Lectures

Making beautiful places is what Gardeners are about. My slide lectures help you do that. Each lecture provides techniques and ways of thinking that will teach and inspire you to create your own beautiful gardens. Information- packed- handouts provide reference information later when you start your project.

Maria lectures to Garden Clubs and Plant Societies throughout New England. She has led several symposiums for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, lectures at the New England Flower Show and taught courses, workshops, classes for Radcliffe Seminars Landscape Design Program. She has spoken at Russells Garden Center's Winter Garden Fair, the New Canaan Nature Symposium, the Perennial Plant Conference at UConn, the Ecological Landscaping Association Winter Conference. Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum (blithewold.org) - Spring Symposium, Gardening in the North Country Annual Conference, Sagamore Resort, New York, and Central South District Annual Meeting, GCFM. Additionally, she co-led a weekend workshop for Rowe Conference Center, and was a featured lecturer for Fine Gardening Magazine's New England Regional Conference. Maria appeared on Globe at Home interviewed by Carol Stocker and on the Dream Gardens segment on New England Channel News. Maria, formerly a contributing editor to LandShapes Magazine, writes a blog entitled a garden makers' notes.

Handouts accompany all lectures. (Click here for Maria's short bio for lecture introductions).

For a printable list and descriptions of Maria's lectures click here.

An Ecological Garden Maker's Roots and Design Work

Introduces teachers, books, world views, wild environments, and methods that have influenced my work and ground the creative process of an earth friendly landscape. Examples of different client projects (Traditional, Contemporary, Minimalist, etc) show the beautiful results possible with ecologically designed gardens.

Create Winning Perennial Combinations Using Color and Texture Basics

Ideas for both the sunny and shady border from spring through fall.  Color theory and texture are introduced as design tools to create your own winning combinations. Lecture variations and a workshop are available. The variation Early Spring thru Mid- summer or Mid-summer thru Fall fits nicely in the 45 minute lecture time for garden clubs. Workshop description see below.

Welcoming Entry Gardens Design Basics Using Perennials

Design and planting solutions for entry gardens that are pretty and welcoming. Three types of entry gardens are considered:  street (often a two-way garden), driveway, and dooryard to formal or family entrances.  Slides feature perennials, flowering shrubs, trees, and conifers in urban, suburban, or rural settings.

Expand Your Bloom with Flowering Trees and Shrubs

Flowering trees and shrubs distinguish older landscapes from modern ones. While some people plant spring flowering, few plant summer flowering.  Many are fragrant, native, and need little care.  They add beauty and special value to your landscape. This lecture also includes information about combining native flowering/berrying plants in a shrub border/wildlife corridor to attract birds, butterflies.

Revival Style Dooryard Gardens for Antique and Contemporary Colonial Homes

Provide a beautiful alternative to the sterile, look-alike, overgrown foundation plantings. Historical and contemporary examples from New England gardens illustrate the possibilities

Shade Gardening: Design Ideas, Choice Perennials, and Combinations

New Englanders are challenged to plant in shady conditions. What is shade, really? Whether under trees, skirting woodlands, or north facing yards, this lecture features great shade gardens and choice plants. Flower, foliage, great combinations of perennials. Elements of garden design and shade definition included.

It's All About Place: Creating Perennial Garden Settings

Illustrates garden rooms and their archetypal forms that show off your plant combinations, provide a sense of place, provide structure that screens/protects gardens from NW winter winds and undesirable views, provides winter interest, and add depth and mass to a perennial garden.

Vertical Gardening: Plants that Flower Up and Around

Vine and wall plants grow on structures that create the walls of outdoor rooms. Ornamental vines, perennial, annual, edible and wall plants add texture, flower, berry, and fragrance and sometimes fruit to the structures.  Slides show both examples of vertical gardening from both historical and modern gardens and choice examples of individual plants.

Contemplative or Healing Gardens Elements to Inspire Your Own

Sculpture and garden patterns from a multiple of spiritual disciplines inspire you to create your own sanctuary or contemplative spaces.

Workshops

Create Winning Perennial Combinations Using Color, Texture, and Bloom Sequence Basics

A two hour hands-on workshop designed to teach color theory for effective plant combinations and sequence of bloom. Participants will create their own personal garden color wheel and learn the system for creating bloom sequence in the landscape.

Availability and Cost

Lectures are available from October through March with some dates in April.

Small Group (Garden Clubs): $350.00 (Workshop $450). Conferences & Symposium $750. All fees plus travel expenses (mileage 40.5, lodging, meals), handout costs (based on number of attendees) are payable on lecture date. References are available.

Please call or email to reserve your lecture date.