The Garden Club of the Back Bay

Roslindale Green & Clean sponsors See How Our Gardens Grow on Saturday, June 12, from 11 am – 4 pm. This self guided tour of eight Roslindale gardens begins at Adams Park in Roslindale Village, and proceeds from the tour will improve Roslindale’s public green spaces. Roslindale Green & Clean is a non-profit, all volunteer organization (www.roslindalegreenandclean.org). Tickets are $15 before June 6, and $20 thereafter. Email info@roslindalegreenandclean.org for information on ticket sale locations.

There has been tremendous development in the genus Paeonia in the last decade that has caused a resurgent interest in this wonderful garden plant. Along with an in-depth look at tree and herbaceous peonies,  learn about the new intersectional group which crosses tree and herbaceous peonies. Consider some of the more delicate woodland peonies that serve as parent plants to many common garden peony varieties. This talk on Saturday, June 12, from 10 – noon at the Berkshire Botanical Garden, 5 West Stockbridge Road, West Stockbridge, will focus on siting, planting, and successfully cultivating these lovely and historical garden plants. Plant sale will follow the talk.  You may register on line ($18 BBG members, $24 non members) at www.berkshirebotanical.org, or by calling 413-298-3926.

Kasha Furman is owner of Cricket Hill Garden, a specialty grower of peonies, located in Thomaston, Connecticut. They specialize in tree and herbaceous peonies. Their plants are healthy, well grown, 4 year specimens and they offer over 75 varieties. Their display gardens are open on weekends in May and June.  The photo below was taken at Cricket Hill by Christine Boyka Kluge.

The Fenway Civic Association hosts a picnic at the Kelleher Rose Garden, Back Bay Fens, from 6 – 8 pm on Tuesday, June 8.  There will be entertainment, with live music from The Whiskey Boys, a folk and bluegrass duo, plus dessert and beverages.  You bring your own picnic, naturally.  The event is free.  For more information, log on to www.fenwaycivic.org.

Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge, will host author Novella Carpenter on Monday, June 7, from 7 – 9. Carpenter, who grows greens and raises livestock on a dead-end street in the ghetto, is the author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer. For the past decade, the 38-year-old has cultivated land in the city, the last six years on GhostTown Farm, the sunny, squat lot in Oakland, California next to her rundown, coral-colored flat — complete with a back porch covered in goat poop — where she lives with mechanic boyfriend Bill and a menagerie of her so-called edible pets, including rabbits, chickens, and, on occasion, a turkey or two.

The ‘hood is also dotted with long-shuttered businesses, drug dealers, prostitutes, multiethnic neighbors, and what Carpenter affectionately refers to as “fellow freaks.” She feels right at home there. “The neighborhood had a whiff of anarchy,” she notes in her memoir. “Spanish-speaking soccer players hosted ad hoc tournaments in the abandoned playfield. Teenagers sold bags of marijuana on the corners. The Buddhist monks made enormous vats of rice on the city sidewalk…And I started squat gardening on land I didn’t own.”

A child of back-to-the landers, Carpenter has received stellar reviews, most notably in the New York Times, for chronicling her exploits in the urban jungle.  She’s been featured everywhere from mainstream outlets like Time, foodie circles, like Culinate, and eco-green arenas like Grist. Log on to www.portersquarebooks.com for more information.