Presentations

The Garden Notebook

Creating a notebook will help you make smarter choices for your yard and garden. A garden journal is a great tool to prevent repeating mistakes and ensures more garden successes. Your journal will be a personal record specific to your property including what you like to grow and your own gardening style. What did you learn and what do you want to do, try, or change during the next growing season? A simple notebook or journal will help learn valuable lessons and achieve a greener thumb. A suggested list of materials will be provided in advance.  

Learn about medicinal plants from the local landscape, traditional herbs and their many uses from ancient to modern times. This herbal adventure will also include a hands-on demonstration for growing your own herbal tea garden. A tea garden that can stand alone or serve as a complement to the rest of your garden and will provide you with the joy of fresh herbal teas (and butterflies), at a moment's notice. The program will conclude with a tasting of some fresh herbal infusions. Please bring your favorite teacup.

Seeds & Sow On

Gardening starts with seeds so lets discuss the seed saving movement and discover the basic knowledge of saving and germinating seeds – vegetable, ornamental and native plants with a heritage seed share as well. Why not start a seed saving community?

Gardening to Attract Wild Birds

Offering wonderful design suggestions for enticing songbirds into your backyard by taking a few simple steps to “layer” in a succession of their favorite foods and by providing structural diversity for food, shelter, cover and nesting.

*Hands-on Workshops Available 

Essential Herbs & Knot Gardens

The presentation will discuss container and companion herb plantings as well as creating gardens for Italian, French and formal styles. Hands-on lessons on how to maintain and use herbs from your garden all year long for elegant entertaining and in simple remedies and recipes. 

Fabulous Shrubs for the Four Seasons Garden

We all strive for gardens that look good no matter the season. And that is a challenge indeed. What can we do to maintain some structure and color when the temperatures hover in the single digits and all signs of plant life are but a pleasant memory? The answer is incorporating dwarf evergreens and ornamental shrubs for year round interest. Shrubs form the framework of the garden and if selected carefully, can provide interest via interesting bark or persistent fruits. Shrubs, especially small ones, are easy to care for and therefore often time-saving in the long run.   

A Modern Guide to Roses

“A rose is a rose is a rose,” the famous expression goes, but not all roses are created equal. Julia will present a thorough overview of roses, including their history and tips on working with them. One secret is selecting the right plant and to be aware of the ever emerging world of no-spray, sustainable roses. This year, think organic-it’s possible to grow beautiful, healthy roses without chemicals.  Information on disease-resistant rose varieties currently available, as well as cutting-edge, environmentally friendly techniques to grow magnificent roses.

The Companion Effect

In nature, a guild is a grouping a plants, trees, animals, insects, and other components that work together to help ensure their health and productivity of a plant community. Learn how plant diversity contributes to a healthy thriving garden. The companion effect happens naturally in the wild. Flora in fields, meadows and forests all evolve for mutual benefit. It may seem like survival of the fittest, but the truth is some species prefer to grow with specific others, balancing out their differences and providing ideal conditions for optimizing their unique traits. 

As declining light and chilly daytime temperatures draws the growing season to an end, the process for getting ready for winter begins. The shorter days of autumn signal a dramatic change of direction for the landscape and present the gardener with many new responsibilities. Putting the garden to bed is a gradual process that begins at the end of September and continues right up until the ground freezes. Learn how to start cleaning up your garden beds and protecting your plants for next spring. Now is the perfect time to correct previous mistakes and lay the groundwork for a spectacular gardening season next year. 

Gardening in Harmony with Nature

Climate change, water shortages, bees dying, declining biodiversity, invasion of alien plants, all becoming increasingly critical issues. How does this change our view of our own gardens and landscapes. For our own survival each of us can become part of the solution in our own yard. Get inspired and learn the current best practices. It's easier than you think.

Secrets of the Cutting Garden

Fill your house with fresh herbs and cut flowers all year long – how to incorporate plants for cutting throughout your yard and gardens – explore best and favorite plants to grow throughout all the seasons – tips and practical information including when to cut, how to store and how to condition flowers to use in your own floral arrangements – will give you confidence and knowledge.