Sept. 12: "Indian Floral Arrangements", with Joyce Bakshi
Joyce Bakshi will create seven Indian-inspired arrangements, discuss the Indian flora arrangement style and share her experiences of living in India. The arrangements will be given away as door prizes.
Joyce has been married to an Indian for forty years and has spent the last thirty years living in India, most recently in Mumbai (Bombay). While there she studied the unique design forms that are "Indian" and not adaptations from outside influences.
Oct. 10: "Winter Miniature Plants for Your Home or Greenhouse", with Art Scarpa
Evening meeting, starting with coffee at 7 p.m.
All indoors gardeners are invited to attend a presentation "Winter-
growing Miniature Plants for the Home and Greenhouse," by Art Scarpa.
Art has a large collection of all sorts of plants in his Reading
greenhouse. His favorites are cactus and succulents but his
collection and his knowledge includes many other plants. He is a
founder of the Cactus and Succulent Society of Massachusetts.
Currently he is the vice president of the Hobby Greenhouse and Indoor
Gardeners of America. Art is a member of Overseers of the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society.
Art will be speaking about his favorite winter growing miniature
plants. Some plants are naturally diminutive. Some are hybrids
which are perfect small versions of larger plants and take little
space to grow. Art will bring many of his tiny treasures to the
meeting for the audience to enjoy.
Nov. 14: "Welcoming Entry Garden Design Basics", with Maria Von Brincken
Maria von Brincken is an award winning landscape designer with
national certification. Her design work has been featured in Fine
Gardening Magazine. Maria writes a column as a contributing editor to
Landshapes Magazine. Her columns are available on her website
mariavonbricken.com.
Jan. 9: "There's a Porcupine in My Outhouse!", with Michael Tougais
Michael Tougias is the author of 14 books.
The book There's a Porcupine in My Outhouse won
"Best Nature Book of 2003" as awarded by the Independent Publishers
Association of America. The book and slide show are based on
misadventures in Tougias' early years of exploring New England's
backcountry and at his remote cabin in Northern Vermont. Topics
covered in the presentation include: Tougias' first disastrous trip
to his newly bought cabin, the history of outhouses, encounters with
bear, moose, fishing spiders, porcupine, and the history of mountain
men. The slide presentation takes the audience to special places in
Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, northern New Hampshire, and northern
Maine. Tougias mixes in themes of conservation and the therapeutic
powers of the woods.
Mar. 12: "Green Gold: Machu Picchu and the Gardens of the Incas", with Norma Jane Langford
Machu Picchu is the name now given to
the country estate of Pachacuti, the Inca king who ruled Peru 450
years ago.
Machu Picchu is different than the other royal properties that hugged
the Urubamba River. It doesn't tend toward the grandiose. The
built landscape of Machu Picchu seems to emerge naturally from the
environment. It is set into a saddle between two mountain peaks and
takes advantage of every natural feature. "Shadow" stones mimic the
shapes of surrounding mountains.
Among the estate's features is an area archaeologists believe was an
agricultural experiment station. The farmers in Pachacuti's kingdom
were more than master gardeners. Where they had arable land, they
had no water. And where they had water, they had no arable land.
These ancient Peruvians either developed or improved potatoes,
tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, pumpkins and other vegetables as well
as zinnias and
nasturtiums.
Norma Jane Langford is interested in history, art, photography,
writing, travel and the outdoors. She grew up in Hawaii and came to
the mainland to attend the University of Wisconsin. She is married,
has three kids, has lived in 11 different states and has completed a
Ph.D in communication
studies. She now teaches at nearby colleges and writes articles on
subjects which intrigue her. She has been published in Early
American Life,
Country Folk Art, and Whole Life Times. She recently completed her
first historical novel.
Apr. 9: "Greener Gardening", with Paul Parent
May 14: "The Family Nurse: Home Medical Care in the Early 19th Century",
with Christie Higginbottom (Annual Meeting)
The Lexington Field & Garden Club will bring Christie Higginbottom
and her slide presentation "The Family Nurse: Home Medical Care in
the Early Nineteenth Century" to the National Heritage Museum at
10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 14, 2008. Christie has worked as a
costumed interpreter at Old Sturbridge Village since 1981.
From 1984 to 2003 she coordinated the historic horticulture
program. In that position she researched, planned and planted the re-
created kitchen and flower gardens at the Village's historic
households, trained garden interpreters and planned garden
programs. She also supervised the Village's Herb Garden collection,
a garden exhibiting over 300 varieties of historic herbs.
As a consultant Christie writes and advises on historic gardens,
antique plants and herb use. Also, she lectures at museums and
historic sites. She has lectured at the Thomas Jefferson Center for
Historic Plants at Monticello, the Society for the Preservation of
New England Antiquities and has been featured lecturer at the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society's Spring Flower Shows.
