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Garden Talks
Throughout the year I offer talks and seminars for organizations such as garden clubs and Master Gardener chapters. My experience, both as a gardener and as a practicing landscape designer, is the wellspring for all my presentations. Each talk, generously illustrated with superb photographs of Vermont gardens, lasts about an hour.
If you want a talk on a special topic let me know; I can often customize a talk for your group. I can also combine two or more talks to create a longer seminar. Your organization might want to sponsor such a seminar and open it to the public as a fundraiser.
Contact me for more information about scheduling a talk. My normal fee for a one-hour talk is $100.00 plus a travel cost of $0.50 a mile to and from Goshen.
Here is a list of my talks that are currently available:
Your Garden by Design
We all want a garden that is pleasing yet practical, one that reflects our dreams and lifestyle, responds to our site and environment -- a garden that is truly a part of our life and our home. In this talk I show you how to design your personal garden using a series of manageable steps, while allowing plenty of room for creativity along the way.
A Garden for All Seasons
We would all like our gardens to be a parade of color throughout the summer and a picture of abstract beauty in winter. The foundation of any garden ‘for all seasons’ is its compelling design framework. I will examine several inspiring examples of this. Our ‘garden for all seasons’ requires shrubs and perennials that provide gorgeous color from April to October. I will show you how to create and use a bloom-time chart to record the flowering times of your favorite plants and to develop planting schemes for season long color. I conclude with a pictorial essay of the cadence of the seasons, from the yellow greens of spring, to the crescendo of summer flowers and the highlights of autumn, finishing with the special wonders of winter.
White Magic: a Vermont Garden in Winter
Our Vermont winter landscape can be breathtakingly beautiful, with simple shapes and stark shadows silhouetted against a sparkling backdrop of white. But sometimes the view from our own windows seems more like a hospital sheet than a New England Christmas card. This need not be. Like the wider landscape, the winter garden can be ravishing, serene and certainly always changing.
This talk, illustrated throughout with beautiful photographs of Vermont gardens, shows you how to design your garden as much for the forgotten months of winter as for the colorful days of summer. It looks at the essential building blocks of a winter garden and how to position them, the ways of creating interesting highlights of color and texture, and the trees, shrubs and perennials that really stand out in a snowy landscape.
Winter should not be merely a time to tolerate while waiting for spring, but rather a season of beauty to savor and enjoy.
(Click here for talk notes - Part 1) . . . . . (Click here for talk notes - Part 2)
Creating a Sustainable Garden
A sustainable garden is a magical place where we can connect with the natural world and be nourished now and in the years to come. It is both earth-friendly and easy to maintain. This talk begins by looking at how to apply the concept of sustainability to pleasure gardens. I will then discuss ways to make our own gardens more sustainable; how to choose the right plants for each place in the garden; and how our individual gardening practices can positively impact our wider world.
(Click here for workshop notes - Part 1) . . . . .(Click here for workshop notes - Part 2)
Inspirations From the Land
Vermont ’s spectacular rural landscape -- with its mountains, farms and canopied forests -- inspires gardens that reflect this beauty.
This talk begins by looking at images of our landscape, from wide-open fields to running brooks and beckoning woodland paths. I will then explore how these images inspire different forms for our personal outdoor spaces and how when combined, we will have a garden that is rooted in its surroundings and captures the spirit of our rural environment.
Three easy projects to make your garden come alive
Everybody loves colorful flowers, but not everyone wants the commitment of a large garden. In this talk I will walk you through three easy self-contained projects that will make your garden sing. For each project I look at what to do and what to avoid. I will also suggest a medley of plants for season-long color that thrive in our northern climate.
Hidden Gems and Grand Designs:
An Insiders Guide to North Country Gardens
Join us as we set out on a series of virtual driving tours, fully illustrated with beautiful photographs. Experience the best gardens within a day's drive of central Vermont, from the well known to the unknown, and make plans to visit them in person at a later date. Learn about the origins of the gardens and what to look for during your visit.
(Click here for talk notes - Part 1) . . . . .(Click here for talk notes - Part 2)
How to Make a Beautiful Garden
Learn about the best perennials and shrubs for Vermont gardens and how to grow them.
(Click here for talk notes.)
Click here to see more photographs of Judith's Garden.
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What a delightful afternoon spent listening to your talk on landscape design! On behalf of our garden club, thank you for showing us how to create and surround ourselves with both a useful and pleasant environment. J. B., Rutland |
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Thank you for your design presentation at our Landscaping with Perennials program last month. Your wealth of experience and information on such a popular topic was valuable to everyone, including me! A. I., Westport, NY |
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Once again your presentation was fabulous. The slides are incredible, your expertise incredible and everything else so inspiring. M. B., Norwich |
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I personally want to say how much my friends and I enjoyed your talk on the Winter Garden. You have opened my eyes to a new way of making the long Vermont winter months much more enjoyable! K. C., Rutland |
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Thanks ever so much for your wonderful presentation last night. We learned a great deal. Your Power Point mastery is impressive! B. A., Salisbury |
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