Boston Flora

Tag: wellesley college

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Friday, April 1, 7:00 pm, and Saturday, April 2, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm – Edible Ecosystem Weekend

    Get your hands dirty as you help implement Wellesley College Botanic Gardens’ Edible Ecosystem Demonstration Garden, located on the slope below Whitin Observatory.  This landscape, designed by permaculture experts Dave Jacke and Keith Zaltzberg with the assistance of several Wellesley students, mimics the forest in structure and function while providing diverse yields of food, habitat, and research opportunities.  Begin with an introductory talk Friday evening on the theory behind “edible ecosystems.”  Then join us for as much of Saturday as you can, immersed in a mix of hands-on learning and formal presentations on the design process, land management strategies, and ecosystem design.  Gain valuable experience as part of a work team planting baby trees, transplanting and propagating existing vegetation, and laying down the largest week-suppressing sheet-mulch the town of Wellesley has ever seen.  Workshop participants should dress for a day of work in the garden.  Long pants and sturdy, close-toed shoes are required.  Plan to bring a hat, work gloves, you own tools (label them, please), sunscreen, bug repellent, lunch, water and snacks.  Introductory talk: $10 Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture members, $15 non-members.  Workshop: $60 Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture members, $75 non-members.  Pre-registration required – call 781-283-3094, or email horticulture@wellesley.edu.

  • Monday, March 21, 10:30 am – 12:00 noon – Water: When is Enough Not Enough?

    Massachusetts is blessed with relatively abundant precipitation (an average of 45 inches each year) leading many residents to the erroneous belief that there’s plenty of “surplus” water available for human consumption at any time and for any purpose. Russ Cohen of the Mass. Department of Ecological Restoration clues us in to why our water resources can at times be insufficient to support our aquatic ecosystem, how human activities – both historically and today – adversely affected our river and stream systems, and what potential solutions are available to mitigate these impacts.  This event on Monday, March 21, the March meeting of The Garden Club of the Back Bay, is co-sponsored by the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, the Boston Junior League Garden Club, the New England Wild Flower Society, and the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture.  Garden Club members will receive a written notice of this meeting, along with car pool information to the Wellesley College Botanic Garden, where the event will take place.  The meeting, however, is also open to the public for a small fee ($10 if a member of the Arnold Arboretum, NEWFS or WCFH, $15 if a non-member). Registration may be accomplished at http://www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

  • Tuesday, March 22 – Thursday, March 24, 9:30 am – 4:30 pm – A Year in the Life of a Tree

    Join botanical illustrator Wendy Hollender for this intensive workshop that follows a tree through all its stages over the course of a year. The 3 days in March will jump start your tree study and give you the tools to work independently over the growing season. While there are different stages in different trees, Wendy will survey identifying markers – even those which require microscopic observation. After choosing your favorite tree to follow, you will create a sketchbook illustrating characteristics found on woody plants during the four seasons as preparation for a finished botanical painting in your specialty medium – watercolor, oil, colored pencil, or graphite. Between seminar sessions, Wendy will be available via distance learning to advise you on the development of your tree study and paintings. Prior drawing and painting or colored pencil experience required. The class, at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden, will take place Tuesday, March 22 – Thursday, March 24 (with an all important snow date of Friday, March 25), from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm. Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture fee is $525, non-members $650. Register at www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.  Illustration from www.ediblegeography.com.

  • Monday, February 14, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – New York Garden Spaces

    Explore the green side of the Big Apple in this illustrated lecture with garden designer and WCFH docent Maureen Bovet.  Maureen was born and raised in New York City and her passion for gardening began there.  She will be your guide to the traditional (New York Botanical Gardens, below) and modern places where New Yorkers and visitors enjoy the great outdoors.  The history and horticulture of these parks are illustrated by beautiful images from her collection.  This February 14 program begins with tea at 2, followed by the lecture at 2:30 in the Visitors Center of the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens. $10 for WCFH members, $15 for non-members.  To sign up, log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

  • Monday, January 10, 2:00 pm – 4:00 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.  Wellesley College Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Heather Mattila studies the social organization of honey bees, and 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 that the end result of their interactions is a healthy and productive colony.  The program, on Monday, January 10, will begin with tea at 2 pm, followed by the lecture at 2:30.  $10 for WCFH members, $15 for non-members.  Register at www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

  • Thursday, October 28, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Conifers for Gardens

    Conifers are usually thought of as plain green blobs used to hide the foundations of homes or occasionally grown as solitary pyramidal accents in an expanse of grass.  This lavishly illustrated talk with conifer enthusiast Dr. Richard L. Bitner will introduce the great diversity of shapes, textures and colors in this plant group and promote integrating conifers in the landscape with other woody and herbaceous plants, rather than isolating them.  Slow-growing selections for small gardens along with the best choices for larger landscapes will be presented as well as suggestions for difficult sites.  The goal is to help the beginning or avid gardener, landscape designer, nursery tradesperson or horticulture student make better plant choices.

    Dr. Bitner is a practicing board-certified anesthesiologist and currently teaches at the Penn State School of Medicine/Hershey Medical Center.  He studied horticulture at Longwood Gardens where he now teaches.  His best selling book, Conifers for Gardens: An Illustrated Encyclopedia was published by Timber Press in 2007 and his Timber Press Pocket Guide to Conifers was issued in June, 2010.  A book on designing with conifers will be published in April, 2011.  This program is offered in collaboration with Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture.  Members of either organization will pay $25, non-members $30.  Log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH to register.

  • Saturday, October 30, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm – Conifer ID with Richard Bitner

    Do you know the differences between pines, firs, and spruces?  How about arborvitae, junipers, cedars, and false-cedars?  Some of these are easily distinguishable, while others require close observation of needle patterns and a deeper understanding of reproductive structures.  By the end of this session with Dr. Richard L. Bitner, you will have a clearer understanding of conifers.  Dress in layers so that you are comfortable both in the classroom as well outdoors among the Arnold Arboretum’s outstanding conifer collection.  The lecture/tour will be held Saturday, October 30, from 9 – 2, and will begin in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum.  The fee ($70 for members of the Arboretum or the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture, $80 for non-members) includes a copy of Dr. Bitner’s book Timber Press Pocket Guide to Conifers. Register at www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

  • Saturday, October 9, 9:30 am – 3:30 pm – Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East

    For gardeners of all levels, this program, taking place Saturday, October 9 from 9:30 am – 3:30 pm in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, provides a comprehensive foundation for garden design using regionally native plants.  Carolyn Summers will present topics including wildlife benefits, sustainable design and maintenance, and strategies for “safe sex in the garden” to reduce the spread of non-native invasive plants.  Participants will learn how to apply basic ecological and design principles in all their gardening endeavors.

    Carolyn Summers is the author of the recently published Designing Gardens with the Flora of the American East and is an adjunct professor for continuing education at Westchester Community College.  She provides technical assistance to the Native Plant Center, an affiliate of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.  Please bring your own lunch.  A book sale and author signing will follow the class.  This program is offered by the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, the New England Wild Flower Society, and the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture.  $60 for members of one of the affiliated sponsors, or $70 for non-members.  You may register at www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.