Somerville Garden Club

October 16, 2017
by Eleanor Ramsay
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Meeting, November 8, 2017

Botanical Names for the Fearful

Wish you could remember the name of that plant, or wonder why botanical names seem so complicated? Judith Sumner a botanist and author who specializes in ethno-botany, flowering plants, plant adaptations, and garden history will help sort it out discussing Botanical Names for the Fearful.

Judith Sumner teaches medicinal botany at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and at the Garden in the Woods, the botanic garden of the New England Wild Flower Society in Framingham, Massachusetts. Her lectures are highly sought after by inquisitive students of all ages, and she has been honored with awards for excellence in teaching. She is the author of  The Natural History of Medicinal Plants as well as numerous scientific publications.

All Somerville Garden Club meetings are free and open to the public. 7-9pm. Meetings are held at the Tufts Administration Building, (TAB), 167 Holland Street, second floor, wheelchair accessible. Parking is available, and the building is a ten-minute walk from the Davis Square MBTA stop.

Scarlet Lobelia, Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) and White Lily, Madonna Lily (Lilium candidum).

October 9, 2017
by Eleanor Ramsay
Comments Off on Black Swallow-wort Pod Patrol

Black Swallow-wort Pod Patrol

THE BLACK SWALLOW-WORT

UNWANTED!
BY FARMERS, GARDENERS, BUTTERFLIES & NATIVE PLANTS

Black Swallow-work covering a chain link fence

Black Swallow-wort covering a chain link fence

Join the Pod Patrol!
Pluck pods in your neighborhood
 and share this information with
 your neighbors and friends!

About Black Swallow-wort

Beginning with shiny green leaves in pairs, purple star-shaped flowers and grappling spaghetti-like roots in summer, Black Swallow-wort becomes armed with seed pods resembling green chili peppers. This invasive vine threatens monarch butterflies and songbirds, and displaces native plant communities vital to insects, birds and other urban wildlife. Swallow-wort crowds out milkweed, the only plant where monarch butterflies lay eggs. Monarchs mistake the swallow-wort for the milkweed, lay their eggs there, and the larvae die.

Black Swallow-wort Brochure (PDF).

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