Enjoying "The Crystal Ball" are, left to right, Alison Powers, Joanna Confalone and Katherine Egan, all residents of Boston's North End. (Photo by Karen Snyder)

"The Crystal Ball" was recently held at The Four Seasons Hotel to benefit The Steppingstone Foundation. The fun and glittery event included a champagne reception and dancing to Flipside.

More than 500 guests helped raise in excess of $100,000 to support the non-profit organization that develops and implements programs that prepare urban schoolchildren for educational opportunities leading to college.

The Boston-based Steppingstone Foundation currently works with students in Boston, Hartford and Philadelphia. For additional information about the Foundation and its programs, please visit www.tsf.org.

Celebrate "BLOOMS!" This Week

Worth repeating: Spring is coming, no matter how the weather behaves! Although the traditional New England Spring Flower Show as we have known it will not take place this year, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society is sponsoring "BLOOMS!" in its place.

Through Sunday, March 15, flower designers and plant societies will present a free "spectacle of springtime collections" in the lobbies of Mass Hort's Greenway Garden's three abutting neighbors: One International Place, 125 High Street, and the InterContinental Hotel.

In addition, through Sunday, March 22, the malls at Chestnut Hill, Copley Place, and The Atrium will provide satellite venues, when the public can experience a variety of landscape and garden exhibits and demonstrations in the common areas.

For complete details about "BLOOMS!," visit www.masshort.org.

Unique Horticultural Display Planned for Gardner Museum in April

Steeped in tradition both old and new, the annual "Hanging Nasturtiums Display" at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston trumpets the arrival of spring with a feast for all the senses.

The century-old tradition, begun by museum founder Isabella Gardner in 1903, features bright-orange nasturtium vines cascading in incredible lengths of 15 to 20 feet from the museum's interior courtyard balustrades in a floral installation seen exclusively at the museum every April.

"Each year, we look forward to the magical tumbling blossoms of the Hanging Nasturtiums display, a reminder that the Gardner Museum continues to herald the spring in Boston," says Anne Hawley, Director of the museum. "The Hanging Nasturtiums have welcomed spring to the museum since Isabella Gardner's time, and today the experience is further enhanced by an equally enchanting and surprising use of the blossoms in the Café's Edible Nasturtiums offerings.

The Hanging Nasturtiums courtyard display is on view from March 31 until mid-April, and the Edible Nasturtiums menu at The Gardner Café is available from April 1-19.

Isabella Gardner was herself an avid horticulturist, winning awards for her orchids and other floral displays from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. She first introduced the dramatic orange nasturtium vines into the museum the week before Easter 1903, and during her lifetime the display became a well-known tradition, unveiled annually. According to museum history, Gardner permitted only the orange variety of flower blossoms in the display; she thought the yellow color wouldn't complement the museum's pink-walled courtyard.

"Isabella Stewart Gardner valued the drama that unusual and exotic horticultural displays add to each visitor's experience of the museum," says the Gardner's Curator of Landscape Patrick Chassé. "The Hanging Nasturtiums tradition began as part of her own birthday celebration and I think it really gives some insight into her feelings about how art and beauty - whether on the walls or in a garden - should be an integral part of daily life."

Thirty-four-year Gardner Museum veteran and Chief Horticulturist Stan Kozak has been skillfully cultivating the spectacular vines for years, picking thousands of flowers from the vines as they grow in the museum's greenhouses to prevent the plants from going to seed.

The vines will be installed by Kozak and his horticultural team at the museum on Monday, March 30 when the museum is closed to the public, and will adorn the central courtyard for the public to view for up to a month, coinciding with Isabella Stewart Gardner's birthday on April 14th.

The Edible Nasturtiums menu at The Gardner Café is a modern tradition, now in its fifth year. Featuring seasonal ingredients artistically prepared by Chef/Owner Peter Crowley, the flower-themed menu is offered up alongside the annual Hanging Nasturtiums display each year.

"Beyond their obvious visual appeal, nasturtiums are a lot of fun to use in the kitchen because of their peppery flavor, similar to watercress," says Chef Crowley. "Each year, we enjoy the challenge of coming up with new ways of showcasing these unique flowers in dishes that celebrate both their vibrant color and flavor."

Crowley has been serving up the culinary arts at the museum since March 2002. A graduate of The Culinary Institute of America, he has earned accolades from the media and patrons alike for his innovative and elegant culinary delights.

The Café is open Tuesdays through Fridays, 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Reservations are accepted for members only at 11:30 a.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. on weekends. For more information and/or reservations, call 617-566-1088.

Enjoy!

In addition to events covered and reported by the columnist, "The Scene..." 
is compiled from various other sources such as news releases, PRNewswire services, etc.

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