Gardener's Days

Join us for Gardener's Days 2020

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Join us for Gardener's Days 2020

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"Nonstop Plants: A Garden for 365 Days" by Margaret Roach

  • Thursday, September 17, 2020, 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Please join us to celebrate the end of the garden season featuring gardening author and NY Times columnist Margaret Roach

This Event is rescheduled as a virtual program.

Each of the presentations for Gardeners’ Days 2020 will be offered separately on a different day in the second and third weeks in September culminating in Margaret Roach’s presentation on September 17. Schedule to follow. 

If you registered for our April event, you may attend in September. We will email you the new schedule and links. 

If you would like to register, the cost is $40 to attend any or all five events. 

New Schedule

(Each session is from 6:30 to 7:30 PM on the day listed.)

  • Sept. 9th (un)Paving the Way: the How & Why of Pollinator Pathways
  • Sept. 10th  Putnam’s Virtual Pollinator Garden Tour
  • Sept. 15th The Lost Ladybug Project
  • Sept. 16th Right Plant Right Place- Ecological Gardening
  • Sept. 17th Nonstop Plants: A Garden for 365 Days, Keynote by Margaret Roach

The Master Gardener Volunteers of Rockland County present Gardener's Days 2020 on the 1st day of April.

Register via our online portal now.

Keynote Presentation

"Nonstop Plants: A Garden for 365 Days" by Margaret Roach, NY Times columnist & Author of A Way to Garden

Other presentations include:

(click on a session title to jump to its description)

Tickets are available now.

  • Book Early, Space is Limited!

Every Gardener’s Day ticket includes:

  • Admission to keynote presentation
  • Admission to four gardening lectures

Session Descriptions

(click on a speaker's name to jump to their bio)

"Nonstop Plants: A Garden for 365 Days" Keynote by Margaret Roach

Expressions commonly heard each September like “the season’s almost over” don’t sit well with Margaret Roach. She has worked for more than 20 years to make her garden in the Hudson Valley-Berkshires area a visual treat every day of the year. Meet the plants and the philosophy that make it happen, delivered with a dose of “horticultural how-to and woo-woo.” Including:

  • how and why to make a four-season garden—and the basic principles of garden design that apply
  • how to shop for plants with that goal in mind
  • what makes the garden so appealing to nearly 70 species of birds and other welcome wildlife
  • how to go beyond “outdoor decorating” aimed at pure visual effect, and really engage with the garden through all your senses and emotions (that’s the “woo-woo” part!)

Right Plant, Right Place: Harmonizing Design and Ecology by Master Gardener Volunteer Chris Shankar

In this presentation, we'll identify some challenging gardening conditions, including shade, clay soil, boggy soil conditions or sunbaked soils. Then we'll take a look at the plants that can thrive in those tough spots; and, using nature as a guide, we'll learn how to create plant communities so you can garden smarter, not harder, with less weeding, fertilizer and water.

(un)Paving the Way: the How & Why of Pollinator Pathways by Lorien Barlow from the Nyack Pollinator Pathway

Pollinator Pathways are worldwide initiatives connecting natural areas in developed landscapes so that pollinators, such as butterflies, bees and birds, can access the food and habitat they need to survive. Nyack has recently launched the first Pollinator Pathway in Rockland County and we are calling for all residents to join! Regardless of whether your outdoor space is expansive or modest, all of us can contribute to the health and longevity of our valuable pollinators. This talk will cover the principles of pollinator pathways, the benefits of planting with native plants, how pollinator habitat can be carved out of public land, and recommendations of pollinator-friendly plants and trees ecologically beneficial to our local landscape. Come explore how you can get on the pathway!

The Lost Ladybug Project

Across North America ladybug species composition is changing. Over the past twenty years native ladybugs that were once very common have become extremely rare. During this same time ladybugs from other parts of the world have greatly increased both their numbers and range. This is happening very quickly and we don’t know how, or why, or what impact it will have on ladybug diversity or the role that ladybugs play in keeping plant-feeding insect populations low. We're asking you to join us in finding out where all the ladybugs have gone so we can try to prevent more native species from becoming so rare.

Putnam's Virtual Pollinator Garden Tour

Join CCE Putnam Educator Jen Lerner as we virtually explore a real pollinator garden via 360 degree images. The presentation will include some information on the technology used to develop the virtual tour, but will focus on the themes within the garden, which include threats to pollinators and how we can support their success in managed landscapes. 

About the Speakers

About Margaret Roach

Margaret Roach, after 15 years as garden editor at Martha Stewart Living and then EVP/Editorial Director of Martha’s company, and a decade each at Newsday and The New York Times, now creates the nationally acclaimed website A Way to Garden, and hosts the award-winning companion public radio show and podcast. The blog and show were named for Margaret’s first garden book, A Way to Garden, which was re-released in an all-new edition from Timber Press in spring 2019 on its 21st anniversary. The New York Times Book Review raved, saying that in its pages Margaret is “sensitive, wise, deliberate, thoughtful and splendidly bossy.”

Margaret is also author of the 2011 corporate-dropout memoir, And I Shall Have Some Peace There, about walking away from “success” for a quieter life lived closer to nature, and her 2013 book The Backyard Parables blends garden memoir and how-to advice.

Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert said: “As a passionate, hopeful and often self-delusional gardener (the only kind of gardener there is!). I loved this gorgeous book. Margaret Roach writes with intelligence, compassion, and most of all—sanity. Her work is a blessing.”

About the Nyack Pollinator Pathway

The Nyack Pollinator Pathway is a volunteer-led community project that aims to provide habitat for pollinators such as bees, butterflies, birds, and beneficial insects, one garden at a time. Their mission is to educate our neighbors about pollinator-friendly gardening practices, to promote the use of native wildflowers in pesticide-free landscapes, and to bring community volunteers together to convert underutilized green spaces in Nyack into lush oases for pollinators and other wildlife—and beautiful landscapes for humans too!


Like so many planned spring events across the country, we had to postponed Gardener’s Day due to the outbreak of Covid-19. We are so grateful for your support and understanding during this unprecedented time. If you already paid for the program, you will be automatically registered for the new date or refunded if you’re not able to attend on the new date. We look forward to coming back together in the future to share Horticulture knowledge. Until then please be safe and stay healthy

CCE prioritizes the health, safety and well-being of the communities we serve. Given the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, and due to an abundance of caution, our Gardener's Day event has been rescheduled as a series of webinars on September 9th, 10th, 15th, 16th, and 17th.

Fee

$40 for all 5 sessions

Contact

Kristen Ossmann
Horticulture Resource Educator
kno7@cornell.edu
(845) 429-7085 ext. 108

Location

This event is online

Last updated September 9, 2020