Morrill Memorial Library is excited to host author, folklorist, and botanist Varla Ventura for an in-person talk entitled "Enchanted Plants: An Exploration of Common and Uncommon Plants in Folklore and Magic" on Thursday, May 29 starting at 7:00pm in the Simoni Room.

From the tangled forest to the garden hedge, join folklorist, rotten botanist, and author Varla Ventura for an exploration of some of the world's most enchanted plants. We'll start in the queen's garden of cultivars, then amble over to the cottage garden where ordinary plants offer extraordinary stories. Carefully we'll slip through the iron gates of the witch's garden to discover poison plants that have shaped history. We'll gallop on to meadowlands, forests, and finally the sea. From the ordinary apple to the fabulous foxglove, we'll discover plants that have played a significant role in fairy tales, folklore, and history.

About the presenter: Varla Ventura is an author, traveler, rotten botanist, and lover of the strange. She has authored several books on bizarre and freaky things, from paranormal women's history to werewolves and banshees to plants that smell like death. She is a committed supernaturalist, folklorist, and seeker of those shadowy things that scrape at your window in the night. Her latest book, Enchanted Plants: A Treasury of Botanical Folklore and Magic, explores the gardens of fairy and folk tales, where plants and their magic and medicine are central to the story. When not writing, she can be found lurking tending her poison garden, and exploring the graveyards and forests in Minnesota.

Registration is required for this in-person program; sign up by filling out the form below, or call the Reference Desk at 781-769-0200 x2. This program is generously supported by the Friends of the Morrill Memorial Library.