Monthly programs take place at each Somerville Garden Club monthly meeting. The SGC meets on the second Wednesday of every month 7:00–9:00pm at the Tufts Administration Building (TAB), 167 Holland St., second floor. The meetings are open to the public and are wheelchair accessible.

January 13 – The ‘Annual Potluck Dinner’ will be held to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the Somerville Garden Club! Bring an appetizer, veggie, pasta, entree, or dessert to share. There will also be a digital photo presentation of SGC present and former images of the annual plant sale.

February 10 – Excerpts from the video “Urban & Suburban Meadows: Bringing Meadowscaping to Big and Small Spaces,” created by Catherine Zimmerman and produced by The Meadow Project will be shown. The video focuses on the diversity of life inhabiting a meadow and the intricate connection between native plants, native insects and soil. The video details the process of making a meadow from site preparation, design, and planting to annual maintenance.

March 9 – Learn about the systems employed to run the Lams’ specialty cut flower farm, from crop planning to harvest techniques, including their favorite flower varieties, tools, and suppliers for the home gardener. Grace Lam, the lead farmer at Fivefork Farms, a family flower farm location on 38-acres in Upton, MA, will be presenting. Fivefork Farms uses sustainable and organic growing methods to produce specialty cut flowers for their farm’s Flower CSA Program, 2 weekly farmers’ markets, and for wholesale to discerning grocers, florists, and designers in Boston, Providence and surrounding communities.

April 13 – Luisa Oliviera, from the Somerville OSPCD/Division of Parks and Open Space, will give a talk about the city’s new open space and recreation plan (OSRP). The OSRP is a 5-year, city-wide action plan that Somerville uses to secure certain state grants, and serves as a public record of the city’s open space data, goals, and strategic vision.

May 11 – Gretel Anspach, member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Board of Trustees, will give a talk about Urban Gardening. She will cover alternatives to the standard sources for light, water and nutrients that plants need for people who don’t have much space, or perhaps no yards at all. Her talk also touches on container gardening and hydroponics.

June 8 – Roundtable demos by three Somerville Garden Club members. Chris Little will be demonstrating How to Wire Bonsai, Dorothy Africa is conducting a discussion on Hardscaping in the Garden, and Evelyn Persoff will present Latin for Gardeners. Each of the presenters will give three, twenty-minute workshops during the one hour program; allowing participants a chance to move to each table and enjoy all three presentations.

July 13 – Hosta collector and Lifetime Master Gardener, Mary Arnberg, will give a talk titled “Hostas: The Practically Perfect Perennial”. Arnberg will both educate and entertain with up-to-date information on hosta favorites, new and old, as well as tips on how to grow them well, and use them to advantage in your garden.

August 10 – This meeting focuses on the ‘Garden Bounty’ grown by Somerville Garden Club members. Members will share samples of fresh or cooked produce from their own gardens, and talk about growing the produce and how it was prepared. There will also be a group exchange of gardening questions and answers.

September 14 – ‘ Favorite Garden Tools and Tales’ meeting; Somerville Garden Club members tell their favorite garden stories and/or bring in their favorite gardening implements for show-and-tell.

October 19 – (3rd Wednesday of month) – Mona McKindley, will give a presentation on, ‘Preservation Gardening in National Park Service Properties: Alice Longfellow’s Garden and Frederick Law Olmsted’s Fairsted.’ Mona works with a team of National Park Service specialists in restoring these estates to a specific time period.

November 9 – Susanne Lucas, Executive Director of the World Bamboo Organization, horticulturist, designer, landscape gardener and consultant based in Plymouth, Massachusetts, will give a talk about ‘Bamboo.’  She will cover recommended cold-hardy bamboo species, culture, expectations, and control of running rhizomes, particularly as appropriate for Somerville’s small urban gardens.

December 14 – The video shown at this meeting, A Man Named Pearl, is an uplifting documentary that introduces us to Pearl Fryar, a self-taught topiary artist who creates an award-winning garden for his community to enjoy. Members will talk about photos they have taken of local garden topiary’s in the Somerville/Cambridge area.