Berkshire Botanical Garden Winter / Spring 2022 Cuttings Magazine

B E R K S H I R E B OTA N I C A L G A R D E N

WINTER/SPRING 2022

WINTER/SPRING 2022

FEB

19 Winter Lecture The Eye of the Beholder: Is it Messy, or an Acquired Taste?

Presented by Edwina von Gal

JAN 15 – FEB 25

MARCH 3–16

MARCH 3–27

MARCH 16

Face Nature

The Bulb Show

Berkshire artist Madeline Schwartzman’s human-scaled photographic portraits

BBG’s annual springtime gift to the community in the Fitzpatrick Conservatory

Close Up and Far Away

Container Garden Design

An exhibit by CATA artists with disabilities

An in-person, three-session course led by Jena O’Brien of Viridissima Horticulture and Design

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

S TA F F

Matt Larkin, Chair Madeline Hooper, Vice Chair Janet Laudenslager, Secretary John Spellman, Treasurer

Dana Audia Director of Special Events

Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo Mary Copeland Adaline Frelinghuysen Maura Griffin Lauretta Harris Nancy Hickey Ian Hooper Tom Ingersoll Jane Iredale Daniel Kasper Linda O’Connell Wendy Philbrick Ramelle Pulitzer Elizabeth Roberts Mark Walker Rob Williams Suzanne Yale KK Zutter

Christine Caccamo Senior Gardener

Amy Butterworth Membership Director

Ryan Campbell Gardener Virginia Caponera Educator Shaun Colon Manager of Facilities and Operations Duke Douillet Senior Gardener Rachel Durgin Camp Director Kevin Johnson Gardener Kessa McEwen Education Coordinator Robin Parow Director of Marketing Communications

Trustees Emeriti Jeannene Booher David Carls Cathy Clark Craig Okerstrom-Lang Wendy Linscott Gloria McMahon Jo Dare Mitchell Judie Owens Martha Piper Jean Rousseau Gail Shaw Jack Sprano Ingrid Taylor

Kristine Romano Visitor Center Manager John Ryan Gardener Bridgette Stone Director of Education Thaddeus Thompson Interim Executive Director Elizabeth Veraldi Office Manager

On the cover: The Bulb Show Photo by Elizabeth Griffin

CUTTINGS This page: Winter Lecture presenter Edwina von Gal’s East Hampton, New York garden, Marsh House, with Pannicum virgatum, Euthamia graminifolia (grass-leaved goldenrod), red cedar and black cherries.

Robin Parow, Editor Julie Hammill, Hammill Design, Design

A P R I L 1 – M AY 1

APRIL 20

M AY 6 – 7

Shimmer

New England Spring Wildflower Primer

44th Annual Be-a-Better-Gardener Plant Sale

A group exhibition bringing together more than 30 regional artists working across many media.

A two-session online program focusing on Berkshire native forest flora that bloom in the spring.

Our annual Plants and Answers Be-a-Better-Gardener Plant Sale featuring thousands of plants and helpful advice.

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DIRECTOR’S CORNER THADDEUS THOMPSON

“Anyone who thinks that gardening begins in the Spring and ends in the Fall is missing the best part of the whole year; for gardening begins in January with the dream.”

This quote by the late Jospehine Nuese, author of the 1970 book, The Country Garden, inspires me at this time of year. And Neuse, who lived in nearby Cornwall, Connecticut, was no stranger to the winters and to gardening in this region!

It has been a great privilege for me to join the BBG community this September and to have the chance to see the garden transition from its late summer splendor to the radiant hues of autumn. Now, even as the outdoor garden season has wound down, I am enjoying the opportunity to see the gardens at a quieter time, to observe the structure and the “bones” beneath the leaves and blossoms, and to experience this landscape in its winter stillness. There are also special treats to be savored in New England gardens in these periods, including the bright stems of the bloodtwig dogwood shrubs by the entrance to the Center House or the winter and early spring blooming witch hazels. In fact, I look forward each winter to the sublime beauty of winterberry boughs dusted by snow or encased in a crust of ice.

The relative stillness of the landscape, however, belies the fact that a great deal continues to happen here at BBG over the winter and through the early spring. While that includes plenty of dreaming (and planning!) for the coming year, it also entails a full complement of stimulating education classes and art exhibits in the Leonhardt Galleries, as you’ll see in the pages of this issue of Cuttings. These include Face Nature, a unique art installation blending plant and human morphology; a class on how to make the beloved folk elixir called “Fire Cider” through home-brewed herbal extraction; and our annual Winter Lecture in February featuring the highly distinguished Edwina von Gal. Our staff is also anything but idle during these months. The horticulture team, for instance, continues to care for the tender and tropical plants in our greenhouses, to propagate new ones, and to work on garden design projects, such as enhancements to the stone borders and pathways of the Herb Garden.

Even in the soil outdoors, things are happening. In our new native plant meadow, many of the nearly two hundred species of plants that we’ve sown have seeds that rely upon these cold, damp months to prepare for spring germination through a process called stratification. Without these winter conditions, the seedlings would not break through their seed coats to emerge in the spring (much as we eagerly shed our own winter parkas as the mild temperatures return!)

Behind the scenes, we humans take advantage of the quieter time to continue to work on other aspects of the first phase of the Master Plan (in addition to the meadow), including design and fundraising for our new camp infrastructure and for an expansion of our greenhouse complex. These activities, both plant and human, are a reminder that winter is not just a time of dormancy, but a period that is itself vital to growth and renewal.

In short, the Garden is very much alive and active during these chillier months and we welcome you to follow our activities and to participate in our programs… and to join with us in dreaming of the coming year!

THE MOTHER(S) OF INSPIRATION

By Felix Carroll

In introducing themselves, in explaining how gardening can make you happier and how Berkshire Botanical Garden can increasingly help make the world a better place, it doesn’t take long for Thaddeus Thompson and Eric Ruquist to mention their first inspiration.

For each, it was his mother.

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“I

was introduced to plants at her elbow,” Thompson said of his mother, Patricia, an avid herb and ornamental gardener from Mount Kisco, N.Y. “She has forgotten more than I will ever know. And, believe me, she has a good memory!”

“My mom had always been a big gardener, and I was probably in first or second grade when she gave me a little patch of the yard to rip up and plant things,” said Ruquist, who was raised by his mother, Dorothy, in Bristol, Conn., known as Mum City, U.S.A. For both Thompson, who took over as BBG’s Interim Executive Director in September, and Ruquist, who was appointed BBG’s Director of Horticulture in October, their love for gardening and the natural world proved pivotal, more so now than ever as they help lead BBG in its mission to educate and inspire a new generation.

“If you want to live a long, healthy, happy life, then garden,” said Thompson, who previously served as the Director of Institutional Advancement at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston. “If you want healthy kids and a healthy world, introduce your children early to gardening and to plants.”

Raised in a rural swath of Westchester County, about 30 miles north of Manhattan, Thompson was a wanderer in the woods, tuned in at an early age to nature’s wonders. The first plant he remembers planting was a coleus. He was about 4 years old.

“Keep watching the plant all season,” his mother told him.

“It will keep changing.”

True to prediction, it kept changing. He was captivated.

What also was changing was the native forest. Indeed, Thompson would come to learn early of the high stakes of poor environmental stewardship. “I grew up on ‘Chestnut Ridge Road’ but remember learning that there were few chestnuts left and that the stately elms we had were dying due to diseases accidentally introduced to North America.”

“That had a powerful effect on me,” said Thompson.

His mother had also introduced him to something else that had a profound effect on him: the ecological mystery book Who Really Killed Cock Robin? by author and family friend Jean Craighead George. He credits the book for helping to inspire in him a passion for environmental protection and belief that we all have a part to play as stewards. While he was young, his family bought a farm in Millerton, N.Y., where he developed a deep connection to the land and would eventually help his father to cultivate grapes and make wine.

His passion for the environment found direction at Trinity College, where he focused on environmental studies and anthropology. He interned at the Connecticut Council on Environmental Quality, helping to connect greenways throughout the state. Following graduation, Thompson

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“If you want to live a long, healthy, happy life, then garden.”

—THADDEUS THOMPSON Thaddeus Thompson and his mother, Patricia, planting a garden at his and his wife’s first home, circa 1996.

worked in international public health for five years, mostly on projects in West Africa, Haiti and South America. He obtained a master’s at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where he studied natural resource policy and international development.

Along the way, he nurtured an interest in gardening and horticulture, eventually seizing the opportunity to join Tower Hill Botanic Garden. There, he helped guide the institution through a period of extraordinary growth in the garden’s visitation, fundraising, educational and outreach initiatives. He also became a member of the board of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the oldest horticultural institution in the United States,

which oversees the Gardens at Elm Bank in Wellesley.

“We ended up growing Tower Hill’s audience by leaps and bounds, more than doubling in attendance and membership,” he said. “It was really exciting to bring more people into that garden and then to bring the garden off the hill and into other people’s lives through our work in the city of Worcester, and in the surrounding communities.”

It was during that time when he came out here and visited Berkshire Botanical Garden “to see how some of our peers throughout New England were operating,” Thompson said. “I loved the Garden right away”.

He eventually felt a calling to spend more time in the Berkshire Hills. His wife, Lucia, grew up in nearby Sharon, Conn. They’d come to Stockbridge countless times, to Tanglewood and other cultural institutions.

“I love this area,” said Thompson, a father of two young adults. “I’ve always wanted to spend more time out here, and now I have this opportunity. It’s a real privilege.”

Like Thompson, Ruquist comes on board at BBG with an extensive skill set. He served as head gardener for renowned interior designer and author Bunny Williams. He was head horticulturist at Naumkeag. He was curator of the flower garden collection at Stonecrop Gardens, in Cold Springs, N.Y. He was greenhouse manager for a private estate in Greenwich, Conn.

Not bad for a largely self-taught gardener who fondly recalls his childhood in the “horticultural happening place” that was Bristol. No, he wasn’t raised to recite the Latin names of plants.

But when he was first given a corner of the yard to plant a garden, the world became a far more interesting place. He recalls planting lunaria and being amazed by its glittery, silver dollar-like looking seed pods.

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Eric Ruquist and his mother, Dorothy, circa 1969.

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Director of Horticulture Eric Ruquist, left, and Thaddeus Thompson, the Garden’s Interim Executive Director.

“It grew taller than I was, which was so cool for a kid,” Ruquist said. “And I was pretty much hooked after that. I remember bringing seeds into school and giving directions for my teachers on how they could propagate Lunaria annua.”

He would study art at Hampshire College. At graduation, he attended a party in New Hampshire where a friend’s mother filled his hatchback with lots of plants. He brought them back to his mom’s home in Connecticut. That childhood garden of his promptly expanded, as did his urge to professionally pursue gardening. Ruquist’s first connection with BBG was in taking workshops here.

“I’ve always loved the vibe here,” he said.

As a fan of “anything that is beautiful,” he said, his goal at BBG is to increase and diversify the plant collection, both in the greenhouses and in the ground.

“Eric’s got the eye of an artist and such a breadth of knowledge, a sophisticated understanding of horticulture,” said Thompson. “Not only does he know plants, but he has an outstanding design sense. He has a somewhat non-traditional background, and got here through his passion and love for what he does.”

Both Thompson’s mother and Ruquist’s mother are in their 90s. Thompson is certain that gardening is one key to a long, healthy life. He’s a strong proponent for forging connections between people and the natural world. BBG is designed to deepen and expand those connections, from an early age, through the Garden Sprouts program (for children ages 3-5) and Farm in the Garden camp, all the way through BBG’s Horticulture Therapy programs.

He mentioned a great influence on his approach as BBG’s new Interim Executive Director: the 2005 book Last Child in 6

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the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by author Richard Louv.

“The thing is, it’s not just kids who suffer from Nature-Deficit Disorder; it’s most people, children through adults,” Thompson said. “But I think the pandemic has actually provided a great opportunity — a silver lining of sorts. People have flocked to parks and green spaces during the last year-and-a-half. I think we can capitalize on this renewed appreciation for the outdoors to introduce more people to the value of public gardens and the critical importance of plants.”

With that in mind, he said he often took his children to gardens wherever they traveled.

Instead of having them stay by his and his wife’s side, he’d set them loose to explore on their own.

“I don’t know how that will affect their lives,” he said. “But I think it will, and maybe it’ll come around like it did for me, many years later. I think it will help inform them as stewards of this planet. This is the great task we have.”

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A MEADOW EMERGES (and other things to look forward to as a master plan takes shape) As Berkshire Botanical Garden enters its 88th year in 2022, we embark on the first phase of a five-phase master plan.

“This is work that Eric Ruquist and I will be heavily focused on over the next two years,” said BBG’s new Interim Executive Director, Thaddeus Thompson.

A centerpiece for the coming two years is the new, 2 ½-acre native plant meadow currently being restored on land that BBG acquired in 2019. Phase One will also include expansion of space dedicated to the camp program.

The meadow will open to the public in 2023. Goals for the meadow project include: • Establish an ecologically and aesthetically complex and diverse nativedominated meadow replete with micro-habitats.

• Utilize a majority of locally native species (including some rarities) as well as some species that are native to the greater eastern United States.

• Create a path system that preserves large unbroken sections of meadow while providing access to the meadow, including strategic viewpoints and rest areas.

• Create a showpiece meadow that becomes a destination within the garden, with new active and passive educational opportunities for garden visitors, educators and students.

As to expansion of space dedicated to camp and camp infrastructure, Thompson said, “Our popular Farm in the Garden Camp has been operating at maximum capacity for over five years. We routinely have long waiting lists for sessions and are limited in the number of families we can serve.

“By investing in new camp infrastructure, we’ll not only enhance the camp experience, but we’ll also be able to engage more families and introduce many more children to the importance and joy of plants.”

The plan calls for making use of space just behind the current Education Building for a new, three-season camp building, raised adaptive garden beds, a woodland amphitheater and dedicated space for animals.

“This creates opportunities for us to expand on-site youth programming throughout the year and provides additional resources for adult programming,” Thompson said. “The new building and expanded garden spaces will be dedicated to camp during the summer and school breaks. During the rest of the year, they can be used for education, horticulture therapy, and special events for our community.”

The first phase of the master plan also calls for expansion of the greenhouse complex to provide additional working space for production, propagation and storage of tender plants and tropicals, as well as more conservatory space for the enjoyment of the Garden’s visitors year-round.

Felix Carroll is a staff writer for The Berkshire Eagle. He has twice been named Writer of the Year by the New York Press Association, among other journalism awards. He lives in Housatonic.

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TATKON

THE RHYTHM OF PLANTS IN COMMUNITY

The first phase of Tatkon’s redesign, a harmonious mix of annuals and perennials in subtle tones. Here, Eryngium yuccifolium mingles with Helianthus argophyllus. Rudbeckia maxima, sometimes called Dumbo’s ears for its large foliage, is offset on the far right by Salvia uliginosa and Zinnia elegans.

By Ryan L. Campbell The Carol Tatkon Entry Garden holds a unique place among the gardens here at BBG. It’s the first and last planting you encounter as you enter and depart the garden. It’s been known in the past for its array of colorful annual flowering plants, a mix of exotics and some natives.

And it carries the name of our generous donor, Carol Tatkon, whose gift enabled its initial creation by a landscape design 8

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firm twenty years ago. So it was with some trepidation that I gratefully accepted the task, offered to me last winter by our prior Director of Horticulture, Matthew Turnbull, to reimagine, from a blank canvas, the garden that we on the BBG staff affectionately refer to simply as “Tatkon.”

What emerged from this process is a garden that expresses itself on several levels — in a new aesthetic rooted in the

The new Tatkon is constantly unfolding, in a cycle of expansion and contraction, growth and dormancy, life, death, and renewal.

naturalistic planting style, as a biodiverse habitat reflecting the goals of BBG as a role model in sustainable ecology, and as a reflection on gardens and plants in the history of civilization, in the current moment of today’s social mood, and as a crucial point of connection to nature for the coming generations. The new Tatkon, like the many perennial natives forming the core of its identity, and like us as individuals and as a society, is constantly unfolding, in a cycle of expansion and contraction, growth and dormancy, life, death, and renewal.

My vision for Tatkon begins with two rivers of ancient civilization: the Mississippi, home of the people of Cahokia in the St. Louis metro area where I was born, a highly advanced moundbuilding society for whom corn was the stuff of life, and the Nile of ancient Egypt, serving that great civilization as both life-source and deity. We often think of ourselves today as very far from these “primitive” societies, and yet, like a tightrope walker, we still live today on a knifeedge, with incredible dependence on a few key crops, whose success or failure can determine our very survival. But we live estranged from this reality, relying on Big Agra and, increasingly, Big Tech, to bring these ancient foodstuffs to our tables.

So despite its focus on perennials, Tatkon was formed around large swaths

Above: BBG Gardener Ryan Campbell, with some help from interns and volunteers, put over 4,000 plants in the ground over the course of a week and a half to bring Phase 1 of the new Tatkon to life.

Right: Husks and silks drawn back to reveal the striking sapphires of this Zea mays, the blue corn of the Hopi tribe, a feast for the eyes and for visiting birds.

of annuals — not the kind that produce showy flowers — but rather heirloom varieties of staple crops: corn, wheat, barley, and even upland rice. The presence of these plants in an ornamental garden begs us to establish a relationship with these vital — and beautiful — plants.

We have evolved from hunter-gatherers to agrarian society to today, when we are largely a suburban culture relying on billionaires to supply our crops. Can we bring these plants, in their most nutritious, natural form, back into our own gardens, in a way that sees them both as producers of delicious food but also as beautiful elements of an

ornamental landscape?

Aside from the crops and some use of other annuals making up about onethird of the total planting of Tatkon, the rest of the garden is characterized by an intentionally reserved palette of native perennials. There are aspects of the prior, annual garden that are challenging from the standpoint of the sustainability goals that were important in creating this new garden: they require a complete replanting each year, vast amounts of heated winter storage, lots of water and irrigation, and a steady dose of chemical fertilizers. Native perennials mostly do away with these concerns.

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But in a deeper sense, in this age of angst and unrest, perennials ask us to slow down and observe nature’s life cycles at a more measured pace, and in a more complete sense. In our temperate climate, perennials accompany us through the entire year — as leaf and bud, through growth and flower, to the promise of new seeds, into death, and finally to emergence and rebirth — all

over the same twelve months by which we measure our own physical and emotional growth. We are invited to be present with the rhythms of the plants in their flowering splendor but also when the only work they are doing is underground. We experience these same highs and lows, ebbs and flows, in our own personal lives.

The colors of Tatkon are a further

Kniphofia 'Flashpoint' rises through a sea of Ammi visnaga 'Green Mist,' a cultivar of the sacred medicinal herb of ancient Egypt representing the vault of heaven. In the background, the cool blue inflorescences of Salvia uliginosa swing to and fro in the breeze.

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expression of the garden as a place of elemental phenomena. The golds of Baptisia ‘American Goldfinch’ and Achillea ‘Moonshine’ reflect the sun and awaken the element of fire. The silvery tones of Eryngium giganteum ‘Miss Wilmott’s Ghost’ and Artemisia ludoviciana ‘Valerie Finnis’ inspire thoughts of sky and wind. The chartreuse green of Echinacea purpurea ‘Green Jewel’ and Nicotiana tabacum ‘Havana 322’ – another ancient annual — ground us to the earth. And the blues (as many “true” blues as possible) of Delphinium × belladonna ‘Bellamosum’ and Salvia uliginosa are planted as rivers and seas meandering through the beds.

Grasses of many textures and sounds serve as a matrix tying together this elemental community of plants. Our ice-age 20’ x 15’ boulder is encircled with Amnsonia hubrichtii and its delicate bluestar blooms. Dotted through the planting is Agastache nepetoides, a magnificent yellow hyssop that reaches for the sun. As autumn arrives, the Amsonia will light the boulder ablaze in a fiery orange glow, while the black seedheads of the Agastache will appear as if singed at their tips.

After purchasing the seeds and plugs on a humble budget and, in one week, blitz-planting over 4,000 seedlings with the help of our BBG interns and a few very appreciated volunteers (fending off my cat from napping on the seedlings and playing a constant game of Battleship with a warren of rabbits), I am encouraged by the first phase of the Tatkon reimagining and look forward to continuing to nurture the garden to full fruition of the vision, knowing that we have our community, especially our gracious donors and members, to grow with it into the future and see what will unfurl.

Ryan L. Campbell is a gardener, visual artist, and curator. His landscape designs explore meaning and connection between humankind and nature through the sensory experience of plants.

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Berkshire artist Madeline Schwartzman forages locally on hikes and walks, and uses the specimens to create uncanny installations for the body, blending plant and human morphology. The exhibition includes human-scaled photographic portraits and moving images that convey how skin and nature collide and integrate.

Close Up and Far Away: An exhibit by CATA Artists with Disabilities March 3 - 27

Opening reception Thursday, March 3, 3-5 p.m.

A stunning collection of paintings and drawings inspired by nature, created by artists with disabilities from Community Access to the Arts (CATA).

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Why was this Connecticut Woman Sobbing at the Berkshire Botanical Garden?

By Felix Carroll, The Berkshire Eagle Reprinted with permission from The Berkshire Eagle

STOCKBRIDGE — An artist in Brooklyn, N.Y., created a mosaic depicting owls. He had his reasons. The Berkshire Botanical Garden made room for it this spring. It had its reasons. A woman from Connecticut came upon it in June and broke down in tears. She had her reasons (obviously).

This is a story about how the universe sometimes provides evidence that its workings are rational. Or it’s a story of bewildering coincidence.

Let’s start with the woman from Connecticut.

Her name is Kathy-Ann Campbell. She is a first grade teacher. How did KathyAnn Campbell spend her summer break?

She mourned the death of her father, who died June 17, of cancer. His death was unexpected.

David Froth was his name. He was a machinist and Mets fan from Torrington, Conn. In her eulogy, Campbell described him as a “protector,” a “deeply sentimental” man who cherished his wife, his two daughters, his grandchildren, friends and his Mets. When he built things, they were meant to last. He was a man of precision and perfection.

He loved the natural world. He’d lead the family on trips to the sea that included scalloping in the frigid Rhode Island waters of October. He had built a scallop finder, a contraption with windows at each end that allowed them to search from the water surface for those tasty mollusks hobnobbing upon the ocean floor.

He was the type of person who had a favorite bird. His was the oriole. He was endlessly on the lookout for orioles. He

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Distraught after the death of her father, Kathy-Ann Campbell, right, of Winsted, Conn., asked for a sign “that he was OK,” particularly a sign involving an owl or an oriole. On June 25, her request was answered at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge. A few weeks ago, Campbell brought her mother, Rose, to see a mosaic that had brought her to tears, and her mom had the same reaction. Photo provided by Kathy-Ann Campbell

passed on his passions to Kathy-Anne. Her favorite bird became the owl.

A week after his death, she remained distraught. Hoping to collaborate with the cosmos, Campbell, of Winsted, Conn., asked for a sign. “A sign that he was OK,” she explained, “that he could hear me, that he hadn’t left me, that I could still talk to him.”

The sign she requested was for an owl or an oriole.

If you happened to have been at the Berkshire Botanical Garden on June 25 and saw a woman in her mid-50s sitting on a bench, uncontrollably sobbing, that was Campbell, and those were tears of joy.

“I just started crying, just bawling my eyes out. I hugged the piece the best I could and just sat there on the bench and such a sense of calm and peace came over me.”

— Kathy-Ann Campbell

Just to back up a moment: Her husband, Andy, had taken her to the garden June 25, her birthday, thinking that it might help her state of mind. Good call, Andy!

“We were ready to go home, and I was walking down the lily path, and then all of a sudden I turn the corner out of the trees and there were the owls, staring at me, this big, huge mosaic,” Campbell said.

The large mosaic depicts two spotted owls. Not only that, in the background, there’s a flying creature, orange and black, the color of an oriole, and it appears to be carrying a — wait for it, wait for it …

A scallop shell!

“I just started crying, just bawling my eyes out,” Campbell said. “I hugged the piece the best I could and just sat there on the bench with such a sense of calm and peace.”

She asked for a sign. She got her sign.

She especially appreciated that her father — or, ahem, rather, Peter D. Gerakaris, the artist who created the piece — chose spotted owls. The federal government lists them as threatened. As a first-grade teacher, Campbell takes special care to teach her students about the importance of protecting the creatures of the Earth, with priority given to those on the verge of extinction.

She appreciated the mosaic so much that, a couple of weeks ago, she took her mom, Rose, to see it.

“I feel the same calm right now that you feel,” Rose told her daughter.

“It had been such a long time that I had seen her smile,” Campbell said.

The mosaic was an integral part of the botanical garden’s Taking Flight exhibition, which opened June 11. Thanks to a donor, it now is part of the Garden’s permanent collection.

“First of all, I’m just totally honored by all of this,” Gerakaris, the artist, told The Berkshire Eagle. “It’s a real gas to sit back and let the work take on a life of its own.”

OK, and so what’s the work all about?

“In a nutshell,” he said, “it basically pays homage to exotic and mostly endangered

or rare, threatened species from around the globe, of both flora and fauna, and takes these species and transposes them into a neo-Byzantine icon context,” he said.

He collaborated with the mosaicist Stephen Miotto, who helped translate Gerakaris’ original painting into cut glass, all set against what is meant to look like ancient ruins.

And is that an oriole carrying a scallop shell, or what?

Gerakaris said his original intention was “a scallop-shaped fantastical/mythical bird,” but he now loves Campbell’s interpretation.

He wanted it mentioned that, in the

upper left of the mosaic, he has a falcon.

“In Greek, my family name, Gerakaris, translates to ‘falconer,’” he said.

His Greek grandmother, YiaYia, would have visions and dreams about flying, he said.

“So, I personally regard the falcon as her presence,” he said.

Wait, did he say “Greek?” Did he say “presence?”

Greece is one of Campbell’s favorite places on Earth. In college, she spent three weeks there.

“My dad worked hours and hours of overtime so that I could go on that trip,” she said.

The draw to the Spotted Owls continues, with the artist taking wedding vows in the Garden beside the sculpture on November 4th. Peter Gerakaris, an interdisciplinary artist from New Hampshire and his wife, Nazanin Roudiani, (Naz), an entrepreneur and founder of WeSci, a crowdfunding platform for disease-based scientific research and discovery, maintain a creative studio in Brooklyn. The wedding site was a natural selection for Peter and Naz due to their mutual passion for nature, culture, and beautiful gardens. Peter and Nazzie have come to embrace the garden as a metaphor for their love: a place where they can grow and nurture a life together. Furthermore, Peter has a longstanding personal connection to the Garden, having grown up in New Hampshire with artist-gardener parents (who were BBG members) who frequently let him loose on the BBG’s grounds as a “free-range child.” To defer to the words of Robert Frost, who was quoted during their vows: Two such as you with such a master speed From one another once you are agreed that life is only life forevermore together wing to wing and oar to oar.

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Winter Lecture:

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 10:00 – 11:30 A.M.

THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: IS IT MESSY, OR AN ACQUIRED TASTE?

Please join us online for an informative presentation focused on designing gardens with nature. Edwina will discuss the reasons why we need to change the way we garden, the difference it can make, and how to make it all happen. Join her and the BBG community in a transformative commitment to actually do something incredibly effective about climate change and the loss of biodiversity.

A note from Winter Lecture Presenter Edwina von Gal, Principal Landscape Designer, Edwina von Gal + Co and Founder / President, Perfect Earth Project: “During the arc of my landscape design career, much has changed to change the way I design. I wonder, if the earth was not losing species at a frightening rate, would I have moved my focus from a more traditional approach to the challenges and joys of designing for, and with, nature? In the wake of the sad losses to earth's biodiversity, I have gained so much from learning how to make gardens that offset the damage. Gardens full of native plants, and without pesticides, which provide food, shelter and water for all the rest of life on earth. A whole world of wonder is waiting for anyone who wants to do the same.”

See page 20 in the education section for additional information on our upcoming Winter Lecture.

Norman Rockwell, Saying Grace, study. ©SEPS

Jan Brett, Hedgie ©Jan Brett

Bascove, The Waves, ©Bascove

Always something new to see!

Jan Brett: Stories Near & Far, thru March 6 The Artist’s Process: Norman Rockwell’s Color Studies, thru May 1 Bascove: The Time We Spend with Words, March 12 - June 5 NRM.org 14

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Stockbridge, MA

WINTER/SPRING 2022

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413.298.4100

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KIDS & TEENS FREE!

EDUCATION

JANUARY – APRIL 2022

Education

JAN

Winter’s turn in the year is always a chance for us to slow down. We hope you’ll enjoy the season and use the time to lay plans for the coming year’s new growth. The Ed Department indeed is also growing. Our beloved Farm in the Garden camp is excited to expand to a February Vacation session. Children can tap trees and boil sap to syrup. Our adult offerings for gardeners invite you to turn a new lens towards what you grow. This can be clearly felt in our annual Winter Lecture, this year delivered by Edwina von Gal who asks us to reconsider ‘messy’ and who our gardens really are for. In fact, this year at Winter Lecture we are excited to announce a new community initiative with these very questions in mind. Lastly, and in time to welcome spring, travel returns to the Garden with our trips to Charleston, South Carolina, and Scotland. Come and explore all that’s going on as the rest of the Garden sleeps!

12–26 Organic Vegetable Gardening Learn about seed selection, seeding schedules, bed preparation and successful planting practice in this class led by Maria Zordan.

Learn more on page 16.

For more information on classes and events happening at the Garden, visit our website at berkshirebotanical.org.

We are a COVID compliant facility.

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EDUCATION Kitchen classes are sponsored by Guido’s Fresh Marketplace with stores located in Great Barrington and Pittsfield.

Classes, Lectures and Workshops ONLINE Classes Our online classes are offered over Zoom. Students receive class login information and materials lists, when applicable, once they’ve registered.

IN-PERSON Classes The location of onsite classes is subject to change in accordance with state and federal regulations. Students will be notified as soon as possible if classes require a change in location.

JA N UA RY

HYBRID Classes These classes are held both online and in person. They feature the lecture portion of class online and a hands-on component in-person and outdoors.

Organic Vegetable Gardening

Winter in Watercolor In-person Wednesdays, January 5 – 26, 1 – 4 pm Members: $180/Non-members: $210

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Online Wednesdays, January 12 – 26, 4 – 5:30 pm Members: $55/Non-Members: $65

What spot do you love best at BBG? Is it the fountain surrounded by grasses and larch? The herb garden? The Pond? Martha Stewart’s Garden? Join us on Wednesdays to capture the winter landscape at BBG with Pat Hogan. We will work from photographs and/or sketches. Stop by BBG with your camera any time to prepare. Stroll the Garden and shoot or draw your favorite landscape. Additional inspiration will be provided as well. This workshop is appropriate for beginners to advanced students.

Led by Maria Zordan, co-owner and operator of MX Morningstar Farm, a diversified organic vegetable farm in the Hudson Valley, this class is designed for those starting or caring for a vegetable garden.

This online course will include discussion of seed selection, seeding schedules, bed preparation and successful planting practice. During the first two sessions, students will learn about these practices, as well as what different vegetable families need to be successful. For the third class, students will demonstrate their learning by completing a vegetable garden design to be implemented at their own homes.

Heritage Grape Varieties of New England and Heritage Wine Tasting

Drafting for Garden Design

In-person Saturday, January 8, 2 – 4 pm Members: $25/Non-members: $35 Author, grape grower, and winemaker, J. Stephen Casscles will talk about the many wonderful grape varieties that were developed in Massachusetts and the rest of New England. He will present information and slides on New England grape hybridizers such as E.S. Rogers of Salem, MA; E. Bull and Jacob Moore of Concord, MA; and others. As we review these heritage grape varieties, wines made from them will be presented.

Science of Plant Propagation

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In-person Saturday, January 8 – Sunday, January 9, 9 am – 4 pm Members: $185/Non-members: $210 Find out about the art and science of plant propagation from Broken Arrow Nursery’s Container Production & Horticulture Manager, Adam Wheeler, who will focus on the basic botany needed to understand and successfully propagate plants.

Sexual and asexual propagation methods including sowing seeds, cuttings, grafting, layering, and division will be covered.

Students will learn the fascinating science behind propagation along with the various techniques used to create new plants.

Please bring a bag lunch.

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In-person Thursday, January 13 – February 10, 5:30 – 8:00 pm Members: $265/Non-members: $285 Led by Steven Foster, this five-week studio intensive is essential for those who would like to take their in-garden planning and design to the next level. Learn basic drafting skills necessary to record and effectively communicate scaled site plans. The course will cover reference books, drafting supplies, media/paper types, line weights, lettering and scale reading. Drafting demonstrations will familiarize students with professional drawing techniques, and students will begin to draft basic site plans and explore map-making.

During the last half of the course, students will learn to develop a landscape graphic palette to illustrate trees, shrubs, perennials and groundcovers, as well as hardscape materials such as stone terraces.

This course is designed for beginner to intermediate students.

H This symbol denotes HORTICULTURE CERTIFICATE PROGRAM classes, workshops, and lectures open to both students seeking credit towards one of BBG’s five acclaimed horticulture certificates as well as the general public. Please visit berkshirebotanical.org or call 413-357-4657 for additional information.

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The Cutting Garden

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Online Saturday, January 15, 12 – 2 pm Members: $15/Non-Members: $25 Dreaming of a luscious cutting garden that produces blooms all season long? Join Colie Collen, the grower and designer behind Flower Scout, for this comprehensive course on planning, starting, troubleshooting and maintaining a prolific cut flower garden.

Art of Growing Food Greenhouse and Conservatory Management

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In-person Saturday, January 15 – February 5, 9 am – 12 pm (4 weeks) Members: $185/Non-members: $210 Led by William Florek, this course will focus on the fine points of controlling the greenhouse environment. Whether maintaining a conservatory collection of ornamental plants or producing greenhouse crops, participants will learn how to grow, care for and maintain plants in a greenhouse setting. The relationship between temperature, water, light, fertilization, plant health and diseases will be covered, with a strong emphasis on IPM (integrated pest management). This program is appropriate for homeowners with conservatories, glassed-in porches and greenhouses.

Botanical Wellness: Fire Cider Make + Take In-person Saturday, January 15, 11 am – 1 pm Members: $30/Non-members: $35 Come see how fun and easy herbology can be with this introductory herbal extraction workshop with Nicole Irene. Fire Cider is a beloved traditional herbal folk remedy that is gaining mainstream notoriety. Known for its immune-and-digestion boosting effects, this savory DIY infusion is made with wholesome ingredients and steeped over time, creating a bright and spicy tonic used to invigorate one’s whole being. Simple to make, fire cider warms body and soul while adding a healthful ritual to one’s repertoire. Learn how everyday food and culinary herbs, when chosen and prepared wisely, can help us improve our wellbeing. Leave this class revitalized with a recipe and jar of finished fire cider to take home. Providing this homebrew with steeping time allows the medicinal properties of the ingredients to be extracted into the vinegar. You will learn about the medicinal qualities of the plants within the formula, the history of Fire Cider, a basic herbal extraction lesson, the importance of traditional foods and remedies, recipes, and ideas on how to incorporate this tonic in your home.

The ingredient list is flexible, so learn the process and then make your own recipe at home omitting or adding ingredients as you like.

Come prepared to chop ingredients and get a little messy!

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Online Saturdays, January 22 – February 26, 10:30 am – noon Members & Non-members: $250 If you have been considering renovating your kitchen garden, or are eager to start growing a food garden that is both beautiful and productive, this class is for you. Join Ellen Ecker Ogden to learn her six steps to successful kitchen garden design. In this class you will learn how to organize and simplify your efforts. Starting with an overview of how a kitchen garden can be more than simply a place to grow food, you will begin with a design on paper, learn about garden beds and paths, and select the right plants for the best flavor and productivity. This is a live Zoom class, taught on a virtual platform for optimal sharing of ideas with other students. Templates are provided from Ellen’s books (The Complete Kitchen Garden and The New Heirloom Garden, both for sale in the BBG shop) to help you formulate a working plan that fits your own landscape. Each class presents a step-by-step method to simplify and add beauty.

Sustainable Garden Care & Maintenance

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Online Tuesdays, January 18 – February 22, 5:30 – 7:30 pm Members: $185/Non-members: $210 Learn about the maintenance considerations that should be integrated into the design process of your sustainable garden.

Students’ horticultural knowledge will expand to factor sustainable maintenance concerns with cost-effectiveness into plant selection.

Learn procedures for perennials, woody plants, and lawns, including transplanting, staking, fertilizing, winterizing, mulching, plant pathology, and pest control with an emphasis on deer control. Taught by Daryl Beyers.

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FEBRUARY ECOLOGY LECTURE SERIES presented in partnership with Tower Hill Botanic Garden

EVERY WEDNESDAY IN FEBRUARY When we examine plants it is important to look at the wholeness of their environment. Everything plays a role in the system that helps plants thrive or struggle. This examination of relationships is the study of ecology.

Berkshire Botanical Garden and Tower Hill Botanic Garden have partnered to put together four speakers to talk about subjects related to ecology and how our environment interacts with one another.

Recordings: Available for one month

Ecology Lecture Series: Building Healthy Soil in Harmony with Nature Online Wednesday, February 9, 6:30 – 7:30 pm Members: $10/Non-members: $15

Ecology Lecture Series: Iconic Birds of Massachusetts and their Habitat Online Wednesday, February 2, 6:30 – 7:30 pm Members: $10/Non-members: $15 With a wide range of available habitats, Massachusetts is home to a fascinating array of birds. Join an experienced naturalist from Mass Audubon for an engaging talk about the noteworthy birds of Massachusetts and their incredible life histories. From migration to surviving the cold winters, we will explore the brilliance and challenges of our northeastern birds. This talk will include a captivating slideshow and discussion from a life-long naturalist with a passion for birds. Learn more about these avian friends and where to find them.

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Soil in many ways is the bedrock of successful environmental systems. Without good, healthy soil, these systems can collapse. Despite the importance of soil, we often don’t take the time to understand how it works, how we can cause it harm, and ways we can improve it. In this webinar with Duncan Himmelman, PhD, we will explore the science of soil, learn what healthy soil is composed of and how it is created, and discover ways to prevent damaging soil. By the end you will begin to see how gardening in harmony with nature can build healthy soil, healthy plants, and rich ecosystems.

that criteria changed, what the data is currently showing about their presence, if management practices adjusted with more data, and how climate change is impacting our view of invasive and non-native plants. These are just a few of the questions we should be asking. This lecture presented by Mark Richardson, Director of Horticulture for Tower Hill Botanic Garden, will discuss what classifies a plant as invasive or non-native and introduce some of those questions about a subject that touches all of our lives.

Ecology Lecture Series: Wildflowers of Massachusetts Online Wednesday, February 23, 6:30 – 7:30 pm Members: $10/Non-members: $15 This program with Ted Elliman will feature the native wildflowers of a variety of natural habitats in Massachusetts, including forests, meadows, and wetlands. The emphasis will be on the early-blooming ephemeral wildflowers that will be in bloom in late April and May ... something to anticipate in the depths of winter!

Ecology Lecture Series: Invasive and Non-Native Plants Wednesday, February 16, 6:30 – 7:30 pm Members: $10/Non-members: $15 A common topic when discussing habitat health is invasive and non-native species.

Many of us know some species that we would refer to as invasive or non-native.

Many of us have also been told how to think about or manage those species.

However, rarely do we discuss what makes a plant invasive or non-native, if

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EDUCATION

F E B RUA RY Tree Care for Gardeners

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In-person Fridays, February 4 – 18, 1 – 4 pm Members: $200/Non-members: $225 Whether you are an amateur or professional horticulturist, you are a steward of the landscape, and probably spend more time than anyone among the flowers, shrubs, and trees. This course is designed for those who might not necessarily be the first to climb 100 feet up an Eastern White Pine or wrangle the chainsaw to fell a dead 36” American elm. The goal of this class is to empower horticulturists and others to better understand the largest plants in the landscape. Learn from a MA Certified Arborist, Tom Ingersoll, the basics of tree biology and identification, the tree’s role in the ecosystem, proper selection, siting, planting considerations, pruning of young trees, fertilization, pest identification, and when to call in the professionals!

A Gluten-Free Valentine Baking In-person Saturday, February 12, 10 am – 1 pm Members: $45/Non-members: $65 Valentine’s Day is traditionally the moment to break out your most luscious chocolate desserts. Make it gluten-free? A no-brainer, right?

Flourless Chocolate Cake! But we can do so much better than that.

Let’s play with gluten-free baking techniques to make original and fun desserts for a night of indulgence: why not the silkiest, most divine Chocolate Tart with Marmalade Creme Anglaise? Or two superb Valentine’s flavors, Passionfruit and Strawberry in a decadent yet light Mascarpone Mousse Torte. And finally, Raspberry & Chocolate Cremeux “Cheesecake Sundae” for two. This class is led by Rachel Portnoy.

Botanical Wellness: Fire Cider Make + Take In-person Saturday, February 12, 2:30 – 4 pm Members: $25 Non-members: $35 Come see how fun and easy herbology can be with this introductory herbal extraction workshop with Nicole Irene. Fire Cider is a beloved traditional herbal folk remedy that is gaining mainstream notoriety. Known for its immune-and-digestion boosting effects, this savory DIY infusion is made with wholesome ingredients and steeped over time, creating a bright and spicy tonic used to invigorate one’s whole being. Simple to make, fire cider warms body and soul while adding a healthful ritual to one’s repertoire. Learn how everyday food and culinary herbs, when chosen and prepared wisely, can help us improve our wellbeing.

Leave this class revitalized with a recipe and jar of finished fire cider to take home. Providing this homebrew with steeping time allows the medicinal properties of the ingredients to be extracted into the vinegar. You will learn about the medicinal qualities of the plants within the formula, the history of Fire Cider, a basic herbal extraction lesson, the importance of traditional foods and remedies, recipes, and ideas on how to incorporate this tonic in your home. The ingredient list is flexible, so learn the process and then make your own recipe at home omitting or adding ingredients as you like.

Come prepared to chop ingredients and get a little messy!

Serving the greater Berkshire area since 1992; providing cross disciplinary expertise in design, horticulture, arboriculture, irrigation and excavation for both residential and commercial clients.

Countrysidelandscape.net 413.458.5586

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WINTER LECTURE: The Eye of the Beholder: Is it messy, or an acquired taste?

Online Saturday, February 19, 10 – 11:30 am Members: $30/Non-members: $35

Dahlias for Days Online Wednesday, February 16, 4 – 5:30 pm Members: $15/Non-members: $20 Have you ever fallen in love with a flower before? If not, dahlias just may be the flower to change that for you! Dahlias are a tremendously diverse flower. While they are native to Central America, they can grow fabulously in New England with proper care. In this class led

by Jacqueline Maisonpierre, you will learn about this spectacular flower with insight on how to grow from tubers. Specific topics Including variety selection, planting, plant support techniques, cut flower treatment, plus the most challenging part — tuber division and storage. Join us to learn more about this divine and prolific plant just in time to plan your dahlia orders! Soon enough you will be trading dahlia tubers with all your gardener friends.

Presented by Edwina von Gal, Principal Landscape Designer, Edwina von Gal + Co; Founder/ President, Perfect Earth Project; and Co-founder of Two Thirds for the Birds. Our obsession with tidy, “clean” landscapes is proving to be harmful to the things and the ones we love. How can we step away from the need for ‘neat’ and let nature play a role in how we perceive, design and maintain our human dominated lands? The rewards of gardening with nature, not against it, are a fascinating mix of process and perception. Edwina will discuss the reasons why we need to change the way we garden, the difference it can make, and how to make it all happen. Join her and the BBG community in a transformative commitment to actually do something incredibly effective about climate change and the loss of biodiversity.

Serving the Berkshires since 1981

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Growing Nut Trees

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Online Saturday, February 26, 10:30 am – 12 pm Members: $15/Non-members: $25 Learn the basics of seedling nut tree propagation and understand techniques such as air pruning and stratification with Elodie Eid. Explore the world of tree crops and discover the amazing diversity of nuts that can be grown in the Northeast.

Clean Composting 101 Online Saturday, February 26, 12:30 – 2 pm Members: $15/Non-Members: $25 Compost is the answer to most soil problems, such as compaction, poor water-holding ability and low fertility. In this online class with instructor Daryl Beyers, students will discover why compost is the key to gardening sustainably and how to use it effectively to improve their garden ground to grow healthy plants. Learn the basics of composting and the techniques to create your own compost at home, using bins, tumblers, heaps or pits or directly on garden beds.

M A RC H Spring Blooms in Watercolor

Ramen from Scratch Saturday, March 5, 11 am – 2 pm Members: $40/Non-members: $55 Join Carrie Chen for a cooking class and learn how to cook delicious Ramen at home. Ramen is a Japanese version of fast food that can be found everywhere in Japan. It has rapidly increased popularity all over the world, because of its abundant and flavorful broth and the versatility in the ingredients. It is a perfect winter dish that warms anyone’s heart. In this class, you will learn three different types of ramen soup bases: Tonkotsu (simmered chicken and pork bone), shoyu (soy sauce), and miso (salt). The soup base is essentially the soul of the dish as it gives the noodles their distinct flavor!

Grafting for the Home Gardener

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Saturday, March 5, 1 – 3 pm Members: $50/Non-members: $65 Come join Broken Arrow Nurseries grafting great Adam Wheeler for a hands-on workshop that explores the world of grafting. After a lecture that explores the methods and intricacies of this timetested craft, participants will put their newfound knowledge to work by grafting a few specimens of their own.

On-site Wednesdays, March 2 - 16, 10 am – 1 pm Members: $165/Non-members: $185 Pack your pencils and watercolors! Join us in the Fitzpatrick Greenhouse for a balmy preview of the spring bulb show with Pat Hogan. Join us in the warmth and comfort of the Greenhouse to paint 2022’s first flowers in watercolor. Capture the early color of spring with warm tones and fluid brush strokes. A unique opportunity to paint in Berkshire Botanical Garden’s historic glass greenhouse.

Growing Giant Pumpkins Saturday, March 5, 10 am – 12 pm Members: $20, Nonmembers: $30 Join woody plant guru Adam Wheeler of Broken Arrow Nursery for a fun and informative look into the world of competitive pumpkin growing. Learn how to grow plants in the Cucurbita family into the biggest and best fruits possible.

Although the lecture will focus on how to grow extra-large pumpkins, it will also inform gardeners about improving growing conditions for other pumpkin relatives including melons, squash, and cucumbers.

Adam will share his special pumpkin seeds for the upcoming growing season.

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Landscape Design II

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In-person at BBG Thursdays, March 10 – April 7, 5:30 - 7:30 pm Members: $210/Non-Members: $230 Learn skills essential for an effective functional garden design that honors the site and meets client needs in this class led by David Dew Bruner, A.S.L.A. Each week will cover a different topic or technique focusing on the importance of getting to know the client and site as a basis of effective and appealing design. Essential and easy-to-grasp design principles for those who design or install gardens will be introduced throughout the course, with the goal of practicing a form-finding approach to garden design. The tools taught will provide a vocabulary essential for assessing a property’s potential and problems, and for asking the right questions to realize a client’s wishes while avoiding common design mistakes. Learn how to make well-considered and sustainable choices for the elements and materials commonly used in the residential-scale garden. Students will select from instructor-provided projects and take one from creative concept to completed design plan, including site assessment diagrams, conceptual sketches, schematic drawings and rendering of color and form. Each class will involve instruction and evaluation of projects in progress and will include both class instruction and studio time. Frequent group discussions and exercises will put the skills learned into action. Students will make a formal presentation at the final class with the primary goal of conveying a coherent design narrative.

Botanical Wellness: Fire Cider Make + Take In-person Saturday, March 12, 11 am – 1 pm Members: $25 Non-members: $35 Come see how fun and easy herbology can be with this introductory herbal extraction workshop led by Nicole Irene. Fire Cider is a beloved traditional herbal folk remedy that is gaining mainstream notoriety. Known for its immune-and-digestion boosting effects, this savory DIY infusion is made with wholesome ingredients and steeped over time, creating a bright and spicy tonic used to invigorate one’s whole being. Simple to make, fire cider warms body and soul while adding a healthful ritual to one’s repertoire. Learn how everyday food and culinary herbs, when chosen and prepared wisely, can help us improve our wellbeing. Leave this class revitalized with a recipe and jar of finished fire cider to take home. Providing this homebrew with steeping time allows the medicinal properties of the ingredients to be extracted into the vinegar. You will learn about the medicinal qualities of the plants within the formula, the history of Fire Cider, a basic herbal extraction lesson, the importance of traditional foods and remedies, recipes, and ideas on how to incorporate this tonic in your home. The ingredient list is flexible, so learn the process and then make your own recipe at home omitting or adding ingredients as you like. Come prepared to chop ingredients and get a little messy!

Ready, Set, Grow: Starting Seeds for Plants That Will Hit the Ground Growing!

Saturday, March 12, 10 am – 1 pm BBG Members: $45/Non-members: $55 Learn vegetable and flower seed-starting and plantgrowing techniques that result in vigorous plants from organic grower Maureen Sullivan of Left Field Farm, in Middlefield, MA. This workshop will focus on indoor sowing and growing-on practices, including preparation of an effective seed-sowing schedule, techniques for successful germination of challenging seeds, and management of plants at various stages of growth. Workshop participants will practice seed sowing and transplanting a variety of plants to take home for the spring and summer growing season. All supplies included in cost.

race mt tree services, inc.

Since 1977 Certified Arborists in MA, CT & NY

(413) 229-2728 support@racemttree.com • www.racemttree.com #racemttree

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Updates and Outlook: Insect Pests of Trees and Shrubs

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Online Wednesday, March 16, 3 – 4 pm Members: $15/Non-members: $20

Spring Planting for Fall Color

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Online Saturday, March 12, 12 – 1 pm Members: $20/Non-members: $30 As the spring equinox approaches, winter turns to spring and our thoughts turn towards planting and visits to the local garden center.

We invite you to shift your focus and consider what plants will enrich your garden during the next yearly equinox, from Summer to Fall. Planning now for Fall color and Winter interest will pay off in droves come Autumn. This online lecture will help you plan ahead, making the most of your garden year-round. Both woody plants and perennials will be addressed. Bring paper and a pencil, we’re sure you’ll want to take notes!

Landscape Design I

Insects and their relatives always garner much attention in our managed landscapes and natural areas. This presentation led

by Tawny Simisky will cover quick updates for the need-toknow invasives (spotted lanternfly, emerald ash borer, etc.) and others. Keep an eye out for some potential newcomers, box tree moth included. Accurately identifying insects is the first step in determining proper management strategies, also to be mentioned.

Container Garden Design

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In-person Wednesdays, March 16 – 30, 5:30 – 8:30 pm (3 weeks) Members: $165/Non-Members: $185 Acquire knowledge of the skills required for beautiful and successful container gardens with Jenna O’Brien, owner of Viridissima Horticulture and Design. Get to know the plants that thrive in containers and how to care for them. This class will cover practical aspects of gardening in containers with style throughout the New England garden season. Consider container selection, siting, planting, growing, controlling pests, and maintaining moveable gardens.

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In-Person Tuesdays, March 15 – April 19, 5:30 – 8:00 pm Members: $310/Non-members $350 This design course will introduce students to the design process— the systematic way designers approach a site and client. The course, taught by landscape architect and fine artist David Dew Bruner, will include a series of simple projects that will end with a garden designed by the students. Learn design principles such as form, balance, repetition, line, texture, color, and spatial relationships.

Additionally, students will be introduced to landscape history and how it helps the designer resolve and inspire garden design. As the adage goes, we cannot escape our history so we have to understand where we came from.

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Spring Pruning of Woody Ornamental Plants

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In-person Saturday, March 19, 10 am – 2 pm Members: $35/Non-members: $45

Backyard Chickens 101

Spring is a great time to assess woody shrubs for shape, structure, and winter damage. This workshop will focus on learning by doing.

Ron Yaple, owner of Race Mountain Tree Services in Sheffield, MA, will demonstrate how to renovate, rejuvenate, and shape shrubs and small ornamental trees for structure, health, and optimal growth.

Plants covered will include viburnums, lilacs, witch hazels, deciduous azaleas, sweetshrubs, crabapples, and ornamental cherries.

Participants should dress for the weather, bring pruners, work gloves, and a bag lunch.

Horticultural Therapy: The People-Plant Partnership In-person Saturday, March 19, 12 – 3 pm Members: $65/Non-members: $75 Horticultural Therapy uses the cultivation of plants and plant-related programs to heal, rehabilitate and improve the overall well-being of the population it serves. Often referred to as “the new health care tool,” horticultural therapy is effective in achieving therapeutic, rehabilitative and vocational outcomes. Registered Horticultural Therapist and licensed social worker Anne Meore will lead participants through experiential activities that will deepen the participant’s understanding of this therapeutic modality and enhance perspective on the benefits of our relationship with plants and the natural environment

Annuals, Tropicals, and Hardy Perennials

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In-person Thursdays, March 31 – April 28, 5:30 – 7:30 pm Members: $210/Non-members: $230 This class led by Robert Clyde Anderson is designed to add drama to your gardens with big, bold, and beautiful plants. Utilize underused annuals, seasonal tropicals and hardy perennials that can really make a splash in your garden with overscale, luxuriant and dramatic foliage effects. Also covered will be tips and techniques for how to create exuberant and impactful container plantings and groupings for versatile display on terraces, decks and poolside.

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APRIL Online Saturday, April 2, 10 – 11:30 am Members: $15/Non-members: $20 Have you always wanted to keep a small flock of backyard chickens?

This is your chance to learn the basics of backyard chicken care. Join us for a one-hour introductory online course in keeping chickens for eggs. Taught by BBG Director of Education Bridgette Stone.

Chainsaw Class – Level 2 – Moving on Beyond Firewood Saturday, April 9, 9 am – 4 pm Members: $250/Non-members: $275 Attendance in this chainsaw class is built on the prerequisite of attending a Chainsaw Level I class. This workshop, taught by certified arborist Melissa LeVangie Ingersoll, is designed for the chainsaw operator who wishes to gain greater confidence with this powerful tool. This Level 2 chainsaw class will combine lecture and hands-on learning covering topics such as PPE, review of safe operations and move on to advanced bucking and basic felling techniques. Note: Attendees will be required to wear PPE. Please bring your own chainsaw in good working order. (Running well, chain tensioned and sharpened, fueled and oiled.) Dress and prepare for the weather including long sleeves, pants and boots. Bring a bag lunch. Scholarships available.

Ancient Grains: Einkorn in the Kitchen Saturday, April 9, 10 am – 1 pm Members: $45/Non-members: $65 Our hunger for heirloom, original, non-hybridized vegetables and fruits can extend to our baking as well. By integrating the heirloom Einkorn grain into your baking, you can see how to revolutionize the flavors of all of your baked goods, imparting more character, nutrition, and goodness into everything you bake. While Einkorn isn’t technically wheat, it is wheat’s ancient cousin and it does have gluten. This means that while it’s a highly digestible, highprotein grain, it is able to produce many of the wheat-laden treats we all love. We’ll explore different ways of using Einkorn, savory and sweet, to fully understand how you might adjust your baking and expand your repertoire for success and maximum enjoyment!

Taught by Rachel Portnoy.

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New England Spring Wildflower Primer Online Wednesdays, April 20–27, 4 – 5:30 pm Members: $35/Non-members: $45 This 2-part series on wildflowers will present an overview of the native forest flora that bloom in the Berkshires in spring. The first presentation will discuss the flora in the mixed hardwoods, white pine, and hemlock forests that cover so much of Berkshire County. The emphasis of the presentation will be on herbaceous wildflowers, but we will also present some of the trees, shrubs, and ferns that commonly grow in these forest communities. The second presentation will highlight the flora that grow in rich hardwood forests under a canopy of sugar maple, white ash, and basswood. Spring wildflowers are especially abundant and varied in this forest habitat, and the presentation will showcase many of them, in addition to trees, shrubs, and ferns. Led by Ted Elliman.

Planting Perennials the New Wave Way

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In-person Saturday, April 23, 11 am – 12 pm Members: $20/Non-members: $25 Naturalistic perennial plantings are all the rage, but adapting them to smaller scale gardens can be a challenge. Join artist-gardener Robert Clyde Anderson for an illustrated lecture that clarifies the main concepts behind the New Perennial Movement and offers techniques, based on his own experience, for combining three to five compatible perennials that become a living mulch for weed suppression and moisture retention. Specific plant combinations will be discussed as well as how-to planting and staging techniques that Robert has used over several seasons developing a mature, wet-meadow planting.

Get Growing: School Gardens and Children’s Gardens Saturday, April 30, 11 am – 2 pm Member: $30/Non-members: $45 Gardening is a fun and educational way for children and adults to spend time together. Whether your garden is at work or at home, we’ll help you develop the skills and knowledge you need to create an engaging, beautiful space. In this workshop, we will cover the basics of starting a garden, including how to structure your garden, what to plant, and how to utilize the garden for learning and play.

Designed for teachers and caretakers of children, students will receive lesson plans, plant lists, and seedlings to bring home to get gardens started! Led by BBG’s Education Team.

Come play in the Berkshires!

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EDUCATION

HORTICULTURE CERTIFICATE PROGRAM The Horticulture Certificate Program is a non-credit, adult enrichment program designed for the professional, aspiring professional or serious home gardener. Students can choose either to take classes towards receiving a certificate, or audit individual classes of interest. Staffed by seasoned and practicing horticulturists and landscape designers, these indepth classes provide a strong foundation for all horticultural pursuits—whether one is exploring or advancing career goals or simply acquiring or expanding their knowledge, skills and enjoyment of gardening. Classes include lectures, hands-on workshops and field trips.

CAMPS FOR KIDS! February Day Camp Tuesday, February 22 – Friday 25, 9 am – 3 pm Member: $325*/Non-member: $355* February Day Camp is a four-day program for 5-10-year-olds who are interested in exploring and playing in the garden during the winter! Activities your camper may participate in are animal track hunts, tree identification, tree tapping, garden planning, botanical dyes, and much much more. Does your camper love to play outdoors? Join us in our little winter wonderland as we learn how to stay warm, how to track animals, and what it means to start your garden in New England.

Level I courses cover material essential for a foundation in good gardening practices and are designed sequentially beginning in September and progressing through April.

April Day Camp

Upon completing the Level 1 Horticulture Certificate Program, students can work towards additional Advanced Certificates in the following areas:

April Day Camp is a four-day program for 5-10-year-olds who are interested in exploring the garden, no matter the weather! Sun, snow, rain, or shine, we always find a way to have fun as winter slowly changes to spring. In April, the garden comes to life as birds begin to migrate home, tree buds begin to form and spring peepers begin singing their songs. Activities your camper may participate in are: chicken incubation, garden planting, garden bed preparation, baking, bird watching, and botanical dyes. Join us as we welcome the changing of the seasons with open arms!

• • • •

Advanced Horticulture Landscape Design Sustainable Land Stewardship Native Plant Landscapes

Enrollment begins August 2022. Level II enrollment is rolling.

Learn more at berkshirebotanical.org.

Tuesday, April 19 – Friday 22, 9 am – 3 pm Member: $325*/Non-member: $355*

* A non-refundable $100 deposit is due upon registration with final payments due by February 1, 2022.

SAVE THE DATE: TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 10 AM

Summer Camp Registration for Members

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BBG’s Garden Travel Program Join BBG’s staff as we resume travel to the most extraordinary gardens in the US and around the globe! Coordinated by the exceptional staff at Classical Excursions, our trips are led by horticulture-savvy guides who plan unforgettable itineraries that include both well-known and private gardens in their region.

Gardens of Charleston Sunday, March 26 – Wednesday, March 30, 2022 Arranged by Classical Excursions SELECTED TOUR HIGHLIGHTS: Magnolia Gardens & Plantation Founded by the Drayton Family in 1680, this is considered to be one of the most important romantic gardens and is the oldest unrestored garden in America.

Middleton Place Plantation & Gardens The home of the Middleton family since 1741, Middleton Place boasts America’s oldest landscaped gardens inspired by the great garden designer Andre Le Notre.

Great Gardens of Scotland Wednesday, June 1 - Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Nathaniel Russell House A private tour of the house and ending with a wine reception in the 18th century serene formal garden.

Arranged by Classical Excursions

Moore Farms Botanical Garden A wildly beautiful and soulful 65 acre garden in a pastoral setting. The garden has an informal yet expressive design scheme featuring a blend of exuberant plant displays.

A stop by Calton Hill, ‘The Athens of the North,’ to see many of its famous landmark buildings.

The private garden of designer Ben Lenhardt at his home located in Charleston’s historic district.

The Phillip Simmons Garden These mesmerizing gardens located on Anson Street commemorate the renowned Charleston blacksmith responsible for some of the most beautiful ironwork in the city.

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SELECTED TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

A visit to the Edinburgh Botanical Garden with a talk about the history of the gardens.

Manderston House, home of The Lord Palmer, where we will be entertained to lunch, followed by a tour of this grand Edwardian house and a visit to the gardens with the head gardener.

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AROUND THE GARDEN

Welcome Virginia!

Virginia Caponera joins the Garden staff as a new BBG Educator, responsible for implementing afterschool programs at Pittsfield’s Reed and Herberg Middle Schools.

Originally from North Port, Florida, Virginia earned a BA degree in Biology from Bard College and a Master of Science in Environmental Science from Drexel University.

Her two loves are education and working with young people.

A hands-on researcher who enjoyed field work as a graduate student, she shares that passion through her lesson plans, which also focus on the social development of her students, who range in age from 11-14. The program is funded through a 21st Century Learning Grant which supports local schools and community-based organizations that provide after-school and summer learning programs to students attending high-need schools.

After an autumn of working with the students on winter bed preparation and seed saving, the program, which Virginia coteaches with BBG Education Coordinator Kessa McEwen, turns to indoor crafts and cooking lessons. These will be followed in late winter and spring with seed starting, window greenhouses and how to bring back to life the outdoor gardens the students have carefully tended. Her goals for the coming year are to expand the gardens at both middle schools and develop compost piles for yard waste. It’s clear that the field work and hands-on learning Virginia loved as a student are now being passed down to our future stewards, and BBG is so proud to have her onboard!

SAVE THE DATES! ANNUAL BULB SHOW MARCH 3–16 Our historic Fitzpatrick Conservatory once again becomes the Berkshire’s harbinger of spring as we open the doors to the Bulb Show, the Garden’s annual springtime gift to the community. Beginning March 3, delight your senses with displays of daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, fritillaria and Iris reticulata, as well as a unique collection of South African bulbs Tulipa bakeri blooming alongside the New England favorites. Plan on visiting often, as new blooms open each day. The Bulb Show is open daily, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

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AROUND THE GARDEN

Summer School Recap: Education Beyond the Garden Campus

Farm in the Garden Camp News BBG’s Farm in the Garden summer camp begins June 27 with week-long sessions offered through August 19. Preregistration for Garden members and returning campers begins January 11, 2022, with open registration for the general public starting on January 18.

Farm in the Garden Camp provides time, space, and guidance for children to engage in purposeful play in an energizing and kind garden community. Their time in the garden will be spent caring for the plants and animals that sustain us, and making good use of the harvest. Campers plant seedlings, collect eggs, harvest vegetables, go on nature walks, create botanical crafts and much more! At Farm in the Garden Camp, all are invited to be part of a thriving community that is committed to educating and inspiring others. This popular camp fills quickly. Avoid disappointment — register early! Camperships are available.

Sixth graders Danna Sanchez and Juliette Cando participated in BBG’s summer school program at the W.E.B. Du Bois Middle School in Great Barrington.

The Garden’s Education Department has a wide reach, providing on-campus programs to early learners as young as three through the Garden Sprouts program, to serving the greater Berkshire community of adult learners through a robust curriculum which includes an advanced Horticulture Certificate Program.

In addition to these, the Garden reaches beyond the BBG campus through a popular summer school program for rising 5th to 8th graders led by BBG Education Coordinator Kessa McEwen.

Last summer, this program served approximately 40 students from Berkshire Hills Regional School District through the Project Connection summer camp program, with students attending camp four days a week for five weeks, providing a fun, safe space for students to continue learning and growing during the summer months. Students spent time working in the garden, planting, harvesting, observing, making natural crafts and cooking gardenfresh recipes. They learned how to be closer to nature, wildlife, and their local food systems while connecting with one another, working as part of a team, and growing socially and emotionally.

The program culminated in students meeting with local professionals working in native plant restoration, where they learned about the importance of native plants for pollinators and created a new perennial native pollinator garden in the meadow behind their school vegetable garden, providing food, water, and habitat to local wildlife for years to come.

BBG’s participation in Project Connection keeps us all connected to gardening, stewardship and the environment, and we look forward to continuing our outreach through Berkshire Hills Regional School District in the year to come.

Visit berkshirebotanical.org for additional information and to register, or contact BBG’s Camp Director, Rachel Durgin at rdurgin@berkshirebotanical.org or call 413 298-4505.

In Memoriam Reginald Taylor, Former BBG Board Member BBG records with sadness the passing of Reginald Taylor, who died in autumn at age 92. Reggie lived in South Egremont, Greenwich Village and Cambridgeshire, England. He loved cooking, gardening, singing, and being English! He was wellknown and well-liked at BBG, where he managed the annual Harvest Festival Tag Sale.

Volunteer Director Amy Butterworth recalls, “Each fall Reggie and his loyal friends would sort, clean, and price our Tag Sale donations. He tackled this massive undertaking with good cheer, great stories, and singing. Shoppers came in droves to buy the treasures Reggie had so carefully prepared. He was delightful and one-of-a-kind.”

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B E R K S H I R E B O TA N I C A L G A R D E N P E R E N N I A L S O C I E T Y

“Legend has it that the day I was born (at home), my grandmother wrapped me in a blanket and walked into the garden to show me the pear tree in full blossom. I think that’s called imprinting. Apparently, it worked because I’ve been entranced by gardens ever since.

My introverted father was a wonderful gardener, growing everything from seed and producing enough food for a family of four most of the year. He always seemed the most relaxed when he had a spade in his hands. Oh, and a cup of tea that I would cautiously carry out to him. The power of gardens and gardening is universal.

It seems to me that our beloved Berkshire Botanical Garden contributes to the lives of all generations, not only with education, events, and beauty but also with spiritual benefits. Studies are showing that mental health improves just by taking a walk among flowers and trees. I want to play a small part in making sure that this treasure in our community continues in a viable and important way.”

— Jane Iredale, Perennial Society Member

Join Jane Iredale in supporting the future of the Garden by including BBG in your estate plans or other planned giving through the Perennial Society.

If you would like to find out more about joining BBG’s Perennial Society, please contact Thaddeus Thompson, Executive Director at (413) 320-4772 or tthompson@berkshirebotanical.org for a confidential conversation.

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Alan H. Green, Alysha Umphress, Jacob Tischler, Allison Blackwell and Britney Coleman, Who Could Ask for Anything More? The Songs of George Gershwin. 2021. Photo by Daniel Rader.

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Visit America’s best private gardens through Open Days!

Since 1995, Garden Conservancy Open Days has opened rarely seen private gardens to the public across America.

gardenconservancy.org/opendays Preserving, Sharing, and Celebrating America’s Gardens

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2/26/20 6:00 PM

Come visit and see what makes Bay State special!

Are you connected?

Stay up-to-date on all things BBG by following us on social media!

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VOLUNTEER NEWS

Volunteering: The Joy Factor Could you use more joy in your life? Well, really, who couldn’t!

I invite you to up your joy factor by becoming a BBG Volunteer. It’s a simple yet amazingly effective way to increase your sense of harmony and joy. And you don’t have to be a hands-on gardener – we have many ways you can use your talents at BBG. Consider this:

• BBG Volunteers do work they enjoy in every aspect of the Garden, from tending the display beds to greeting people in the Visitor Center, giving tours of the grounds, being docents in our art galleries. You can even volunteer just once a year to do a shift at our famous Harvest Festival, helping out anywhere from admissions to kids’ activities. We have lots of ways to engage you with the Garden.

• BBG Volunteers enjoy special ‘perks’ like a free class taught by a Cornell Extension Master Gardener. We choose topics perfect for gardeners of all levels, and even non-gardeners enjoy the learning experience and the classroom camaraderie.

• BBG Volunteers enjoy an expanded sense of connection to the world, becoming part of the BBG family and interacting with our larger community. It’s a wonderful way to have fun, enhance your social life, and increase your sense of purpose.

Think I’m exaggerating? Well, I can tell you BBG has done all those things for me, and more. I feel truly enriched by my time here, and I’d love to share that sense of joy with you.

To learn more about the BBG Volunteer corps and your place in it, please visit the Volunteer page on the BBG website at www.berkshirebotanical.org. If you register as a Volunteer, you will start to receive our e-newsletters that tell you about upcoming opportunities.

You can also contact BBG’s Director of Volunteers, Amy Butterworth, at abutterworth@berkshirebotanical.org or call her at (413) 298-4532, to discuss where your skills and interests fit best.

While Volunteer activities quiet down in the winter, we’ll be kicking in fast with the first stirrings of spring, starting with our fabulous Plant Sale which needs lots of helping Volunteer hands.

Just think, with a few clicks on the keyboard or one call to the Garden, you too can start experiencing more joy in your life – and isn’t that the best Volunteer ‘perk’ of all!

Sincerely, Lauretta Harris President, BBG Volunteer Association

Sopring-Summer Cuttings: 4.75”W x 3.5 “H

WINDY HILL FARM NURSERY • ORCHARD • GARDEN SHOP

Superb plantS, extenSive Knowledge outStanding Quality, Selection & value

We offer our own Berkshire field-grown specimens, including Chinese or Kousa dogwood; the native Berkshire strain of Cornus florida; American and European Green, Tricolor and Copper beech; native birch; hybrid lilacs; hydrangea paniculata selections; American Fringe trees; witchhazels, blueberries, viburnums; winterberries, espaliered fruit trees; mature apple, peach and pear trees; herbaceous and tree peony selections.

686 Stockbridge road, great barrington, Ma 01230 www . windyhillfarMinc . coM (413) 298-3217

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Native Habitat Restoration Returning Balance to Nature

Wetlands Woodlands Meadows Fields Invasive Plant Control

(organic options)

Pollinator Habitats Field Clearing Forestry Mowing Wetland Restoration

(413) 358-7400 NativeHabitatRestoration.weebly.com Licensed in MA . CT . NY . VT

A Gift of Membership Lasts All Year!

Membership is a wonderful way to honor the gardeners and garden-lovers in your life.

Give the perfect gift — membership to Berkshire Botanical Garden. Our Membership levels provide a variety of benefits including: n

Unlimited free admission to the Garden

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Special members-only events

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10% discount at the Garden’s Visitor Center Gift Shop

n E arly buying privileges and 10% off all purchases

at the annual Plant Sale n

Free subscription to Cuttings, the Garden’s magazine

n A dvance notice and discounts on classes, lectures

and workshops n F ree or discounted reciprocal admission to

participating gardens, arboreta and conservancies throughout the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean n D iscounts on purchases at local and online nurseries,

garden centers and retailers n B ased on Membership level, benefits in NARM and

ROAM programs for admission benefits to nearly a thousand museums in the Berkshires and beyond n F ree subscription to Better Homes and Gardens

or Martha Stewart Living

THE GARDEN’S SPECIALTY MEMBERSHIPS INCLUDE: n P rofessional Level Memberships for

professional horticulturists and gardeners n P ortrait Photographer Memberships n C orporate Memberships

Memberships support the Garden while enriching lives.

Place your gift order today — discounts apply to multiple orders!

To learn more, contact Amy Butterworth, Membership Director, abutterworth@berkshirebotanical.org or call 413 298-4532.

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5 West Stockbridge Road Stockbridge, MA 01262 413-298-3926 • berkshirebotanical.org

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