope. As the growing season progressed and plants and wildlife went through their life cycles, landscape professionals and home owners focused on the landscape with a greater sense of purpose than any prior season.

    As landcare professionals, we may not have the tools to heal our medical or societal ills, but we can focus on healing the earth that we are stewarding, one landscape at a time. Join us for this year’s Season’s End Summit for refreshing perspectives and inspiring discussions of the healing landscape tools that empower us to find  solutions as we look ahead to future seasons of stewardship.

    Neil Diboll will discuss Genetic Diversity: Critical in a Changing Climate, as well as The American Garden – A Life or Death Situation. Uli Lorimer speaks on More than Pollinator Friendly, and Heather Heimark’s topic is Retooling the Role of the Landscape Designer. Complete descriptions and biographies of the speakers can be found at https://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/2020-seasons-end-summit/

    Early registration discount through 9/28/20.
    Use coupon code: early-summit at checkout.

  • Friday, November 15, 12:00 noon – 2:00 pm – Plant Adaptations

    Have you ever wondered why plants look the way they do? Every feature of the plant is a result of an adaptation designed to afford reproductive, environmental or cultural success. This November 15 class co-sponsored by The Native Plant Trust and the Ecological Landscape Alliance will explore the myriad ways plants have adapted to different habitats, soil types, pollination and dispersal schemes. You will not look at plants the same way again. The session will take place at Garden in the Woods. 180 Hemenway Road in Framingham, and is $30 for sponsor members, $36 for the general public. Uli Lorimer, Director of Horticulture at The Native Plant Trust, will lead the class. Register at https://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/class-plant-adaptations/

  • Uli Lorimer Named Director of Horticulture by the New England Wild Flower Society

    New England Wild Flower Society, a national leader in native plant conservation, horticulture, and education, has named Uli Lorimer as its new Director of Horticulture. Lorimer is currently curator of the Native Flora Garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden and will begin his new role in March. He will oversee both Garden in the Woods, the Society’s botanic garden in Framingham, and Nasami Farm in western Massachusetts, a nursery focused on propagation of and research about New England native plants.

    “We are excited to welcome Uli to the staff as we launch ambitious initiatives at the Garden and in horticultural research,” says Debbi Edelstein, Executive Director of the Society. “Uli’s passion for native plants and ecological landscaping, plus his commitment to outreach and education, make him an ideal person to lead our horticulture team.”
    The Delaware native grew up with an interest in all things green, and since 2005 has held the position of curator of the Native Flora Garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. During his tenure at BBG, Lorimer not only tended the original 108-year- old Native Flora Garden but was also instrumental in the creation of a new extension of the garden, which features a native coastal plain meadow and pine barrens. He also worked closely with botanists throughout the region to collect seed from the wild, propagated new plants for the collection, and documented and studied the region’s biodiversity. Lorimer is a popular teacher and public speaker and is also a contributing author and photographer for several BBG publications, including Community Gardening, Healthy Soils for Sustainable Gardens, Tough Natives for Tough Places, A Native Plant Reader, Easy Compost, and Edible Gardens. Lorimer holds degrees from the University of Delaware in Landscape Horticulture and Foreign Languages and Literature. Fabulous photo below by the incomparable Ken Druse.

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  • Wednesday, March 7, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Lessons Learned When Field Botany Meets Design

    Grow Native Massachusetts presents a free talk on Wednesday, March 7 at 7 pm at the Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, by Uli Lorimer, Curator of the Native Flora Garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

    Ecologically attuned designers are increasingly looking to nature for inspiration in the design of managed landscapes. But connecting field botany to horticulture is complex, and insights gained from observations in the wild don’t always translate directly into a cultivated garden.

    Uli will use the recently expanded native flora garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, a cultivated pine barrens and coastal plain grassland, as a case study sharing lessons learned along the way as the project evolved from a concept into a dynamic, living landscape. Good design allows for change and succession to occur, and flexibility in design intent is a valuable strategy because things do not always work out as planned.

    Uli Lorimer has been the Curator of Native Flora at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Garden for over a decade. He was instrumental in the expansion of the Garden’s native plant collection, using only material sourced from the wild and grown from seed. As Field Chair at BBG, he coordinates fieldwork with regional botanists and leads botanical expeditions for naturalists and horticulturists. Co-sponsored by Mount Auburn Cemetery. For more information visit http://grownativemass.org.  Image from www.kendruse.com.

  • Saturday, April 19, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm – Northern Gardening Symposium

    Three dynamic speakers will explore natural gardening practices, landscaping with native plants, and the use of native plants to promote healthy living for generations to come, at the Northern Gardening Symposium to be held Saturday, April 19, from 9 – 3 at Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center, Vermont.

    You will hear Miriam Goldberger, founder and co-owner of Wildflower Farm, speak on Taming Wildflowers: From Seed to Vase, A Celebration, Guide, and Users’ Manual. The book Taming Wildflowers: Bringing the Beauty and Splendor of Nature’s Blooms into Your Own Backyard is a seductive celebration of wildflowers featuring lush photos from the author’s one-hundred-acre flower farm. Both practical and inspirational, this lively workshop teaches attendees how to grow hardy perennial wildflowers from seed, identify wildflower seedlings, incorporate wildflowers into gardens, garden to support pollinators, and harvest flowers.

    Dan Jaffe, Propagator and Stock Bed Grower for New England Wild Flower Society, will present Design-less Gardening: A Naturalistic Approach. Disregard traditional design rules and adopt a new approach to garden design. Look to nature for your inspiration. What clues can you take from your landscape to help you provide the right plant for the right place? Learn to evaluate sunlight, moisture, soil, and other factors to create a successful garden that does not require many inputs in the way of watering, fertilizing, or extra coddling on your part. Learn to create a low-maintenance garden that actively supports the environment and provides beauty for both people and pollinators.

    Finally, Uli Lorimer, Curator of the Native Flora Garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, explains how the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Expands its Native Plant Collection. Uli Lorimer explains how Brooklyn Botanic Garden has expanded its century-old native plant collection to serve important conservation and educational goals. The expansion sets a new benchmark for native plant displays. As the tree canopy has matured over the last one hundred years, sun-loving communities such as grasslands, serpentine and pine barren plants have suffered. The expansion reintroduces these plant communities with strict parameters. 150 new species have been added to the collection with nearly 30 species of conservation concern.

    The event fee is $47 for New England Wild Flower Society members, $53 for nonmembers. Cosponsors: The Fells, Hardy Plant Club, Friends of the Hort Farm, Vermont Master Gardeners. To register, call 508-877-7630 x 3303 or email lreed@newenglandwild.org.

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