Boston Flora

Tag: West Stockbridge

  • Sunday, June 6, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Garden Conservancy Open Day in Berkshire County

    Two  fabulous gardens will be open to the public on Sunday, June 6, from 10 – 4, through The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program.

    Black Barn Farm,  937 Summit Road in Richmond:

    After being greeted by a pair of fantastical bird topiary, guests pass by the new “back door” terrace and its collection of container plantings. (Don’t miss the alligator on top of the Taxus hatfieldii!) Proceed through doors into the privet-hedged spring bulb garden, with its Fritillaria melagris, muscari, and thalia. Gazing balls are placed at face height, which allows you to see yourself in the garden. A stroll down an allée of Wyman crabapples leads you to the Tsuga chinensis-hedged pool garden and shade pavilion. Proceeding west through a fanciful taxus colonnade, enjoy the seventy odd specimen topiary in various stages of development. A pergola of Robinia pseudoacacia, draped with wisteria and under-planted with bulbs, leads you past the boxwood topiary garden and into the formal potager, with its beech hedge and rustic growing frames. Check out the new kitchen garden on the west side of the house, with its bluestone-and steel-raised beds. The garden encompasses approximately three acres.

    Apple Hill, 12 Red Rock Road in West Stockbridge:

    This magical writer’s retreat was once an apple farm, and many old apple trees still grow here. It is a place of quiet trees; a forest of silver birches flows into drifts of orchards, amid the tranquil green of white pines. There is a harmonious unity between the house and its setting. A cobblestone terrace at the back is set with drifts of ferns and blurs the division between indoors and outdoors, as does the wisteria-draped pergola. A harp-shaped grass garden along the driveway leads to the lovely curving rhododendron plantings, and these in turn connect to the long garden, which runs the length of the houses and beyond, set with golden locust trees and mixed plantings — evergreen and deciduous shrubs, roses, irises, peonies, delphiniums, and other perennials. The long garden culminates in a rock garden and a meditation bed that the children call “The Secret Garden”. A series of smaller ponds flows down the hillside to the main pond, which is set about with willows, planted with water lilies, and flanked by a borrowed landscape of blue hills. An arbor walk featuring a fish pool links the house with the writing studios. Woodland beds among the birches are planted with hosta, maidenhair and ostrich fern. Come discover the gardens that Tina Packer has described as “among the most beautiful and inviting I’ve ever seen.”

    For ticketing information, log on to www.gardenconservancy.org and click on to “Open Days.”

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  • Saturday, May 15, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Hardy Primroses for New England Gardens

    With over 425 species of primula growing under every possible condition over the globe, selecting a primrose that will not only survive but will also compliment your garden setting is a challenging task. This illustrated lecture at The Berkshire Botanical Garden, 5 West Stockbridge Road in West Stockbridge,  will introduce you to many of the species, from the tiniest rock garden plants to three foot tall bog dwellers, with emphasis on how to grow some of the best in a New England garden. A walk through the Berkshire Botanical Gardens’ newly developed primrose pathway will provide an example of siting and cultivation in our climate.

    Judith Sellers is a Master Gardener and active member of American Primrose Society and its New England Chapter. Her first primroses, grown from seed in 1974, initiated an addiction which now includes exhibiting at shows and growing and sharing seeds and plants of many Primula species. Her articles have appeared in Horticulture and in the APS Quarterly, Primroses.  $18 Berkshire Botanical Garden member price, $24 non-members.  Register on line at www.berkshirebotanical.org, or call 413-298-3926.  You may also email info@berkshirebotanical.org.

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  • Saturday, January 23, 1:00 – 2:00 pm – The Locavore Way

    Join author Amy Cotler at The Bookloft, 322 Stockbridge Road in Great Barrington, Massachusetts (near the Price Chopper) on Saturday, January 23, beginning at 1 pm, for a book signing of Amy’s new book The Locavore Way,  an event which will include appearances by local food vendors.  Amy will also be signing at the West Stockbridge Library, 21 State Line Road (Route 201) on February 5 at 7 pm, and will be with Slow Food Boston during the first week in May, details to be announced.  For a complete calendar of signing events, log on to www.amycotler.com.

    Amy Cotler brings 3 decades as a culinary professional (AKA food fanatic) and farm to table advocate to her books and other offerings.  A  longtime advocate of seasonal cooking and local eating, she is the founding director of Berkshire Grown, which became an early model for local farm and food advocacy. She consults, teaches and lectures nationally on food and farm to table issues.

    Ms. Cotler worked as the web food forum host for The New York Times and her food articles have been published in periodicals, including Fine Cooking, Kitchen Garden, Cook’s and Orion.  She has written 5 cookbooks, including Fresh from the Farm: The Massachusetts Farm to School Cookbook, a training tool for schools, which was distributed to every school Massachusetts and is now available free on-line.

    Her new book, published in November 2009, brings together her culinary and local food advocacy experience. The Locavore Way, Discover and Enjoy the Pleasures of Locally Grown Foods is a people’s solution to The Omnivore’s Dilemma, a hands-on guide to becoming someone who seeks out and savors local foods.

    A veteran chef and cooking teacher, Ms. Cotler has taught home cooks and professionals at Institute for Culinary Education and Culinary Institute of America, where she also researched and wrote text for their professional cookbook.She has developed close to 1000 recipes, including many for the Joy of Cooking. Her media appearances include The Television Food Network and National Public Radio.

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  • Saturday, December 12, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Bark and Buds

    Participate in this indoor field study to be held at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in West Stockbridge on Saturday, December 12, from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm. Discover the many plants that lend bark, buds, fruit, and structural interest to the garden in fall and winter. Develop or enhance your ability to identify winter trees by twig and bud anatomy, bark features and plant architecture. Students will practice their skills with winter tree dichotomous keys. Participants should have The Illustrated Book of Trees by William Carey Grimm ISBN 0-8117-2220-1. Must be 1983 edition. Dress for limited outdoor fieldwork. Class enrollment is limited. Brad Roeller is Manager of Display Gardens at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y. where he oversees the Institute’s landscaping projects. He lectures for the New York Botanical Garden, Institute of Ecosystem Studies and Berkshire Botanical Garden.  To register, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.  Cost for BBG members is $25, $35 for non-members.

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  • Wednesday, December 2, 1:00 – 3:00 pm – Wreaths from the Wild

    Get ready for the Garden Club of the Back Bay’s annual wreath making week by trekking out to the Berkshire Botanical Garden in West Stockbridge for this hands on workshop on Wednesday, December 2, from 1 – 3 pm.

    Create a beautiful evergreen wreath for the holidays, using the bounty of the fields and forests of the Berkshires. Learn about the natural history of common and not-so-common plants that can be used to create interesting holiday decorations. Consider a wide selection of plant material including: evergreen boughs, berries, seedpods, fern fronds and moss. Construct and take home a simple evergreen wreath. Take it home and the knowledge to create wreaths for holidays to come. Elisabeth Cary is the Director of Education at the Berkshire Botanical Garden and has been collecting plant materials from the wild and creating wreaths for over fifteen years. The cost of this workshop is $40 for BBG members, $45 for non members, and the materials are included in the cost of the class.  Bring pruners and gloves.  To register, or for more information, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.
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  • Saturday, November 7, 10 am – 12 noon – Impressionist in the Garden

    Gardening became a popular pastime in nineteenth-century France when exotic plants began arriving in quantity and rapid advances were made in hybridizing.  At the same time, vast renovations to its boulevards and parks turned Paris into an urban garden. The Impressionist painters recognized and appreciated the new interest in horticulture and hastened to picture it, as this lecture at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in West Stockbridge will show, as a sign of their modernity.  Colta Ives is Curator Emeritus of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York where she has prepared exhibitions on Manet, Degas, Gauguin, Bonnard, and Van Gogh (see catalog cover below).  She has cultivated a woodland garden in Monterey, Massachusetts for more than thirty years and holds an M.S. in Landscape Design from Columbia University.  She is currently designing gardens in the Berkshires, Westchester County, and New York City. The date is Saturday, November 7, from 10 – noon, and the cost for BBG members is $16, non-members $21.  For more information, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.

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  • Saturday, October 24, 9 am – 1 pm and 2 pm – 5 pm – Stone Walls for the Garden and Stone Steps, Pathways and Flatwork

    Two interesting hands on workshops will be held at Berkshire Botanical Garden in West Stockbridge on Saturday, October 24.  Each session may be taken separately, or both may be taken – there is a 10% discount if a student takes both classes.

    The first, Stone Walls for the Garden, begins at 9 am.  This hands-on program will cover the basics of wall building, including: planning and layout, learning to look at stone and demonstrations on cutting and fitting. Various applications for the garden will be considered, with special attention to building a freestanding wall. All questions will be answered. Participants should bring: work gloves and safety glasses; dress for outdoor work. Mark Mendel is the master mason of Monterey Masonry. He apprenticed with Maine stonemasons in the 1960’s and taught at the Haystack School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine. He has built scores of walls, arches, terraces and walks in addition to many fireplaces in both brick and stone. Locally, his work includes the kitchen at Hancock Shaker Village, and Guido’s Marketplace. BBG members $45, non-members $50.

    The second, Stone Steps, Pathways and Flatwork, will begin at 2 pm. Flatwork will be the focus of this workshop: paving with stone and brick for terraces, walkways, paths and garden edging. Watch a demonstration and participate in construction of a stone walkway using a variety of materials including stone and brick. Learn how to evaluate a project and choose the best material. All questions will be answered in this popular workshop. BBG members $45, non-members $50.

    To register, or for more information, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org. Rain date for both sessions is Sunday, October 25.

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  • Saturday, August 8, 10 am – 9:30 pm – 6th Annual Zucchini Festival

    The Town of West Stockbridge will hold its 6th Annual West Stockbridge Zucchini Festival on Saturday, August 8, beginning at 10 in the morning, and running until 9:30 at night.  The location is at the junction of Routes 41 and 102, 1/4 mile west of Exit 1 of the Mass Pike.  Admission is free.  There are activities for kids and adults, including a pet parade, rides and races, a zucchini recipe contest, zucchini decorating, a zucchini weigh off contest, live music and entertainment, games, food booths, and more.  For additional information, call 413-232-0222.

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