We will meet at Vertical Harvest Maine (11 Mechanic Street, Westbrook) to learn about their business and growing operation. Founded in Wyoming, Vertical Harvest is a private-public partnership that grows fresh produce year-round in vertical greenhouses while also creating customized employment for people with disabilities.
On Veterans Day, gather at Blue Star Memorial marker with family and friends for a special holiday observance.
The Board of Directors will meet at St. Mary’s, or on Zoom, if necessary.
We will begin with a Small Floral Design Workshop to make arrangements that will decorate our tables and then be distributed to mental health support homes in Saco and Windham. Please bring greens, clippers, and ribbons. The Holiday Tea will follow the workshop.
If desired, bring a small wrapped gift that will be given to the Falmouth Food Pantry for distribution to our elderly neighbors.
An abbreviated coffee social begins at 10:30am.
Kitchen gardens in the 1700s fed, healed and clothed Early American families. The 18th century “huswife” skill set included “physicke, cookery, distillation, the making of wool, hemp, flax, dayries, brewing, baking” and, of course, gardening. Growing plants both Native American and from their homelands, these women turned their soup pots in the “melting pot” that is America, and exemplified all the best qualities of plantswomen and patriots.
Open to Guests upon Request
James Kane, Sales and Business Development Manager of O’Donal’s Nursery in Gorham will join us to share the story of how he discovered a new variety of crab apple tree and the many steps involved in taking that one tree and propagating it to have enough to start selling them at the nursery. James will then share different ways of propagating plants. We all know how to start plants from seed, but have you ever used a cutting or tried to graft a tree? Learn how to use these methods to increase your house plants or beloved plants in your garden. After we learn about the various methods of propagating we will try our hand at grafting!
Open to Guests
Club members will be divided into teams when they arrive, and each team will receive a container and floral materials. Each team will have 45 minutes to create a standout floral design. Guide sheets on standard floral design will be provided. Afterward, each group will critique another group’s work using the provided rubric and individual insights. The floral arrangements will be given away to meeting participants by drawing numbers from a hat.
Open to Guests
Friends of Casco Bay, founded in 1989 to protect and improve the environmental health of Casco Bay through science-based advocacy, will present information on their current projects affected by watersheds flowing into the Bay. This organization is very important to the environment across the communities in which our members reside. They will also offer volunteer opportunities, such as water monitoring, that members might to work on.
Open to Guests
Our own Roxanne Wheeler, a retired health educator and RN who works especially with women over 40 years of age to guide them to live naturally well, will teach us about essential oils. Plants can give us the best of their plant chemistry and have for centuries. We will see how their safe, effective use can aid our bodies and minds to help us live our best natural lives.
Open to Guests
Our Annual Meeting will include a visit to Strawberry Banke Colonial Living History Museum. Participants will have a special guided tour of the gardens with a focus on colonial era plants. Luncheon will be held in a room near the visitor center.
Times are approximate. More details to follow.
Club members will work in the Blue Star Memorial and St. Mary’s garden. Those unable to garden will be able to plant native seeds for the 2027 Plant Sale. Please wear work clothes and bring garden tools. The business meeting and a surprise gift giveaway will follow the work session.
Social time (no food provided) begins at 9:30am, and will be Luci’s Lab Table, sponsored by the SMGC environmental committee.
Kate Shaffer of Ragged Coast Chocolates will discuss how to incorporate the entire rainbow of the harvest season into your daily cooking, answer questions about using what’s growing in your garden, and recommend resources for harvest cooking.
Coffee social begins at 9:30am
Pineland Farms Guided Tours, catered lunch. Further details TBA.
Seanna’s lab works on discovering basic information about fungal pathogens of wild blueberries for developing improvements in control of the diseases they cause. They determine which methods or materials improved disease control in the field in collaboration with blueberry growers. Seanna also collaborates with other scientists on fungi involved in food and feed and identifies fungi for the public. This talk will start with "what the heck is a fungus?' and then discuss all the interesting things that they do in gardens. Fungi have a variety of roles: from beneficial mycorrhizal fungi and others, fungi that degrade dead material and recycle nutrients, and fungal pathogens.
9:30 am Coffee social, 10:00 am Program (open to guests), 11:15 am Business Meeting
The Personal Ecologist will walk through the many ways gardeners can promote native plant communities, healthy food webs, and beautiful biodiverse habitats - at any scale! Topics covered include: enhancing garden habitats for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, creating better bird habitats, and boosting overall biodiversity for a healthier, more resilient garden and yard ecosystem. See: firstlighthabitats.com
9:30 am Coffee social, 10:00 am Program (open to guests), 11:15 am Business Meeting
The April 8, 2026 meeting, “250 Years of Gardening”, will be hosted by Longfellow and Osewantha Garden Clubs at Purpoodock Club in Cape Elizabeth. The morning program will feature Sydney Raftery, Park Ranger for the City of South Portland, speaking on The History of Parks and Environmentalism. After lunch, Grace Frost, of Highland Farm & Market in Scarborough, will create special floral designs. The fee is $35.00 and registration deadline is March 18th
Experience the process of designing an arrangement for an Art in Bloom show. From artwork selection, florals and containers, Alora will share her experience in how she prepares floral designs for Art in Bloom at the Portland Museum Art. Leave inspired to create your own design!
9:30 am Coffee social, 10:00 am Program (open to guests), 11:15 am Business Meeting
Lisa Ferreira will speak and show examples of her paper work including sheets of paper, jewelry and lighting. Then everyone will get to have a hands-on paper making experience including adding select botanicals to the pulp, and creating a sheet of paper. See: embergrove.com
9:30 am Coffee social, 10:00 am Program (open to guests), 11:15 am Business Meeting
The Victorian Era was also England's Golden Age of Plant Exploration. It was a time when the public's growing interest in natural history and its obsession with "collecting" came together around plants. The variety of house plants available for purchase burgeoned during Queen Victoria's reign. Ever after, Brits and we Americans have been in love with them. Not only can house plants complement and enhance any room's decor, but NASA studies confirm their ability to remove indoor air pollution. Learn about many of the plants that populated Victorian parlors, how to care for them and simple ways to bring a Victorian touch to plantscaping your home. See: lesleyparness.com
9:30 am Pre-Meeting ZOOM chatting,10:00 am Program (open to guests), 11:15 am Business Meeting
We will be participating in a Small Floral Design Workshop to make arrangements that will be used for our Holiday table decorations and will be donated to mental health support homes in Saco and Windham. Containers will be provided. Please bring greens. If desired, please bring a small wrapped gift to be delivered to the Falmouth Food Pantry for distribution to the elderly.
9:30 am Coffee social, 10:00 am Program, 11:15 am Business Meeting, Holiday Tea after Business Meeting
John Bunker is an American orchardist, pomologist, and "apple explorer". An expert on American apples and their history, he is the founder of the mail-order nursery Fedco Trees, a division of the cooperative Fedco Seeds. For most of his life, he has worked to preserve rare old apple varieties from across Maine and the New England region. In 2012, he founded the Maine Heritage Orchard in Unity, Maine, a ten-acre preservation educational orchard of Maine's historic apple and pear varieties. His focus is primarily on Historic Apples of New England, but he will highlight apples in our area. He will also speak about “fruit exploring”, the exciting new DNA research he is doing on historic apples, and the importance of cider in the colonization of New England. In back yards, old homesteads and abandoned farms throughout Maine, ancient unidentified apple trees are dying off. Now is the time to track them down and preserve them for future generations. You can help! See: outonalimbapples.com
9:30 am Coffee social, 10:00 am Program (open to guests), 11:15 am Business Meeting
Learn about the multitude of spring ephemerals you can add to your garden to give you blooms from March through early summer. We will discuss which bulb combinations work well together plus how to incorporate them into your perennial gardens. You and your local pollinators will have flowers to enjoy for months!
9:30 am Coffee social, 10:00 am Program (open to guests), 11:15 am Business Meeting