Registration now open.
Fall Gardening Know-How Series
Four 1-1/2 hour online sessions - one week night per week for 4 weeks.
Wednesday evenings, 7:00-8:30 PM
August 6, 13, 20 & 27, 2025
Join us ONLINE for a Fall Gardening Series!
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Plan your 2026 garden this fall with an all-new Fall Gardening Know-How Series.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND: The Know-How Series is tailored to meet the needs of both novice and experienced gardeners, reflecting the Massachusetts Master Gardeners Association's commitment to science-based education. Our sessions are led by senior Massachusetts Master Gardeners, who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to foster a supportive learning environment. Participants will receive handouts for most sessions, enhancing their understanding of the material. Additionally, there will be ample opportunity for live Q&A, allowing for active engagement and interaction with our expert speakers.
TOPICS: At the MMGA, we love to talk about gardening and horticulture. But we also like to listen. We’ve selected four timely topics based on countless discussions with home gardeners to create our four-week Fall Gardening Know-How Series with all new topics:
Peonies: Love of my Life: Go back in time to the origin of peonies and learn a bit about their history. The “how to” part of this presentation will teach you to select, install, care for and divide these beautiful and much-loved plants. Then sit back and feast your eyes on a colorful photographic showcase of the many different varieties and types of peonies.
Invasive Plants: What Can Gardeners Do? Learn what is meant when we say that a plant is “invasive”, why we should be aware of invasive plants, what gardeners can do about them, and how to identify some plants that are considered invasive in Massachusetts.
Forcing Bulbs: Forcing bulbs is easy and fun. In the depths of the New England winter we all long for a little color and sunshine. Forcing bulbs in autumn can bring fragrance, color, and joy to the holiday season. Forcing spring bulbs lets us enjoy the beauty and fragrance of spring a few weeks early and helps to make the last weeks of winter bearable. Learn about the history of bulbs, which bulbs are best for forcing, and how and why they are able to be forced.
Lawns and Lawn Alternatives: Lawns are imported garden fixtures from places with cool, wet summers. Here a “perfect” lawn is a major drain on water supplies, a source of pollution, and a lot of work. Look at options for tailoring your lawn and your lawn care to fit your needs, potentially eliminating hundreds of hours of labor and expensive treatments every year. The talk will include some discussion of alternatives to the traditional grass lawn.
FALL KNOW-HOW SERIES PRESENTERS are senior Massachusetts Master Gardeners (MGs) who are passionate subject matter experts and trained speakers.
Christine Paxhia has been a Massachusetts Master Gardener since 2012. Her appreciation and admiration for “growing things” started as a child on woodland hikes with her mother. At the age of ten she saw her first peony; today her Milton home garden is filled with 38 varieties (and growing!). A member of the Milton Garden Club, Christine is a Garden Club of America Photography Judge. She is the MMGA’s Project Manager for the Fletcher Steele Garden, Milton, which is home to an impressive peony collection. Christine is a graduate of the MMGA Speakers Bureau Training Program.
Melissa Flinn has been gardening for over 25 years. She earned her certification as a Massachusetts Master Gardener in 2023. Her background includes teaching, working as a conservation ranger, and volunteering as a board member for a town conservation trust. She currently works as a software technical writer and enjoys living on the North Shore of Massachusetts.
Kathi Gariepy is a former special needs preschool and kindergarten teacher who has been gardening since she was a child. She is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, volunteering more than 10,000 hours, past Vice President of the MMGA, past chair of the Master Gardener Advisory Board, past president of the Attleboro Garden Club. Kathi is a Landscape Design Consultant and on the Gardening Study Council. She has worked with the Master Gardener training program and the Caterpillar Club, in Weezie’s Garden for Children at Elm Bank, as well as being an active member of the MMGA Speakers’ Bureau. Kathi has worked as lead teacher for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, education coordinator for MassAudubon and studied landscape design at Rhode Island School of Design. She is also the recipient of the MMGA’s Lifetime Achievement Award (the Golden Trowel) and the MHS Silver Medal and is currently the chair of the Attleboro Conservation Commission. Kathi teaches children and adults about the wonders of nature. She also owns the garden design company Pleasant Vistas. Kathi lives in an old farmhouse with perennial borders, herb gardens, a vegetable garden, grapes, blueberries, raspberries and some very old, still producing, apple trees.
Gretel Anspach is a Trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon. She won the MMGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. Gretel established and maintains a 20,000 square foot food production garden that has provided fresh produce to the Marlboro and Maynard Food Pantries for the last ten years. Her primary interest and focus is always in the science behind horticulture.
COST: The cost of the four-lecture Fall Gardening Know-How Series is $60.00, payable online by credit/debit card or PayPal. Classes are not available individually. Price includes a number of handouts and live Q&A time with speakers.
Grow your gardening skills - Join MMGA’s online
Fall Gardening Know-How Series
August 6, 13, 20, and 27, 2025
To ensure everyone has a great educational experience, space is limited. Registration closes once we are full or August 3rd, 2025. Refunds for series cancellations must be requested by August 3rd, 2025. Refunds not available for individual missed classes.
Have questions about how to register, class payment or other related topics? Please see answers to frequently asked questions here
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Email us at KnowHow@MassMasterGardeners.org
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