The Garden Club of the Back Bay

This introductory workshop on Saturday, April 9,  from 4:30 – 6 pm at the Boston Nature Center, 500 Walk Hill Street in Mattapan, will cover honeybee hive installation as well as springtime management for a newly installed hive. There will be a live demonstation of installing a package of honeybees. Feeding, life cycle of the colony, hive expansion will also be covered. Cost: $25 NOFA members/ $30 Non-members. *PLEASE NOTE: To provide participants with a live hive installation demonstration, the workshop date might change depending on hive package delivery. Because of flexible date, payment will be collected at the event. Pre-registration still required.  Also please be aware that this event was also listed as taking place from 12:30 – 2 pm, so checking again with nnacamuli@gmail.com is highly recommended.   And we couldn’t resist Amy Winehouse’s beehive hairdo.  Thank you www.dailymail.co.uk.

Come to Boston University’s Fuller Building, 808 Commonwealth Avenue, on Tuesday, April 12 at 6 pm to hear David Webber, program coordinator of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, and Don Wiest, chair of the Boston Public Market Association, speak on Marketing Massachusetts Agriculture: Farmers’ Markets, Public Markets, and More.  This free program is part of Boston University’s Taking Food Public series.  Reservations are required – please call 617-353-9852.  Photo from www.seriouseats.com.

We are at an underwater crossroads. Food from the sea is increasingly important to the human diet. Yet fish stocks are more fragile than ever, made scarce by overfishing and endangered by environmental assaults. What are the factors that contribute to overfishing and what steps can we take to avoid them? Are regulations the answer? Are farmed fisheries good, bad, or some place in between?  In this Museum of Science session, we examine how to preserve and protect the vitality of food sources drawn from our waters. Free, but seating is limited; advance registration is required. To register: http://survey.mos.org/public_survey/Checkbox/Survey.aspx?s=9494d2fafc03486a94c4db2f760d70bb.  This forum is part of the Food for Thought series, encouraging conversation about what we can do to improve how we grow our food and feed our bodies.  Thank you to www.chefsblade.monster.com for the image below.

Learn about illuminating the landscape from professional lighting designer Nancy Goldstein, in a three session class at the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum April 6, 13 and 27.  The first two sessions, from 2:30 – 4:30, will give an overview of the subject.  Nancy will discuss the creative use of light, as well as the necessary fixtures, accessories and controls.  In the third session, from 6:30 – 9, participants will work with Nancy and Wade Geller, principal of Brilliant Lighting, in the landscape to practice certain effects and become familiar with a variety of lighting options.  This class is geared for landscape professionals, although all are welcome.  Offered with the Landscape Institute of the Boston Architectural College, the fee is $85, and you may register on line at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu, or by calling 617-384-5277.

The American Horticultural Society will begin this autumn trip (September 26 – October 6, 2011) to the Czech Republic in the capital city of Prague, renowned for its castles and cathedrals.  From there you will venture to the historic and picturesque regions of Bohemia and Moravia (see Kromeriz Gardens in central Moravia, below.)  Experience a wealth of gardens in styles ranging from formal Italianate, Renaissance, and Baroque to Neo-classical and modern – including several 20th-century gardens created by visionary designers.  For full information and itinerary, contact the AHS Travel Study Program through its travel planner, MacNair Travel, at ahs@macnairtravel.com, or call 866-627-6621.

The Garden Club of the Back Bay provided two grants to The Esplanade Association in 2010 in support of its work with trees – updating the tree inventory and replacing storm damaged trees.  We have received a note from Executive Director Sylvia Salas at The Esplanade Association which we’d like to share with our readers:

“1. Tree inventory: We have been working with Joyce Husseni from Nitsch Engineering and David Rines on this project. David has assessed the condition of every tree on the Esplanade and has input this data into an Excel spreadsheet for Joyce to import into a database. David also has re-plotted tree locations on the maps, as needed. The assessment and data update include approximately 90 new trees, including the Yoshino cherries. The updated inventory will prove very useful to DCR as well as TEA in identifying and prioritizing tree work. We hope next to re-tag the trees.

2. Replacement trees and tree care: The process of planting, even pruning, trees on the Esplanade is somewhat complicated because of oversight requirements by the Massachusetts Historic Commission and Boston Landmarks Commission, but we have managed to work through all of the DCR requirements to move forward with tree work. We are planting 10 willows at Otis Grove this spring and we intend to plant trees, as well as shrubs, ground cover and other plants at Eliot Plaza. The Eliot Plaza project is a significant one, encompassing a redesign of the plaza’s current landscape to convert it into the classic room within the park as intended by Arthur Shurcliff. We also have managed to get nearly 200 trees pruned around the Hatch Shell and are working with DCR to have as many as 300 trees pruned in the Otis Grove, Esplanade Café and Sherborn exercise areas this spring.

Please express our gratitude to the members of the garden club for their support of The Esplanade Association’s ongoing work to improve the health and care of the Esplanade.”

With proper planning and plant selection, fruiting trees and shrubs can be an attractive and low-maintenance option for growing food in the home landscape.  Former City Fruit program director for Earthworks Ben Crouch will provide basic tips and outline resources for planning, planting, tending and harvesting a home orchard at this Sunday, April 3 workshop at the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum. Learn the particulars of growing blueberries, apples, pears, plums and other less common fruit. There’s nothing fresher than home grown.$30 for Arboretum members, $35 for nonmembers.  Register at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?EventID=1#April.  Photo of plum tree by Joshua James Evans.

Jeff Moor from Jonathan Green Turf Products will present a free seminar on lawn care on Saturday, April 2 at Weston Nurseries in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.  Enjoy a great looking, healthy lawn this year using traditional and/or organic methods. Join the staff for Jeff Moor’s popular presentation on spring lawn care and learn how to get your lawn off to a great start and keep it healthy through the seasons. Jeff will show you grass seed varieties you can use for various lawn conditions, how to establish a new lawn, patch, or over-seed, and explain the different options you have for fertilizing, crabgrass control, and weed and pest control. Bring your questions. For more information, call 508-435-4314.

Join Massachusetts Horticultural Society for a reception to help them bring their horticulture education program into the schools.  On April 1, you’ll have an opportunity to preview the Step into Spring flower and garden show at the Taste of Spring VIP Preview Party at the Chestnut Hill Mall. The reception, from 7 to 10 p.m., will feature – in addition to an advance peek at the gardens and displays – cocktails and hors d’oeuvre.

Beginning April 2 and continuing through May 15, The Mall at Chestnut Hill will host ‘Step Into Spring’, a flower and garden show featuring richly planted gardens, dazzling floral arrangements and landscapes from award winning designers and horticulturalists. The show will be held in the common areas of the Mall’s two levels. Part of the proceeds from the VIP Preview will benefit the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Plantmobile, the traveling, interactive plant-science program that provides hands-on, exploratory educational programs for children grades K-12. Mass Hort is upgrading the Plantmobile curriculum and plans to send the vehicle and its staff to schools in and around Boston beginning this spring. By attending the VIP Preview Party, you’ll directly benefit Mass Hort and the children served by the Plantmobile. You’ll also have a great evening out. Tickets are $35, and are available online at www.masshort.org, by calling 617-933-4995, or at the door.

The Mall at Chestnut Hill sponsors its Annual Spring Garden & Flower Show April 1 – May 15.  Stroll through extraordinary gardens and floral displays in bloom.  Call 617-965-3038 for details.  Image from www.petersadeck.com.

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 for starting various types of plants from seeds in this Saturday, April 16 class at the Dana Greenhouse Classroom at the Arnold Arboretum. Students will leave class with a selection of seeds raring to grow. Aftercare will be necessary. Level: Beginner. Fee: $55 nonmember. To register, contact Marc Devokaitis at 617-384-5209, or log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

The Wakefield Charitable Trust and the Arnold Arboretum will hold a High Density Fruit Orchard Workshop at the Wakefield Estate, 1493 Brush Hill Road in Milton, Massachusetts on Saturday, April 2, from 9 – 11 in the morning. Learn how to install a high density orchard for years of backyard fruit production. This method uses little space yet produces high yields of fruit with little effort. In last year’s session at the Wakefield Estate in Milton, students created a high-density orchard of 40 apple trees in a 25 x 30 ft. area. This year’s session will cover the basic planning and set up requirements for creating a low cost compact orchard for your own backyard. Those interested in planting trees this season should plan to order trees during the winter or early spring. Suggested supplier: Adams County Nursery. Fee is $15, and to register, log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu, or call 617-384-5277.

SEMAP, in collaboration with The Rotch-Jones-Duff House and local organic landscaper and gardener, Jessica Duphily Cook, to offer a ‘New Beginnings’ talk on how to design and prepare your garden for springtime planting. Learn more about the positive benefits of growing and enjoying your own vegetables, fruit and herbs. Program content will provide an overview of organic gardening techniques and tried-and-true methods to guide you in creating a healthy landscape and beautiful garden environment. Don’t miss this opportunity to begin your garden planning and kick-start the growing season! Cost: RJD members, $8.00; non-members, $10.00, at door. Please visit www.rjdmuseum.org for more information.The lecture will take place Tuesday, March 29, beginning at 7:30 pm at the Rotch-Jones-Duff House, 396 County Street in New Bedford.

Celebrate spring at this annual festival of fine art and fresh flowers on April 30–May 2! See the MFA’s galleries transformed by fifty extraordinary arrangements inspired by magnificent works of art. This year a highlight of Art in Bloom is the Art of the Americas collection, on display in its spectacular new wing.

Art in Bloom is free with Museum admission; no reservations are required to see the floral arrangements and participate in most of the programs listed below.

Family Day on Saturday, April 30, features storytelling, performances, and activities for children. On the evening of Sunday, May 1, there will be a special members-only viewing of the festival with dining, shopping, and spotlight tours in the galleries. On May 2 from 5 to 9 pm, the Museum throws open its doors to the greater Boston community for a free Monday evening Open House featuring entertainment, flowers, and art. Free gallery tours and floral demonstrations will be offered from Saturday through Monday, and Elegant Tea will be served on Saturday and Sunday afternoons (reservations required for Elegant Tea; call 617-369-4204).

This year’s special events include an illustrated lecture and floral demonstration—as well as a flower arranging master class—presented by the renowned Nancy Clarke, former chief floral designer, The White House. Mrs. Clarke has created thousands of beautiful decorations and floral designs for six American Presidents and First Ladies, their families, and international dignitaries. For 30 years she designed everything from simple bud vases for the First Lady’s nightstand to elaborate, formal arrangements for state dinners. Her floral designs and holiday decorations have delighted kings and queens, heads of state, members of Congress and journalists, as well as thousands of White House visitors. Mrs. Clarke will be appearing on Monday, May 2.  For complete details, log on to www.mfa.org/programs/series/art-bloom.

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.

David Orwig, Forest Ecologist at Harvard Forest, will speak in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum on Tuesday, July 12, from 1:30 – 4 pm, on the topic of New England Trees in Decline: The Science Behind the Story. Since 1907, research has been underway at the 3,000-acre property of Harvard Forest, one of the oldest and most intensively studied forests in North America. Scientists, students, and collaborators at the Forest explore topics ranging from conservation and environmental change to land-use history and the ways in which physical, biological, and human systems interact to change our earth. Join Dr. Orwig for this special opportunity to learn about tree decline in New England and to explore ways to reduce and avoid further problems. Dr. Orwig will present information that details ongoing tree decline resulting from a variety of stressors including native and exotic pests and pathogens. Conifer species will be highlighted, but ongoing hardwood tree problems will be included as well. An emphasis will be given to identification of the problem, the mode of tree decline, and appropriate treatment options when applicable. Discussion will include pests such as hemlock woolly adelgid, elongate hemlock scale, red pine scale, Sirex wood wasp, spruce diseases, emerald ash borer, Asian long-horned beetle, and oak decline on Martha’s Vineyard.  Note New Date: Postponed from April 5.
Fee $20 Ecological Landscape Association and Arnold Arboretum members, $25 nonmember.  Co-sponsored by the Ecological Landscape Association and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.  Register online at https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or by phone at 617-384-5277.

Hundreds of orchid plants are for sale at the Lyman Estate Greenhouses, 185 Lyman Street in Waltham, beginning Thursday, April 7, from 2 – 5 for Historic New England members, including cattleyas, laelias, paphiopedilums, and phalaenopsis. Both species and hybrid plants that are budded and blooming are available.  Historic New England members receive early access before the sale opens to the public on April 8. No RSVP is necessary. Historic New England’s Garden and Landscape members receive a 15% discount on all greenhouse purchases. Learn more about Garden and Landscape membership, or call the membership line at 617-994-5910 to upgrade. Can’t make it to the preview? Regular sale hours are April 8 – 10, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m, open to the public.For more information, log on to www.historicnewengland.org.  Photo by Orchids by Richard.

Grow Native Massachusetts presents Wayne Petersen, Director of the Mass Audubon Important Bird Areas Program, in a free program on Wednesday, April 6 entitled Life on the Wing in an Era of Human Dominance.  The event will take place at the main branch of the Cambridge Public Library from 7 – 8:30 pm.

It is easy to take birds for granted. They cheer us with their songs in spring, engage us with the wonders of their flight, and grace our landscapes throughout the year. Yet, these idyllic images belie the serious impact of human activity on many bird populations. Come learn what we must do to help ensure their survival—what might comprise an avian wish list for human behavior. Wayne Petersen is a nationally known ornithologist, and a contributor to numerous field guides and publications. His talk will be the next best thing to birding with him in the field. For more information contact programsmanager@grownativemass.org.

You have probably seen the marvelous flashing of fireflies at dusk in summer, but less well-known are the many different types of luminous organisms in the oceans, and some others on land. On Sunday, April 3, beginning at 2 pm, Harvard’s Woody Hastings, a pioneer in the study of bioluminescence, will explore how and why creatures do this, show live specimens from his collection of glowing dinoflagellates (a type of plankton), and discuss how scientists are discovering new benefits of bioluminescence for medical research. Free with Harvard Museum of Natural History (26 Oxford St., Cambridge) admission. Log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu, or call 617-495-3045 for more information.

Get your hands dirty as you help implement Wellesley College Botanic Gardens’ Edible Ecosystem Demonstration Garden, located on the slope below Whitin Observatory.  This landscape, designed by permaculture experts Dave Jacke and Keith Zaltzberg with the assistance of several Wellesley students, mimics the forest in structure and function while providing diverse yields of food, habitat, and research opportunities.  Begin with an introductory talk Friday evening on the theory behind “edible ecosystems.”  Then join us for as much of Saturday as you can, immersed in a mix of hands-on learning and formal presentations on the design process, land management strategies, and ecosystem design.  Gain valuable experience as part of a work team planting baby trees, transplanting and propagating existing vegetation, and laying down the largest week-suppressing sheet-mulch the town of Wellesley has ever seen.  Workshop participants should dress for a day of work in the garden.  Long pants and sturdy, close-toed shoes are required.  Plan to bring a hat, work gloves, you own tools (label them, please), sunscreen, bug repellent, lunch, water and snacks.  Introductory talk: $10 Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture members, $15 non-members.  Workshop: $60 Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture members, $75 non-members.  Pre-registration required – call 781-283-3094, or email horticulture@wellesley.edu.