Meeting & Hostess Calendar
Host duties: Set up food/beverage table. Provide fruit, protein, and bread offerings. Hospitality supplies include: coffee, tea, (with sweeteners, etc.), water, basic tablecloths, cups, bowls, napkins, cutlery, platter and large bowl, cake knife, and serving spoon. Host may choose to provide more festive or seasonal decor. Report to the hospitality chair if any supplies are getting low.
Please note if your schedule changes and you cannot hostess (provide food and drink) for the month you have been assigned, it is your responsibility to trade months with another member.
Calendar is subject to change, please look for confirmed details in the meeting invite.
2025-2026 Meeting Calendar
How to Create Your Very Own Home-grown National Park
Topic: How to get your spouse to build, from scratch, a half-acre native plant/pollinator garden…an inspiring true story, told with great humor by Neal Sanders.
This is a laugh-out-loud presentation of observations about gardening from the point of view of a supportive spouse of an accomplished horticulturalist (Mass. Master Gardener Betty Sanders, and whose insights come from someone who gardens less out of an abiding love of horticulture than out of love for a spouse.
Neal has been speaking to clubs since 2012 and has now appeared at more than 600 around New England and, increasingly, beyond. His other talks that combine horticulture with humor are: Gardening Is Murder, Gardening Is Painless (and other lies we tell ourselves) and Flower Show Confidential.
He is also the author of 16 mysteries, many with horticultural themes, and all which feature strong, independent women; some of whom solve crimes and others who commit them!
You can preview his books on his website: TheHardingtonPress.
Lecture: Our Essential Pollinators with Joy Marzolf
This lecture and slideshow will fascinate and inform your gardening habits. Joy places the pollinators strategically in the cycle of nature and encourages us all to garden organically. Learn about our native New England pollinators and the important role they play with our native plants. Bees, butterflies, beetles and other insects all provide essential pollinator services while visiting our apple orchards, backyard gardens and many other flowering trees and plants. Take closer looks at some of our smallest and hardest workers.
In June of 2020, Joy started her own company, The Joys of Nature, bringing her almost 14 years of experience as a Naturalist and Educator at Mass Audubon’s Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary out into the community.
Raised Bed and Companion Gardening with Brad Ozerdem
Raised Bed and Companion Gardening
Join Brad as he takes us through his season of raised-bed gardening, sharing insights into workable flowers and companions for vegetables and deterrents for unwanted critters.
Growing Beautiful Houseplants
Growing Beautiful Houseplants
Check back for more details!
Workshop: Spring Container Gardening
Workshop: Spring Container Gardening
Check back for more details!
Annual Meeting & Luncheon
Please join us for the annual PGC Luncheon on Wednesday, June 3rd at 11 am. This year, we kindly ask that everyone contribute something for a potluck lunch. Please check your email for event details and sign-up sheets.
Group Activity: Themed Tabletop Floral Design
We will break into groups, and each team will design a themed floral arrangement using the techniques we learned in our November demonstration. Theme is still TBD!
Preserving Your Harvest with Brad Ozerdem
We’re excited to welcome one of our own! Brad Ozerdem, husband of PGC's Tracy Tobin, will join us to share how he first got into gardening — and how his abundant harvests led him to learn the art of food preservation. Be ready for a slideshow with practical insights on the basics of canning, freezing, drying, pickling, fermenting, and making flavored oils and compound butters! Brad will also be bringing his canning pressure cooker, dehydrator, and other handy tools so everyone can see the equipment up close. There will be time at the end for plenty of Q&A.
Invasives in MA Lecture with MMG Barbara McIntosh
Mass Master Gardener, Barb McIntosh will teach us about designated invasive species in Massachusetts and why and how they should be eradicated.
Shade Gardening Lecture with MMG Kathi Gariepy
Join Massachusetts Master Gardener Kathi Gariepy for a lesson on shade gardening.
This presentation covers a variety of shade situations as well as the unique problems and opportunities of shade gardening. Kathi will suggest the best shade plants to use and describe how to select them so that your garden is in bloom spring through fall. She will also explain how to keep things interesting in the winter.
Holiday Topiary Workshop
In this hands-on workshop, we will learn step by step how to build a tabletop boxwood topiary that will last throughout the holiday season. Each member will make and take home a tree.
Floral Demonstration with PGC’s Beth Paisner
In this lecture, PGC member Beth Paiser will demonstrate how to create three types of floral arrangements, including Line, Traditional and Garden Style arrangements. Beth has extensive floral design experience as a Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Associate Graduate, MFA Art in Bloom floral designer, Boston Flower Show Exhibitor and Photographer.
Hydrangea Ps & Qs Lecture with MMG Kathie Skinner
Planting, Pruning, Problems and Your Questions Answered
Annual Luncheon
Please join us for the annual PGC Luncheon on Tuesday, June 3rd at 11 a.m. Details and sign-up for the potluck lunch will be posted closer to the event.
Tablescape Competition
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Group Tablespace Competition
Hostesses: Irena Mroz
Lecture: Six Simple Steps to Successful Rose Gardening with Mike & Angelina Chute
Mike and Angelina Chute take the mystery out of rose gardening with six easy-to-follow steps in this lecture for rose lovers.
Hostess: TBD
Flowering Arranging Workshop
Learn how to create a beautiful floral arrangement in this hand-on workshop. Each member will take home a small arrangement.
Hostesses: Jan Gardner, Karen Ketterer, Maureen Dilg
How to Create a Nature-themed Charcuterie Board
Hostesses: Anita Loscalzo, Kristy Dixon
Hummingbird Lecture
Please join us for a lecture on hummingbirds given by member Alexis Dandretta.
Hostesses: Danielle Herritt, Douglas Riis, Tracy Tobin
Holiday Hop
Join us on Saturday, December 14th, for our first ever ‘Holiday Hop’! We’ll tour 3 member homes dressed for the holidays and sample appetizers, sweet bites and festive beverages to ring in some holiday cheer.
Hostesses: Irena Mroz, Meredith Whalen and Amy Wilson
Holiday Wreath Workshop
Join us for our annual holiday wreath decorating workshop.
Hostesses: Madge Casper, Jeanne Rafter, Michelle Keleher
Field Trip: Mt Auburn Cemetery
Join us for a guided tour of the Mt Auburn Cemetery grounds with Jim Gorman. Limited to 20 participants. Ticket Fee.
Lecture: Prepare Your Garden for Winter with Gretel Anspach
Gretel Anspach will give a lecture on how to ‘Prepare Your Garden for Winter’. She is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, a Trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and a recently retired Raytheon engineer. For the past ten years, Gretel has helped establish and maintain two food production gardens that have provided fresh produce to the Marlboro Food Pantry.
Hostesses: Catherine Rottinghaus, Gloria Schwartz, Lauren Whittle
Welcome Back Fall Container Workshop Led by Ronda Nicolopoulos
Reconnect with club members and welcome new ones in Ronda's backyard. We'll catch up on club news and Ronda will show us how to transition your summer container to fall.
Hostesses: Tricia Terell and Dorothy Bartlett
Annual Meeting and Luncheon
Please join us for the annual PGC Luncheon on Tuesday, June 4th at 11am. This year, we ask everyone to please contribute something for a potluck lunch. Details and sign-up to be posted closer to the event.
Hostess: Jan Gardner
Guided Tour of the Garden at Elm Bank
This guided tour will feature the early May garden, with flowering trees, Spring annuals, daffodils, and possibly the Tulipmania display (depending on bloom time). The guide will highlight the seasonal interest plants in Bressingham Garden as well as those in the Native Plant Garden.
Sow & Grow Seed Workshop
In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn about starting your flowers and vegetables from seed.
Hostesses: Kristen Dixon, Irena Mroz
The Edible Salad Garden
Liz Barbour from The Creative Feast (thecreativefeast.com) will host a lecture on garden design ideas and recipe ideas featuring a slide presentation from Liz’s edible garden focusing on her favorite easy to grow salad ingredients.
Hostesses: Anita Loscalzo, Kerry Muzyka, Amy Wilson
Pruning Theory & Practice Lecture
Pruning Theory & Practice Lecture with Certified Arborist David Ropes of Tree Specialists in Holliston.
Hostesses: Jan Gardner, Karen Ketterer, Tracy Tobin
Indoor Plant Happiness
This talk is a celebration of indoor greenery. Attendees will discover how to ensure their houseplants thrive and learn the most common reasons for failure. See behind-the-scenes information about how these plants are raised and discover the hottest new varieties. Learn how to display houseplants to their best advantage and hear about solving problems such as insect infestations and plants that have grown too large. Find plants that add color to your home all year and those that are good for aromatherapy.
Hostesses: Ronda Nicolopoulos, Madge Casper, Michele Keleher, and Robin Hart
Holiday Wreath Workshop
Join us for our annual holiday wreath workshop. All supplies will be provided, however you may want to bring gardening gloves and clippers.
Hostesses: Beth Paisner
Movie: Little Big Farm
Join us for a viewing of ‘The Biggest Little Farm’ which follows the wild 8-year journey of a couple and their dog to create an ambitious farm.
Hostesses: None Required
Welcome Back Workshop Led by Ronda Nicolopoulos (Copy)
Reconnect with club members and welcome new ones in Ronda's backyard. We'll catch up on club news and Ronda will run a short presentation on autumn plant arrangements. Each member will be able to bring home a small arrangement.
Hostesses: None required