Boston Flora

Tag: wellesley college

  • Tuesday, October 15, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – A Living Laboratory Tour

    The Wellesley College Botanic Gardens have some exciting new research gardens that are engaging students in multiple ways.  On Tuesday, October 15, from 1 – 3, journey along with Kristina Jones, Director of the Botanic Gardens, and explore through the eyes of an ecologist the Creighton Educational Garden, the green roof planted with native species, the Climate Change Monitoring Garden, and the in-progress Edible Ecosystem Teaching Garden, all within a short walk from the starting point at the Greenhouse Visitor Center.  The tour is offered in collaboration with New England Wild Flower Society and Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens.  WCBG members $24, non-members $28.  Sign up at www.wellesley.edu/wcbgfriends, or call 781-283-3094.

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  • Wednesday, July 24, 9:30 am – 2:30 pm – Multi-Media Color Explosion

    Using different media including colored pencils, watercolors, and collage, the Wellesley College Botanic Garden will help you understand how color works.  Carol Govan instructs on matching the local color and making objects look three dimensional.  With just a few colors, play with highlights and shadows on those objects.  Understand how using the same principles with different media will affect your image.  The class, held on Wednesday, July 24 from 9:30 – 2:30 at the WCBG Visitor Center, is $60 for WCBG members, $75 for nonmembers.  Register on line at www.wellesley.edu/wcbgfriends.  Image from makingamark.blogspot.com.

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  • Thursday, June 27, 8:00 am – 6:30 pm – The Gardens of Westport

    Take a day trip with the  Friends of the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens on Thursday, June 27, from 8 am – 6:30 pm.  Travel by car south to special garden spots in and around Westport, Massachusetts, including a farm tour and lunch with Eva Sommaripa, Wellesley College ’63, and Didi Emmons, author of Wild Flavors: One Chef’s Transformative Year Cooking from Eva’s Farm, a book about Eva’s Garden, Eva, her way of life, her plants, and how to cook with them.  You will learn about the little known herbs Boston and New York chefs are discovering, as well as coveted and cultivated weeds, greens, and edible flowers. The book will be available for sale and signing at $30 a copy.  After lunch visit Westport River Winery in Westport, Massachusetts, owned and operated by the Russell Family.  These fourth generation vintners are best known for their extraordinary sparkling wines and white varietals.  You will have a short tour and tasting to learn about this special location for growing grapes and making award-winning wines.  Finish the day at a local private garden with lemonade and cookies before journeying back to Wellesley.For more details contact 781-283-3094, or email wcbgfriends@wellesley.edu.  Friends price $50, public $65.

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  • Saturday, May 11, 4:30 pm – 7:00 pm – Wellesley College Photo Walk

    Grab your camera and join the Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens on Saturday, May 11, to experience one of the most beautiful college campuses in the US, with the late afternoon light striking the landscape, a favorite time for photographers.  After a brief orientation meeting, set out with Dennis Ditto and David Kahn on a tour of their favorite spots for photography, where you’ll have time to compose shots of the spring beauty.  Learn tips for good composition and try techniques to achieve sharp close-ups and stunning vistas.  With two knowledgeable photographers at hand, you will quickly discover how to make the most out of your camera.  Bring your camera with the owner’s manual (if you can find it) and any accessories you wish, and a good working knowledge of your camera.  Tripods are useful but not essential.  There are stairs, hills, and uneven paths, so wheeled equipment carriers are discouraged.  Rain date May 18.  Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens members pay $30, non-membrs $38.  Visit www.wellesley.edu/wcbgfriends to register.

  • Challenge Grant – Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens Botany Fellow

    The Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens are excited to announce a challenge pledge: a generous donor will match every contribution towards a Botany Fellow through the Center for the Environment, doubling the impact of your gift.  If the Friends can raise $160,000 by May 1, they will be able to hire a Botany Fellow, with a focus on sustainable agriculture, possibly as soon as this fall.  Gifts should be made out to Wellesley College, with an indication that they are for the Center for the Environment fund.  You may also follow the directions at www.wellesley.edu/wcbgfriends and make a gift online: in step 2 click on the box to the left of “I would like to direct my gift to the following area(s)” and under “Other Designation” enter “Center for the Environment Fund.”  For more information please call Kristina Jones at 781-283-3027.

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  • Monday, March 18, 1:30 pm – Garden as Community

    Looking for a way to get a bigger bang from your garden, be it a small or large space?  Struggle no more.  Follow nature’s lead by combining plants into guilds – diverse assemblages of plants growing in healthy, self-sufficient communities in nature.  Wellesley College Botanic Gardens Director Kristina Jones will explore the functions and interrelationships of organisms in natural plant communities, and how they can be applied to our gardens.  A primary example will be the Edible Ecosystem Teaching Garden at Wellesley College, where the understory communities are designed to support the needs of focal fruit and nut trees.  Following the lecture, if the weather cooperates, join us for a late winter tour of the Edible Ecosystem Teaching Garden and a spot of tea.  Offered in collaboration with Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, Boston Junior League Garden Club, New England Wild Flower Society, and Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens.  Members $10, non-members $15.

  • Wednesday, March 6, 10:00 am – New York Garden Spaces

    Maureen Bovet presents the green side of the Big Apple to The Garden Club of the Back Bay on Wednesday, March 6, beginning at 10 am at The College Club, 44 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. This photo show explores the wonderful public parks of New York City. Maureen was born and raised in NYC and her passion for gardening began there. She offers a unique view of the green spaces available to be enjoyed by natives and visitors alike. The history and the horticulture of these parks are illustrated by beautiful slides from her collection. Included are Wave Hill, the garden at The Cloisters, Olmsted-designed Central Park, with its 70-year-old Conservatory Garden, the new High Line Park modeled on a Paris railroad bed reuse, The New York Botanical Garden, and Battery Park at the tip of Manhattan looking out at the Statue of Liberty. She will discuss garden design and plant cultivation along with the fascinating history of these parks. Maureen is a Museum Associate at the MFA on the Flower Team, a graduate of Wellesley College, and a former student at the Arnold Arboretum Landscape Institute and the UMass Green School.  An optional lunch ($20) will follow the presentation.  Free to GCBB and College Club members, $5 contribution requested from nonmembers.  If you wish to attend, please email info@bostonflora.com to put your name on the list.

  • Tuesday, January 15, 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm – The Value of Fire as a Land Management Tool

    Prescribed burning can be used to maintain scenic and cultural landscapes, improve forest timber production, benefit wildlife habitat, maintain rare and threatened natural communities, and reduce the threat of wildfire by removing fuels. Joel Carlson will explain what prescribed fire is, why it is used, how it is implemented safely, and considerations that property managers and owners should take into account when exploring prescribed fire as a possible management tool, on Tuesday, January 15 from 1 – 3:30 at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

    Though wildlife fire is commonly viewed as a threat to life and property, prescribed burning is a fire ignited, having a written prescribed fire plan, and meeting regulatory requirements. When properly managed, fire can rejuvenate open areas to create lush and healthy grasslands and provide beneficial habitat value to many open-land wildlife species. Burning also retards the growth of brush and trees, which can overtake open areas and crowd out some animal and plant species. $20 for members of the Ecological Landscaping Association and Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture. To register, call 617-436-5838, or email ela.info@comcast.net.

  • Monday, January 21, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Black Belt Plants

    Once a month, the Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens host a free program for families to discover, through art, culture and science, just how fantastic plants can be. Drop in any time between 1 – 4.  On Monday, January 21, meet some plants that are very good at self-defense!  Figure out why a plant needs to defend itself, and discover all the pointy, nasty, sneaky ways that plants use to get the better of animals.  For more information, call 781-283-3094, or visit www.wellesley,edu/wcbgfriends.

  • Sunday, December 30, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Party Plants

    Once a month, the Friends of Wellesley College Botanic Gardens host a free program for families to discover, through art, culture and science, just how fantastic plants can be. Drop in any time between 1 – 4.  Just think of all the holidays that wouldn’t be the same without some special plant!  On Sunday, December 30, the Friends will take a trip around the world and the calendar to see what plants are important in the celebrations of many cultures.  For directions, or more information, visit www.wellesley.edu/wcbgfriends, or call 781-283-3094.