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News Archive

Seeing a lot of winter damage in your yard? Restorative Pruning 4/11

Friday, 27 March 2015 14:45

Horticultural Triage: Assessing and Repairing Your Winter-damaged Landscape

As this year's record-breaking snow load recedes, it is revealing the extensive damage to our landscapes. We all know that this winter and all that snow has been brutal on plants, trees and shrubs, with many broken branches and limbs. Our Restorative Pruning Workshop, April 11, 9:00-11:30 am, led by the estate’s Landscape Director Debbie Merriam, will cover the basics of good pruning theory and practice, with a particular emphasis on evaluating and restoring plants that have been damaged by weather. After a brief classroom session, Debbie will demonstrate some rejuvenative pruning methods and participants will practice their skills on plants in the estate’s formal garden. Dress accordingly. Please bring safety glasses and hand-pruners if you have them; if not, they’ll be provided. If time allows, Debbie will also cover transplanting and soil health. Cost for this session is $10 for members; $20 for non-members. Space is limited; pre-registration required. To register, call 617-333-0924.

March Stone Soup 3/26 Profiles the Remarkable Dawn Redwood

Friday, 06 March 2015 14:30

Continuing with this year's series theme offering "portraits" of "great trees," this month's Stone Soup will feature Debbie McElwaine, a Harvard Graduate student and neighbor who has researched the tree population near the estate on Hemenway Drive. Debbie's topic will be the Metasequoia glyptostroboides or Dawn Redwood. Once thought to be extinct and rediscovered by "plant hunters" from the Arnold Arboretum, the metasequoia's story is truly remarkable, and local. A four-square planting of these trees in the estate's formal garden is one of the estate's character defining features. Stone Soup and Speakers events are held on the final Thursday of each month through May. These warm and casual programs begin at 5:30 pm with a bowl of tasty home-made soup, followed by a short presentation by the featured speaker. Space IS limited. Pre-registration is required. To RSVP or for more information, please call 617-333-0924.

The schedule for the rest of the Stone Soup and Speaker Series is:

April 30: Dove or Hankerchief Tree, Davidia involucrata

May 28: Chinese Dogwood, Cornus kousa

Backyard Homesteading Series: Create a Compact Orchard 3/21

Wednesday, 11 February 2015 12:33

Become a backyard orchardist and grow your own fruit! Even with a small yard, you can enjoy fruit from your own trees with minimal effort and cost. This step-by-step workshop, to be held March 21 frrom 9:00-11:00 am, will teach you all you need to know to plan and create a compact orchard for years of enjoyment. Participants will spend part of the workshop outside in the orchard for a pruning demonstration, so dress accordingly. Space is limited; pre-registration required. Fee $20.
Register through the Arnold Arboretum at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277. Offered with the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.

February Stone Soup 2/26 Profiles the Story of the Apple Tree

Wednesday, 11 February 2015 12:27

This month's Stone Soup will feature Maggie Redfern, Assistant Director of Connecticut College Arboretum, continuing with this year's series theme offering "portraits" of some of the great trees at the Wakefield Estate. Her talk will look at Malus domestica, our beloved Apple, of which Michael Pollan wrote, "it is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man." In addition to its history, Redfern will also explore how modern orchard trees are created by grafting particular apple varieties to ancient strains of root stock. Hopefully, some present will leave the session inspired to sign up for our March Compact Orchard session! Stone Soup and Speakers events are held on the final Thursday of each month through May. These warm and casual programs begin at 5:30 pm with a bowl of tasty home-made soup, followed by a short presentation by the featured speaker. Space IS limited. Pre-registration is required. To RSVP or for more information, please call 617-333-0924.