THE 2012 EVENTS CALENDAR features more open garden days than ever (May, June and August); more workshops than before (including writing workshops with my sister, Marion!); lectures I’m co-organizing that feature garden-writing stars like Page Dickey and Ken Druse, and talks I’m giving as far afield as Maryland, Vermont and more. Hope to see you here, there and everywhere. The scoop:
Notes:
- All lectures by me, except as noted, are on “Nonstop Plants: Making a 365-Day Garden.”
- Back this year: Container-garden workshops co-taught with Bob Hyland, here at the garden.
- New this year: I am helping organize some guest garden lectures locally—including by superstar garden authors Ken Druse (August 18; a lecture and workshop) and Page Dickey (March 17)—and those are listed in my calendar this year. I hope to see you at them!
- Also new: I will be co-hosting memoir-writing workshops with my sister, Marion Roach Smith, author of “The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life.” For anyone with a story to tell. First one: March 31.
- For garden clubs: There are a limited number of prime dates available for garden visits, and for group workshops; email awaytogarden [at] gmail [dot] com for availability, costs and other information for custom events.
The Events:
FEBRUARY
Monday, February 13, 11:30 AM: lecture for Farmington Garden Club Founders’ Fund Celebration meeting, at Hill-Stead Museum Makeshift Theater, 35 Mountain Road, Farmington, CT; free admission.
Saturday, February 25, 1 PM: lecture for Germantown Public Library, Germantown, NY, at 31 Palatine Park Road.
MARCH
Thursday, March 1, 9:30 AM: lecture for Pleasantville Garden Club, in the social hall at Presbyterian Church, 400 Bedford Road, Pleasantville, NY.
Wednesday, March 7, noon: garden-to-table talk and Q&A for James Beard on Books series, at James Beard House, 167 West 12th Street, NYC Tel: 212-627-2308 for reservations.
Saturday, March 17, 3:30 PM: guest lecturer and leading garden author Page Dickey to speak on how-to’s and inspiration from 30 years of gardening. Event to benefit Friends of Taconic State Park, in Copake, NY. I was the speaker in 2011 for the inaugural benefit event–including lecture, and wine and hors d’oeuvres reception to celebrate the start of spring, and am co-hosting but not lecturing. Registration details. Come join us!
Saturday, March 31: daylong “Memoirama” writing workshop co-led with my sister, Marion Roach Smith, author of “The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing, and Life,” and longtime writing teacher. Jumpstart your creative process, whether to document a family story to hand down or to get a memoir published. $165 including catered lunch and a signed copy of her book. Registration and full details.
APRIL
Tuesday, April 3, 1:30 PM: lecture and tea for Greens Farms Garden Club, at Connecticut Audubon Society Center at Fairfield, 2325 Burr Street, Fairfield, CT. Reservations by email to pbgjwg [at] aol [dot] com; no charge.
Tuesday, April 10th, 7:30 PM: lecture for the Horticulture Society of Maryland’s monthly series, at Cylburn Arboretum, 4915 Greenspring Avenue, Baltimore, MD. $10 non-members; members free. No advance reservations required.
Friday, April 13, 1 PM: lecture and annual tea for Clematis Garden Club, at Greenville Public Library Community Room, at 8 North Street (Rt. 32), Greenville, NY. No charge; no reservations required.
Thursday, April 19, 7 PM: lecture for Great Neck (New York) Public Library adult program. (Details to follow.)
Thursday, April 26, 11 AM: luncheon and benefit lecture for the scholarship fund of Hunterdon Hills Garden Club, at Fiddler’s Elbow Golf Course, Far Hills, NJ. Tickets $50 (details to follow).
MAY
Saturday, May 12, 10 AM to 4 PM: Garden Conservancy Open Days at my garden. Details and directions closer to the date on the Open Days site. Depending on how spring evolves, this should include many flowering trees and shrubs (apples, crabapples, lilacs) herbaceous perennials and ephemerals. I have never opened the garden for this early moment of bloom before. Admission, $5 donation to the Conservancy.
Sunday, May 20, two sessions (9:30-12 noon, and 1:30-4 PM): Contained Exuberance: container-gardening workshop at my garden (Copake Falls, NY) in collaboration with Bob Hyland of Loomis Creek Gardens design firm. $45 includes beverages and snack. Registration and class details.
JUNE
Saturday, June 2, 10 AM to 4 PM: Garden Conservancy Open Days at my garden. Details and directions closer to the date on the Open Days site. This is usually an allium-perennial Geranium-rhododendron moment, and lots more. Admission, $5 donation to the Conservancy.
AUGUST
Saturday, August 18, 10 AM to 4 PM: Copake Falls Day and Garden Conservancy Open Days at my garden, following a guest lecture by Ken Druse (separate fee). Ken will also teach hands-on workshops (separate fee) during the day. Details, lecture and plant-propagation workshop registration, and directions closer to the date here and on the Copake Falls Day and Open Days sites. Admission to open garden, $5 donation to benefit the Conservancy and Friends of Taconic State Park, which surrounds my garden; no re-registration needed for garden visit only.
OCTOBER
Thursday, October 18, 11:30 AM: luncheon and lecture for Woodstock Garden Club, at Woodstock Inn and Resort Golf Club, Route 106, Woodstock, VT. Woodstock Garden Club members only.
2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013, 12:00 PM: light luncheon and lecture for West Hartford Garden Club, Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2080 Boulevard, West Hartford, CT. Tickets $10 for guests.
Looking forward to hearing you April 10 at the Maryland event!
What a great calendar of events! So many I want to come to. It looks like you are going to be a very busy person this year.
Great calendar! Hope I can get up to see you garden this year at one of the Open Days. It would be amazing, I’m sure. We are ramping up for this year’s MGofMC Symposium–March 17, and took your advice and have Ken Druse coming. Check it out:http://www.mgofmc.org/symposium/
Thank you so much for getting your dates out early…Many of our B & B guests have been disappointed that they didn’t know about your open garden and workshops in time to register. I will let them know….
Lauren Dunn
nice to hear from you, Lauren, and will be sure to pass the word in the other direction, too. :)
What a great line up, I am just disappointed that none of your lectures are in Seattle. Maybe next year. Have a great gardening year for all your visitors and for yourself.
I am already out and about in the garden, trying my best to clean up! But it’s also a nice time for me to get my seedlings started indoors.
Good for you being so industrious, Kallie. Not time here yet, but maybe some pruning soon…
I’m disappointed to not find something in Maine on the list after last year’s cancellation (snow storm). Vermont might be doable though, maybe a girls weekend out. Great calendar! I’m envious of those who live close enough to visit your garden.
Sorry, Robin — they had said “let’s try for next year” but it never materialized. The Berkshires/Hudson Valley areas is DEFINITELY worth a weekend trip by you and the girls. :)
I have your B’more event on my calendar – looking forward to meeting you!
Thank you for posting this information. I will do my best to get to at least one, since I am in driving distance to many. I wonder, with such a hectic schedule, how will you find time to garden? I’m sure you’ll find a way. Cheers!
Good to hear that, Dirt Man. Yes, hectic but have to work, work, work or else, right? :)
I’m so jealous – I live in Australia. I hope though, that when next I come over your way, that there will be something I can book into. Your newsletter is so good – I always enjoy it and learn so much. Thank you.
You clearly made the right decision to move to your beautiful garden and away from the corporate life. Brave and beautiful.
Thank you, Anne, and hello from across the globe. Nice to “meet” you. Thanks for all the kind words.
The excitement is building for your visit to NJ and the Hunterdon Hills Garden Club! We are sharing your website with everyone who asks, so be prepared! Those of us who couldn’t wait have purchased PEACE and some of us are already reading it for the second time, Thank you so much for writing it – its an instant vacation for me!
See you at Cylburn Arboretum in Maryland – if you have never been – you will be very impressed with it – a gem in the middle of the city. Looking forward to it.