2023 Program & Events

Our 2023 Programs, Workshops & Garden Club Events

The Martha's Vineyard Garden Club Program Schedule for 2023

January & February – NO ‘Formal’ Programs to take place in January and February.
Hydrangea Pruning Demonstrations are planned for January and May.
As of January 10, 2023, WE ARE COMPLETELY BOOKED for both January & May Hydrangea Pruning demonstrations.
Details with dates/times for both demos were sent via email to those who have signed up to be a part.
AND to those who have signed up...be sure to check your email for info as the date gets closer.
(Demo Time, Weather Forecast, Event Address, etc!)

Tuesday, March 21 – Speaker: Kathie Skinner
Program Title: ‘Hydrangeas: Which One is Right for Me?’
Begins @ 1:00pm at The Wakeman Center located in Vineyard Haven / Program Room
This lecture focuses on the key points that gardeners should consider before they invest in a hydrangea.
With over 600 cultivars to select from, it’s easy to select a plant based on some attributes only to find that
it will definitely not be the “right plant in the right place. ” The seven species are identified,
examples of each are provided, and their best use in the landscape.
CLICK HERE to access the webpage and download Kathie's Hydrangea Program Handout if you want to take notes at the meeting...

BIO: Kathie is a Senior Principal Master Gardener, the past Education Coordinator and current Master Gardener
Training Coordinator for the MMGA. She is a retired educator with over 40 years teaching and administering in K-12. She currently does education policy research and writing for various state and national education organizations.
FREE to MVGC Members / Open to non-members @ $10.00 pp
West Tisbury members and VP to provide snacks & refreshments

Tuesday, April 18 – Speaker: Heidi Schmidt of Vineyard Sound Herbs for Mind, Body Spirit
Program Title: ‘Awakening with Spring through your Herb Garden’
Begins @ 1:00pm at The Wakeman Center located in Vineyard Haven / Program Room
Learn about the nutritious and healing qualities of the herbs (cultivars and otherwise) peeking through winter’s litter of last year’s growth in your garden…Tea tastings and herbal delights to taste as you journey with Heidi into the virtues of these plants for wellbeing of your body, mind, spirit and soil health of your garden. *Heidi will bring items for Teas for tasting, teas you can make yourself, facial steams and herbs to make you feel good just by growing and seeing them.

BIO: Heidi founded Vineyard Sound Herbs in 1987, on Martha’s Vineyard.  In 2004, she moved her business to a
mountainside in Fayston, Vermont. Since then, she has added The Tiny Tea House, where complimentary tea can be sampled.
She also offers private and group classes by appointment.   Heidi has a B.S. in Land Management Resources
from Montana State University and an Herbalist Certificate from the Center of the Light, Monterey, Massachusetts.
She has also attended the College of Phytotherapy* in East Sussex, England and apprenticed in a London phytotherapy clinic.
Along the way, she also worked as an Assistant Naturalist at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary.
She is the daughter of our long-time member and Daffodil Walk organizer, Martha Schmidt.
FREE to MVGC Members / Open to non-members @ $10.00 pp
Chilmark/Aquinnah members and VP to provide snacks & refreshments

Tuesday, May 16 – Speaker: Christin Geall
Program Title: 'Arts & Ideas: Dutch Floral Still Life'
Meeting Begins @ 1:00pm at The Wakeman Center located in Vineyard Haven / Program Room
GREENHOUSE PLANT SALE to members will take place beginning at noon, and will continue 1 hour after the program.

Join writer, designer and photographer, Christin Geall, author of Cultivated: The Elements of Floral Style, for special presentation and demonstration exploring Dutch Floral Still Life. Christin will deliver a slide presentation to be followed by a live foam-free design demonstration. The program will run approximately 90 minutes. Christin Geall teaches and speaks internationally. Her
presentation will be followed by a book signing. Historical knowledge, a bit of art history, design tips and an appreciation of the art of arranging will be takeaways from Christin's presentation.

BIO: BIO: Over thirty years ago, Christin Geall apprenticed with the herbalist Heidi Schmidt in West Tisbury and a lifelong love of plants, Heidi, and the island was born. Christin is now a featured Garden Club of America ‘On Demand’ speaker and teaches and speaks internationally. She was educated in Canada, the US, and the UK, and holds a BA in Environmental Studies and Anthropology and a MFA in creative nonfiction. She is delighted to add that from this spring forward she will divide her time between British Columbia and her new home in Chilmark.
Visit Christin's website:  https://www.cultivatedbychristin.com/about/christin
FREE to MVGC Members / Open to non-members @ $20.00 pp
Edgartown members and VP to provide snacks & refreshments

June – Blooming Art / no program – Blooming Art event is slated for June 16-18, 2023

Tuesday, July 18 – Speaker: Samantha Look of the Vineyard Conservation Society
Program Title: Love Song for the Vineyard Lawn
Begins @ 1:00pm at The Old Mill located in West Tisbury; Refreshments/Social Time @ 12:30
The Vineyard Conservation Society (VCS) is the Island's local environmental organization, dedicated to preserving our land and water through advocacy, education, and legal defense.
In this program Samantha will share the details of the VCS "Vineyard Lawns" initiative. Due to rising concerns for how the health of our ponds, our wildlife, our pets and our own bodies are impacted by lawn care practices, VCS is advocating for a more holistic and ecologically friendly approach to how we maintain our lawns. The collective area dedicated to lawn space in the United States is roughly equivalent to the combined landmass of Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. How we reduce and manage these spaces has significant impacts. Sam will share information about how the seemingly simple act of caring for a lawn intersects strongly with climate change, water quality and personal health, as well as tips and resources for how to apply the Vineyard Lawn approach in your own backyard.

BIO:  Samantha is the newly-appointed Executive Director of VCS. She began working with the organization in 2014 and helped lead plastic pollution reduction efforts, including the island-wide plastic bag ban. She is one of the three member team that maintains the Island Climate Action Network and is the liaison for the Land Use, Natural Resources and Biodiversity section of the MV Climate Action Plan. She helped lead efforts to draft and campaign the house size bylaw that was successfully adopted in West Tisbury in 2022. Sam is an avid gardener, and before working for VCS, was an assistant designer in her mother, Carly Look's, landscape design office. Understanding the role that home gardeners can play in the protection of biodiversity and the ways in which our yards can act as extensions of our local ecosystems is a central interest to Sam and VCS.
FREE to MVGC Members / Open to non-members @ $10.00 pp
Oak Bluffs members and VP to provide snacks & refreshments

Tuesday, August 15 – Annual Meeting – Speaker: Liz Durkee of the Martha's Vineyard Commission
Program Title: ‘Climate Change and the Natural Environment’
Begins @ 1:00pm at The Old Mill located in West Tisbury; Refreshments/Social Time @ 12:30
Climate change is stressing the natural environment, from coastal erosion to biodiversity loss. The best
way to adapt is to work with nature/ not against it. We'll look at the impacts, what's being done to address them, and positive action you can take to help make the Island as climate change resilient as possible.
Liz hopes attendees will gain an understanding of how climate change is affecting the island's natural environment and inspiration to take positive action to address the impacts.

BIO: Liz is the climate change planner at the Martha's Vineyard Commission. She spent summer vacations on
the Island growing up and moved here full-time in 1983. She was the conservation agent for the Town of
Oak Bluffs for twenty-two years before being hired as the Commission's first climate change planner in
2021. As the conservation agent she became concerned about sea level rise and that led her to months
of off-duty research to understand how climate change would specifically affect the Vineyard. The result
was 9 fifteen-part series in the Vineyard Gazette/ way back in 2011, called Climate Change on Martha's
Vineyard. Last year the Commission released the Island's first Climate Action Plan,
The Vineyard Way: Connected to Our Past, Committed to Our Future.
https://thevineyardway.org/plan-development
FREE to MVGC Members / Open to non-members @ $10.00 pp
Vineyard Haven members and VP to provide snacks & refreshments

Tuesday, September 19 – Speaker: John Forti
Program Title: ‘Heirloom Gardening with Traditional Plants and Skills’
Begins @ 1:00pm at The Old Mill located in West Tisbury; Refreshments/Social Time @ 12:30
Heirloom Gardening is John’s newest presentation. This PowerPoint program shares inspiration from our long history of heirloom preservation, garden craft and homestead lifeways. Artisanal lifestyles that are helping us
to rebuild vibrant local agricultural economies and celebrate sustainable cottage industries that
are contributing to our new, homegrown American arts & crafts movement and backyard environmentalism.
This program allows for a look at how you can make a difference in your own backyard and community.
The presentation draws from his book of traditional plants and skills for the modern world.
Illustrated with period images and contemporary woodcuts.

BIO: John Forti is an award-winning heirloom specialist, garden historian, ethnobotanist, garden writer, and local foods advocate. He is executive director of Bedrock Gardens, an artist-inspired public sculpture garden and landscape in Lee, New Hampshire, and the recipient of a national 2020 Award of Excellence from National Garden Clubs. John was formerly the Director of Horticulture for Plimoth Plantation and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and is involved with Slow Food USA, the national chapter of Slow Food, a global organization and international grassroots movement connecting food producers and consumers to champion local agriculture, farmers markets, and traditional, regional cuisine.
http://www.jforti.com/
The Heirloom Gardener - John Forti on Facebook
John Forti- The Heirloom Gardener Book- Amazon
FREE to MVGC Members / Open to non-members - $20.00 pp cost to non-members
*** Garden Club members...don't forget to participate in Nancy Cabot's floral design foraging challenge, 'Summer's Over'!
Bring an arrangement you have created, using ONLY foraged materials from your garden
or from the side of the road to display at the meeting!
The arrangement that receives the most stars (from other GC members!), will win a prize, supplied by Nancy!
West Tisbury members and VP to provide snacks & refreshments

Tuesday, October 17 – Speaker: Lifetime Master Gardener, Kathi Gariepy
Program Title: ‘Forcing Bulbs’
Begins @ 1:00pm at The Wakeman Center located in Vineyard Haven / Program Room
Refreshments/Social Time @ 12:30
Forcing bulbs is easy and fun. In the depths of the New England winter we all long for a little color and sunshine.
Forcing bulbs in autumn can bring fragrance, color, and joy to the holiday season.
Forcing spring bulbs lets us enjoy the beauty and fragrance of spring a few weeks early
and helps to make the last weeks of winter bearable. Learn about the history of bulbs,
which bulbs are best for forcing, and how and why they are able to be forced.

BIO: Kathi Gariepy is a former special needs preschool and kindergarten teacher who has been gardening since she was a child. She is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, volunteering more than 10,000 hours,
past Vice President of the MMGA, past chair of the Master Gardener Advisory Board, past president of the Attleboro Garden Club. Kathi is a Landscape Design Consultant and on the Gardening Study Council. Kathi has worked as lead teacher for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, education coordinator for MassAudubon and studied landscape design at
Rhode Island School of Design. She is also the recipient of the MMGA’s Lifetime Achievement Award (the Golden Trowel)
and the MHS Silver Medal and is currently the chair of the Attleboro Conservation Commission.
Kathi teaches children and adults about the wonders of nature and lives in an old farmhouse with perennial borders, herb gardens, a vegetable garden, grapes, blueberries, raspberries and some very old, still producing, apple trees.
She also owns the garden design company Pleasant Vistas.
FREE to MVGC Members / Open to non-members @ $10.00 pp
Chilmark/Aquinnah members and VP to provide snacks & refreshments

Thursday, November 2 - A visit and 'field trip' to The Vineyard's Cranberry Bog
Meet at the Wakeman Center between 12:30-12:45
Our VOLF guide will meet us at the Wakeman Center at 1pm
and will start with some background on VOLF before our field trip to this little Vineyard jewel!
Our 'field trip' will begin at the Vineyard Open Land Foundation field that is located below the Wakeman Center.
A map will be provided showing Cranberry Acres and our guide will give a brief history of the
VOLF acquisition of Cranberry Acres. VOLF created a limited subdivision of the property, proceeds from which allowed VOLF
to preserve of the cranberry bog and associated conservation area (23 acres) as well as provide one of the lots as the
site of the Wakeman Conservation Center. We will walk on the path to the cranberry bog and barn and our
VOLF staff guide will talk about the 3 reservoir ponds that originally served the bog but that now are basically
wildlife sanctuaries used by otters and other wildlife.
When we arrive at the bog, our guide will describe how 1/2 acre of the bog has been restored and then, will give a tour of the cranberry barn and explain how the cranberries are harvested, sorted and packaged for market. If the cranberries have been harvested, people will be allowed onto the bog to pick cranberries. There will be no charge for the berries, but we must weigh them, as they will be part of the tally for the overall harvest.

* Please email donna.arold@gmail.com with any questions you have regarding the cranberry bog or VOLF by
October 23 so they can be sent to our VOLF guide prior to this event.
AND as November 2 approaches, DO stay tuned to our website's home page in case we have to cancel due to
inclement weather on the day of this event. Information will be posted the morning of November 2 if changes occur.

Read all about Vineyard cranberries here or via this additional link to more cranberry bog info!
Club members should gather at The Wakeman Center at 12:30/12:45.
FREE and open to MVGC Members...
but donations would be appreciated by 'the bog'.

Tuesday, November 21 – NO MONTHLY MEETING
since the date falls on the week of Thanksgiving.
The Cranberry Bog Tour (noted above) takes the place of our November meeting

December – No Meeting – Holly Day party @ The Ag Hall or Old Mill
open to MVGC members and one guest
Date / Location - TBD

Garden Club 'General' Meetings are held the third Tuesday of each month, and begin at 1:00pm. The first 10-15 minutes of the meeting, address 'MV Garden Club business' and then the Program follows. Meetings are held at either The Old Mill in WT or at the Wakeman Center in VH in the 'Program Room' there. We will post the location of each meeting one month prior on our home page with a program description and short bio on the presenter. At each meeting, there is a 'Social Time' which offers light snacks and refreshments to attendees. It is hosted by the VP's of each Vineyard town (via rotation) and highlights our Club members culinary creations. We encourage the general public to join us for a program that is of interest, and hopefully be inspired to join our Club!

– Donna Arold, Program Committee Chair 2023
Fawn Hurwitz, Angela Egerton, Program Committee

2023 MV Garden Club Upcoming Community & Member Events:

April 27, 10:00-1:00 - Ephemerals Walkabout
This year, MV Garden Club Member Peter Norris has suggested a series of four walkabouts to capture each of the stunning collections at his property. The first will highlight spring-flowering ephemerals, plants that only bloom for a brief time, usually in a woodland setting, then die back with the warm weather. Stay tuned to the GC President's emails, our website and newsletters for information on the additional walkabouts at Peter's property.
Location: Peter Norris’ property @ 19 Blueberry Ridge Lane, Chilmark
(GPS does not work for this location: Turn into Blueberry Ridge Lane from North Road and it is the first driveway on the right.) There is room for 5 cars across the road from the gate. Look for signs!

May 8 - Falmouth GC Event in Falmouth at the First Congregational Church
Container Gardening Program with Deb Trickett
(doors open at 9am)
The Falmouth Garden Club's Monthly Meeting
($10 Admission charged, Travel on your own, CLICK HERE for details)

May 18 - 9AM - 1PM - Clean up at The Old Mill!
Bring tools, trowels, clippers and enthusiasm...snacks will be provided!

May 24 - ART IN BLOOM VIRTUAL for members and the general public
Art in Bloom via The Museum of Fine Arts - via ZOOM @ 7:00pm

May 27 & 28 MVGC Annual Plant Sale - at the Old Mill in West Tisbury
10am - 2pm, Open to The General Public!

June, 2023 - Blooming Art at The Old Mill - June 16, 17, & 18.

June 30 - The Old Mill in West Tisbury, Four O'Clock Fridays resume! From 4:00 - 5:30 pm its a potluck with light nibbles and refreshments...bring what you want to enjoy or share, and its carry in, carry out (just like at the beach!). Come and enjoy social time with other MVGC members and their plus one or even a friend or two! Its casual and always a fun time,...we hope to see you there!

August 10 - An Edgartown Garden Stroll - Fundraiser for the MVGC from 10am - 3pm, rain or shine. Stroll Edgartown as you visit five private Edgartown gardens and one public historic botanic garden at your own pace. Purchase by August 7 is discounted @ $50.00 per person for pre-sale purchase with a credit card. 'Day of' admission cost is $60.00 and may be purchased at the Gate House of the Cooke House and Legacy Gardens located at the corner of School and Cooke Street, Edgartown. CLICK HERE for more Stroll information.

June / July / August, 2023 - Garden Club Member Garden Walkabouts - An email doc was sent out by Ty with dates, times, property location, etc! DO check your email regularly for Ty's reminders and updates!

September 21 - 9:30AM - 12PM - Clean up at The Old Mill!
Bring tools, trowels, clippers and enthusiasm...snacks will be provided!

Member Plant Swap - Fall dates TBD

Tour of the Vineyard Cranberry Bog for GC Members - November 2 - See above!

MV Garden Club Learning Experiences ...
coming in the future for members

'The Art of Bonsai' Demonstration was postponed due to lack of attendance / interest.

We may reschedule this demo for sometime during the summer months. Stay tuned to our website for date and information.

Wildflower Poster - Early September, 2023 - Exact Date TBD - The Wakeman Center, VH
We are fine tuning the details on this, too...but here's your chance to get one of these coveted and 'Vintage' Martha's Vineyard Garden Club Wildflower posters for your very own! Members will meet as they color-in their take-home poster, suitable for framing! Led by MV watercolor artist and Garden Club Veteran, Angela Egerton, we will be guided with a sample poster (see right) and use proper color/s for filling in the plant images. Colored pencils, crayons, and posters will be provided along with complimentary snacks and refreshments. Stay tuned to the website and newsletters for information on date and time once Angela makes the plans! There will be a $10.00 cost to attend to cover materials cost.

The Vineyard's Cranberry Bog...A Visit and Tour for MVGC Members Only
Thursday, November 2 at 1:00pm

Take a tour and even pick some cranberries to get a feel for this little Vineyard jewel and how they operate! Read all about Vineyard cranberries here and stay tuned for a more comprehensive description of this Tour as info becomes available! In the meantime, here's another link to more cranberry bog info! Club members should gather at The Wakeman Center at 12:30/12:45. FREE and open to GC Members, but donations are appreciated by 'the bog'.

A few photos below from past MV Garden Club events!