Boston Flora

Tag: University of Maryland

  • Tuesdays, March 10, 24, April 7, 21, May 5 & 19, 12:00 noon Eastern – Backyard Gardening Zoom Sessions

    The University of Maryland Extension, Agriculture & Food Systems, is sponsoring six free Zoom Backyard Gardening Sessions. Registration is required at https://umd.zoom.us/meeting/register/3NQmoeqqR3SerxhLWLLplA#/registration. On March 10, the sessions begin with an Introduction to Gardening, followed on March 24 with Maximize Your Garden Space, April 7 Gardening for a Changing Environment, April 21 Two Backyard Favorites: Blueberries and Blackberries, May 5 Disease Management in Warm Season Crops, and finally, on May 19, Beekeeping. Once you register you will receive a link via email.

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  • Dr. Lea Johnson Named Director of Conservation at Native Plant Trust

    Native Plant Trust is proud to announce the appointment of Dr. Lea Johnson as Director of Conservation. Dr. Johnson brings extensive experience in community ecology, ecological restoration, and urban ecosystems, blending foundational scientific research with practical applications for sustainable land management and ecological design. Bringing Dr. Johnson on board marks an important step forward as the organization celebrates its 125th anniversary, prepares to accelerate the rate of rare plant monitoring, and expands native plant seed banking and plant production activities.

    Dr. Johnson’s distinguished career highlights her passion for interdisciplinary collaboration aimed at restoring and protecting environments impacted by human activity. Her innovative research spans multiple spatial and temporal scales and has enhanced ecological interventions across diverse US ecosystems, including the Northeast, Southwest, Pacific Northwest, and Mid-Atlantic regions.

    Prior to joining NPT, Dr. Johnson served as Associate Director of Land Stewardship and Ecology at Longwood Gardens. In addition, Dr. Johnson is an affiliate faculty member in the Plant Science Graduate Program at the University of Maryland’s Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture.

  • Monday, August 24, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm – A Virtual Community Conversation: The Power of Public Monuments in a Time of Racial Reckoning

    Black Lives Matter has ignited public conversation about racial equity and justice. Public monuments have become lightning rods as people take issue with the messages some convey about who we are as a nation and a people.

    As calls for the removal of public monuments intensify, what questions should we be asking of ourselves? What impact will today’s decisions have on our national memory, identity, and drive to shape a more just and equitable way forward?

    Join The Friends of the Public Garden on August 24 at 6 pm online for this timely, virtual conversation featuring:

    Renée Ater
    Associate Professor Emerita of American Art at the University of Maryland and Visiting Professor, Brown University.

    David W. Blight
    Sterling Professor of History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University.

    Moderator
    Karen Holmes Ward
    WCVB Director of Public Affairs and Host of “CityLine.”

    Introduction
    Michael Creasey
    Superintendent to General Superintendent
    National Parks of Boston

    Maximum capacity in the Shaw 54th Zoom Room is 500 attendees. Additional guests will be welcome to join us on Facebook Live or via livestream on WCVB/Channel 5’s social media channels.

    Everyone in the Shaw 54th Zoom Room will be entered in a drawing to win a Swag gift from the Partners to Renew the Shaw 54th.

    For more information, and to register, visit www.shaw54thmemorialrestoration.org.

    Sponsored by the Partnership to Renew the Shaw 54th Memorial.

  • Thursday, October 19, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Landscape Options: Focusing on Great Underused Plants

    So many plants – so little space… The options are endless and though some plants have very desirable traits and applications yet, they are rarely used.

    In a live webinar with the Ecological Landscape Alliance on Thursday, October 19 at 7 pm, Darryl Newman from Planters Choice will discuss native cultivars and non-invasive exotic plants that can be used to meet challenging conditions when designing a more formal landscape. He will focus on plants that have great potential but are underused and could, consequently, be phased out of production by suppliers. Picture of spicebush is pictured below. Mr. Newman will also provide tips on installation, establishment and maintenance for these plants.

    Darryl Newman is a principal at Planters’ Choice Nursery, a grower and wholesaler of nursery stock and related goods in Newtown and Watertown, Connecticut. Mr. Newman worked for two prominent Landscape Design/Build firms in the Washington, DC Metro area prior to returning to Connecticut and his roots. He is also the Vice President of the Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Association. He holds a degree in Landscape Management from the University of Maryland. Free for ELA members, $10 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-landscape-options-focusing-great-underused-plants/

  • Saturday, May 16, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Landscapes of the Streetcar Suburb

    This Boston Building Resources workshop on Saturday, May 16, from 10 – 12, will explore a historical overview of designs that were typical of yards and gardens in Boston’s residential neighborhoods in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We will look at the types of paving, fencing, and plantings used from the 1870s through the 1930s, giving you an understanding of period elements for traditional landscapes.

    Carissa Demore is a preservation services manager at Historic New England, managing the organization’s Stewardship Easement Program. She is a graduate of Colorado State University and holds a master’s degree in historic preservation from the University of Maryland. The lecture will take place at 100 Terrace Street in Boston. For more information call 617-442-2262. $40 fee. Register online at http://www.bostonbuildingresources.com/calendar/landscapes-of-the-streetcar-suburb. Image of Dorchester from www.bostonstreetcars.com.

  • Thursday, September 12, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Global Ecology: The History of Humans on the Land

    Erle C. Ellis, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Visiting Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, will speak on Global Ecology: The History of Humans on the Land at the Arnold Arboretum’s Hunnewell Building on Thursday, September 12 beginning at 7 pm. Erle Ellis maps “anthropogenic landscapes” or areas of Earth’s terrestrial surface where humans have directly altered ecological patterns and processes. Such transformations to the land, whether for food, shelter, or otherwise serving the needs of human populations, are primary drivers of global changes in climate, biodiversity and biogeochemistry. Erle will speak of human-induced ecological changes to the Earth System over many millennia and the novel ecosystems thus created, challenging long-held ideas about native ecosystems and what is wild.  Free for Arboretum members, $10 nonmember (Students: call 617-384-5277 to register free). Register on line at https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?DayPlanner=1245&DayPlannerDate=9/12/20131186&DayPlannerDate=4/29/2013&utm_source=September-October+2013+Lectures+and+Classes&utm_campaign=Fall+2013+Classes&utm_medium=email.

    http://www.umbc.edu/NewsEvents/PhotoGal/Ellis/ErleEllisWeb.jpg

  • Thursday, August 1, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Latticework Artists’ Reception

    Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive, Boylston, Massachusetts, will present an exhibit of mixed media and prints of Kim Henry and Susan Jaworski-Stranc entitled “Latticework” from July 31 through September 8, and an artists’ reception will take place Thursday, August 1, from 6 – 7:30 pm.  The reception is free and open to the public. Kim Henry is an artist and environmental scientist from Groton, Massachusetts, who has studied pastels. Her exhibit features mixed-media landscapes created with soft pastels and acrylic paints applied to an under-painting of scraps of mulberry paper. The mulberry papers come in a variety of colors and textures that she uses to capture the depth and fabric of the landscape. Her technique highlights what she loves most in the natural landscape: light and shadow on trees and slopes, lush vegetation and bright flowers, an glimpses of distant hills and secluded gardens. Susan Jaworski-Stranc is an artistic printmaker from Lowell, Massachusetts, who has studied at SUNY Buffalo and the University of Maryland. She also received her Teaching Certificate from the Massachusetts College of Art.  Jaworski-Stranc specializes in the creation of reduction linoleum prints (see below.) Her exhibit will focus on tree forms within an informal landscape. Their unique shapes, linear beauty and textures are what she likes to describe in her block prints. Born from one block of linoleum, her relief prints have the color nuances and rich textural surfaces of an oil painting.  For directions, visit www.towerhillbg.org.

    http://13forest.com/artists/susan_jaworski-stranc/JaworskiStrancGrandDame.jpg

  • Friday, March 5, 7:30 pm – Parks, Plants and People

    The Spring Bulb Show at Smith College (March 6 – March 21, 10 – 4 daily) kicks off on Friday, March 5 at 7:30 pm in the Campus Center Carroll Room with a lecture by Lynden Miller entitled Parks, Plants and People, followed by a reception and booksigning at the Lyman Conservatory, with the Bulb Show illuminated.  Lynden Miller is an outstanding Public Garden Designer of international renown. She is Director of the Conservatory Garden in Central Park, which she rescued and rejuvenated in 1982.  Trained as a painter, Miller brings the artist’s sensibility to her work.  She received a Master’s in Studio Art at the University of Maryland and a BA in the History of Art at Smith College, and studied Horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden.  For 25 years, Lynden Miller has focused on the improvement of parks and gardens throughout New York City.  Believing that beautiful and well maintained public open green space can change city life, she has taken a new approach to public horticulture, creating rich plantings that provide interest year-round.  After 9/11, she secured a gift of a million daffodils, to serve as a living memorial to those who died.  In the spring of 2002 they bloomed to raise the spirits of New Yorkers and beautify parks everywhere.  The Daffodil Project continues with over 3 million daffodils planted.