Upcoming Speaker Meetings
Wednesday, September 23, 2026 at 7:30 on Zoom
“Winterize Without the Overwhelm: Smart Cost-Cutting Garden Prep” with Kathy Jentz
Are you overwhelmed by thinking of winter garden chores? It’s time to work smarter, not harder.
Join Kathy Jentz, publisher of Washington Gardener Magazine and host of the GardenDC Podcast, for a practical, stress-relieving session designed for beginner and intermediate gardeners alike.
In this talk, Kathy cuts through the noise to reveal which winterizing chores are necessary to protect your plants from harsh weather and which tasks you can safely skip to save your time and energy.
Past Meetings
Wednesday, May 27, 2026 at 7:30 on Zoom
“Fungi in your Garden: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”by Serenella Linares
Serenella is the Facility Director at Mount Rainier Nature Center in Prince George’s County, Maryland, where she leads environmental education initiatives that inspire curiosity about nature and foster stewardship among diverse communities. Originally from Puerto Rico, Linares is widely recognized in the Washington, DC region as both a dynamic environmental educator and a mycologist who specializes in making science engaging and accessible for audiences of all ages.
Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 7:30 on Zoom
“Creating a Well-Layered Landscape” with Elaine Mills, Extension Master Gardener
Many gardeners are looking to bring both beauty and wildlife support into their garden designs. One important way to do that is through creating a well-layered landscape. Join Extension Master Gardener Elaine Mills to learn techniques for introducing diverse layers of vegetation in a variety of garden contexts, from reestablishing forest edges and planting around trees to refreshing foundation plantings, creating perennial beds, and rethinking front-yard designs. Elaine shares ideas and lessons learned from her own garden and those of several Master Gardener colleagues.Wednesday, March 25, 2026, 7:30 pm on Zoom
Wednesday, March 25, 2026 at 7:30 on Zoom
“From Canopy to Groundlayer: Building Soft Landings with Keystone Plants for Pollinators” with Heather Holm, Pollinator Conservationist and Author
This presentation explores the powerful connection between keystone plants and the insects that depend on them. You’ll learn how to implement “Soft Landings” in landscapes of all scales, from home gardens to larger managed sites. This innovative habitat design and management strategy focuses on creating layered mini ecosystems beneath native trees to support pollinators throughout their life cycles. Participants will learn what defines a pollen specialist, discover examples of these fascinating bee-plant relationships, and understand how keystone plants function as foundational species in our ecosystems.
Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 7:30 pm, on Zoom.
“Dealing with Deer and Other Mammal Pests in Your Garden” with Kathy Jentz
Bambi may be cute, but he and his mother, cousins, and the rest of the herd are very hungry, and they would love to make a feast of your garden. This talk will cover proven and humane tactics for gardening with deer, rabbits, squirrels, rats, groundhogs, and other creatures that are attracted to both edible and ornamental gardens.
Wednesday, January 28, 2026 at 7:30 on zoom
“Where the Wild Things Are: The Role of Cultivation in Plant Conservation,” with Dr. Richard Olsen, Director, U.S. National Arboretum
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
”My Experience Growing Hardy Orchids in Maryland” with Kevin McIntosh, a self-taught expert in orchid cultivation.
Wednesday, September 24, 2025
”From Wasteland to Wonder” with Basil Camu
Wednesday, April 23, 2025 at 7:30 on Zoom.
“Antique Roses for Modern Gardens” with Connie Hilker
Have you wondered how to grow heritage roses in our Mid-Atlantic climate? What varieties offer unique beauty and fragrance? What of their history and stories?
Let's find out! Please join us in welcoming speaker Connie Hilker for her talk "Antique Roses for Modern Gardens." She’ll introduce about three dozen old-garden and heritage roses that perform very well with minimal care in her Virginia garden. Roses are presented in groups according to size and use in the garden.
Connie Hilker has been growing and studying heritage roses since 2002. She is president of the Stafford County Historical Society, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Heritage Rose Foundation, manages the historic rose collection at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, and is the author of Heritage Roses: A Collection of Essays and Lessons. She was the chair of the Heritage and Preservation Committee of the American Rose Society and owned and operated Hartwood Roses, a nursery that specialized in rare, historic roses.
Connie can often be found lecturing and leading workshops about all aspects of roses, searching cemeteries and old home sites for roses to rescue, and tending her garden of 500 varieties of roses at the home she shares with her husband Steve in Hartwood, Virginia.
Photo by Scott Brown
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at 7:30 on Zoom.
Author Amy Stewart will talk about her engaging book, The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession, published in 2024.
Amy Stewart is a highly sought-after public speaker whose spirited lectures have inspired and entertained audiences at college campuses such as Cornell and the University of Minnesota, corporate offices, including the Google Author Series, conferences and garden shows, as well as botanical gardens, museums, bookstores, and garden clubs nationwide.
The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession
When Amy Stewart discovered a community of tree collectors, she expected to meet horticultural fanatics driven to plant every species of oak or maple. But she also discovered that the urge to collect trees springs from something deeper and more profound: a longing for community, a vision for the future, or a path to healing and reconciliation.
In this 45-minute talk, Stewart introduces audiences to several of the remarkable people she met from around the world whose lives were transformed by their relationships to trees. Accompanied by her own hand-drawn illustrations of people and their trees, this talk inspires audiences to reconsider their own connections to trees–and maybe start a collection!
Wednesday, February 26, 2025 at 7:30 on Zoom.
Speaker Paul Spriggs will present “Cracks and Crevices; The Art of Rock and Crevice Gardening"
In this talk, Paul will introduce all aspects of rock and crevice gardening, from inspiration and history to the design and construction of rock gardens large and small including troughs. He will also feature a palette of the most beautiful plants for rock gardens. This talk is something of a Rock Gardening 101.
Paul Spriggs has been rock gardening for roughly 27 years and building crevice gardens for about 20 years. He is an avid plant explorer, photographer, mountaineer, the owner of Spriggs Gardens Landscaping Company, and past President of the Vancouver Island Rock and Alpine Garden Society. He has a passion for all wild plants especially those of dwarf stature and collects and cultivates them at various gardens in his hometown of Victoria, BC, Canada. Paul has learned the craft of crevice garden building directly from one of its innovators, Zdenek Zvolanek, of The Czech Republic. In the past decade and a half, Paul has built many gardens in public parks and private homes that range in size from small feature troughs to large installations involving many tonnes of stone. Paul is passionate about spreading the word of this style, through speaking to garden clubs all over the world and giving workshops for those keen on learning the finer points of this developing art form. He is co-author (with Kenton Seth of Colorado), of the first North American book on Crevice gardening, The Crevice Garden. How to Make the Perfect Home for Plants from Rocky Places, released in the summer of 2022.
*We will begin the Zoom promptly at 7:30 pm to help Paul get to his next appointment on time. Thank you!
Wednesday, January 22, at 7:30 pm, Zoom
Speaker Ian Adams will present “The World of Lichens”
Ian Adams says “Lichens are fascinating organisms that attach themselves to tree bark, rocks, and soil and cover 6-8% of the Earth’s land surface, yet they are unknown to most people. In this program, we will take you on a guided tour of the world of lichens: what they are, where to find them, how they live and reproduce, tips for identifying lichens, lichen field guides, and their use as animal food and nesting material, as indicators of air quality, as a source for clothing dyes, and the importance of lichens in soil formation and enrichment.”
Ian Adams is an environmental photographer, writer, and educator specializing in Ohio and its natural, rural, historical, and garden areas. Twenty-three books of his color photography have been published. He has produced more than 65 Ohio calendars and conducted over 200 seminars and workshops in nature, garden, and digital photography throughout North America. He was an adjunct lecturer at Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster, Ohio, where he taught horticultural photography for 10 years. Ian shares his home in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio with a Tuxedo cat, Spicer, a Maine Coon cat, Madeline, and a variety of cameras.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024, 7:30 - 8:30 pm
“Endangered Pine Barrens Communities of the Sand Belt Region of Northern Prince George’s and Anne Arundel Counties, Maryland, with Rod Simmons
The Washington-Baltimore region, including northern Virginia, contains a broad variety of geologic conditions and habitats and is perhaps the most floristically and geologically diverse area in the eastern U.S.
The northern Pitch Pine barrens that reach their southernmost global extent near Washington, D.C. will be discussed, as well as why these natural areas are so highly valued and must be protected. Rare and relictual flora will also be highlighted, including the D.C. region's globally rare endemic - an outlier of the northern pine barrens type.
Rod is a plant ecologist and conservation biologist, with a background in botany and geology, who has extensively surveyed the flora and natural communities of the mid-Atlantic region, especially the inner Coastal Plain, Fall Zone, and Piedmont of the greater Washington, D.C. area. He is a Research Associate with the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; a member of the Virginia Botanical Associates; former contract botanist for NatureServe, National Park Service, and others; and works closely with the Virginia and Maryland natural heritage programs. He is the author of numerous technical reports, papers, and articles, and has published in scientific journals. He is a member and a past president of the Botanical Society of Washington and serves on the boards of the Virginia and Maryland native plant societies. He is a frequent lecturer and field trip leader for various organizations. He recently retired as Natural Resource Manager and Plant Ecologist for the City of Alexandria, Virginia.
“Hardy Amaryllids, the Gardener’s Friends” with Jim Dronenburg
Tired of deer/rabbits/groundhogs munching your garden aboveground and voles belowground? The hardy amaryllids—amaryllis, daffodils, and their relatives- may be the answer. Pest-proof and practically foolproof, easy enough for beginners and exotic enough for the most jaded collector, these bulbs can give you an almost year-round show. Using Dan Weil’s photos, Jim will waltz you through a year of these wonderful flowers.
“The Late-Summer Lure of Asters and Goldenrods” with Uli Lorimer, Native Plant Trust
Ulrich Lorimer is Director of Horticulture at the Native Plant Trust at both Garden in the Woods, Native Plant Trust’s botanic garden in Framingham, MA, and Nasami Farm in western Massachusetts, a nursery focused on the propagation of and research about New England native plants. He holds degrees from U. Delaware in Landscape Horticulture and Foreign Languages and Literature. Click here to watch a video of Uli and another presenter talking about ferns.
“How to Rally Support and Action to Create Pollinator Pathways in Communities” with Mary Ellen Lamay, Pollinator Pathway Facilitator for the Hudson to Housatonic Regional Conservation Partnership.
“The National Arboretum, its Introductions and Modern Research,” with Dr. Richard Olsen, Director of the U.S. National Arboretum.
“Low-Maintenance, Low-Water Groundcovers for Turf Replacement,” with Kathy Jentz, club member and garden writer, author of the recent book Groundcover Revolution.
“Introduction to Forest Gardening” includes the history and practice of agroforestry and the evolution of Forested, LLC as a forest garden since 2011.
Our virtual speaker is Arman Milanian, Volunteer Coordinator at Forested in Bowie, MD. He recently presented a well-received talk at Rooting DC related to this topic.
“Epimediums: Jewels of the Shade” with Karen Perkins, the retired owner of Garden Vision Epimediums.
“Ecological Gardening/Design” with Drew Asberry, Horticulturalist, Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. His talk will include examples from Hillwood.
Knockout Natives
Join Sam Hoadley, the Manager of Horticultural Research at Mt. Cuba Center, as he highlights knockout native species and cultivars from our trials. Top performers and favorites of Coreopsis, Baptisia, Monarda, Phlox, Helenium, Echinacea, and wild hydrangea represent some of the best native plants for the mid-Atlantic region and beyond. Sam will discuss their horticultural and ecological performance and will share important information on standouts that will make beautiful additions to your garden.
Sam Hoadley is the Manager of Horticultural Research at Mt. Cuba Center where he evaluates native plant species, old and new cultivars, and hybrids in the Trial Garden. Sam earned his degree in Sustainable Landscape Horticulture from the University of Vermont.
