The Garden Club of the Back Bay

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Landscape Visions lectures for 2010/2011 begins Saturday, October 23 at 1:30 pm in the Tapestry Room with a presentation by Laurie Olin, landscape architect, author, and teacher, who has won numerous awards for his urban projects, including the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden (Washington, DC), the redesign of Columbus Circle in Manhattan, and Bryant Park.

Formerly treasure boxes turned inward, American museums and cultural institutions have made dramatic shifts in their perceptions of themselves and social engagement. Now they are connected both architecturally and socially with their place in the world, often through ambitious and welcoming landscapes.  Olin reflects on this evolution and presents work by his firm for museums and libraries over the last thirty years.

Tickets are $15 for the general public, $12 Seniors, $5 members, and free for students, and may be purchased online at www.gardnermuseum.org. The Landscape Visions lecture series is made possible by a bequest from Jeanne Muller Ryan.

Jane Brox, the award-winning author of Clearing Land: Legacies of the American Farm and Five Thousand Days Like This One, speaks about her latest book: Brilliant – The Evolution of Artificial Light, in the Murray Function Room on the Boston College Campus on Tuesday, September 28, beginning at 7 pm. Free, part of the Lowell Humanities Lecture Series. 617-552-3191, or email carlo.rotella@bc.edu. For directions, log on to www.bc.edu.

Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive, Boylston, Massachusetts, will present instructor Betsy Williams of The Proper Season on Saturday, September 25, from 10 – 1, for a class entitled Herbs for the Kitchen: Preserving Summer’s Herbs.  Now, while gardens and farm stands are brimming with fresh herbs, is the time to prepare for winter cooking and holiday gift giving.  Imagine lining your cupboard shelves with jewel toned bottles of herb vinegars, golden brown herb mustard and sparkling jars of herb jellies.  Picture containers of herb butters, bags of rosemary walnuts and jars of herb pesto filling a corner of your freezer.  Not enough time?  Too much work?  Not true!  These delicious enhancements to daily meals are quickly and easily made.  Learn how to dry or freeze herbs and how to make mustard, butters, vinegars, jellies, flavored nuts and pesto with fresh herbs.  Students will sample each recipe demonstrated and then make an herb vinegar, herb mustard and herb butter to take home.  Fee of $54 for Tower Hill members, $60 for non members includes the cost of food, supplies and a copy of Betsy’s book, Mrs. Thrift’s Cupboard, a collection of tried and true herbal recipes for the time-challenged cook.  To register, log on to www.towerhillbg.org.

What happens when crops fail, fields erode, temperatures drop, or when the center of power shifts and cultures descend into dark ages of poverty, famine and war? Find out at the Boston Center for Adult Education (BCAE) on Friday, September 17th, 2010 during an exclusive, free book signing event of EMPIRES OF FOOD: Feast, Famine, and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations with co-author Andrew Rimas. From 6:30PM to 8:00PM the BCAE will host an intimate discussion with Rimas as he speaks about his second, recently released book. Afterwards guests will mix, mingle and have a chance to get their purchased book signed by the co-author as they enjoy complimentary hors d’oeuvres, prepared by Executive Chef Matthew Molloy of Beacon Hill Hotel & Bistro and wine from Gordon’s Fine Wine & Liquors.

EMPIRES OF FOOD is a sweeping global history of food and its trade. Using the colorful diaries of a sixteenth-century merchant as a narrative guide, EMPIRES OF FOOD: Feast, Famine, and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations (Free Press; June 15, 2010; $27.00), written by agricultural expert Evan D.G. Fraser and journalist Andrew Rimas, vividly chronicles the fate of people and societies for the past 12,000 years through the foods they grew, hunted, traded, and ate—and gives fascinating, and devastating, insights into what to expect in years to come.

Fraser and Rimas argue that neither local food movements nor free market economies will stave off the next food crash, and they propose their own solutions. A fascinating, fresh history told through the prism of the dining table, “EMPIRES OF FOOD” offers a grand scope and a provocative analysis of the world today, indispensable in this time of global warming and food crises.

Join the Boston Center for Adult Education and Andrew Rimas as he discusses the relationship between climate change and food prices, obesity and starvation, gluttony and food shortages, and sustainability during Boston’s exclusive book signing event.  RSVP to information@bcae.org. For more information, log on to www.bcae.org.

Michele Hanss, Chairman of The Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America, and Past Chairman Beverly Van Orman, will present an illustrated program on the work of The Boston Committee at the opening fall meeting of The Garden Club of the Back Bay on Wednesday, September 15, beginning at 10 am at The College Club, 44 Commonwealth Avenue.

The Boston Committee of The Garden Club of America, a not for profit organization,  was formed to achieve the following purposes:  To educate the general public regarding regional environmental concerns and horticultural practices; to assist individuals and organizations in the design and beautification of public parks and grounds and in the planting of green areas; to meet with representatives to exchange views on issues and concerns of the region; to encourage civic achievement in the environment and in horticulture by presenting awards for design, restoration of public areas, or for other related purposes as part of its public interaction.  Through its Blossom Fund, The Boston Committee continues to provide seed money to Boston area not for profit organizations for their garden and/or preservation projects (such as the Kelleher Rose Garden, pictured below.)  The Garden Club of the Back Bay is an affiliate member of this worthy organization, and has for many years assisted in raising funds and directing contributions, but we feel many members are still a bit in the dark about the goals and projects.  This meeting will fill in all the information gaps, and is a fitting beginning to The Garden Club’s 2010/2011 program year.

An optional lunch ($20 members, $25 non-members) will follow the meeting, and reservations made prior to September 10 are essential.  Contact info@gardenclubbackbay.org to reserve.  Garden Club members will receive written notice of this event.

On Wednesday, September 22, MassHort and the Perennial Plant Association are teaming up to offer a day-long seminar titled, Exploring Design, Plant Selection, and Maintenance of the Mixed Border. Some of the best writers and creative plantsmen in the business will be here, and you’re invited to listen, learn and ask questions.

The speakers include Adrian Bloom (of Blooms of Bressingham); Kirk Brown, national director for the Garden Writers Association; Kerry Mendez, author of The Ultimate Gardener’s Top Ten Lists; Laura Deeter, professor at the Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI), The Ohio State University; Roy Diblik, co-owner of Northwind Perennial Farm located in Burlington, Wisconsin; and Brent Heath, co-owner with his wife, Becky, of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs.

The Program Schedule:

8:00 am – 8:45 am – Registration

9:00 am – 10:00 am – Sustainability and the American Dream, Kirk Brown, Joanne Kostecky Garden Design of Allentown, Pennsylvania

The United States is currently the single largest user of energy on the planet. Since GIs returned from WWII, we have been a nation of extremely successful consumers. When the oil spigots run dry, the bright lights of retailing dim, and the bank account’s empty, will we be able to adapt our search for the biggest and best? Kirk Brownwill disucss how we can we prepare our children and grandchildren for a world that should leave us naturally richer and ecologically healthier.

10:00 am – 10:30 am -  Break and Visit to the Elm Bank Gardens

10:30 am – 11:30 am – Designing for Four Seasons of Color – Hit the Easy Button,  Kerry Mendez, Perennially Yours, Ballston Spa, New York

Kerry Mendez will show you the tricks of the trade for having the WOW factor in your garden month after month with smart plant selection, design tips, and surefire maintenance shortcuts. And because it will be low maintenance, you will finally be able to ‘ease’ back in the ‘easy’ chair. Kerry is a “passionate perennialist” with more than 20 years of hands-on experience. As a garden consultant, designer, writer, teacher and lecturer, Kerry specializes in low-maintenance garden and landscape design that includes perennials, ornamental grasses, flowering shrubs, bulbs, and no-fuss annuals.

11:30 am – 12:30 pm – Bulbs as Companion Plants,  Brent Heath, Brent & Becky’s Bulbs, Gloucester, Virginia

Brent Heath will illustrate the best of the best – the right bulbs for the right spots. He will show how to combine bulbs, perennials, annuals, ground covers and flowering shrubs to create just the feeling you want to generate four seasons of color in your garden.

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm – Lunch

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm – Bloom’s Best Perennials and Grasses: Expert Plant Choices and Dramatic Combinations for Year-Round Gardens
Adrian Bloom, Bloom’s Nurseries Ltd,  Norfolk, England

From his long experience on both sides of the Atlantic in using hardy perennials and grasses together and with other plants for year round effect, Adrian Bloom will highlight some plants of great value for gardeners. He particularly believes there is much in the phrase less is more which can apply to the early or beginner gardener, and will develop his theme through 12 specially selected perennials and grasses for year-round interest.

2:30 pm – 3:00 pm – Break and Visit to the Elm Bank Gardens

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Perennial Plant Communities: The Know Maintenance Approach™,  Roy Diblik, Northwind Perennial Farm, Burlington, Wisconsin

Roy Diblik’s thoughtful way to design perennial plantings welcomes fresh contemporary styles and plant diversity integrated with responsible maintenance concerns. Using a selection of regionally dependable perennials, endless natural plant patterns can be constructed, each relating to time and cost to maintain. Roy has been growing plants for more than 25 years. Recently, Roy was the plant purchasing coordinator for the Lurie Garden in Chicago’s Millenium Park, growing 11,000 of the plants at Northwind. He was also very involved in the installation of the garden. He also installed the Sullivan Arch Garden for the modern wing of the Art Institute in Chicago.

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Bringing Your Perennials Up Right,  Dr. Laura Deeter, ATI Ohio State University, Wooster, Ohio

The day’s final speaker will be Dr. Laura Deeter,  whose lecture is entitled Bringing Your Perennials Up Right. Are you the parents of unruly toddlers, aggressive or lazy teenagers, or are your babies closer to middle age and just aren’t the same anymore? Perhaps they simply aren’t living up to their full potential. Learn how to make your perennial babies work for you! Laura will provide a fun and lively romp through perennial maintenance!

Registration Fee: $95/person before September 14. $110/person after September 14.  This price includes lunch.  You may register on line at www.masshort.org, or call 614-771-8431.

An extraordinary ‘two-fer’ for a great cause. Adrian Bloom is in America with a new book, Bloom’s Best Perennials and Grasses: Expert Plant Choices and Dramatic Combinations for Year Round Gardens. On the evening of September 23, you can meet and talk with Adrian in the extraordinary Cape Cod garden of Paul Miskovsky. Paul’s garden was recently the subject of a cover article in the Boston Globe’s Sunday magazine and is rarely open to the public.

Tickets are $150 per person for an evening of cocktails, hors d’oeuvre and conversation. To register, contact the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s  reservation line at 617-933-4995.

The Ecological Landscaping Association will present a program on Saturday, September 18, from 10 – noon, at the Perkins School, 175 North Beacon Street in Watertown. Join Eco-Tour guide, Sonia Baerhuk, for a tour and presentation of large-scale construction projects at the Perkins School. Sonia will discuss proven techniques for successfully navigating the challenges of large-scale construction while creating and preserving ecological landscapes. This tour will include procedures for protecting trees and shrubs during construction and will discuss transplanting using the air-spading method.  $20 for ELA members, $25 for non-members. Walk-ins also welcome. For more information: ela.info@comcast.net or (617) 436-5838.

As the final talk in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Wednesdays in the Garden series, arborist Paul Fletcher will discuss caring for your trees in a time of drought, Asian longhorn beetles and winter moths (see damage below).  His advice should not be missed.  The event takes place Wednesday, August 25 at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley, beginning at 6:30 pm.  Refreshments will be served.  $8 for Mass Hort members and $10 for non-members.  Please bring cash or a check.  For directions, log on to www.masshort.org.

Go on a journey through the growing season with past Garden Club of the Back Bay speaker Suzanne Mahler as she talks on Perennial Color, Spring Through Fall. It’s not just a dazzling photographic display of the hottest new perennials and the tried and true favorites for both sunny and shady sites; it’s also what-you-can-do-now advice for making next spring your best gardening season ever. Suzanne’s talks are noted for their detailed handouts and sound horticultural practices. The event will take place at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley, on Wednesday, August 18, from 6:30 – 8, and refreshments will be offered. $8 for Mass Hort members, and $10 for non-members. Please bring cash or check. For directions and more information, log on to www.masshort.org.  Gaillardia grandiflora ‘Fanfare’ is pictured below.

Vice President of the New Hampshire Beekeepers’ Association Amy Antonucci talks about the goodness honeybees bring to our gardens and world, in a lecture on Thursday, August 19, from 5:30 – 7 at the Rundlet-May House in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Explore the evolution of bees, the division of labor, social life in the hive, and why bees matter.  Sponsored by Historic New England, the cost to attend is $10 for members of Historic New England, and $15 for non-members.  To register, log on to www.historicnewengland.org, or call 603-436-3205.

Spend the evening with Anthony Archer Wills on Friday, August 27, beginning at 7 pm, for an illustrated lecture entitled “The Art of Water in the Garden,” sponsored by Garden Design School.  The event will take place at Elm Bank, home of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in Wellesley, and will be a terrific “prequel” to The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s “Water” themed lecture series for 2010/2011.   Mr. Wills is a world-renowned water garden designer, true artisan, and pioneer.  Anthony Archer-Wills works earth and water to create environments that indulge the imagination, and delight the senses.

Inspired as a schoolchild watching water well up from the ground in the woods, and influenced by Roberto Burle Marx of Brazil, who used architectural materials, curving water shapes and mass plantings on a large scale to “paint the landscape,” Anthony began designing water gardens in the 1960s.

A true pioneer and artisan, he developed new water gardening techniques while completing his first large-scale projects for Safari Parks in England, and Bear Park in Scotland. By the mid-1970s, his techniques were adopted worldwide as the industry standard for building water gardens.

Anthony has gone on to create more than 2,000 water features in Great Britain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, South America, Argentina and Turkey, as well as the United States.

He is the author of The Water Gardener, Water Power and Designing Water Gardens, which have been published in five languages. Pre-registration is required.  Admission is $75.  For more information, or to register, call 513-867-0437, email info@gardendesignschool.com, or log on to www.gardendesignschool.com.

A gardener’s dream: seminar, rare plant sale, gala reception, and tour of exceptional gardens.  Speakers at the Hollister House Garden Weekend, August 27 – 29  include Peter Wirtz, Page Dickey, Margaret Roach, Jill Nokes, Dick Button, Hitch Lyman, and Adam Wheeler. Pre-registration is required.

The art of gardening as a channel of personal as well as cultural expression will be explored in depth in a program of stimulating lectures. The keynote speaker is Peter Wirtz, scion of the renowned Belgian architectural landscape firm Wirtz International, who will speak on Personal Expressions in the Garden, and be joined by other outstanding horticulturists. The weekend gets underway with a gala cocktail supper Friday evening where participants may informally mingle with the speakers and fellow garden enthusiasts in the gardens at historic Hollister House in Litchfield County, Connecticut.

Saturday’s symposium takes place at the nearby Montessori School in comfortable, air-conditioned spaces with up to date lecture facilities. A delicious buffet luncheon, a sale of beautifully written and illustrated garden books and a plant sale featuring a select group of New England’s finest specialty plant growers, plus a ‘show & tell’ plant colloquy are included in Saturday’s all-day agenda.

Other thought-provoking speakers on the roster are:
• Page Dickey, a popular lecturer and prolific garden writer of, among other books, Gardens in the Spirit of Place, the award-winning Breaking Ground: Portraits of Ten Garden Designers, and to be published in the fall of 2010, Embroidered Ground;
• Margaret Roach, a journalist who became a major force at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and is now a garden blogger with a devoted following;
• Jill Nokes, a landscape designer and author whose latest book Yard Art and Handmade Places is about 20 Texans who have been astonishingly creative in transforming and decorating their yards and gardens;
• Dick Button, a former Olympian and figure skating commentator whose North Salem, NY garden is an explosion of color, self-described as “an anything-I-like garden.”

In the afternoon – two outstanding plantsmen – garden designer Hitch Lyman and nurseryman Adam Wheeler of Broken Arrow will debate the merits of the best plants for late season gardens during the “Plant Show and Tell.”

There will also be a Rare Plant Sale with opportunities to purchase choice plants for the late season garden from Broken Arrow Nursery (Hamden, CT), Loomis Creek Nursery (Hudson, NY), Falls Village Flower Farm (Falls Village, CT), O’Brien Nurserymen (Granby, CT), Pergola (New Preston, CT), Opus (Little Compton, RI), Rocky Dale Gardens (Bristol, VT), and Sunny Border Nurseries (Berlin, CT).

Garden books, selected by Washington Depot’s treasured independent bookseller The Hickory Stick, will also be for sale, many authored by the symposium speakers and available for signing.

The weekend’s grand finale is on Sunday when the Garden Conservancy opens six exceptional private gardens in New Preston, Roxbury and Washington as part of its Open Days Program. Four of them — Stiteler Meadow, Muddy Rugs, the garden of Norman Sunshine & Alan Shayne, and the garden of Mrs. Michael Wiener — are on the Open Days circuit for the first time. The two others are the esteemed gardens of Martine and Richard Copeland and Georgia Middlebrook.
Hollister House Garden is also featured on the Sunday tour.

The weekend package includes the Friday, August 27 Gala Cocktail Supper, Saturday, August 28 Continental Breakfast, Seminar, Lunch, Plant & Book Sale.  $230 for members of Garden Conservancy or Hollister House Garden, $240 for non-member.  You may register online at www.hollisterhousegarden.org, or call 860-868-2200.

Meet people who are passionate about planting – not just pots on the porch, but entire parks, commercial districts, medians and more.  Learn what the best towns in America are doing to enhance their quality of life, beautify their public, commercial and residential spaces, and encourage economic development.  Get easy-to-implement ideas from experts, and enjoy inspiring tours showcasing success stories of the St. Louis area, at this year’s America in Bloom Symposium, taking place September 30 – October 2 in St. Louis, Missouri.  Celebrating the beautification efforts of communities across the nation, the title of this year’s event is “Gateways, Gardens, Grandeur.”  For complete information, log on to www.americainbloom.org, or call 614-487-1117.

You know about heirloom tomatoes tasting better than their mealy, chalky red softball cousins. What about Sibley’s Squash, pictured below, first grown in Marblehead in 1798, known for its ability to store well for the winter? Or the Early Blood Rooted Turnip Beet? Promoted by the Shakers beginning in 1850, they have blood red flesh and are super sweet with cinnamon and clove spice undertones.

If this piques your interest, reserve Wednesday, August 25th, at 6 pm, to join Slow Food Boston, Chefs Collaborative and Farmers Jim & John from Allandale Farm for an evening’s discussion about heirloom varietals and RAFT – ‘Renewing America’s Food Traditions’.  We’ll be touring the farm, learning about growing practices and the need for crop diversity – as well as getting a few tastes to tempt our palates.

RAFT is a program started by Slow Food USA as a spin-off from the ARK of Taste, which recognizes foods that are in danger of extinction due to changing tastes & growing practices. RAFT goes one step further, bringing attention not only to regional foods and heirloom varietals that are hard to find, but also the cultural traditions around food that are being lost.

Chefs Collaborative, a Boston-based network of chefs, is working to get more of the RAFT heirloom varieties into their members kitchens. They’ve created a so-called ‘RAFT Grow-Out’ enticing local farms to grow these special items with the promise that everything they grow will be purchased by local restaurants. A perfect field to table food system!

So what’s in it for you? Well, if farms start growing these amazing beautiful and yummy heirloom varieties, they’ll start selling them at local farmers markets – which means you get a chance to taste and experiment!. You support crop diversity AND get better tasting food.

Space for this evening is limited, so reserve your spot today by logging on to www.slowfoodboston.com.  Cost for the evening is $5, going to the Terra Madre Fund.  What, you ask, is that? Terra Madre Fund Campaign: Locally, Slow Food Boston is raising funds to send representatives from our food communities to Terra Madre, October 2010 in Italy. At the last Terra Madre in 2008, over 7,000 farmers from 153 countries met for four days to discuss sustainable food production & biodiversity, aiming to make farming a viable career option. Farmer Jim from Allandale has been accepted to this prestigious event, and we’re raising money to help with his transportation costs (and those for three others as well.)

Directions:
Allandale Farm is located at 259 Allandale Road in Brookline. More information can be found on their website, www.allandalefarm.com.

You are invited to the Hyatt Regency in Dallas, Texas on September 10 – 13 to celebrate the 62nd Garden Writers Association Annual Symposium. The objectives of this year’s meeting are to provide information on trends and current issues important to garden communicators, to address professional development subject matter covered in the core competency schedule, to provide as many opportunities as possible for the development of new story ideas, and to promote an active information exchange between members through networking. There is a vibrant and informative schedule of activities to highlight the Dallas/Fort Worth area, such as a trip to the Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Garden (below), and to Highland Park and East Dallas private gardens,  and those of you interested in even more story tours and private garden photo opportunities are invited to attend the special optional tours on Tuesday, September 14, which will include Oak Cliff  private gardens or the Fort Worth Botanical Garden.

This year’s Symposium will explore beautiful Dallas. Dallas’ new slogan “Live Large. Think Big” describes the essence and vitality of a city built on big dreams. Make a donation to the GWA Foundation and have your name entered to win a great prize – drawing will take place at the Annual Awards Banquet, and attendance is not necessary to win.  The keynote speaker is Kierstin De West, the CEO, co-founder and key strategic and research mind at Conscientious Innovation, a Vancouver, BC  consultancy.  Her topic is Social Responsibility with Substance and Style.  For a complete schedule of speakers and events, log on to www.gardenwriters.org.

Highfield Hall, 56 Highfield Drive in Falmouth, has arranged for Gwenn Friss, Food Editor of the Cape Cod Times, to speak on Wednesday, August 11, beginning at 4 pm.  Ms. Friss, well-known food editor of the regional newspaper, is a longtime home cook who has had the privilege of interviewing scores of chefs and cookbook authors.  She’ll share her tips, and some of theirs, to help you use all your garden’s bounty and enjoy every bit of food from farmers’ markets.  A longtime journalist, Gwenn was part of a team that won an environmental award last year for the Cape Cod Times series about growing and cooking your own food, as well as benefiting from the nutrition it provides.  She will inspire you and offer concrete ideas to avoid wasting food, including some recipes for you to take home.  $5 suggested donation. Log on to www.highfieldhall.org for directions and more information.

Porter Square Books in Cambridge hosts author Andrew Rimas on Tuesday, August 3, beginning at 7 pm.  Andrew will speak on his most recent book, Empires of Food: Feast, Famine and the Rise and Fall of Civilization. The book vividly chronicles the fate of people and societies for the past twelve thousand years through the foods they grew, hunted, traded, and ate-and gives us fascinating, and devastating, insights into what to expect in years to come. The narrative takes the reader to places as disparate as ancient Mesopotamia and imperial Britain. Discussed are the history of cyclic consumption and also of the future and the impact of food availability and distribution on world events. Rimas is a journalist and the managing editor at the Improper Bostonian magazine; previously he was an associate editor and staff writer at Boston Magazine. His work has frequently appeared in those publications, and in the Boston Globe Magazine and the Boston Globe. For more information, email ellen@portersquarebooks.com, or call 617-491-2220.

Warren Leach, Co-Owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth, will speak at Highfield Hall, 56 Highfield Drive in Falmouth, on Thursday, August 12 at 10 am.  Warren Leach is an award winning landscape horticulturist who creates enduring garden designs for customers’ homes or businesses.  He has written articles for American Nurseryman on national and spoken at regional events ranging from Brown University and Swarthmore College presentations at several prominent flower shows, to a guest appearance on PBS’s Victory Garden.  He will share how to think about the structure of your garden and the importance of having a plan.  By paying attention to palette, sequence and seasonality, you can develop a winning garden.  $5 suggested donation.  For information, log on to www.highfieldhall.org.

Since you will already be at Highfield Hall, 56 Highfield Drive in Falmouth on Thursday, August 12 listening to Warren Leach, stick around, since at 11:00 am  Judy Larocque, Garden Tutor, Judy’s Garden, will speak on Creating a Butterfly-Friendly Environment. Judy’s horticultural education began at the New York Botanical Gardens.  Since then she has worked at a number of well-known garden centers, including Lexington Gardens and Mahoney’s Garden Center, and teaches on gardening topics regularly at both the Falmouth and Sandwich Community Schools.  She will offer helpful tips on identifying butterflies in your back yar  – how to attract them and how to help them propagate. Judy will also cover the three part environment they need to thrive: for the catepillar stage, for nectar and rest, and for laying eggs.  Be prepared to be surprised as to which plants are most amicable to butterflies for each of these stages.  $5 suggested donation.  Log on to www.highfieldhall.org for more information.