Fragrance in the Garden (Main Club Program)
Joanne Pearson has been a professional photographer for over 25 years and formerly was a Massachusetts registered landscape architect where she practiced for 12 years. In her lecture, accompanied by a vibrant slideshow, Joanne will explore the fascinating ways plants use scent to attract pollinators and to deter harmful insects; specify plants, shrubs and trees with fragrant flowers and foliage; and discuss where to place them in the landscape to maximize our enjoyment of the fragrance throughout the garden.
Speaker: Joanne Pearson
Wed., Sept. 11
9:30 a.m. – Social
10 a.m. – Meeting
Martha Chiarchiaro has brought history to life for more than 30 years. She has a MA in history of art from Williams College and teaches art history courses at the the Worcester Art Museum and other cultural organizations. Martha has spoken to garden clubs on topics ranging from Women Floral Painters to American Landscapes. In this talk Martha will explore floral interpretation by many impressionists with an emphasis on Claude Monet and his garden of 40 years at his home at Giverny in Normandy, France.
Speaker: Martha Chiarchiaro
Wed., Oct. 9
6:30 p.m. – Social
7 p.m. – Meeting
Gardening Beyond the Horizonal Plane, Planted Walls and Inclines (Main Club Program)
Warren Leach is the owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth, MA that displays gardens designed by Warren. The Massachusetts Horticultural Society honored Warren with a gold medal for his horticultural expertise and landscape design in 2010. He is a speaker and educator at many horticultural institutions, botanic gardens and professional organizations throughout the Northeast and has taught courses at Univ of Rhode Island, Brown Learning Comm, R.I School of Design Continuing Education and the Arnold Arboretum.
Warren’s talk will cover how planting the vertical plane can add drama to a garden space as well as new possibilities. Planting a steep slope is more dramatic than a wall. Warren Leach will explore green walls and ramparts in the landscape. He will show their construction and design application in the garden as well as the plants that inhabit the vertical space.
Speaker: Warren Leach
Wed. November 13
9:30 a.m. – Social
10 a.m. – Meeting
Holiday Greens Party (Members only event)
Create festive holiday decorations.
Mon. Dec. 9
Exact hours and other details to be announced.
What’s Wrong with my House Plant (Main Club Program)
Bonnie Power has been Massachusetts Master Gardener since 2016 and a member of the MMGA Speakers Bureau since 2018. She holds a BS and MA in Zoology that informs her perspective on management of garden insects. Bonnie is a volunteer guide at Garden in the Woods. At home she grows a variety of vegetables and ornamentals, leaning towards natives.
During her talk Bonnie will discuss the many things that can go wrong when plants are grown indoors. We will learn the factors that make for happy houseplants, including light, water, and soil and how to provide them. Common houseplants pest and diseases are also on the agenda as well as how to treat them.
Speaker: Bonnie Power
Wed. Jan. 8
9:30 a.m. – Social
10 a.m. – Meeting
Beauty on the Wing (Main Club Program)
Kim Smith has been a long-time lecturer on butterflies and moths. She lives in Gloucester where she has designed a garden along the harbor walk. In October 2018 Kim was interviewed by the BBC and PBS for her work in documenting Monarch Butterflies. She provided film footage from her film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly for the BBC-produced show “Autumnwatch: New England.”
Kim will present her award-winning film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly, a 56-minute feature filmed along the shores of Cape Ann and in the heart of Mexico’s forested volcanic mountains. Every stage of the butterfly’s life cycle is experienced in vibrant close-up, from egg to caterpillar to adult and set to the background of sea and forest, sun and wind. Following the film will be a Q and A session.
Speaker: Kim Smith
Wed. Feb. 12
9:30 a.m. – Social
10 a.m. – Meeting
Preparing the Soil for Gardening (Main Club Program)
Gretel Anspach is a Trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, a Lifetime Master Gardener and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon. She established and maintains a 20,000 square foot food production garden that provides produce to the Marlboro and Maynard Food Pantries. Her primary interest and focus is the science behind horticulture
Gretel will speak on how the quality and makeup of the soil has a huge influence on how well plants will do. Unlike sunlight, air and water (the other 3 requirements) soil quality can not be determined by simply looking or even by looking at the plants. She will cover structure, compaction fertility and pH and talk about how these qualities can be modified to create a more successful garden.
Speaker: Gretel Anspach
Wed. March 12
6:30 p.m. – Social
7 p.m. – Meeting
An Overview of Massachusetts Forests, Past, Present and Future (Main Club Program)
Chris Pryor is a Service Forester with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation covering northeastern Massachusetts. In this role, he works with private and municipal landowners to connect them to knowledge and resources needed to help them manage their lands in order to meet their goals and objectives. He is a Massachusetts licensed forester as well as a Certified Forester by the Society of American Foresters. He has a Bachelor’s degree in forestry from Virginia Tech.
Chris will discuss the current state of forests in Massachusetts including some history as to how we got where we are now as well as some thoughts on where we might go in the future. That would touch on climate change and its impact on forests through changing temperatures and moisture regimes, shifts in species ranges and other factors that would affect forests. He will discuss forest management regarding sustainability and the implications for wildlife habitat and populations.
Speaker: Chris Pryor
Wed. April 9
9:30 a.m. – Social
10 a.m. – Meeting
Festive Florals! (Main Club Program)
Mary Beth Hayes is an avid gardener who has taken classes with the Mass Horticultural Society and the Cass School of Floral Design in Watertown, MA and with several leading floral designers. She has a home-based studio business, Semper Virens Flowers, providing flowers for weddings, events and offering workshops.
During Mary Beth’s talk she will cover how to use special floral selections to make festive occasions even more festive. She will demonstrate how to make floral jewelry such as a floral cuff, a floral crown and lei-type flower necklace, a foliage swag for a door and a wreath made with flowers and greens.
Speaker: Mary Beth Hayes
Wed. May 14
9:30 a.m. – Social
10 a.m. – Meeting
Plant Sale (Main Club Event)
Perennials from member gardens, natives from specialty nurseries, dahlias and Atlas gardening gloves, LexFarm vegetables and herbs.
Rain or shine. Cash, Checks and Credit Cards Accepted
Date and Time TBD
Garden Tour Lexington Gardens Blossom (Main Club Event)
Date and Time TBD
