GCFM: Speaker’s Program Talk 2023 (PDF)

Secret Gardens

This talk traces the process of creating one’s own secret garden. Each viewer is asked to imagine an ideal, personal garden. Then we examine gardens from the past which enclose something precious and exclude unwanted sights, sounds and intruders. We look at examples of contemporary secret gardens. Finally we go through choices of materials  viewers can use to create their own secret gardens and techniques they can use to design them.

Rethinking Uses for Annuals

Are perennials really the most economical and beautiful plants for a flower garden? This talk explores the special virtues of annuals in areas where winters regularly ruin plantings, as ‘rough drafts’ for permanent plantings, as the best choice where bright color is essential, and as an alternative for the gardener who delights in reinventing her garden every year.

Transforming Personal Space: From Backyard to Garden.

A private garden space is one where you feel you can be your true self, whether or not others can see you. In this slide talk we will look ways of separating and joining public and private spaces and techniques for creating privacy in residential gardens and small city gardens.

Raised Bed Gardening: Forget About Double Digging!

This slide lecture includes a discussion of the historical background to the practice of intensive gardening, a collection of inspirational slides of especially lovely raised beds, handouts on various methods constructing the beds, various soil mixtures and irrigation techniques, and a list of flowers and vegetables best suited to this gardening technique.

This presentation is designed both for home gardeners who long for perfection and those who plant in difficult commercial areas like gas stations and parking lots.

“Quatre Vents”: Frank Cabot’s Quebec Garden.

A slide tour of the astonishing Northern garden of the founder of the Garden Conservancy and author of “The Greater Perfection.”

 

Lecture Dates

2024

January 10. Wednesday. 2 PM.  Nauset Garden Club. “Frank Cabot’s Northern Garden.”  Zoom presentation.

March 5. Wednesday. 6.30 PM. Hough Neck Garden Club of Quincy. “New Uses for Annuals.” Manet Community Center, 1193 Sea Street.

March 14.  Thursday. 9.30 AM. Wareham Garden Club.  “Raised Beds…and More!” St. Patrick’s Church, 82 High Street, Wareham MA 02571.

April 2. Tuesday. 9.30 AM. Boggestow Garden Club of Sherborn.”Rethinking the Uses of Annuals.” Sherborn Community Center, 2 Sanger Street, Sherborn, MA 01770.

2023

March 7, Tuesday. 1 PM. Cottage Gardeners of Marblehead and Swampscott. “Shade Gardening.”Jewish Community Center of the North Shore, 4 Community Road, Marblehead, MA. 01945.

March 11, Saturday. 2 PM. Medford Public Library, Bonsignore Hall. “Raised Bed Gardening.” 111 High Street, Medford, MA 02155.

March 15, Wednesday. Fairbanks Garden Club. 1 PM. “Raised Bed Gardening.” Endicott Estate, East street, Dedham.

April 20, Thursday. Wollaston Garden Club. 6.45 PM. “Secret Gardens.” Wollaston Congregational Church Social Hall, 48 Inthrop Avenue, Quincy, MA 02170.

May 1, 2023. 10 AM. Carlisle Garden Club., Carlisle, MA. “Rethinking uses for Annuals.”

2022

January 19. Wednesday, 9.45 AM. Belmont Garden Club. “A Visit to Quatre Vents.” ZOOM.

January 19. Wednesday. 7 PM. Hamilton-Wenham Garden Clubs. ”A Visit to Quatre Vents”. ZOOM.

January 24. Monday. 7 PM. Canton Garden Club. “Raised Beds and Beyond.” Council on Aging. 500 Pleasant Street. Canton, MA.

February 1. Tuesday. 10 AM. Andover Garden Club. “Raised Beds and Beyond.” ZOOM.

February 28. Monday, 7 PM. Sharon GC. “Raised Bed Gardening.” ZOOM.

March 9. Wednesday.10 AM. Medfield Garden Club.” Shade Gardening.” United Church of Christ. Main Street, Medfield. ZOOM?

March 14. Monday 7.30 PM. Provisional Group of the Weston GC. “Personal Space: from Backyard to Garden.” ZOOM.

April 14. Thursday. 10. AM. Norwell Garden Club and Hanover Science Center. “Rethinking uses for Annuals.” South Shore Science Center.

April 21. Thursday. 7 PM. Natick Garden Club. “New Uses of Annuals.” Morse Institute Library, 14 East Central Street, (Rt 135).

2021

January 26.  Tuesday. Wayland Garden Club. “A Visit to Quatre Vents.” a Zoom presentation.

April 18, Sunday. Lancaster Garden Club. “Transforming Personal Space: From Backyard to Garden.” 7-8:30 PM. A Zoom presentation.