YOU’RE INVITED! Come to an open garden day at my place, or to a lecture I’m giving near you. My 2015 calendar so far:

5th annual seedy saturday

Saturday, March 21, 2015, 1:30-5 PM, at the historic Copake Grange, Empire Road, Copake, New York. Welcome spring, talk seeds, shop organic seeds at Hudson Valley Seed Library, Turtle Tree Seed, plus garden goods from Hillsdale General Store. Get tickets now.

• Shops open at 1:30.
• Slide talk on “The Edible Landscape” at 2:30 PM with Michael Judd, permaculture expert and author of “Edible Landscaping (With a Permaculture Twist).” (Learn more about Michael in this interview.)
• Refreshments and reception after the slide lecture, 3:45-5.
• Also: Backyard Mushroom-Growing Workshop, 9:30-noon, with Michael Judd. Go home with an inoculated log to start your own planting after this hands-on class. (Separate ticket; limited to 20 participants.)
• Order tickets for March 21 lectures and workshop.

my open garden days

Garden Conservancy Open Days, Plus Guest Lectures and Plant Sales: My garden in Columbia County, New York, is for public tours on four Saturdays in 2015, from 10-4 PM: May 9, June 6, August 15, and September 19 (get all 9/19 details). $7 per adult suggested donation benefits the Garden Conservancy; no ticket or reservations required for visit; pay at the door. An 11 AM lecture by a guest expert is held down the road at a local church each of those days, too (see below), and often an afternoon workshop.

Plant sales by Broken Arrow Nursery take place during all my Open Days, 10 AM-4 PM. Want a larger-size specimen, or something specific from their inventory? Call ahead to consult and order, and they’ll deliver it to my driveway for you to claim. Phone: (203) 288-1026.

Guest lectures at 11 AM at St. John in the Wilderness Church:

• May 9: Michael Wojtech, conservation biologist and author of “Bark: A Field Guide to Trees of the Northeast,” on an intimate look at our native trees and how to know them. Plus: afternoon workshop (classroom projects, and outdoors in the Taconic State Park’s rich diversity of trees). Reserve a ticket now. Or: Read our recent interview.
• June 6: Andy Brand, nursery manager of Broken Arrow, on native plants. Andy, a longtime naturalist, native plant expert and founder of the Connecticut state butterfly association, will lecture on “America the Beautiful: Why We Should Celebrate Native Plants in Our Landscapes.” Learn what natives work best in gardens, and what cultivars of those plants are best of the best. (My interview with Andy, who also collects epimediums.)
• August 15 (Copake Falls Day, with other town-wide events): Author Ken Druse, on shade gardening, a slide lecture from his new 2015 book. Afternoon workshop on garden photography.
• September 19: Author Tovah Martin, on “Indestructible Houseplants,” plus an afternoon terrarium workshop.  Get a ticket. (Or: read our recent interview.) There is also a 9 AM bird walk by expert Will Yandik beforehand; information on that is at this link.

Other local gardens are open on some of the same dates as mine, so plan to make a day of it. Details of those, and directions, will be on the Garden Conservancy site.

workshops

(Many more to come; all are in Copake Falls, New York, 9:30-4:30, except as noted.)

• February 7, repeated February 8: Cheesemaking and home dairy, with Margaret Roach and Alana Chernila (additional sections to come; February tickets on sale here)
• March 21, 9:30-noon: Backyard mushroom growing, with Michael Judd (part of Seedy Saturday, see full details or reserve a ticket now.
• April 4: Seed starting with Margaret Roach and Ken Greene and Doug Muller, co-founders of Hudson Valley Seed Library. Details and tickets.
• May 9: Bark and tree ID, with Michael Wojtech (part of Open Day, see full details of day’s events above). Tickets.
• Saturday June 13: Cheesemaking workshop with Alana Chernila; get ticket and details.
• July: for National Moth Week, “mothing” events TBD, evening.
• August 8: Seed saving with Ken Greene, Hudson Valley Seed Library.
• August 29: Tomato and Garlic workshops with Alana Chernila; get tickets.
• September 26, repeated September 27: Cheesemaking workshop with Alana Chernila; get tickets.
• December 5, repeated December 6: Cheesemaking workshop with Alana Chernila

my lectures elsewhere

Saturday, January 24, 3-5 PM, on “Seed Secrets,” to benefit Hudson Library, at the Gallery Space at Solaris/Camphill Hudson, 360 Warren Street, Hudson, NY. Tickets.

Saturday, April 18, “Seed Secrets” lecture at Cooperative Extension of Ulster County (NY) annual Master Gardeners conference, at SUNY Ulster-Stone RIdge, NY.

Saturday, October 3: Lecture at Rutgers (NJ) Master Gardeners conference.