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

Details TBA

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