McLaughlin Garden in South Paris plans lectures on a variety of topics, including Mediterranean plants that should grow here
By Tom Atwell
In the dreary days of winter, a trip to the Mediterranean sounds good.
McLaughlin Garden in South Paris can’t put you on an airplane, but it can give you a couple of hours of Mediterranean flowers at 4 p.m. Feb. 26 as part of the garden’s winter lecture series. The lecture by Harriet Robinson is actually called Mediterranean Plants in Maine Gardens, but that could be enough to give you a midwinter break.
McLaughlin Garden is offering seven programs in its series, which runs at 4 p.m. every Wednesday from Feb. 19 to April 2. Not only are all of the lectures free, if you arrive early, you can have free tea and snacks to go along with the companionship of other gardeners. Walk-ins are welcome.
Stephanie Edwards, garden operations manager, said the talks fulfill several purposes.
“We like to bring in people from local businesses, so we have a connection to them,” she said. “Part of our mission is horticultural education, so it helps with that.”
Judy Florenz, who with Becky Burke is co-chairwoman of the programs committee, said Robinson’s talk was a last-minute addition, to reach seven programs.
“She is a member of the committee and has a doctorate in archaeology, so she spends a lot of time in Greece,” Florenz said. “She said, ‘Oh, I have a lot of photos of plants, so I can put something together.’”
Other programs in the McLaughlin series, co-sponsored by McLaughlin’s affiliated Foothills Garden Club, include beekeeping by Carol Cotrill, president of the Maine Beekeepers Association, Feb. 19; Growing Cut Flowers by Cindy Creps of Meadow Ridge Perennial Farm, March 5; Garden Blogs by Jean Potuchek, March 12; Growing and Using Lavender by Betsey-Ann Golon of Common Folk Farm, March 19; Landscaping and Landscape Design by Eli Goodwin of Goodwin Nursery, March 26; and Not Your Grandmother’s Geraniums by Cindy Tibbetts of Hummingird Farm on April 2.
• Merryspring Nature Center in Camden has speakers at noon Tuesdays, but not all of them are about gardening. They are free to members, $5 for non-members. Highlights (for me, anyway) include New Plants for 2014 by Hammon Buck, Feb. 25; Sedges of Maine by Matt Arsenault, March 4; Gardening for Birds with Native Plants by Sharon Turner May, 13; and Tending the Perennial Garden in June by Wendy Andresen. For a complete list go to merryspring.org.
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens has little going on for public programs until April. Lois Berg Stack, an ornamental horticulture professor at the University of Maine, will teach Soil Science for Gardeners on April 15 and 16 at $120 for members and $150 for non-members; and Brady Barber and Lisa Cowan will teach Shaping a Natural Site into a Landscaped Space on April 24-26 at $150 for members and $180 for nonmembers.
Garden clubs also offer a lot of different programs.
• The Belfast Garden Club has an extensive schedule of programs, usually at 2 p.m. Tuesdays, but sometimes later in the day and not every week. Highlights include Bonsai by Aaron Bowden at 2 p.m. Feb. 18 and Container Gardening with Liz Stanley at 2 p.m. April 8, both at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, 95 Court St., Belfast. For a complete list go to belfastgardenclub.org.
• Longfellow Garden Club in Portland is beginning its 10th decade, so some of its programs will be on club history. Gardening programs include Gardening for Hummingbirds with Anne Murphy of Gnome Landscapes at 11 a.m. April 8 at Woodfords Congregational Church, 202 Woodford St.
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