The Garden Club of the Back Bay

Garden Club of the Back Bay member Harriet Lewis, with her husband Alan, published Driving With No Brakes in August, 2010, and we want our web site followers to know all about it.  The book is available through www.amazon.com, and at many local booksellers.

Driving With No Brakes is a fascinating, inspirational book about how two courageous leaders built a remarkable company that can thrive in change and succeed in an unpredictable world. The book offers important lessons for any business leader trying to create value in the 21st century.

Alan and Harriet Lewis, owners of Grand Circle Corporation, reflect on the company’s successes and failures and highlight important business strategies that have propelled it to be held by many as the world’s best travel company. Through the lens of Grand Circle, they demonstrate how they were able to achieve sustained business success amidst the tumultuous and highly competitive travel industry by fostering a values-based organization that embraces risk while maintaining focus on people and social mission.

In 1986, shortly after Alan and Harriet Lewis bought Grand Circle Travel, a competitor remarked that there was no way a bunch of hooligans from Boston could run a worldwide travel business. At the time, Grand Circle was a travel company with one office, $27M in sales, and was losing more than $2 million a year. Twenty-five years later, Grand Circle has grown nearly 20% per year into a highly profitable company with annual sales in excess of $600 million. The company owns or charters 60 ships, operates 80 trips in 100 countries, and employs 2,300 people in more than 30 offices worldwide. With social mission tightly woven into Grand Circle’s business strategy, the company has donated or pledged more than $50 million USD to educational, humanitarian, and cultural organizations worldwide since 1992.

Grand Circle is beloved by its customers (American travelers), more than 125,000 of whom travel with Grand Circle Travel and its affiliate, Overseas Adventure Travel, each year. The company has served more than 1.5 million travelers over the years and prospered through more than 300 crises, including the 9-11 attacks, the rise of online competitors, and ongoing global political, economic and environmental challenges. Despite it all, Grand Circle continues to increase its profitability and grow at a rate of nearly 20 percent per year.

It has been a wild ride, and there were times when Alan and Harriet were literally driving with no brakes. This book tells the story of Grand Circle and of a remarkable couple’s dream to build a company that would help change people’s lives and of the long, hard, and fun-filled journey they took to get there.

Participants in Introduction to Forest Measurement Tools at Garden in the Woods, 180 Hemenway Road, Framingham, to be held Saturday, December 11, from 10 – 2, will be introduced to various tools such as diameter tapes, calipers, Biltmore sticks, laser measuring devices, clinometers, angle gauges, and other tools used to measure trees and other features in the forest environment. Following classroom discussion, participants will practice using various measurement tools.

Bring a lunch and water, and dress in layers for both classroom and outdoor learning. Bring any of the following to class if you have them: a hand lens, winter tree identification field guide, compass, and/or any forest measurement tools.

Sponsored by Arnold Arboretum and N.E. Wildflower Society, this program takes place at the New England Wild Flower Society’s Garden in the Woods. $44 member, $52 nonmember. Phone 617-384-5277 to register.

Please join the Beacon Hill Civic Association and your neighbors in Decorating the Hill for the Holidays. You can help one day or both, sign up or just show up, come for the whole day or just and hour. Do your own street or help wherever needed- they’ll show you how.

On Saturday, December 4, from 10 – 4, meet at the Harrison Gray Otis House, 141 Cambridge Street.  On Sunday, December 5, from noon – 5, assemble at 160 Charles Street (next to Savenor’s.)  At 5pm on Sunday you will celebrate with a festive wrap up party for all the volunteers at 74 Joy Street. Join the Decorating Days email list by emailing: info@bhcivic.org.  One couple who met during this event have since married, so consider this an opportunity on a number of different levels.  Picture below by Charlotte Joan Sternberg.

Our beloved Garden Club of the Back Bay member Marjorie A. Smith passed away on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2010, at the age of 89.  For the past few years Marjorie has lived on Pinckney Street in Beacon Hill, but for much of her adult life was a resident and fixture of the Back Bay.  The Boston Globe reported that Marjorie was born in Sandusky, Ohio and graduated in 1939 from Sandusky St. Mary’s High School.  Her official obituary may be read here. Marjorie was part of a big family, one of eight children, with a twin sister Marian Smith Sturzinger.  In addition to her membership in our Garden Club, she was part of the Tufts University Study Group.  An avid animal lover, she could often be seen walking dogs through the neighborhood, some twice her size, but obedient to her every command.  Co-President Jackie Blombach notes that Marjorie was a dedicated member of the Garden Club and came to many of our programs.  She attended our most recent program at The College Club on November 3, and pointed out the tree on Commonwealth Avenue that she donated in honor of her twin sister.

Marjorie will rest at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Any one wishing to honor her memory may make a donation to MSPCA Angell Memorial Animal Hospital at www.mspca.org.

Are you all sitting at your computers today, ordering madly for the holidays?  Here is an opportunity which can’t be missed.  By clicking HERE and printing out an order form for a beautiful Garden Club of the Back Bay holiday wreath, and faxing the form to 617-249-1762, or emailing your order to info@gardenclubbackbay.org, you will be assured of having a door, window, or wall which is the envy of all who visit.  Payment can follow, but our order deadline is looming.  Wreaths will be delivered in our delivery area (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, South End) on Wednesday and Thursday, December 8 and 9, or will be available for pickup at The First Lutheran Church of Boston, 299 Berkeley Street, during those two days, if you are outside our delivery area or just want to drop by and get some exercise.  Proceeds benefit the trees of the City of Boston – we plant them, we prune them, we inoculate them, and we contribute to other tree loving not for profit organizations to help their tree related activities.  We appreciate your support.

Please join Peggy Coonley on her annual May visit to England and the Chelsea Flower Show 2011, a tour created for savvy women travelers who appreciate the culture of classic Britain, May 21 – 30, 2011. You will visit notable beloved English gardens and The Royal Horticultural Society’s infamous Chelsea Flower Show on Member’s Only day. The itinerary is thoughtfully arranged to include Sissinghurst in Kent and Hidcote in The Cotswolds, two of the world’s beloved gardens. You will visit The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew, take a private tour at Wisley, and relish your visit to Scotney Castle (pictured below. )  Women who love to garden will be inspired by England’s pastoral beauty, history and the pure pleasure of taking time for tea. Whether yours is a secret garden behind a wall, a wildflower meadow open to the sea or a courtyard plot in the urban landscape, you will be enchanted. Serendipity Traveler take time to savour classic British country living, the history and diverse landscapes of London, Kent, Bath and The Cotswolds. This trip is for women who appreciate the fine art of traveling well with a small group. For complete details please call Serendipity Traveler’s President, Peggy Coonley in Rockport, Mass. 978 879 7464 or visit www.serendipitytraveler.com

Mahoney’s Garden Center in Winchester (the big one!) is holding a Christmas Tree Creations Seminar on Saturday, December 4, beginning at 11 am.  Fact is, most people find decorating for the holidays confusing and a bit overwhelming.  That’s why Mahoney’s holiday hottie (their words, not mine) Peter Vera has created this special seminar.  Learn the secret to proper tree lighting, ornament hanging, decor collections and much more.  Peter will also give designer tips on how to add complementary decorations to your collection.  Free, but you should register beforehand at www.mahoneysgarden.com. Peppermint candy tree below from blogs.palmbeachpost.com.

Garden clubs from the Springfield, Massachusetts area, including the East Longmeadow Garden Club,  decorate historic Storrowton Village at Yuletide at Storrowton/Eastern States Exposition, December 4 and 5 in West Springfield.  Music, family activities, 19th century craft demonstrations, ice sculpting, caroling, tree lighting and more are free and open to the public.  For more information, log on to www.thebige.com, or call 413-737-2443.

There are many garden clubs and special interest groups in Massachusetts, and occasionally we like to highlight organizations of potential interest to our members and followers.  The Emerald Necklace African Violet Club is our “pick of the day.”  This small, devoted group welcomes new members.  Meetings are held on the second Monday of each month at 7 pm, and are relaxed events, with program topics planned in advance.  Meeting in member’s homes, they view others’ plants and culture techniques.  Several members are judges, so questions are easily answered.  For information on joining, write to Marie Montague, 5 Windsor Terrace, Waltham, MA 02453-6701, or email her at mgmontague@earthlink.net.

The New Entry Sustainable Farming Project Conference will provide Farm Business Expertise. Farmers will learn from seasoned experts and from each other about how to maximize farm business enterprise potential. Panel Discussions: Speaker panels will cover topics in the areas of soil fertility, farm business and financial planning, strategies for ensuring the health of livestock, and building sustainable communities around food. Peer to Peer Learning: a facilitated World Café discussion will give farmers a chance to choose discussion topics of interest on site and share best practices. Enjoy a networking lunch and a farmer-to-farmer networking reception. The event takes place Thursday, December 9, from 9 – 6:30 at the Sturbridge Host Hotel in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. For more information, contact Kimberley Fitch at 978-654-6745, or e-mail nesfp@tufts.edu. Register at www.nesfp.org.

The Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, will host author Michael Rawson, whose book Eden on the Charles, The Making of Boston, will be available for purchase and signing on Saturday, December 11 at 2 pm following his speech. The cost of the lecture is free with museum admission. For more information, call 617-495-3045, or log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

In his latest book, Eden on the Charles (Harvard University Press), author Michael Rawson provides a new environmental perspective on the creation of one of America’s first cities. Rawson will explore how early Bostonians led the nation in urbanization, and how various class and ethnic groups brought rival ideas of nature and competing visions of a “city upon a hill” to the process—and were forced to conform their goals to the realities of Boston’s distinctive natural setting.

The City of Boston’s Official Tree Lighting hosted by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, title sponsor the Province of Nova Scotia, and media sponsors WCVB-TV Channel 5 and MAGIC 106.7 FM comes to Boston Common on Thursday, December 2, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. This will be the 69th annual Tree Lighting on Boston Common. Chronicle’s Anthony Everett and NewsCenter Five’s JC Monahan will host Channel 5’s live broadcast of the event beginning at 7 p.m. The celebration will feature the Radio City Rockettes, 2006 American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee, Grammy-winning R&B singer Patti Austin and the Boston Pops Gospel Choir, among many others.

The leaves are nearly gone from most shrubs, but you can still learn to recognize them, in this Sunday, December 12 class co-sponsored by the New England Wild Flower Society and the Massachusetts Audubon Society. The session will run from 10 – 2 at Garden in the Woods, 180 Hemenway Road, Framingham.

In this class, instructor Roland “Boot” Boutwell focuses on a number of macro-characteristics such as branching patterns, growth habits, bark, persistent fruit, galls, and habitats to help us identify more than 20 native New England shrubs in late fall and winter. We also discuss the natural history of the shrubs we see.

The program begins with a classroom session and then moves into the field. Look for such species as witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), and, of course, winterberry (Ilex verticillata, below) and wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens).

The class will cost $48 for NEWFS and Mass Audubon members, $56 for non-members. Pre-registration is necessary. Contact the registrar at 508-877-7630, ext. 3303, or email registrar@newenglandwild.org.

Today is the day America shops online, or so we’re told.  Here is your chance to do your part.  By clicking HERE you may print an order form for our 2010 holiday wreaths, and then fax it to 617-249-1762, or email your name, address, and order information to info@gardenclubbackbay.org.  Or put it right in the snail mail to Francine Crawford, 421 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02115.  How easy is that?   Our decorated wreaths are masterfully done – the picture below illustrates the detailed work which goes into each wreath.  Remember, wreaths make great gifts as well. Take a rest this holiday, let us decorate your home and the  homes of your friends and family, then brag about how you finished your shopping by the end  of November.  We thank you most deeply for your anticipated support!

Mayor Thomas M. Menino will switch on the lights illuminating the first 9 blocks of the Commonwealth Avenue Mall from Arlington Street to Charlesgate East for the holiday season and winter months, with more than 100 trees exquisitely strung with white lights, at 8:15 pm on Thursday, December 2. Residents and donors will join the Mayor and refreshment host Taj Boston’s general manager Jeffrey Seward to help with the lighting countdown. Donations are still being sought, and may be made by check payable to the Commonwealth Avenue Mall Lighting c/o Back Bay Association, 229 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116, or online at www.backbaylights.com.  Image from 3rdhouseparty.typepad.com

Help celebrate the Gibson House’s new Christmas Tree.  Please bring a vintage or homemade ornament to the Gibson House, 137 Beacon Street, on Sunday, December 12, from 1 – 4. (Ornament below from www.zazzle.com)  Free tours and light seasonal refreshments will be served.  The Gibson House Museum is the only house museum in Back Bay.  Since 1957 it has told the story of the Gibson family’s daily life during the mid 19th and early 20th centuries through their everyday possessions, decorative objects, and furnishings.  For more information, log on to www.thegibsonhouse.org.

Plan now for The North American Rock Garden Society’s Western Winter Study Weekend, Friday, February 25 – Sunday, February 27, at the Mary Winspear Centre, 2243 Beacon Avenue, Sidney, British Columbia (approximately 20 minutes north of Victoria.)  This weekend seminar, hosted by the Vancouver Island Rock & Alpine Society, will include workshops, plant sales, seed sales, displays and open gardens. The focus will be on interesting plants and  other things occurring in  and around the ancient and modern silk routes.  This is a vast area of the northern hemisphere and so should make for some very interesting presentations and discussions.   Speakers will include Stephanie Ferguson, an expert rock and crevice gardener from Calgary, Vojtech Holubec from the Czech Republic and co-author of The Caucasus and Its Flowers, John Massey, owner of Ashwood Nurseries, UK, Bill Terry, meconopsis expert and author of Blue Heaven – Encounters with the Blue Poppy, and Dr. Bobby J. Ward, botanist and author of The Plant Hunter’s Garden. For more information, visit www.virags.ca/winterstudyweekend.htm, or contact Registrar Kathy Lalli at kathylalli@hotmail.com.  You may also telephone Yvonne Rorison at 250-519-0269.

Catch Craftboston Holiday before it opens to the public at the Preview Party on Thursday, December 9, from 6 – 9 pm at the Cyclorama (Boston Center for the Arts).  Over 90 contemporary craft artists will show their work. Sponsor tickets $125, General Preview tickets $50.  Ticket prices include hors d’oeuvre and drinks, lively music, exclusive holiday shopping, and weekend admission to the show, which runs December 10 – 12.  To purchase, call 617-266-1810, or log on to www.craftboston.org. Jewelry shown below by artist Valerie Hector.

You may have missed the Boston Center for Adult Education’s Thanksgiving floral arrangement workshop, but there is still time to sign up for the Christmas workshop on Saturday, December 11, from 10 – 1, taught by Laurie Marino. Learn how to make professional looking arrangements in this fun Christmas workshop. Fresh flowers, pine cones, and fragrant evergreens will be used to create a long-lasting arrangement for your home or to give as a gift. Everyone will say “you made this”? The price is $40 plus a materials cost of $20 (BCAE members price: $34 plus materials cost.)  To register, log on to www.bcae.org.  Design below by Winston Flowers.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, The Boston Parks & Recreation Department, and The Friends of Copley Square will host the annual Copley Square Holiday Tree Lighting on Tuesday, November 30, from 5 – 6 pm.  The festive event will feature live entertainment, including The United States Air Force Brass Band Quintet, Trinity Church Choristers and Schola, Brian Jones and the Copley Singers, and holiday caroling.  The Old South Church bells will toll when the lights are turned on.  Santa will pay a special visit, and immediately following the tree lighting, The Copley Plaza will host a family reception for all in attendance.  The Garden Club of the Back Bay is pleased to announce its contribution of handmade bows to decorate the ArtsBoston kiosk.  Our volunteers will be in the Square decking the halls  November 26, if you’d like to stop by and say hello.  Visit www.friendsofcopleysquare.org to learn more about Copley Square.