This is a Mystic Garden Club Guest Day.

Hedge

Peter Alden Wlid Life

Peter Alden, a naturalist from Concord, MA is shocked at all the new plants taking over his back forty and seemingly everywhere. He writes about the major role birds play in their spread. He is involved with many invasive plants, activities and conferences sponsored by the Invasive Plant Atlas of New England and the New England Wild Flower Society. He has organized battles on these aliens at the Old North Bridge, Minute Man Park, Thoreau’s Walden Pond and neighborhood. Peter is the main author of the National Audubon Field Guide to New England and 15 other nature guides which are available after this talk.

Peter has also led or lectured on dozens of cruises, private jet tours, safaris and birding tours to 100 countries. As a birder he authored “Finding Birds Around the World” 25 years ago, and is past president of both the Nuttall Ornithological Club at Harvard and the Brookline Bird Club. He organized the world’s:first Biodiversity Day with Harvard antman Dr. E.O.Wilson in 1998, where 2,000 plants, animals and fungi where found by 100 field biologists in one day in Concord and Lincoln. He then ran the statewide Biodiversity Days for 4 years in the Mass. Executive Office of Environmental Affairs for Bob Durand. He is currently working on an invasive plant book, a new series of field guides to birds of the Americas, lecturing and leading shore parties on polar icebreakers in both the Arctic and Antarctic and is next leading Elderhostal’ s Road Scholar Galapagos cruises in Fall-winter 08-09 on the Equator.

For more information visit http://peteraldenwildlife.com

Peter ALden trolling for leeches in the Concord, MA woods

Lecture BIO Allyson Hayward

 Allyson Hayward is an internationally acclaimed garden historian, who writes and lectures extensively on topics related to gardens and their history. She is a graduate of the Landscape Institute of Harvard University, and for several years served as Chairman of the New England Garden History Society. In 2003, she was awarded a Gold Medal by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for her work in promoting New England’s garden history.

Allyson’s interest in Norah Lindsay started while she was still a student at the Landscape Institute. This interest turned into a passion as she retraced the footsteps of Norah Lindsay through the gardens and estates of England. Her research represents more than ten years of travel and delving into private and public archives in both the UK and the US.

A LITTLE HISTORY:

Todd Gipstein has been working as a photographer, writer, producer and lecturer for more than thirty years.

He studied writing and film at Harvard University, where he graduated with honors in 1974. After working for Time-Life Multi-Media in New York, he started Gipstein Multi-Media in Boston in 1975. There he created numerous multi-image shows for museums and corporate clients. His writing included scripts, magazine articles and columns. He also travelled extensively as a photographer.

In 1989, he moved to Washington, D.C. to work full-time as the Director of Multi-Image / Executive Producer for the National Geographic Society. His work for National Geographic included writing and producing shows about geography, history, nature, cultures, photography, environmental issues and the Geographic. His work provided him opportunities for travels around the world as a photographer and lecturer. He also worked with Vice-President Al Gore on media related to environmental issues.Though the topics of his documentaries have been extremely varied, Todd has tended to focus on projects dealing with history and culture. He has been very successful at bringing the past to life and making it relevant to contemporary audiences. 
Todd’s photographic archives include approximately 250,000 images. His work is currently represented by the National Geographic Society, Getty Images, and by Corbis.

Todd has lectured across the United States and around the world on topics as diverse as Machu Picchu, the Panama Canal, Venice, photography, visual communication, geography and history.

Over the years, his productions have won more than 40 gold awards in media festivals. His work has also garnered a dozen grand-prizes in international competitions. He is a member of the Association for Multi-Media International’s Producers’ Hall of Fame, and he has also received several lifetime achievement awards.

In 2005, Gipstein Multi-Media moved to Groton, Connecticut. Todd continues to photograph on contract for National Geographic. He has his own production studio where, along with his wife Marcia, he creates compelling original media presentations in a variety of formats. Todd continues to lecture and teach. He is always looking for new challenges and forums to explore storytelling media. He is committed to continuing his long career of creating elegant, emotional shows that touch a responsive chord in viewers. In short, “media with a message.”

Award winning designer Kymrie Zaslow began her floral design career in 1991 having designed and worked in shops in Ohio and Connecticut. Her experience covers retail flower shops, mass market floral management, design education, and the handling of both fresh and permanent florals.
In 1996, Kymrie was inspired to open a unique warehouse showroom, The Floral Gallery, Inc. She serviced her client’s needs in the areas of custom home floral décor, party planning, bridal design, and decorative painting. In the spring of 2006 she closed her retail showroom and directed her talents toward freelance designing, lecturing and education.
Kymrie’s extensive industry experience, as well as her membership in The Federated Garden Clubs of CT and West Hartford Garden Club, has given her the opportunity to share her knowledge and passion as an educator, lecturer, and guest designer. In April 2005 she became a National Garden Club Accredited Judge. She is also a member of Creative Arrangers of CT and Creative Floral Arrangers of the Americas. She has designed live on WVIT Channel 30 and had her designs and ideas published in CT Bride, Hartford, and Living in West Hartford magazines.
Intrigued by a broad spectrum of creative challenges, Kymrie has recently put her talents to work on designing landscapes and theatrical costumes. Over the years she has also graciously lent her time and talent to the Wadsworth Athenaeum, New Britain Museum of American Art, CT Children’s Medical Center, Mark Twain House, Noah Webster House, Wethersfield Historical Society, Hartford Public Library, Premier Dance Theater Company, and many other charitable and community organizations.
Kymrie resides in West Hartford with her husband Robert and two young children, Sophia and David.

For our October Guest program we are having Chippy Irvine, the author of “Shades of Country: Designing a Life of Comfort.” The wonderful coffee table style book has something for everyone. She brings you country in many styles from cottage to grand country. The author’s own home is an example of an opulent country style.

“Regardless of your personal aesthetic, there’s a style or shade of country that can work for you — that’s the premise of Irvine’s latest book. She writes about dozens of real people’s homes, including her own in upstate New York, which fall into six categories or chapters: Farmhouse (functional and familiar), Grand Country (stately and traditional), Cozy Cottage (nostalgia and sweet sentiment), Rusticators (romantic retreats), Clean and Simple (Shaker and Swedish country) and Urban Arcadia (eclectic, artistic and edgy). She saves the best for last — fashion and design maven Marian McEvoy’s stylish 1740 stone house on the Hudson River.”–Marge Colborn, The Detroit News

Bank Square Books will be attending the meeting with copies of “Shades of Country: Designing a Life of Comfort” for you to purchase and get autographed.

Chippy’s other books include

• Brunschwig & Fils UP CLose: From Grand Rooms to Your Rooms by Murray Douglas & Chippy Irvine
• Second Homes (American Design) by Chippy Irvine