Boston Flora

Tag: University of Maine

  • Friday, October 3 – Saturday, October 4 – Plant Migration in a Changing Climate

    This fall, New England Botanical Society, along with Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, will be hosting a conference, Plant Migration in a Changing Climate. The conference will be held October 3-4, 2025 at The Gardens in Boothbay, ME. Our featured plenary speakers will be Jesse Bellemare, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at Smith College; Bethany Bradley, Professor of Environmental Conservation at University of Massachusetts Amherst; and Jay Wason, Associate Professor of Forest Ecosystem Physiology at The University of Maine.

    General conference details are below and will be updated as we get closer to the conference. If you are not a NEBS member and are interested in receiving conference updates, including application forms to give an oral presentation or submit a poster, please complete this brief form. Register and Pay here. Standard $100, NEBS member $75, Student $30, NEBS Student Member $15.

  • Saturday, November 16, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm – Regional Impact Award Presentation and Talk

    The Native Plant Trust is pleased that Dr. John Daigle, a tribal member of the Penobscot Indian Nation, professor of Forest Recreation Management, and a program leader for the Parks, Recreation, and Tourism program at the University of Maine, will accept Native Plant Trust’s 2024 Regional Impact Award. The award recognizes individuals or organizations for regionally significant leadership and achievement in conservation, horticulture, or education. Director of Conservation Michael Piantedosi nominated Daigle for his role in the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik, whose mission is to center, protect, and restore the sacred relationship between Wabanaki peoples and ash ecosystems. In Wabanaki culture, brown (aka black) ash (Fraxinus nigra) appears in the creation story and provides an important basket-making material.

    Daigle and his research team collaborate with Wabanaki tribal partners, the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, Brown Ash Task Force, private landowners, and others in order to manage and protect brown ash from destruction by the emerald ash borer. This project exemplifies Daigle’s ongoing efforts to facilitate conversations among individuals who bring unique ways of knowing to a common ecological question.

    Dr. Daigle will deliver a talk following his acceptance of the award. Please join us to celebrate Dr. Daigle and learn more about his research to protect brown ash. The event takes place November 16 at 3:30 in the Commonwealth Salon Community Room, Boston Public Library Main Branch, Boylston Street, Boston. Free, but registration required at https://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/regional-impact-award-presentation-and-talk/

  • Friday, March 1, 7:00 pm Eastern – Building a Community of Interest and Response to an Invasive Species, Live and Online

    On Friday, March 1, the New England Botanical Society will hold its monthly meeting at 7 pm at Harvard University’s Haller Lecture Hall and also live via Zoom. Dr. John Daigle, Professor of Forest Recreation Management, School of Forest Resources, University of Maine in Orono, will speak on Building a Community of Interest and Response to an Invasive Species Threatening Maine’s Ash Trees and Wabanaki Cultural Lifeways. Free. Non-members may register for the meeting access link here.

    For the past 15 years, Dr. John J. Daigle, a citizen member of the Penobscot Nation, has been working on a project mobilizing diverse interests to address potential threats from invasive species in Maine – the case of the Emerald Ash Borer. The research seeks to study and facilitate the ways that Wabanaki, basket-makers, tribes, state and federal foresters, university researchers, landowners and others come together to prevent, detect, and respond to the threat of Emerald Ash Borer. He has published research with co-authors on outreach and education, management, and policy. In 2023, the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik or APCAW was created, offering informative webinars and in-person trainings, as well as a dedicated APCAW website for recorded sessions and other program information.

  • Saturday, November 5, 7:00 pm – Plant Diversity Shows its True Colors

    The next New England Botanical Club meting will be held November 5 at 7 pm Eastern at Harvard University in Haller Lecture Hall, Room 102, Geological Museum, 24 Oxford Street in Cambridge. The door is to the right of Harvard Museum of Natural History entrance. Dr. José Eduardo Meireles, Assistant Professor of Plant Evolution and Systematics, School of Biology and Ecology at University of Maine, will speak on Plant Diversity Shows its True Colors. There is an urgent need to understand the phylogenetic and functional dimensions of plant diversity at global scales. Reflectance spectral data — how leaves reflect light across different wavelengths — is emerging as a phenomenal tool for characterizing plant traits and physiology as well as identifying lineages at different evolutionary scales. He will discuss applications of spectral data in plant biodiversity science, including monitoring biodiversity, estimating traits, and identifying lineages using spectral data. He will also demonstrate how to integrate phylogenetic models and spectra as well as leverage herbarium specimens to rapidly advance our knowledge of phenotypic evolution in plants. Free and open to the public.

  • Wednesday, August 10, 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm – John Hay Estate Summer Speaker Series: Climate Change and How to Fix it

    Join Erich Osterberg, Associate Professor of Earth Science at Dartmouth College, at the John Hay Estate at The Fells, 456 Rt. 103A in Newbury, New Hampshire on August 10 beginning at 4:30 pm for a talk about the impacts of climate change on our New England communities. Erich’s research seeks to understand recent changes in extreme storms and flooding, melting glaciers and sea level rise, warming and wildfires, and climate drivers of Lyme Disease. 

    In this presentation, he’ll clearly summarize the latest scientific understanding of climate change impacts and what they mean for you and your family now and into the future. We’ll also discuss recent progress on slowing climate change and making communities more resilient to its effects, and why he’s still optimistic about his kids’ (and their kids’) future.  Erich has a BA from Middlebury and a PhD from the University of Maine.  Please consider joining us for this timely and engaging presentation with Erich.  

    Meets at the Pavilion.  Members: $10 a person; nonmembers: $15.  Advance registration is required. CLICK HERE to register, or call 603-763-4789 x3 for more information. The John Hay Estate at the Fells sits on 83.5 acres near Lake Sunapee and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a preservation project of The Garden Conservancy.

    Rose Terrace Fountain at the John Hay Estate at The Fells

  • 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, March 12, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Design-less Gardening: A Natural Approach

    Traditional gardening methods can result in lovely landscapes but come with a high price in terms of maintenance. In this March 12 Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts Horticulture Morning , Dan Jaffe invites us to rethink the old rules of gardening so we can spend less time working and more time enjoying our gardens. The class will take place at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 900 Washington Street, Wellesley, beginning at 10 am

    How many inches of bark mulch is needed between plants? Are there alternatives to bark mulch? Should weeds be pulled or are there other management strategies? Is it necessary to clean the garden every fall or are there habitat benefits to skipping some of the cleanup? Some gardening rules make sense; and others do not.

    Join Dan for an exploration of the rules of gardening and learn how to build beautiful, resilient, and ecologically viable gardens without the services of a full-time gardener. Dan Jaffe earned a degree in botany from the University of Maine and an advanced certificate in Native Plant Horticulture and Design from NEWFS (now the Native Plant Trust). After interning at Garden in the Woods, Dan worked for a year as Plant Sales Coordinator at the Garden. Suggested donation: $5 at the door. Rsvp to mistyfloral@yahoo.com

    Image result for Butchart Gardens

  • Friday, March 1, 6:45 pm – Floristic and Climate Change on Mount Desert Island, Maine

    Dr. Nancy M. Eyster-Smith, Associate Professor Emerita, Bentley University, Waltham, Massachusetts, will address the New England Botanical Club on Friday, March 1 at 6:45 pm in the Haller Lecture Hall (Room 102) of the Geological Museum, 24 Oxford Street in Cambridge, on Celebrating Edward Lothrop Rand, NEBC Corresponding Secretary for 25 Years. Additionally, Dr. Caitlin McDonough MacKenzie, Postdoc, Climate Change Institute, University of Maine, Orono, Maine will address Floristic and Climate Change on Mount Desert Island, Maine, from the Champlain Society to Acadia National Park’s Centennial. Free and open to the public. For more information visit http://rhodora.org.

    Image result for Acadia National Park Centennial

  • Tuesday, March 27, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Plants for Pollinators

    From meadows to mountain tops, our natural areas are often touted as the best places for pollinators and wildlife but what about our gardens? Join Dan Jaffe for a crash course on all things alive in the garden. Ecological gardening techniques, strategies for attracting new pollinators to your landscape, and the best native plants for each site will be discussed. The class is sponsored by the Ecological Landscape Alliance and will take place at Garden in the Woods in Framingham on Tuesday, March 27 from 1 – 4. $40 for ELA members, $48 for nonmembers. Register online at https://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/class-plants-pollinators/

    Instructor: Dan Jaffe is the propagator and stock bed grower at New England Wild Flower Society (NEWFS) in Framingham, Massachusetts. He earned a degree in botany from the University of Maine and an advanced certificate in Native Plant Horticulture and Design from NEWFS. After interning at Garden in the Woods, Mr. Jaffe worked for a year as Plant Sales Coordinator at the Garden. In addition to many years of experience in horticulture, he has boundless enthusiasm for native plants.

    Image result for plants for pollinators

  • Monday, November 13, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Groundcovers: Ecological Solutions in Place of Mulch Webinar

    The ecological garden is a richly layered plant community. At the base of the plant layer we find the herbaceous groundcovers plants that help to reduce garden maintenance. Growing in popularity, groundcover plants add beauty from leaf shapes, textures, and colors. As a bonus, they add valuable ecosystem services not offered by mulch alone – including the challenging areas such as the base of trees. Unlike the monotony of mulch, groundcovers offer seasonal interest in both flowers and foliage and many can also provide fruit for humans or wildlife.

    In this webinar, Dan Jaffe will guide us through the process of transforming large areas of mulch into lush groundcover plantings. Dan will discuss native plant options and will provide an overview of plant spacing and techniques for getting the groundcover layer established. Dan Jaffe is the propagator and stock bed grower at New England Wild Flower Society (NEWFS) in Framingham, Massachusetts. He earned a degree in botany from the University of Maine and an advanced certificate in Native Plant Horticulture and Design from NEWFS. After interning at Garden in the Woods, Mr. Jaffe worked for a year as Plant Sales Coordinator at the Garden. Image of tiarella from www.thbfarm.com

    Free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Sign up at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/groundcovers-ecological-solutions-in-place-of-mulch/