The Garden Club of the Back Bay

Jules Janick, James Troop Distinguished Professor of Horticulture at Purdue University, will speak in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum on Monday, March 5, from 7 – 8:30, as part of the Director’s Lecture Series. Works of art from antiquity to the present constitute an alternate source of information on horticultural technology and science, providing significant information on subjects such as the history of technology, crop evolution, lost traits, and crop dispersal. Sources include ancient mosaics, sculpture, illustrations of medieval manuscripts, renaissance paintings, and illustrations from illuminated and printed herbals. The uses of art as a source of horticultural technology will be illustrated using examples of Paleolithic sculpture and painting, Egyptian and Mesopotamian sculpture and painting, ancient Greek paintings, Roman mosaics, Medieval illuminated herbals, and Renaissance art in its many manifestations including illustrated prayer books, fresco ceilings, paintings, drawings, sculpture, and woodcuts from printed herbals. The program is free but registration is required at 617-384-5277, or sign up on line at www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

2012 marks the 100th Anniversary of the original gift of cherry trees from Japan to the United States in 1912. Planted at the Tidal Basin of the Potomac River in the nation’s capital and supplemented with more cherry trees over the years, the blossoming cherry trees of Washington DC have become a national treasure and attract hundreds of thousands of viewers to the “Cherry Blossom Festival” along the Potomac each spring. Japan will mark this Centennial with new gifts of cherry trees to Washington and to a number of other American cities, Boston among them. The Consulate General of Japan in Boston will arrange ceremonial cherry tree plantings in many Boston parks and public places. To accompany the new cherry trees, planning is now underway for a rich festival of Japanese cultural events in Boston, beginning in March 2012 and spanning more than three springtime months. Highlights of this festival include the events listed below. Many, many more festival events will be added during the coming weeks and months. For detailed information, schedules, details, and ticketing, please keep checking this website: www.japansocietyboston.org.

An Evening of Kabuki Dance
March 27: Paramount Theater, Boston
A spectacular presentation of classic dance pieces from the
Kabuki repertory, featuring Kabuki star performer Kotoji Bando.
(Presented by The Japan Society of Boston)

Anime Boston
April 6-8, Hines Convention Center, Boston
New England’s Largest Annual Celebration of
Japanese animation, comics and pop culture.
A not-to-be-missed festival and trade show of Anime art and publications.
Thousands attend, many in incredible anime costumes!

Boston Gagaku Concert
“From Centennial to Millennial Spring”
April 9, Boston Symphony Hall, Boston
The Kitanodai Gagaku Ensemble and
Members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra
will perform music by Tchaikovsky, and Gagaku
traditional Japanese Court Music.

Japan Society Annual Dinner
April 18, Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel, Boston
The Japan Society of Boston’s single largest annual gala event.
Keynote Speaker: Mr. Kazuo Inamori (Chairman of Japan Airlines and Founder/Honorary Chairman of Kyocera Corporation). Other guests of honor will include Japan’s internationally acclaimed wheelchair marathoner Ms. Wakako Tsuchida.

The Kioi Sinfonietta
May 1, Sanders Theater, Cambridge
Japan’s celebrated chamber orchestra will present a single concert appearance at Harvard’s beautiful Sanders Theater
(Presented by The Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard, & The Japan Society of Boston).

The Beauty & Mystery of Japanese Textiles
May 2, Remis Auditorium, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Reiko Sudo, Japan’s brilliant textile designer and founder
of the world famous NUNO textile shop will speak on the transformation of traditional Japanese textiles into
contemporary works of art.
(Presented by the MFA and The Japan Society of Boston as the 2012 Rad Smith Program in Japanese Art)
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Many other “Sakura Festival” events in Spring 2012 will include exhibits, performances, demonstrations, receptions, concerts, film programs, and symposia.

For the past few years, Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture docent Vivi Leavy has recorded the blooming of greenhouse flowers—showstoppers as well as those easily overlooked, in her task of updating the “What’s in Bloom” board in the Visitor Center. Come for a great photo tour of the greenhouses in bloom on Monday, February 27 and to hear Vivi’s stories of her favorites from the collection. Tea will be served at 2 pm, followed by the tour and talk. WCFH members $10, non-members $15. Register at www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

Meadows are not only beautiful landscapes, but also valuable habitats for plants, pollinators and birds. Information on creating and maintaining a meadow are included in the talk. Consider plant selection, siting, planting, cultivation and maintenance of native plants suitable for a meadow garden in this Berkshire Botanical Garden lecture on Saturday, February 11, from 1 – 3. View plants and combinations that will enhance properties in a natural way. In the first hour explore the native and non-native species that call meadows home and learn how meadows function. In the second hour discuss creating meadow gardens and look more closely at the cultural requirements of native meadow species.

Drew Monthie is a horticulturalist, garden designer and ecologist working in upper New York State. He is committed to teaching about the importance of using native plants to provide beauty and preserve biodiversity in yards and gardens. $22 for BBG members, $27 for non-members. Register on line at www.berkshirebotanical.org. Image below from The American Meadow Garden by John Greenlee.

Judith Sumner, botanist, author, and educator, celebrates women’s many roles in botany, at Garden in the Woods in Framingham on Sunday, February 26 from 10 – 4. Expert practical botanists – as gardeners, cooks, herbalists, and midwives – women have also become recognized professional botanists contributing significantly to plant science through exploration, research, and publication. Beginning with colonial America and the work of Jane Colden, explore the role of women in botanical studies and documentation. Recognize the role of women in protecting biodiversity (including the origins of the New England Wild Flower Society) and the work of Beatrix Farrand and others in ecology and landscape design.  In addition to lecture, slides, and discussion, peruse primary source materials from the Society library and participate in hands-on activities that commemorate the diverse roles of women in botany. This lecture is offered in collaboration with The Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture. Fee for members of either organization is $72 per person, and for non-members, $87. Register on line at www.newfs.org, or at www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

The 2012 Esther Steinberg Memorial Architecture Lecture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston will take place Wednesday, March 14, beginning at 7 pm in the Remis Auditorium at the MFA.  Robert Hammond, co-founder and executive director, Friends of the High Line, will share the story of how the High Line, a new public park atop an elevated freight rail structure in Manhattan, became an innovative urban reclamation project.  Hammond and his co-founder collaborated with neighbors, elected officials, artists, local business owners, and leaders in horticulture and landscape architecture, to create a park celebrated as a model for creatively designed, socially vibrant, ecologically sound public space.  A book signing follows.  This is a ticketed event ($15 MFA members, $18 others) and tickets may be reserved by calling 1-800-440-6975, going in person to the Remis Auditorium box office at the Museum, or visiting www.mfa.org.  Because this event will undoubtedly sell out, we recommend buying tickets early.

On Valentine’s Day, The Cambridge Entomological Club will host Christian Rabeling, Junior Fellow at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, as the speaker for its February meeting.  Christian’s studies include the evolutionary biology of social insects, genetic evolution and speciation of social parasites, and the natural history of ants.  CEC meetings are held the second Tuesday of the month from October through May. The evening schedule typically includes an informal dinner (6:15 to 7:15 PM) followed by our formal meeting (7:30 – 9:00 PM) in MCZ 101, 26 Oxford Street, Harvard University. The latter begins with club business and is followed by a 50 minute entomology related presentation. Membership is open to amateur and professional entomologists.  For more information, email CEC President Jessica Walden-Gray at jessisoutside@gmail.com.

This Tower Hill Botanic Garden demonstration, in conjunction with Flora in Winter, will take you on a vacation for your senses – travel an herbal highway featuring culinary delights such as herb butters, syrups and cordials; scented treasures such as potpourris; feel good body products like massage oil and body powder; and visual delights such as pressed flower bookmarks and miniature dried flower arrangements. You will learn how simple it is to surround yourself with beautiful and unique items of an herbal nature. Handouts will be given to each participant with project directions. THBG member price $5, non-member price $8, presented by Karen O’Brien of The Green Woman’s Garden. The event will be given twice, once from 11 – 12:30, and again from 1:30 – 3:00. Register online at www.towerhillbg.org.

This Berkshire Botanical Garden workshop on Saturday, February 4 from 9 – 12 is for everyone with an interest in honeybees and beekeeping. Learn how to start a honeybee colony, the seasonal management required to keep a healthy hive of bees and the role of pollinators and their relationship to flowering plants. Topics provide an overview of the beekeeper’s job, and will help new beekeepers, or those who are considering becoming a beekeeper, to make the correct choices for starting a backyard apiary. Equipment and tools used by the beekeeper will be discussed, and step-by-step instructions for starting a new colony of bees will be covered. At the end of the workshop participants should have a solid understanding of how to successfully begin as a new beekeeper.

Dan Conlon owns Warm Colors Apiary in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. Warm Colors maintains bee yards in western Mass for honey production, and to provide pollination services on area farms. As a full-time beekeeper, concerned with the decline of all bees, Dan focuses on management that improves Queen development & health, colony nutrition, and reduces the environmental risks threatening bees. He is President of the Massachusetts Beekeepers Association, and was recognized as the Eastern Apicultural Society’s 2004 Beekeeper of the Year, and the Massachusetts 2005 Beekeeper of the Year. Register online ($37 BBG members, $45 non-members) at www.berkshirebotanical.org.  Photo of Dan’s Russian Queen Bee Yard below from www.commonweeder.com.

Learn more about the history of the Back Bay Fens at a fascinating docent talk on Sunday, January 22,  from 1 – 3.  Meet at the Emerald Necklace Gatehouse, 125 The Fenway.  Free, no reservations required.

This Berkshire Botanical Garden program on Saturday, January 28 from 10 – 12 will provide an introduction to the basics of saving vegetable seeds. You’ll discuss issues of pollination, isolation, timing, spacing, harvesting, cleaning, drying and storage. We’ll explain terms such as hybrid and open-pollinated, “selfers” and “crossers,” and touch on the different requirements of annuals and biennials. Finally, we’ll talk about choosing the best varieties to start with.

Sylvia Davatz has been gardening organically for over 25 years and saving seed for 18. What started as an act of protest against decreasing variety selection and a narrowing within the seed industry quickly expanded, fueled by curiosity about potential for season extension in our area and a desire for greater self-sufficiency. She is a member of the Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa, and offers seed of over 80 varieties through their annual yearbook. An additional 60 varieties are maintained in her garden for personal use. Three years ago she launched Solstice Seeds, a small seed company dedicated to offering locally adapted, regionally appropriate, Hartland-grown open-pollinated seed.  Register on-line ($22 BBG members, $27 non-members) at www.berkshirebotanical.org.

The amazing diversity of life is a result of billions of years of evolution. But how did the process of evolution begin? Nobel Prize winner Jack Szostak, a Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Distinguished Investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital, will describe how efforts to design and build very simple living cells are testing our assumptions about the nature of life, generating ideas about how life emerged from the chemistry of early Earth, and offering clues as to how modern life evolved from its earliest ancestors. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free parking available in the 52 Oxford Street garage. Part of the Evolution Matters lecture series at The Harvard Museum of Natural History. Supported by a gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit.  For more information, visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

Instructive examples of gardens full of native plants are hard to find. On Wednesday, February 1, from 7 – 8:30 at The Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, landscape architect and author Carolyn Summers fills that void with a plethora of images and commentary to fire our imaginations. She reviews the science behind the essential life support function of indigenous plants, takes us on a journey through a variety of formal gardens and more “naturalistic” landscapes, and illustrates the effective use of our northeastern native flora so that we can better visualize their full design potential. Ms. Summers is an adjunct professor at Westchester Community College and has been an effective advocate for native plants in the urban landscapes of New York City.  The lecture is free. For more information, call 617-354-0502.

There will be a discussion on the Mill Brook restoration with Michael Hopper, President of the Sea Run Brook Trout Coalition, on Saturday, January 21 at 3:30 pm at the West Tisbury Library on Martha’s Vineyard.  Mr. Hopper will share his experiences of restoration efforts for stream restoration in southeastern Massachusetts for sea-run brook trout habitat.  Free and open to the public.  For more information visit www.searunbrookie.org.

Enjoy the beauty of seeds and learn about plant conservation projects from Julie McIntosh Shapiro at a Horticulture Morning sponsored by the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts on Monday, February 13, from 10 – noon at the Espousal Center in Waltham.   The Seed Herbarium Image Project, or SHIP, is an initiative of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University to create a web-based repository of high-resolution digital images documenting the morphology of woody plant seeds and selected fruit structures.  SHIP is headquartered at the Arboretum’s Dana Greenhouse facility and is coordinated and photographed by curatorial assistant Julie McIntosh Shapiro. The Seed Herbarium Image Project supports the work of educators and professionals in horticulture and the botanical sciences, particularly in conservation research and management of rare and endangered species. The digitized images of seeds offer an important new aid for teaching seed identification—a fundamental skill in plant propagation, hybridization, and distribution—and serve as a resource for nurserymen, horticulturists, botanical curators, taxonomists, ecologists, and the general public. SHIP also provides an online resource for botanical institutions and nurseries to verify their collections and inventories. SHIP is made possible through the generous support of the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust, Cabot Family Charitable Trust, and the J. Frank Schmidt Family Charitable Foundation.  A $5 donation is requested.

Be Healthy Boston is a two day urban wellness retreat, right in the heart of Boston, at The Westin Boston Waterfront, 425 Summer Street.  Meant to educate, inspire and empower members of the Boston and surrounding communities to live and maintain healthy lifestyles, Be Healthy Boston promises to be a unique experience in a unique environment, like no other.

There’s lots to look forward to! Just a few things include:

Learning how to adopt a healthy lifestyle holistically
Sampling new and exciting fitness classes from local studios
Trying acupuncture, reiki, and other integrative therapies
Enjoying mini-massages and other spa-therapies
Speaking with local health and wellness experts and business owners (Siena Farms owner Chris Kurth and his fabulous chef wife Ana Sortun will be among them)
Be Healthy Boston will be more than just an event; it will be an experience like no other. Nowhere else can you meet face to face with local wellness providers, services, and businesses, all of which can help you create the healthy lifestyle you want, all under one roof.

Your Two-Day Pass includes:

15 Workshops on innovative topics, including nutrition, stress management, and green living
Sample fitness classes in Gyrotonics, Yoga, Kettlebells, Zumba and more
Mini spa treatments and integrative therapies from Aveda, Chuan Body + Soul, Spa Intercontinental, Massage Envy and others
Coaching and wellness consultations with leading wellness coaches
Cooking demonstrations with award-winning chefs, such as Oleana’s Ana Sortun
Book signings with best-selling authors, great take home gifts and plentiful samples
Healthy and delicious lunches and Saturday early evening reception
Silent auction to benefit Dana Farber’s Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies
and more!

Be Healthy Boston is a two day urban wellness retreat, right in the heart of Boston! Meant to educate, inspire and empower members of the Boston and surrounding communities to live and maintain healthy lifestyles, Be Healthy Boston promises to be a unique experience in a unique environment, like no other.

There’s lots to look forward to! Just a few things include:

• Learning how to adopt a healthy lifestyle holistically
• Sampling new and exciting fitness classes from local studios
• Trying acupuncture, reiki, and other integrative therapies
• Enjoying mini-massages and other spa-therapies
• Speaking with local health and wellness experts and business owners
• Attending innovative workshops
• Participating in cooking demonstrations with local restaurants and chefs
• Meeting like minded Bostonians interested in their health and wellbeing
• And more!

Come to Be Healthy Boston and be inspired to create the healthy life you deserve!
Attending innovative workshops
Participating in cooking demonstrations with local restaurants and chefs
Meeting like minded Bostonians interested in their health and wellbeing
And more!

Come to Be Healthy Boston and be inspired to create the healthy life you deserve! For complete information, log on to www.behealthyboston.com.  Register by January 8 for the best price ($79 – $159).

Join Hazel Schroeder, Maureen Marshall, and Cathie Healey at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Saturday, January 28, from 12 – 1:30. These highly decorated designers will teach participants how to create arrangements for each course of a progressive dinner party. They will use affordable flowers to create extraordinary arrangements to “wow” any guest. Enjoy tea, coffee and light refreshments as we watch and learn. We will hold a raffle to award the arrangements to several lucky winners.  Free with Tower Hill admission.  Photo from www.visualvamp.blogspot.com.

Dan Driscoll, Director of Recreational Facilities Planning, MA DCR and featured green space advocate in “My Green Manifesto,” will speak about the need for accessible, “wild” spaces in the city. He will talk about his work along the Charles River to transform a polluted, once feared space into a home for urban wildlife and an opportunity for human discovery and peace. The program will take place Thursday, January 19, from 6:30 – 8:30 at the BNAN office, 62 Summer Street in Boston. Registration required. To register and for more information email info@bostonnatural.org or 617-542-7696.

Groundscapes Express has worked on many ecosystem restoration projects throughout the region. Groundscapes’ approach treats the whole site as an ecosystem or a sub-watershed for greatest success. Projects implement best practices for improved water quality, soil compaction, invasive species, and erosion control. At this Roundtable presentation on Thursday, January 19, from 1 – 3:30 pm at the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens’ Visitors Center, 106 Central Street in Wellesley,, John Engwer will describe ecosystem restoration projects at sites including Wellesley College, Kent Hospital, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, Mount Auburn Cemetery, and Fresh Pond Reservation.  Though the sites differ widely, the issues of soil compaction, stormwater management, and invasive species control are common to all.  Registrations are limited – call 617-436-5838, or email ela.info@comcast.net.  $20 ELA or Wellesley Friends of Horticulture member price, $25 for nonmembers.

Plan now for an important horticultural lecture in February. Noted author, educator and researcher Michael Dirr, Ph.D. will present The World According to Dirr: Trees and Shrubs for the 21st Century at the Berkshire Botanical Garden’s 2012 Annual Winter Lecture on Saturday, February 18, beginning at 2 pm.

Dirr’s illustrated lecture will weave a tapestry rich in topics befitting an American icon of horticulture, complete with his signature humor and style. The endearing noble trees, trends in woody plants and the back story of the landscape industry, including plant breeding and development, are among the topics he will present.

Dr. Dirr’s influence in horticulture is far reaching. A prolific author and exceptional hybridizer, he has dedicated his life to educating the public about the importance and use of woody plants in the landscape. In addition to his many well-known books, his newly published Dirr’s Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs continues to set the gold standard for horticultural reference. Known alternately as the modern father of woody plants and the hydrangea guru, his contributions to the world of horticulture are remarkable.

Following the lecture, all are invited to a reception and book signing of Dirr’s Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs and the Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. Call the Garden today to reserve your advance copies!

Lecture generously sponsored by Hunter Boot.  (Snow date: Sunday, February 19)  The event will take place at Monument Mountain Regional High School, Route 7 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.  BBG member price $35, nonmembers $42, group rates available.  Call 413-298-3926 for more information, or email rparow@berkshirebotanical.org.