43-74 Fairfield St.

Nothing says summer quite like sunflower yellow walls! 🌻 The appropriately named Yellow Room showcases Isabella’s love of music, art, and her friendships with the creators in those fields.

700 Boylston St. Boston, MA 02116

Free, 5:30 p.m., the Trackhouse, 285 Newbury St., Boston, facebook.com

$15, 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m., 669 Boylston St., Boston, eventbrite.com

Enjoy a presentation and an exclusive tour of the privately owned Blue Garden with Director Sarah Vance, followed by time for lunch and strolling on your own in downtown Newport. After lunch, we’ll travel to the Green Animals Topiary Garden before heading home. The field trip, sponsored by Tower Hill Botanic Garden, will take place Thursday, August 2. Group will leave from Tower Hill at 8 am and return by 5:30. If you wish to meet the group in Rhode Island, call 508.869.6111.

On Monday, July 30, beginning at 7 pm, come hear Slow Money founder Woody Tasch speak about his new book Soil 2017, and Slow Money’s progress, including the $65 million invested in more than 728 small organic farms and local food businesses. This free event will take place Monday, July 30 at the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury, and is sponsored by the Dukes County Conservation District, Island Grown Initiative, Slough Farm Foundation, Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society, and The Polly Hill Arboretum.

Discover numerous native perennials suitable for New England gardens. We’ll look at native herbaceous plants that bloom in late summer and fall, focusing on their characteristics and environmental preferences as well as their uses in landscapes and gardens. Be prepared to walk in the Garden each day. This New England Wild Flower Society two session class is appropriate for landscape professionals and avid home gardeners. The instructor is Leslie Duthie, and the classes will be held at Garden in the Woods on Thursdays, July 26 and August 30, from 1 – 3:30. $77 for NEWFS members, $91 for nonmembers. Register online at http://www.newenglandwild.org/learn/our-programs/native-herbaceous-plant-materials-late-season-1

700 Boylston St. Boston, MA 02116

700 Boylston St. Boston, MA 02116

Isabella studied in France, where she picked up this motto: Think much, speak little, write nothing. Share this quote with the Isabella in your life! Image: Martin Mower, Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1917, oil.

Happy Birthday, Rembrandt! 🎂 Not only is this one of his first self portraits, but it’s also the piece that solidified Isabella’s decision to transform her private collection into a public museum. #HatsOffToYouRembrandt Image: Rembrandt Van Rijn, Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1629, oil on oak panel.

Isabella took care to exhibit the work of women artists in the contemporary galleries of her museum. This bust of Maria de Acosta Sargent by Anna Coleman Ladd is one such example! Object: Anna Coleman Ladd, Maria de Acosta Sargent, 1915, bronze.

The Charlton Arts & Activities Center is excited to offer a summer celebration on July 29 from 10 – 4 where blueberries are just the start of the fun! This family friendly event is fast becoming a Charlton area favorite. There will bea live animal show by Animal Adventures Family Zoo and Rescue Center from 1 – 2, live music, an amateur cooks blueberry bake-off and silent auction in the farmhouse, locally grown blueberries for sale, and pony rides. The address is 4 Dresser Hill Road in Charlton, and more information may be found at http://www.pickyourown.org/PYO.php?PAGGE=/BlueberryFestivals.php&NAME=Chalrton%20Blueberry%20Festival&URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.charltonarts.org/blueberry-festival Admission is FREE. You may also email charltonarts7@gmail.com.

This two day New England Wild Flower Society workshop taught by Dorie Petrochko will introduce students to the fascinating world of drawing and painting birds. We will learn how to observe the structure and form of various bird species by field-sketching birds. A small field-painting kit with graphite pencils, micron pens, a small watercolor set, and colored pencils is all you will need to render successful bird studies. Hands-on demonstrations and individual guided instruction and critiques will be offered. Participants will produce a finished portrait of the bird of their choice in its habitat. The sessions will take place at Garden in the Woods on July 28 and 29 from 10:30 – 2:30. $100 for NEWFS members, $115 for nonmembers. Materials not included. Register at http://www.newenglandwild.org/learn/our-programs/drawing-birds-in-their-habitats

Each summer, the Berkshire Botanical Garden hosts the Berkshire Woodworkers Guild Fine Arts Show and Silent Auction, when Guild members exhibit and sell unique, hand-made products ranging from furniture to musical instruments. Guild members also provide ongoing demonstrations highlighting their trade and providing an educational component to the weekend event. Bench below by Jeffrey All of Allwoodwork.

One of the few nudes in Isabella’s collection, this figure drawing by Whistler shows a beautiful harmony of color. The blues on the fabric are similar to the Summer Blues growing in the Courtyard! 💙 Image: James McNeill Whistler, Lapis Lazuli (detail), 1885-1886, chalk and pastel on brown paper.

Massachusetts is generally well-studied for Odonata, but Hampden County has received less attention than most of the state. The Nature Conservancy has invited the Dragonfly Society of the Americas to survey the Stebbins Wildlife Refuge, which includes extensive swamp and floodplain as well as a section of the Connecticut River. The town of Wilbraham has granted us permission to explore its McDonald Farm Nature Preserve, home to the state’s westernmost and farthest-inland Atlantic White Cedar swamp and extensive Sphagnum bog habitat. The Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary has also laid out a welcome mat for us, and we have several other intriguing chunks of habitat to explore. At the top of our target species list are the three species of Stylurus, the Arrow (S. spiniceps), Zebra (S. scudderi), and (most tantalizingly, pictured below) Riverine Clubtail (S. amnicola); Ocellated Darner (Boyeria grafiana); and, of course, as many Somatochlora species as we can find.

Several common denominators define sustainable gardens everywhere. Comprehensive soil management, native plantings, water conservation, and reduced lawn size are some of the paths toward sustainable landscapes, regardless of climate or clientele. With the basics covered in other Ecological Landscape Alliance programs, join us on Tuesday, July 24 from 1 – 5 at Garden in the Woods, 180 Hemingway Street in Framingham, for the ELA Summer Workshop as we explore new strategies to add to the toolbox to save time, reduce your carbon footprint, and bring a tasty snack to your table as we continue our quest for more sustainable landscapes with some novel approaches.

“I think that I shall never see/A poem lovely as a tree.” The trees of New England are both beautiful and an essential part of our flora. This New England Wild Flower Society course will introduce you to 25- 30 common New England trees, emphasizing tree identification as well as natural history. Bring a hand lens and a bag lunch. The first class, on July 23 from 10 – 2, will be held at Garden in the Woods; the second, on July 25, at an off-site location. $106 for NEWFS members, $128 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.newenglandwild.org/learn/our-programs/tree-identification