August 2020
Berkshire Botanical Garden – Planting Design Part 2: The Designer’s Palette: Color in the Landscape – Online
This is an online event series. Learn basic color theories outlined in Josef Albers’s classic text, Interaction of Color and how they can be applied to the landscape. Examine how the feel and impact of color can change a space. In the project for this class, students will design the same garden space twice, using a different color scheme each time exploring how the change in the color scheme changes the mood and feel of a space as well as…
Find out more »Summer Author Series: Kathryn Aalto, Writing Wild
Enjoy a lecture and Q&A session with author Kathryn Aalto, whose new book, Writing Wild (available for purchase in our online shop), examines the pioneering and imaginative women who dared to do the unimaginable: to pick up a pen and write under their own names; to record their protests, poetry and prose; and to change history. Learn about the 25 women, historical and living, whose influential nature-writing has deepened our connection to and understanding of the natural world. These inspiring scholars,…
Find out more »Family Fridays: Nature Matters with Jen Lahey
Nature Matters is home to a diverse collection of animal educators. Many of these animals came to us because they were unable to survive in the wild due to an injury, or they were born in captivity and have never learned how to fend for themselves. These animals are on the borderland; they are not pets, but they are also no longer able to be wild. They need a place to be cared for in order to survive. Presented by Jen…
Find out more »Berkshire Botanical Garden – Planting Design Part 2: The Designer’s Palette: Color in the Landscape – Online
This is an online event series. Learn basic color theories outlined in Josef Albers’s classic text, Interaction of Color and how they can be applied to the landscape. Examine how the feel and impact of color can change a space. In the project for this class, students will design the same garden space twice, using a different color scheme each time exploring how the change in the color scheme changes the mood and feel of a space as well as…
Find out more »Birding by Ear in the Garden
Hone your birding skills with naturalist Zach Adams. Birding by ear is an effective and exciting tool in bird identification. Join Zach at BBG, walk the grounds and learn to identify bird species by call and song. This in-person event is presented in collaboration with Mass Audubon Pleasant Valley. Space is limited, so register early. Zach Adams has been studying birds since his childhood, when he fell in love with the sounds of wood ducks and redwing blackbirds in the marshes. He…
Find out more »Botanicals, Bitters, and Booze – Botanical Summer Cocktails
Enjoy an in-depth conversation about the history, geography, medicinal origins and modern uses of the world’s beautiful cocktail modifiers--amaro, vermouth and fortified and aromatized wines--and “essential botanicals” such as cinchona bark, gentian and wormwood. The talk will be followed by a hands-on cocktail-making session. Guests will learn the techniques of building and enjoying craft cocktails at home and will receive an information packet and recipes for the three featured cocktails.
Find out more »Family Fridays: Snakes of the Berkshires
Meet us on the Fitzpatrick lawn as Environmental Educator Thomas Tying returns to teach us about snakes of the Berkshires. Learn about reptiles in our area and how you can help protect them. You’ll be up close and personal with a variety of snakes that call the Berkshires home.
Find out more »Off-Site Field Study of Peter Bevacqua and Stephen King’s Nearly Native Garden in Claverack, NY
An opportunity to tour a celebrated private garden and reflect on the intersection of traditional and regenerative horticulture and garden design. Led by garden and landscape designer Peter Bevacqua, who will highlight the creation of the wild “nearly native garden” and its role in their landscape. Learn how they worked with the existing flora to transform the space, and its continuing evolution. This magical garden, hidden from street view in the hamlet of Claverack, has been evolving with devotion and care…
Find out more »Fall/Winter Hive Management for Successful Overwintering of Beehives
Join 6th-generation beekeeper Ken Warchol for an in-depth program on fall hive management of honeybees. This lecture and demonstration will focus on how to prepare your beehives to survive the winter, including hive preparation, feeding and pest control. Ken will provide beekeepers with critical information and timing of important management techniques to prepare hives for the cold. Weather permitting, he will do a hive inspection in the BBG apiary. Bring protective equipment.
Find out more »What’s Bugging You? A Strategy for Pest Control in the Home Garden
Learn how to put Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices to work in a workshop designed for gardeners. Join Ron Kujawski for a walk and talk to identify pests and diseases and discuss plant health care with a focus on IPM. Walk through the landscape for demonstrations of IPM tools and techniques, as well as a close look at some of the most common insect, disease and weed problems faced by woody ornamentals, as well as cultural problems and environmental stresses.
Find out more »Writing Wild with Kathryn Aalto
One of the most distinctive genres in American literature, nature writing is also one of its oldest traditions. In this two-part nature writing workshop, Kathryn Aalto provides an introduction to the beating heart of nature writing, the personal essay. An overview of subgenres — natural history, garden writing, personal meditations, country and farm life, biography and environmental writing in the Anthropocene — help to harness subject, angle and voice as participants use hands-on exercises to shape a nature essay.
Find out more »Summer Author Series: Georgina Reid, The Plant Hunter
Enjoy a lecture and Q&A session with author Georgina Reid about her new book, The Planthunter, available for purchase through the BBG online shop. From street gardens in Los Angeles to grand country estates in Australia, The Planthunter is a visceral and immersive exploration of the exceptional and ordinary ways people around the world--landscape architects, artists, garden designers, plant collectors, wanderers, big thinkers, florists and writers--find purpose and connection through the act of gardening. Members $10/Non-members $15
Find out more »Family Fridays: Birds of Prey
Join wildlife rehabilitator Tom Ricardi for his ever-popular presentation on birds of prey. This program is designed for all ages. Tom will share fascinating facts and information about many different magnificent birds, demonstrate some of their unique behaviors and inspire children of all ages to appreciate, respect and conserve these important members of our wild kingdom. Tom Ricardi is a licensed rehabilitator and wildlife biologist. He runs Massachusetts Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Center in Conway, MA, and is now retired after 40 years…
Find out more »Botanical Dyes
Learn from fiber artist Nicole Campanale how to extract color from plants. This class will cover the basics of natural dyeing, including different types of natural fibers and how to prepare them for dyeing, as well as how to identify several dye plants that are easy to grow or collect in the wild. Create your own dyes and experiment with different mordants, over-dyeing and resist techniques on various fibers. Yarn and fabric swatches for dyeing will be provided. Students are…
Find out more »September 2020
Writing Wild with Kathryn Aalto
One of the most distinctive genres in American literature, nature writing is also one of its oldest traditions. In this two-part nature writing workshop, Kathryn Aalto provides an introduction to the beating heart of nature writing, the personal essay. An overview of subgenres — natural history, garden writing, personal meditations, country and farm life, biography and environmental writing in the Anthropocene — help to harness subject, angle and voice as participants use hands-on exercises to shape a nature essay.
Find out more »
Norman Rockwell Museum
Virtual Berkshires
Maple Glen at Red Lion Inn
Fairfield Marriott
Terrace Café at The Mount