Our commitment to bring you nine interesting speakers to satisfy your horticultural curiosity has not changed. As long as group gatherings are not an option, we will present our guest speakers live online via Zoom conferencing, on the day they were scheduled to visit with us. Online conferencing is a wonderful technology and per your requests, we plan to continue to livestream and record meetings (with speaker’s permission) even when we return to our in-person monthly meetings.
Recordings of past speakers (when permitted) are available only to members of CT Hort. Members can request the link to the recording by emailing [email protected] . Each recording will be available for approximately a month, until it is replaced by the next speaker’s recording.
Farming the Land: Seven Years Growing on a Diversified Farm
with Rodger Phillips from Sub Edge Farm
Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 7 p.m.
Please click here to listen to Rodger’s presentation on Thursday, Feb 18 at 7 p.m.
Click here to respond to a survey telling us what you thought of Rodger’s presentation.
Rodger Phillips owns and operates Sub Edge Farm in Avon and Farmington, Conn. With his wife Isabelle and five children, the Phillips’ family life is centered on the farm and the seasons. Sub Edge grows 20 acres of vegetables, fruits, flowers, and culinary herbs as well as humanely raised pigs, pasture-raised poultry, and 100% grass-fed beef. Their crop plan includes more than 150 varieties of certified organic vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers.
The farm offers shares in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and sells wholesale to local restaurants and schools. Sub Edge also has a farm shop that is open year round. Rodger brings his passion for good clean food to his growing and is committed to sustainable and organic farming practices.
As our February guest, Rodger will share the successes and challenges of working and managing a local, organic farm. He and wife Isabelle’s proposal to steward the farm was chosen from more than a dozen others submitted to the towns of Avon and Farmington. Prior to working the land at Sub Edge, the Phillips’s were trained on and managed a number of small farms.
Upcoming Speakers for the 2020-2021 Season:
- March 18, 2021 – Karen Perkins – Epimediums: Jewels of the Shade – https://www.epimediums.com/
- April 15, 2021 – Leslie Duthie – Fronds with Benefits: Ferns from the Wild to the Garden – https://www.norcrosswildlife.org/
- May 20, 2021 – Tom Christopher – Nature into Art: The Gardening Lessons of Wave Hill – https://www.gardenrant.com/author/thomas-christopher
- June 17, 2021 – Gordon Hayward – The Inevitable Garden – https://www.haywardgardens.com/
Past Speakers from the 2020-2021 Season:
Joseph Tychonievich is obsessed with gardening, and that has taken him crazy places and given him fun stories… In his talk Confessions of a Plant Nerd, you’ll laugh with recognition at some of the outlandish things we, the plant obsessed, do and get ideas on how to revel in your love of plants and have the most possible fun in your garden. A lifelong gardener and lover of plants, Joseph has worked for nurseries in the US and Japan, has been a repeated guest on public radio’s food show The Splendid Table, and was named by Organic Gardening Magazine as one of “… six young horticulturists who are helping to shape how America gardens.” Joseph is the author of Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener, The Complete Guide to Gardeners, and Rock Gardening: Reimagining a Classic Style and is the editor the North American Rock Garden Society quarterly journal. Currently Joseph lives with his husband, two cats, a dog, and an absurd number of plants in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Click here to watch Joseph’s presentation again
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This talk is based on Ellen Ecker Ogden‘s newest book, The New Heirloom Garden, that is coming out in February 2021. Learn how to grow something new that is old, and revel in growing your own seeds to sow each year in your own garden, and to share with friends. Be inspired to plant varieties that add forgotten charm to your own heirloom garden and serve up good food. Ellen is an award winning kitchen garden designer who lives in Vermont. She returns to build on our understanding of design basics and will discuss plant options such as heirloom vegetables, forgotten fruits, and fragrant flowers.
Please click here to enjoy the recording of Ellen’s interesting conversation. Click here to download Ellen’s meeting handout.
Click here to let us know what you thought of Ellen’s presentation.
Karen Bussolini has been a gardener all her life. She trained as a painter and was an architectural photographer before specializing in garden photography, writing, speaking and eco-friendly garden coaching/design. She is a NOFA (Northeast Organic Farmers Association) Accredited Organic Land Care Professional. Her garden has been featured in many publications, including Anne Raver’s feature, “A Hillside of Feisty Beauties” in The New York Times. Karen will show you how gifted gardeners across the country put plants together in exciting ways. You’ll see how experts use color, texture, form and other elements to harmonize or contrast. Explore building on this basic visual vocabulary to create lively conversations, more complex schemes. Once we dig into plants that move or appear to move you will know how get your garden not just talking, but dancing with delight. Jazzing Up the Garden with Color, Contrast and Movement teaches simple, intuitive ways to combine plants that new or experienced gardeners can apply to amp up excitement in your garden.
Click here to download the handout for Karen’s talk.
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Joann Vieira is the statewide Director of Horticulture for the Trustees of Reservations. Founded in 1891, the Trustees is the nation’s first and the state of Massachusetts’s largest conservation and preservation organization. Among the nearly 120 properties protected by the Trustees there are significant and treasured historic landscapes and gardens, including 11 public gardens. Join us from the comfort and safety of your own home, to hear Joann’s suggestions on gardening to attract birds to your garden. Her presentation – Designing for Birds – will be livestreamed and you can watch from your computer, iPad, or phone.
Click here to let us know what you thought of Joann’s presentation.