Boston Flora

Tag: Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture

  • Friday, August 12 – Sunday, August 14, 9:30 am – 3:30 pm – Bring in the Garden

    The Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture bring Carol Ann Morley to guide you in this three day course at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden, Friday, August 12 through Sunday, August 14, from 9:30 – 3:30 each day.  Discover graphite pencil techniques for sketching more quickly and looking more closely at flower structures.  Sketch the shape and movement of flowers sitting amongst them in the garden.  Then bring your notes and sketches into the studio to render the intricacies of flowering plants with finely detailed tonal studies.  WCFH members $250, non-members $300.  To register, call 781-283-3094, or log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.  Illustration by Diane Cardaci.

  • Tuesday, June 28, 7:30 am – 6:30 pm – On the Road: New Hampshire, From Rocks to Roses

    Take a day trip from Wellesley College with the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture.  Travel by car north to visit Bedrock Gardens in Lee, New Hampshire, pictured below, and other nearby gardens of note, with an optional stop at Fuller Gardens.  The fee ($48 for WCFH members, $60 for non-members) includes lunch.  Contact horticulture@wellesley.edu for more details.

  • Wednesdays, June 29, July 13, August 10, and September 14, and Tuesdays, July 12 and August 9, 9:30 am – 2:30 pm – New England Flora 2011

    The Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture presents a class with Carol Govan, who will help you follow plants through the growing season.  Expand your creative botanical art and illustration skills through the close study of natural plant communities and seasonal changes.  Between meetings, study independently and create accurate illustrations of a local habitat.  Focus on gathering data in the field to understand how to identify plants and render them.  You will draw faster when you understand what is important for identification and the difference between a field sketch and a plant portrait.  Experiment with different media.  The six day course will take place June 29, July 12 and 13, August 9 and 10, and September 14, from 9:30 – 2:30 at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden in Wellesley.  WCFH members $360, non-members $450.  To register, call 781-283-3094, or log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

  • Friday, June 10 – Sunday, June 12, 9:30 am – 3:30 pm – More than Just Pretty Needles: Conifers

    Spend three days, Friday, June 10 – Sunday, June 12 studying conifers with the effervescent plant guru Dick Rauh.  He begins with the architecture and how to look for such things as the differences in the branching patterns, leaf forms, and cones.  Working both outdoors and in the classroom, he shows you how to apply observational and sketching techniques to the broader field of nature-sketching.  Using technical pens (pen and ink) on watercolor paper, learn eye-to-hand rendering for both the entire tree as well as its parts.  Drawing experience required.  The class, at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden in Wellesley, will run from 9:30 – 3:30 each day, and costs $250 for Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture members, and $300 for non-members.  To register, log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH, or call 781-283-3094, ext. 4.  The white pine study below by Betsy Gray Bell is available for purchase at www.fineartamerica.com.

  • Thursdays, June 2, 9 and 16, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – History of Botanical Art Seminar

    Past Garden Club of the Back Bay speaker Carol Govan introduces you to illustrations from a variety of eras and artists who tried to preserve the ephemeral qualities of plants for different reasons, in this three session class at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden on Thursdays, June 2, 9 and 16, from 9:30 – 12:30.  Learn why plant illustrations changed from fanciful copied images to accurate representations from direct observation.  Learn the difference between an herbal, a floral, a florilegia, a botanical monograph, and many other collections of images based on who would use the finished book.  See the many techniques involved in creating original images as well as reproducing them for a larger audience.  A private viewing in Margaret Clapp Library Special Collections highlights the College’s extraordinary world-class collection of rare manuscripts.  Bring a hand lens for looking at samples.  Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture members $100, non-members $125.  To register, log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH, or call 781-283-3094, ext. 4.   Florilegium illustration shown below: And thou, divine LINNAEUS! … from The temple of Flora: or, Garden of nature, being picturesque botanical plates of the New illustration of the sexual system of Linnaeus, by Robert John Thornton, London : Printed for the publisher [i.e., the author], 1799

  • Monday, May 23, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – The Allure of Orchids

    Why do so many people collect and obsess about orchids?  Botanical artist and botanist Carol Govan has been researching and drawing the orchids in the Wellesley College Ferguson Greenhouse collection, and has many images to present: orchids that look like pterodactlys, cow horns, slippers, oxen yokes, and other fabulous shapes and colors.  She has stories to share about orchid mania and the wars among unscrupulous nurseries and plant hunters.  From ecology and botany to literary references and representation in botanical art, Carol will reveal an orchid’s allure.  Come to the Wellesley College Botanic Garden to hear Carol (a popular past Garden Club of the Back Bay speaker) on Monday, May 23, beginning with tea at 2 and the illustrated lecture at 2:30.  $10 for WCFH members, $15 general public. To register, log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

  • Mondays and Wednesdays, June 13, 15, 20, and 22, 9:30 am – 2:30 pm – Roses: An Exercise in Form and Dimension

    Take inspiration for your rose paintings from Redoute and Rory McEwen.  Sarah Roche guides your interpretation of the form and dimension of this most elegant of flowers through a series of basic exercises in drawing and painting.  Learn to decode the complex shape and structure of flowers.  Apply your skills in a watercolor study, portraying the way the petals overlap and curl, the sharp edges of the thorns, and the smooth textures of leaves.  Techniques covered in this class will reinforce your painting skills so that you can add a painting of the rose and other similar complex flower forms to your portfolio.  The four day class will take place Mondays and Wednesdays, June 13, 15, 20 and 22 from 9:30 am – 2:30 pm at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden in Wellesley, and costs $225 for Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture members, and $275 for non-members.  Sign up at www.wellesley.edu/WCFH, or call 781-283-3094, ext. 4.  The image below, by Maria Cecilia Freeman, is part of an  art exhibition entitled “Rose Studies” on view through April 30, 2011 at the Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture at the San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum.

  • Tuesday, May 10, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – The Secret Lives of Honey Bees

    Most people are familiar with the sight of a honey bee forager as she visits flowers in a garden or park, but few people know the rich story of the life of a colony within the darkness of a hive.  Heather Mattila studies the social organization of honey bees at Wellesley College, where her hives lend a lively presence to the arboretum.  Heather will unravel the secret life of honey bees, including the different kinds of bees that are found in hives and the jobs that they do, as well as the means by which honey bees communicate to ensure a healthy and productive colony, in this lecture on Tuesday, May 10, from 7 – 8:30 at the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain.  The program is co-sponsored by the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture.  Members of either sponsoring organization will pay $10, non-members $15.  Register at www.wellesley.edu/WCFH, or call 781-283-3094.  Image from www.treehugger.com.

  • Wednesdays, May 4 – May 25, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – Plant Painting for the Petrified

    In a relaxed atmosphere at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden, Sarah Roche will guide you through the elementary stages of illustrating plants.  Your observational skills grow as you experiment with your first line drawings.  Explore composition and color choices as you enjoy the process of creating botanical art.  Please bring sketch paper, HB, B, 2B pencils and a white plastic eraser to the first class.  WCFH members $125, Non-Members $150.  To register for the four Wednesday classes (May 4 – 25, 9L30 – 12:30), log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH, or call 781-283-3094, ext. 4.  Beautiful line drawing below by Linda Reeves.

  • Monday, April 25, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Champion Natives For Your Garden

    When making plant choices, a responsible gardener needs to consider much more than color and form.  In addition to providing a pleasing landscape, the ideal plant is well behaved – that is, it won’t escape into the natural community – and provides valuable nourishment and habitat for birds, mammals and insects.  Long-time gardener and naturalist Robin Wilkerson looks at the reasons to go native and introduces a choice collection of beautiful indigenous plants.  Be inspired and enhance your appreciation of our native species.  The program, to take place at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden, will be held Monday, April 25, with tea at 2 pm and the lecture beginning at 2:30.  WCFH members $10, non-members $15.  To register, log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.