The Garden Club of the Back Bay

The Environmental Institute at UMass Amherst announces the first of its free Spring Lectures, to be held Tuesday, March 9 at 3:30 pm in the Bernie Dallas Room of the Goodell Building.

Dr. Kerry Emanuel is a Professor of Atmospheric Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has been on the faculty since 1981, after spending three years as a faculty member at UCLA. Professor Emanuel’s research interests focus on tropical meteorology and climate, with a specialty in hurricane physics. His interests also include cumulus convection, and advanced methods of sampling the atmosphere in aid of numerical weather prediction. He is the author or co-author of over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers, and two books, including Divine Wind: The History and Science of Hurricanes, recently released by Oxford University Press and aimed at a general audience, and What We Know about Climate Change, published by the MIT Press.

“Imagine standing at the center of a Roman coliseum that is 20 miles across, with walls that soar 10 miles into the sky, towering walls with cascades of ice crystals falling along its brilliantly white surface. That’s what it’s like to stand in the eye of a hurricane.”

Kerry Emanuel, one of the world’s leading authorities on hurricanes, gives us an engaging account of these awe-inspiring meteorological events, revealing how hurricanes and typhoons have literally altered human history, thwarting military incursions and changing the course of explorations. Offering an account of the physics of the tropical atmosphere, the author explains how such benign climates give rise to the most powerful storms in the world and tells what modern science has learned about them. Interwoven with this scientific account are descriptions of some of the most important hurricanes in history and relevant works of art and literature.  The lecture is free and open to the public.

The Trustees of Reservations announce the beginning of Phase One of the important Castle Hill Grand Allée Landscape Restoration Project. This iconic landscape of a National Historic Landmark will be restored to its original design and splendor, with a sustainable approach.

The Crane Estate’s “Grand Allée” on Castle Hill in Ipswich combines a grand scale with beautiful decorative arts, making it unique in American landscape design. It is the only known landscape masterpiece of its kind still in existence in North America, and one of only a few remaining worldwide. The Allée is one of the largest landscape features created by renowned Boston landscape architect Arthur Shurcliff – best known for his design of Colonial Williamsburg and the Charles River Esplanade – who modeled the dramatic design after the beautiful Italian and French gardens of Renaissance Europe. Since 1949, when the Crane family gave Castle Hill to the Trustees, the Allée has become a beloved and impressive backdrop for open-air concerts, weddings, tours and events, a childrens summer camp, and other recreational activities held year-round on the Crane Estate.

Nearly 100 years after its original installation, the plantings and architectural elements have begun to decline rapidly. The aging trees are prone to damage from harsh weather and storms. In addition, at their mature height, the trees have outgrown Shurcliff’s design and become overcrowded, obscuring his carefully planned views of natural features and the original sculptures bordering the hedgerows. To restore this rare and iconic landscape to its original splendor, The Trustees are embarking on a dynamic, three year, environmentally sustainable renovation project. The restoration will constitute a living laboratory – modeling cutting edge environmental stewardship with the diligent care of a National Historic Landmark.

The Allée restoration project has been created in memory of David Crockett, former member of the Board of Governors, known as the “Impresario of Argilla Road,” on which the Estate is located. For more information, or to volunteer in this endeavor, log on to www.ttor.org, or email rmurray@ttor.org. You may also call Bob Murray at 978-356-4351, x. 4035.

Please be Northeastern University’s guest on February 22 for the screening of “A Chemical Reaction,” an inspiring documentary movie about one of the most powerful and effective community initiatives against chemical pesticides and herbicides in the history of North America.

Started by one lone voice, dermatologist June Irwin noticed a connection between her patients’ health conditions and their exposure to chemical pesticides and herbicides. “A Chemical Reaction” follows her journey of relentless persistence from warning fellow citizens in her small town to an ultimate victory in the Canadian Supreme Court.

A reception at 5:30 will be followed by the screening at 7 pm. Immediately after the movie screening, at approximately 8:15, there will be a Q&A Session with Paul Tukey, who has followed this story closely over several years. After becoming seriously ill with acute pesticide sensitivity from applying chemical lawn products in his own lawn care business, he became an outspoken advocate for alternatives to chemical lawn care and one of the nation’s leading experts on organic lawn care.

The screening will be held at Northeastern’s West Village F20. For more information, and for a campus map, log on to www.cba.neu/Event.aspx?id=5708.

The Harvard Museum of Natural History is home to some of the country’s oldest and most varied collections of taxidermied animals.  Join the Museum staff for a gallery social and talk by author Melissa Milgrom, whose new book, Still Life (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) delves into the colorful world of eccentric naturalists and gifted museum artisans who create the illusion of life through taxidermy.  Free for Museum members, $20 for non-members.  Advance registration is required.  RSVP to members@oeb.harvard.edu, or call 617-496-6972.

Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive, Boylston, Massachusetts, will be the site of the 181st Annual Massachusetts Camellia Society Exhibit and Sale, Saturday & Sunday, February 20th and 21st, from 10 am – 5 pm.  The exhibit will showcase the alluring flowers of Camellia japonica, member of the tea family.  The Massachusetts Camellia Society, one of the oldest plant societies in the United States, will present thousands of gorgeous Camellia flowers at the peak of their display – both on the Camellia trees themselves, part of Tower Hill’s own collection, and also in bowls of floating blossoms from private collections.  This is a perfect way to spend a winter day in the subtropical greenery of the Orangerie.  Enjoy an informative tour with tips on Camellia culture each day of the show.  For more information, log on to www.towerhillbg.org.

The Spice of Life is the theme for the 29th Annual Connecticut Flower & Garden Show, taking place at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, Connecticut beginning Thursday, February 18 through Sunday, February 21.  Hours Thursday through Saturday are 10 am – 8 pm, and on Sunday, 10 am – 6 pm.  Explore over 250 booths overflowing with fresh flowers, plants, herbs, bulbs, seeds and garden accessories plus more.  Stroll through beautifully landscaped, amazing gardens.  Visit the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut design and horticulture competition, and attend over 80 hours of seminars and demonstrations.  All seminars are included with your general admission ticket. Adults $14, Seniors (Thursday and Friday only) $12, Children seven to fourteen $2.  Cash only.  For directions, complete list of seminar speakers, and more information, log on to www.ctflowershow.com.

We’re pleased to inform you of another interesting travel opportunity, this one fairly close to home.

Join wildlife photographer Mark Picard for an exciting, comprehensive three day weekend group photography workshop/tour in and around northern Maine’s Mt. Katahdin region.  During peak viewing in June, July, and October (October dates will be October 1-3 and 8-10), you will travel to one of Maine’s most abundant moose habitats, where you will learn how to photography these magnificent creatures.  Moose country is wild and beautiful, providing photographers with a variety of subjects including other wildlife and breathtaking North Woods landscapes.  You will learn techniques and tricks to capture it all on memory cards or film.  All skill levels welcome. Every aspect of outdoor photography will be discussed in detail, including lighting, composition, animal behavior, proper digital and film camera operations, and more.  rise before sun up each morning to capture moose feeding in the day’s most glorious light.

The three day course starts at 4:00 pm on Fridays and runs through Sundays at noon.  The package price is $850 per person, including two nights lodging, two breakfasts, snacks, two picnic style lunches, two dinners, expert photography instruction, transportation to and from locations during the weekend, lectures, and  handout materials.

For more information on registration, log on to www.markpicard.com.  Class size is limited to 8 participants to insure individual instruction.  You may also call Mark at 207-723-8391, or email him at info@bigmoosecabins.com.

Frances Mayes has always adored houses, and when she saw Bramasole, a neglected, 200 year old Tuscan farmhouse, it was love at first sight.  Out of that instant infatuation have come four marvelous and hugely popular books: Under the Tuscan Sun, Bella Tuscany, In Tuscany, and Bringing Tuscany Home: Sensuous Style From the Heart of Italy.  Her next book, due out in March, 2010, is Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons of an Italian Life, about Tuscan seasons and Mayes’ reflections on her Italian life.  This free talk, taking place Thursday, March 11 in the Rabb Auditorium of the Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston Street in Boston, beginning at 6 pm, is part of the BPL’s Lowell Lecture Series, generously sponsored by the Lowell Institute.  A book sale and author signing will follow the lecture.

The City of Boston will hold two Community Workshops on Climate Action, the first on Tuesday, March 2, from 4:30 – 8:30 pm, at Old South Church, 645 Boylston Street, in the Mary Norton Hall on the Second Floor, and the second on Wednesday, March 10, from 4:40 – 8:30 pm, at the Metcalf Ballroom, George Sherman Union, Boston University, 775 Commonwealth Avenue.  Target neighborhoods under discussion in the March 2 session will be East Boston, Charlestown, South Boston, and in the Downtown area, Chinatown, North Leather District, and the West End. Neighborhoods under discussion on March 10 include Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Kenmore, South End, Allston, Brighton, and the Fenway. Interpretation available on request in American Sign Language, Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish.  You must register in order to ensure a space at this workshop.  You may register online at www.cityofboston.gov/calendar/#/?i=2.

Take photos within inches of your subject.  Discover how to create stunning close-ups of flowers and other plant features in this one-day workshop with photographer David Kahn.  Begin the day with a discussion of equipment, preparation, composition, lighting, tips and tricks, as well as see examples of what can be achieved.  Then practice macro techniques using a variety of settings in the Ferguson Greenhouses and Visitor Center of the Wellesley College Botanic Garden.  This hands-on workshop is ideal for photographers who want to explore their own creative vision as well as artists who want to record small details as a reference for future artwork.

Requirements: a digital camera and a good working knowledge of how to use it.  A more complete list of requirements and options will be available online, at www.wellesley.edu/SCFH.  You may email horticulture@wellesley.edu if your are unsure if your equipment or experience are sufficient.  Course Number DIG 10 101.  Cost: WCFH members $75, non-members $95.  Snow date Friday, March 19.

The Trustees of Reservations will sponsor a lecture by Gordon Hayward on Thursday, February 25, beginning at 6:30 pm, at Long Hill, 572 Essex Street in Beverly.

Gordon Hayward first presented this lecture at The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1995; he has since been refining and presenting this slide illustrated lecture in art museums and garden organizations across the country.

This one-hour lecture is about the visual language shared between painters and garden designers. By juxtaposing a painting and a garden image on the screen, Hayward explores the many levels of similarity between how the painter and garden designer construct their images.

He begins by exploring style: romanticism, expressionism, pattern and decoration… and others. For example, he places Childe Hassam’s In the Garden next to an image from his own garden in Vermont to show what an impressionist passage in a garden looks like.

He next explores many design principles you can put to work in your garden: defining depth, creating foreground/background, how light can be manipulated, the power of focal points, pleasing contrasts, framing, contrasting textures and forms and the many roles of trees in the garden.

He closes with an exploration of color in paintings by Gauguin, Matisse, Bonnard and others, and how you can use paintings to inspire your color combinations in pots and beds.

This is a lecture that enables you, through art, to take a fresh look at your garden from a new perspective.  The lecture is preceded by refreshments, served at 6:30.  Trustees of Reservations members $20, nonmembers $25.  To reserve, call 978-921-1944, x 4018, or email bzschau@ttor.org.  For directions, log on to www.thetrustees.org/longhill.

The February meeting of the Garden Club of the Back Bay will take place Wednesday, February 24, beginning at 10 am, at The College Club, 44 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston.  Dianne Plantamura has been an organic gardener for over 30 years, and shares her training as a Master Gardener in this presentation on the benefits, costs and challenges of gardening organically.  Dianne’s first memory in life was sitting at age 3 or 4 in the warm soil of her grandfather’s truck garden.  Raised on the now celebrated Mediterranean cuisine, she has always been interested in tasty and nutritious food, a synonym for organically raised food.  She will tell us why she considers organic methods crucial for human health and for the well being of the earth.  In addition to her work as a Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Dianne is an officer in the Groveland Garden Club and works as Executive Director of the New England College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.  The meeting is free and open to the public.  An optional vegetarian, organic lunch will follow the meeting at a cost of $20 per person, and pre-registration is essential.  You may sign up by emailing info@gardenclubbackbay.org.

Everyone is invited to Russell’s Garden Center on Saturday, February 27 – Sunday, February 28, from 10 am – 4 pm each day.  Chase the cabin fever blues away and join the staff of Russell’s in the warm tropical greenhouse for a weekend of free demonstrations, lectures, informational booths, food and music, plus the opportunity to win glorious raffle prizes.  Mark your calendars, and check for specific details, as they become available, at www.russellsgardencenter.com.  Russell’s is located at 397 Boston Post Road in Wayland.  Their telephone number is 508-358-2283.  The  Wayland Winter Farmer’s Market will be open there on Saturday as well, from 10 – 1.  Just like a traditional outdoor market, this indoor market provides a wonderful opportunity to meet and support local farmers.

Jack Alexander, Plant Propagator for the Arnold Arboretum, presents a single session class at the Dana Greenhouses in Jamaica Plain on Saturday, March 13, from 9 am – 1 pm.  There’s nothing more satisfying to a gardener than growing plants from seeds. From annuals and perennials to trees and shrubs, success can be achieved if you understand what triggers germination. Expert propagator Jack Alexander will share techniques and tips for starting various types of plants from seeds. This workshop is for beginners and those who have been frustrated in past attempts to transform seed to seedling. Students will leave class with a selection of seeds raring to grow. Aftercare will be necessary. Fee $45 Arnold Arboretum member, $55 nonmember. To register, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

Kennedy’s Country Gardens , at 85 Chief Justice Cushing Highway, Rt. 3A in Scituate, is sponsoring a President’s Day Weekend event featuring free garden related seminars, information, plant sales and specials.  Horticulture groups, including the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, will be available to offer advice.  The event is free.  For more information, call 781-545-1266, or log on to www.kennedyscountrygardens.com.

Mark Harris, former Los Angeles Times environmental columnist and author of Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial, will speak Saturday, February 13, beginning at 1:30 pm, in the Tapestry Room of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 280 The Fenway.  Green cemeteries that take an eco-friendly approach to burials and memorialization are springing up in North America, England, and Europe.  Permitting only chemical-free burials in biodegradable coffins, the new green graveyards allow the speedy decomposition of the body and its return to the natural cycle of life. At the same time, green cemeteries work to preserve land from development and, in the best of schemes, restore it to ecological health. Using archival images of early American cemeteries and recent photographs of green cemeteries here and abroad, Harris examines the history of natural burial, tracing its roots in the rural cemetery movement to current strategies for land preservation.  Tickets are $15 General Public, $12 Seniors, $5 Members of the Museum, and Free for students.  To purchase tickets in advance, or for more information, log on to www.gardnermuseum.org.

The 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) will be held from February 12 – 15th, 2010. The GBBC is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent and in Hawaii.

Each checklist submitted by these “citizen scientists” helps researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society learn more about how the birds are doing—and how to protect them and the environment we share. Last year, participants turned in more than 93,600 checklists online, creating the continent’s largest instantaneous snapshot of bird populations ever recorded.

Anyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from novice bird watchers to experts. Participants count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the event and report their sightings online at www.birdcount.org.

Bird populations are always shifting and changing. For example, 2009 GBBC data highlighted a huge southern invasion of Pine Siskins across much of the eastern United States. Participants counted 279,469 Pine Siskins on 18,528 checklists, as compared to the previous high of 38,977 birds on 4,069 checklists in 2005. Failure of seed crops farther north caused the siskins to move south to find their favorite food.

On the www.birdcount.org website, participants can explore real-time maps and charts that show what others are reporting during the count. The site has tips to help identify birds and special materials for educators. Participants may also enter the GBBC photo contest by uploading images taken during the count. Many images will be featured in the GBBC website’s photo gallery. All participants are entered in a drawing for prizes that include bird feeders, binoculars, books, CDs, and many other great birding products.

For more information about the GBBC, visit www.birdcount.org. Or contact the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at (800) 843-2473 or (outside the U.S., call (607) 254-2473) or GBBC at Cornell University, or Audubon at Citizen Science at the Audubon Society or (202) 861-2242 ext 3050.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is made possible, in part, by generous support from Wild Birds Unlimited.

The American Horticultural Society hosts a trip to Great Britain with AHS host Stephanie Jutila and Tour Escort Antonia Lloyd Owen, May 22 – May 31, 2010.  This is a tour designed for the connoisseur of English gardens who has perhaps already visited the famous great houses and gardens of Derbyshire and Yorkshire, the Cornish coast, or those within easy reach of London.  The little known, but beautiful region of East Anglia (comprising Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Cambridgeshire) has a rich history dating back to pre-Roman times.  It boasts several Viking burial sites, and is famed for its splendid churches and the venerated Cambridge University.  Norfolk and Suffolk, in particular, are memorable for their peaceful landscapes and charming villages, little touched by time, and for the great open skies and magical quality of the light which has inspired countless artists.

Stephanie Jutila, director of member programs and outreach at the American Horticultural Society, invites you to hoin her on this tour.  An anglophile herself, Stephanie studied gardens and horticulture in the UK as a Garden Club of America Martin McLaren Scholar.

This new tour has been created specifically for the AHS by Antonia Lloyd Owen of Specialtours.  A long-time resident of Norfolk, Antonia has ensured access and a warm welcome at a number of enchanting private gardens, many of which are not generally open to visitors.  From historic formal gardens to classic English country house gardens to contemporary gardens with a twist, this tour offers a delightful horticultural journey through East Anglia.

To optimize time spent in gardens, the tour is based at just two hotels.  The four-star Sprowston Manor Hotel near Norwich is a converted 19th century country house that was once the home of the Gurney family, one of the Quaker families who united to create Barclays Bank.  The Swan at Lavenham is a fine old inn dating back to the 15th century.  It is a quintessential English country house hotel, with ancient oak beams and inglenook fireplaces.

The complete itinerary may be found at www.ahs.org.

Bruce Smith’s lecture at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, originally scheduled for February 11, has been rescheduled to Thursday, February 18, beginning at 6 pm at The Harvard Museum of Natural History.  Dr. Smith, Curator of North American Archaeology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, has been stuck in the snow, but will arrive next week to discuss his current research on agricultural origins, and how the story is more complicated than you’d expect.  But perhaps not more complicated than getting out of Reagan International.  Free admission.  For more information, log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu, or call 617-495-3045.  A reception for museum members follows the talk.

Shaun Montminy, New England Carnivorous Plant Society Membership Secretary, will give a presentation of his visit to the Atlanta Botanical Garden and California Carnivores on Saturday, February 13, beginning at 12:30 pm at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center.  For more information, log on to www.necps.org.