The Garden Club of the Back Bay

Our cities and towns may seem harsh and unwelcoming to vegetation, but in the new field guide, Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast by Harvard botanist Peter Del Tredici, he details the spectacular array of plants that grow spontaneously in sidewalk cracks, flourish along chain-link fences, and line the banks of streams and rivers. Del Tredici will discuss the valuable ecological roles these plants play, from carbon storage and erosion control to providing food for wildlife. Co-sponsored with the Arnold Arboretum.  He will also sign copies of his book.

Location:
Harvard Museum of Natural History
26 Oxford St.
Cambridge , MA 02138

Sponsor: Harvard Museum of Natural History, Arnold Arboretum
Time(s): 2:00 pm, Sunday, April 11.
Cost: Free with museum admission. Free to HMNH and Arnold Arboretum members
Phone: 617-495-3045
Email: hmnhpr@oeb.harvard.edu
http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/lectures_and_special_events/index.php

The Trustees of Reservations invite community members, future brides and grooms, event planners, and all who are interested to attend the organization’s first-ever, Sustainable Seaside Wedding Show at The Great House on Castle Hill located on The Crane Estate in Ipswich, Massachusetts on Saturday, April 17. A National Historic Landmark, Castle Hill on The Crane Estate is one of the most sought-after wedding venues in the Northeast. The elegant architecture, panoramic ocean views, world-famous designed landscapes, and award winning Inn at Castle Hill’s Bed & Breakfast, offer a complete wedding package for couples who are looking for a special place to create their wedding memories.

In honor of Earth Day, The Seaside Wedding Show will feature over sixty area vendors who will share many options for choosing an eco-conscious wedding. Attendees will be able to sample food from caterers using local and organic products, learn about ways to conserve resources from florists who use biodegradable materials and sustainably grown plant materials, meet transportation providers offering horse drawn carriages, design companies offering invitations printed on recycled paper, and view couture gowns made of natural fabrics. Guests will learn how to create their ideal wedding day and choose sustainable options at the same time, from food to photography.

WHERE: Castle Hill on The Crane Estate is located at 290 Argilla Road in Ipswich, MA. For directions and or more information, please visit www.craneestate.org or call 978-356-4351 ext. 4025.

WHEN: Twelve o’clock to Four o’clock in the afternoon

HOW: Purchase tickets at www.craneestate.org to be eligible for the GRAND PRIZE drawing: two glorious nights at The Inn at Castle Hill on The Crane Estate (over $900 value)
Tickets: $5 for Trustees members; $7 for non-members; and $10 at the door.

On Tuesday April 6th, please join the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics for a free book club Webinar featuring the “fascinating and frightening,” “cheeky” and “hard-hitting” new book, Slow Death By Rubber Duck.  RSVP now for this free Webinar (which, by the way, is an interactive presentation over the phone and online) on Tuesday, April 6 at 5 p.m. Pacific/8 p.m. Eastern.

Studies show that harmful toxic chemicals are common in household items, including rubber ducks and bubble bath, and that many of these chemicals are also found inside of our bodies. Over a four-day period, Slow Death By Rubber Duck authors Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie used every day household products suspected of causing harm to our ecosystem and to human health. By revealing the pollution load in their bodies before and after the experiment, Rick and Bruce tell a unique inside story of common toxins and body burden.

On the April 6 Webinar, author and Executive Director of Environmental Defense Canada Rick Smith will read from Slow Death By Rubber Duck, and together we’ll discuss toxic chemicals found in products as common as hand soap and what you can do to protect your family and the planet.

All you need to join is a phone, a computer with Internet access and an interest in making the world less toxic. Simply RSVP online, an the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics will e-mail you the call-in info and the Web address so you can see the slides during the reading and discussion.

Can’t make the Webinar on April 6? No worries – the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is going to record it and make it available through a link on its web site later on. See what Oprah.com and The Washington Post had to say about Slow Death By Rubber Duck.

Taking its inspiration from the Slow Food movement, Slow Landscaping seeks to counteract fast or instant landscaping, by showing the way to more fulfilling, equitable, and sustainable landscape practices. This approach to landscaping human settlements mimics the relationships found in natural ecologies. It seeks to preserve native plants, associated ecosystems and wildlife within an ecoregion. It also supports the use of local materials, reducing waste and carbon outputs and education about plants and their importance in the larger environment. Join two veteran garden designers, Hasso Ewing and Robin Wilkerson, to explore this novel concept and then walk the Garden in the Woods to see how these practices can play out on the landscape.  Sponsored by The New England Wild Flower Society, the class will take place at Garden in the Woods on Wednesday, April 28, from 10 – 1, and members of NEWFS will pay $33, nonmembers $39.  Log on to www.newfs.org to register, or for more information.

The Berkshire Botanical Garden again scores a winning program with this hands on workshop on Saturday, April 24 beginning at 10:30 am.  Learn how to work with willow in both a large and small format.  Willow has been used in British gardens for centuries for both fencing and garden structures.  Participants will learn how to work with willow by constructing a free standing willow tower designed to grow a variety of vining plants.  Topics will include growing willow species, selecting, harvesting, preparing and building simple living willow constructions, and more.  Take home a flower tower and the know-how for making willow projects.  Instructor Wendy Jensen is a basket maker located in Monterey, Massachusetts.  Her baskets are sold nationwide and her popular workshops are offered throughout the country.  She builds and installs garden structures throughout the area, including wattle fencing on the the Housatonic  Riverwalk.  Dress for outdoor work, bring hand pruners and a bagged lunch.  The workshop will cost $50 for BBG members, $55 for non members, and an additional $20 materials fee will be paid to the instructor at the class. To register, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.

Learn about how children play with plants, then and now, and what parents can do to instill a sense of wonderment and appreciation of the natural world in them. For centuries children have played outdoors with leaves, roots, flowers, stems and fruits. Only recently have children become “too busy” for unstructured play outdoors. Consider how to sip honeysuckle, make pine needle dolls, flower chains, cattail ducks, and tulip tree leaf baskets.
Jeanné  Chesanow is a Master Gardener, author of Gardening in CT, former anthropology instructor,  Cheshire Land Trust director, and Chairman of the Cheshire CT Historic District Commission. She is the author of Honeysuckle Sipping: The Plant Lore of Childhood , a book devoted to the history and traditions of children’s fascination with plants.

The lecture will be held at the Berkshire Botanical Gardens on Saturday, April 17, from 10:30 – noon, and will cost $16 if you are a member of BBG, and $21 if you are not a member.  For directions, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.

Come to the Barnstable High School Performing Arts Center, 744 West Main Street in Hyannis on Saturday, April 17, for a full day conference beginning at 8:00 am – 4:00 pm, sponsored by the Master Gardener Association of Cape Cod.  The program will feature:

Rick Darke, The Wild Garden: A fresh look at the wild garden concept and will illustrate why it is the most enjoyable, sensible approach for livable, ecologically sustainable modern landscapes;

Vincent Simeone, Wonders of the Winter Landscape: How to enhance the aesthetic value and interest of the garden by using horticultural treasures such as winter fruiting plants, broadleaved evergreens, conifers and trees with interesting bark;

C.L. Fornari, The Top 25: 25 plants that she thinks you should know about, along with the 25 most interesting/amusing/useful bits of gardening information she has learned in over 25 years of gardening.

Book signings with speakers, lunch, marketplace, and a raffle will be part of the day. MCLP and MCH professional credits are available.  The cost of $60 includes lunch.  For more information, call 508-375-6690, or email tramos@barnstablecounty.org.  You may also find information at www.capecodextension.org.

A great way to begin the study of native plants, this course focuses on learning to identify wild plants and provides field experience across the spectrum of New England flora.  Sessions will cover plant identification using Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide.  Students will become familiar with the family characteristics, growth patterns, habitats, and pollination mechanisms of many of our native wild flowers.  We will also practice plant identification and study plant habitats in the field.  Bring a hand lens to each class.  Required text: Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide.  Sessions (April 27, May 4, 11, and 18) will take place at Garden in the Woods in Framingham, from 10 – 12:30, and the series costs $130 for NEWFS members, and $150 for nonmembers.  To register, or for more information, log on to www.newfs.org.

Come to Tower Hill Botanic Garden on three successive Thursday evenings beginning April 8 for instructor Peggy Flanagan’s design class.  Locally grown food is all the rage these days.  What could be more local than your own backyard?  In this course you will discuss selecting and growing the best fruits and vegetables for a kitchen garden, with an emphasis on organic practices and composting. Students will design their own garden in class and plant a flat of heirloom seeds to take home and get the garden up and running.  Tower Hill members $95, non-members $110.  To register, log on to www.towerhillbg.org.

Join the Friends of Clarendon Street Playground (corner of Clarendon Street and Commonwealth Avenue) on Saturday, April 3, beginning at 10:00 am, for an egg hunt, coffee and doughnuts, and a visit from the Easter Bunny!  Volunteers are needed to hide eggs at 8:00 am – if you are able to help with the event, contact playground@nabbonline.com, or call The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay at 617-247-3961.

See the 20-foot flowering nasturtium vines adorn the courtyard balconies in one of the year’s most stunning displays – seen nowhere else, Saturday, April 3 – Sunday, April 18, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m (closed Mondays).  The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is located at 280 The Fenway, Boston.  For more information call 617-566-1401, or log on to www.gardnermuseum.org.

The Berkshire Botanical Gardens will teach you to design an active compost pile on Saturday, April 17, from 10 – noon.  BBG members $18, non members $24, and please dress for outdoors.

The first step to a healthy, sustainable garden is a great compost pile.  Discover the differences between active and passive compost pile building, explore compost pile structures, and learn what will work for you.  Understand strategies for making richer compost in a shorter period of time for less work, and consider why we use compost and what it adds to your garden.  Build a tipi compost pile on site, mini-scale, and see what materials can be used in what ratio.  The instructor, Pat Parkins, owns Gardens of the Goddess, and incorporates her interest in ecology into her landscaping practices.  For directions, and to register, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.

This year, MassRecycle, www.massrecycle.org is excited to partner with MassDEP to combine the 5th Annual University of Resource Management Conference and the 10th Annual Organics Recycling Summit, “Local Energy Takes Root,” into two full days in early April dedicated to examining recycling and composting from garbage to revenues.The Organics Recycling Summit is the largest conference dedicated to food waste and organics recycling in New England.

The conference will teach participants how recycling and composting of solid food wastes can add to revenue streams and reduce waste at curbside. Just as recycling turns trash into revenues, composting also turns trash into a commodity worth cash.

On April 6 the conference will take place at the DoubleTree Hotel in Westborough from 8 am to 4 pm. Topics of workshops include “Collecting Food Waste at Public Events,” “Commercial Food Waste Composting Technology,” and “Anaerobic Digestion.”  The April 7th program will be held at the New England Small Farm Institute in Belchertown, Massachusetts.  You may register on line, or call Jessica at 617-338-0244, or email director@massrecycle.org.

“Eat It to Save It” is a growing movement led by the Slow Food USA Organization’s Ark of Taste Committee. It is an effort to save regional food systems by showing how you can support biodiversity and sustainably-produced foods by EATING them.  You can all do your part as consumer activists to promote and support responsibly-made and sourced foods. There are a number of local businesses working hard to do the right thing: making and selling quality products that are good for the people and planet. Please join the next Agrowcity event on Wednesday, March 31, at Bunker Hill Community College, 250 Rutherford Avenue in Boston,  to meet some of our local heroes and see how you can vote with your dollar! Harvest Co-op is a community-owned, not-for-profit grocery cooperative.  Hilltop Farm is a 28-acre local farm running a Community Support Agriculture (CSA)program. You will also have the opportunity to meet other local businesses and producers in the area. For more information, log on to  http://www.meetup.com/Agrowcity/calendar/12838697/

On Wednesday, April 14, The Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America will host the Spring Lecture Luncheon at The Country Club, 191 Clyde Street, Brookline, with guest speaker Tupper Thomas, Administrator of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York, who will speak on “Continuing the Olmsted Legacy.”  Also, the 2010 Boston Bowl will be awarded this year to two outstanding individuals, Betsy Shure Gross and Corliss Knapp Engle.  Registration begins at 10:30 am, with an 11:00 am lecture, followed by lunch.

Appointed in 1980 as the first administrator of Prospect Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Ms. Thomas is responsible to the Commissioner for planning and overseeing the $100 million dollar capital restoration of Prospect Park.

The meeting is open to members of the fourteen member and affiliate member clubs of The Boston Committee: Beacon Hill Garden Club, Garden Club of Buzzards Bay, Cambridge Plant & Garden Club, Chestnut Hill Garden Club, Cohasset Garden Club, Fox Hill Garden Club, Milton Garden Club, Noanett Garden Club, North Shore Garden Club, Piscataqua Garden Club, Garden Club of the Back Bay, Garden Club of Brookline, Junior League of Boston Garden Club, and the Manchester Garden Club, and their guests. The fee to attend is $45 for the lecture and lunch, $20 for the lecture only.  Please make checks payable to “The Boston Committee of the GCA” and mail to Mrs. William U. Shipley, 40 Dunster Road, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 before April 8.  Please note the name of your Club on your check.  If you have questions, you may email jwshipley@aol.com.

Join nationally-known native plant propagator and plant wiz Bill Cullina for an intensive two-day seminar (April 30 and May 1, 9:30 – 3:30) on the best native plant materials available today. This New England Wild Flower Society course will cover a variety of herbaceous and woody temperate North American plants that are becoming important for use in the design and landscape trades. Plants with extraordinary hardiness, pest resistance, flowering characteristics, texture, and habitat value will be featured. Emphasis will be on identifying plants that reflect the ambient native plant communities, and which lend well to ecologically-informed designs. Both native wild-type and some cultivars will be examined, and information on growing and maintaining plants in the landscape will be presented. Amateur horticulturists are welcome.  Fee, including lunch and snack, is $225 for NEWFS members, $270 for nonmembers.  To register, or for more information, log on to www.newfs.org.

From early-April to mid-May, over three million daffodils of every color, shape and size will bloom on Nantucket Island. This blossoming, and the advent of spring itself, is the focal point of the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Daffodil Festival, this year taking place April 23 – 25. Originated by the late Jean MacAusland, a summer resident of Nantucket and former publisher of Gourmet Magazine, the weekend has grown into a full-scale celebration of winter’s thaw, joyous for both islanders and visitors alike. Daffodils adorn the island’s roadsides, gardens and shop windows with blossoms of yellow, orange, white and even pale pink. The Daffodil Festival’s grand event, held on Saturday (Rain or Shine) is the Annual Antique Car Parade, featuring over 100 daffodil-bedecked antique cars (pre-registration necessary for participation.) After winding through town and across the island to the charming village of Siasconset, participants join residents and visitors for the Annual Daffodil Tailgate Picnic. Held on the lush lawns leading into the village the picnic boasts fare ranging from elaborate gourmet cuisine served on fine china to box lunches and burgers. Other highlights include the Nantucket Garden Club’s Annual Daffodil Show, Daffy Dog Parade, Children’s Daffodil Parade and The Daffy Hat Pageant.For more information, log on to www.nantucketchamber.org.

An important symposium will take place Saturday, April 10, from 9 am – 2 pm, at Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center, Vermont, sponsored by The New England Wild Flower Society, The Friends of the Horticulture Farm, The Hardy Plant Club, and The Fells, North American Rock Garden Society Master Gardeners.

Three inspiring gardeners share their experience and knowledge about creating that all-important lower layer in the garden.  Whether you are looking for tips about plants that tolerate shade under a canopy, native groundcovers that require low maintenance, or “survivalist” plants that grow in alpine crevices, you will benefit from our experts’ advice at this day-long symposium.

Crevice Gardening with Anne Spiegel

Gardening first in the northeast, then moving on to the Rockies, Cascades, Wallowas and the Alps, and Dolomites in Europe, Ann is now back in the New York hills, not far from Poughkeepsie, in a dry, windy 4b zone. Her garden is on a steep area of stepped ledges, ending in a small cliff.  Anne shares her knowledge of crevice gardening, using both wild and garden plants that thrive in her harsh conditions, where it is never possible to water.

Under the Canopy: Shade Gardening with Native Plants with Scott LaFleur

In his role as Botanic Garden Director for New England Wild Flower Society at Garden in the Woods, Scott knows that not all shade is created equal. Scott discusses the layers of a woodland garden and how to plan and plant accordingly. Discover how to look past flowers to texture, shades of green, and the interaction of light.

Groundcovers for Northeast Gardeners with Mary Crain Penniman

With a lifetime of experience in horticulture, art, botany, and environmental protection, Mary Crain shares a wealth of knowledge with her presentation on choice groundcover plants for low maintenance. The natural world gives us myriad examples of ground covering plants that New Englanders can model in their own gardens. There is a right groundcover for every place. This presentation explores the subject, asking which are the most choice plants and which are the hardest workers.

About the Speakers:

Anne Spiegel

With her wide ranging experience, gardening in high rocky places around the US and Europe, Anne brings a wealth of information to those interested in growing plants in challenging spots. Active in the North American Rock Garden Society (NARGS) since 1984, she is one of their most highly recommended lecturers.  Anne has taught at the New York Botanical Garden, is past president of the Berkshire Chapter of NARGS and has taught Master Gardener classes as well.

Scott LaFleur

Now Botanic Garden Director at New England Wild Flower Society, Scott started his own horticultural business following formal education at UNH.  He went on to develop and implement a $1.5 million master plan for a 145-acre Vermont farm, which encompassed ponds, a three-mile trail system, numerous gardens, a greenhouse, and the reshaping of over 60 acres of rocky hillside into rolling green hills. Scott deftly used native plant materials and ecological design that handled the site’s challenging climate and 1,700-foot elevation.  At Garden in the Woods, Scott worked with visiting artists and designers to install innovative special exhibits such as ROCK ON in 2006, and ART GOES WILD in 2007. The “Idea Garden” from ART GOES WILD, with roof plantings on a garden shed and sedge replacing lawn has been a huge success.

Mary Crain Penniman

After beginning studies in art and botany, Mary Crain earned a BS in amenity horticulture then headed to England for an apprenticeship and studies with the Royal Horticultural Society at Wisley Gardens and the University of London.  After a Project at Callaway Gardens, more studies at Conway School of Landscape Design, Mary Crain worked for Mass. Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Watershed Management conducting habitat evaluation and field reconnaissance around sensitive resources for over 10 years. In 2002 she launched her landscape design business, which is focused on residential ‘whole site’ planning, often involving environmental elements such as wetland or woodland restoration. Naturalistic plantings combined with traditional stone masonry around antique properties is her design practice speciality.

The spring symposium is presented by The Vermont-New Hampshire Chapter of The New England Wild Flower Society and will be held Saturday, April 10, 2010 at Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center VT, which is located at exit 4 off Interstate 89.

The fee which includes lunch, free parking and the symposium packet, is $53 for non-members and $47 for members of the cosponsoring organizations: The Friends of the Horticulture Farm, the Hardy Plant Club, The Fells North American Rock Garden Society, Master Gardeners and New England Wild Flower Society.

TO REGISTER please send your check, payable to NEWFS-VT (preferred) or Visa or Master Card number and expiration date, with your name, address, phone number and e-mail address (for confirmation and directions) all clearly written to Thelma Hewitt, PO Box 2333, New London, NH 03257.   No refunds after April 1.

Please consider supporting The Aptucxet Garden Club of Bourne for its Spring Splurge, a luncheon and fashion show to be held Thursday, April 8, from 11:30 am – 3:00 pm at The Club at New Seabury, in Mashpee.  Fashions will be provided by Maureen Burbic Boutique and Gallery in East Sandwich.  You don’t even need to be there to win great raffle prizes.  Tickets are $30 per person, advance purchase only.  For ticket information contact Jan Browne at 508-563-3945, or email her at jbdedham@aol.com.

Land’s Sake, Inc. of Weston sponsors its Sugaring Off Festival on Saturday, March 27 beginning at 10:00 am.  The Bill McElwain Sugar House at the Weston Middle School is the venue for the Festival, featuring a pancake breakfast, coffee, hot cider, maple sugar treats, bake sale, live music, tours of the Sugar House in full operation, and of course their own maple syrup.  Log on to www.landssake.org, or call 781-893-1162 for more information.