Boston Flora

Tag: WPA

  • Through April 30 – Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New York City Parks

    The Main Gallery of the Art Institute of Boston, 700 Beacon Street, Boston,  is honored to present this historic exhibition of photographs by Joel Meyerowitz entitled Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New York City Parks,  organized by Aperture, presenting large format color photographs by master photographer Joel Meyerowitz, the first photographer to document New York City’s parks since the 1930s, when they were photographed as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s WPA program.

    In this stunningly beautiful exhibition the viewer discovers the hidden pockets of wilderness that still exist within the urban environs of New York City. Meyerowitz received this unique commission from the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to document, interpret, and celebrate one of New York City’s greatest legacies: the nearly 9,000 acres of parks in the five boroughs that have been left or returned to their most natural state. The images in this book are drawn from the thousands that make up the HP Archive of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

    In creating this work, Meyerowitz has drawn upon his childhood memories of a New York with “green space—open and wild, alive with rabbits, migratory birds, snakes, frogs, and the occasional skunk… [That] gave me my first sense of the natural world, its temperament and its seasons, its unpredictability, and its mystery.”

    JOEL MEYEROWITZ (born in New York, 1938) is an award-winning photographer whose work has appeared in over 350 international exhibitions. He is a two-time Guggenheim fellow, a recipient of both NEA and NEH awards, as well as a recipient of the Deutscher Fotobuchpreis. He has published over fifteen books, including  Aftermath: The World Trade Center Archive (2006). He lives in New York and is represented by Edwynn Houk Gallery. For more information call 617-585-6676, or email Andrew Mroczek at amroczek@aiboston.edu.

  • Saturday, September 26, 10 – 4 – Boston Area Open Day

    Visit two private gardens, one in Carlisle, one in Lexington, with the Garden Conservancy.  For more information, and to purchase tickets, log on to www.gardenconservancy.org.

    Gardens at Clock Barn – Home of Maureen and Mike Ruettgers, 453 Bedford Road, Carlisle

    The Gardens at Clock Barn have been created by the Ruettgers over the last thirty years. The house and drying barn date back to 1790. As you enter the gardens through an arched gate, you walk by the old barn which has trays filled with herbs and flowers from the cutting garden beyond. These trays were built in the late 1930s as a Works Progress Administration project for the drying of digitalis leaves for medicinal use. A grape arbor leads into a walled garden with four quadrants anchored by antique roses and mixed borders with sweeps of foxgloves, Salvia viridis, and nepeta intertwined with salad greens and edible herbs. A second tier is flanked by two reflecting pools fringed by Allium senescens montanum and an herbal tapestry design mirrored on each side. A greenhouse and potting area houses a collection of more than forty varieties of scented geraniums on one side and pots of kaffir limes, Meyer lemons, figs, bay, and rosemary on the other. Exiting the glass house, a canopy of 100-year-old oaks provides shade for paths that wind through a series of woodland gardens and past a small pond and water feature bordered by hakonechloa. Hosta divisions from the garden of Francis Williams anchor the first shade garden. Favorite plantings in these gardens include anemones, epimediums, Kirengeshoma palmata, Jeffersonia dubia, and shade-loving peonies. The path widens as you exit the gardens through a hornbeam arch to finish the tour below the face of The Clock Barn.

    Anne Kubik and Michael Krupka, 7 Bennington Road, Lexington

    This steeply sloped site has been terraced with a series of fieldstone walls to create a variety of outdoor rooms that complement the spaces closer to the house. Reclaimed granite, Massachusetts fieldstone, bluestone and dimensional granite, along with brick and clay tile, have all been used to create a unique character for each space. The surrounding conservation land drew the owners to the site and as a result, the planting concept for the property has purposely relied heavily on native plants. Favorite spaces include the espaliered apples in the kitchen garden, the beech hedge around the pool garden, and the columnar trees and bamboos around the central stairway. The perennials are loosely arranged in billowing masses with many varieties blooming in late summer and early fall when the garden is in full use. An exuberant display of tropicals and annuals in an assortment of clay containers bloom throughout the season and peak in late summer and early fall.