Program Schedule
Meetings are typically held the first Monday of the month. In the event of a public holiday the meetings are moved to the next Monday. Meetings are held at The Woodland, 60 Woodland Ave, Maplewood, NJ, at 7:30 p.m. All meetings are free and open to the public.
September 2025
Monday, September 8, at 7:30 PM
Subject: Trees Through The Seasons
Speaker: Jan Godek
“Trees Through The Seasons” is an inspired look, through the eyes of a landscape designer, of how trees change through the four seasons of the year in our area. You will see a variety of trees and how different they appear from season to season. The program has a special emphasis on small ornamental trees suitable for homeowners who have smaller properties or spaces. Its educational component focuses on the many differentiating features of trees, including leaves, shapes, branching habits, flowers and fruits, bark, sun/shade preference and level of disease resistance. Many of the slides were taken at arboretums and public gardens in the tri-state area. These places are mentioned in the presentation to encourage viewers to plan day trips to enjoy/learn more about trees.
Biography
Jan is a long-standing member of the Washington Township Shade Tree Committee and The Garden Club of Long Valley. She has a degree in landscape design from the County College of Morris and was a volunteer tour guide at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morristown for several years. She has had a fascination with and love of trees since childhood.
Please see Jan’s material on finding specimen trees locally here.
October 2025
Monday, October 6, at 7:30 PM
Subject: Mushroom Basics: Growing for Food & Health
Speaker: Ayesha Dolasa
Fungi are a diverse kingdom, with many species offering food and medicinal properties. This talk will discuss the basics of mushroom cultivation for various species, highlighting their nutritional and medicinal benefits. We will review different methods for growing mushrooms, including indoor and outdoor setups.
Practical advice is also provided on controlling environmental factors for successful cultivation. We will discuss mushroom varieties such as shiitake, wine caps, reishi, oyster and lion’s mane mushrooms.
Biography
Ayesha has a Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Environmental Engineering and worked as a consultant in the field for over 20 years. In 2017, she founded Noble Mushrooms with her husband, which sells USDA certified organic mushrooms at farmers markets and to wholesale accounts. The main varietiesof mushrooms produced include several species of the oyster mushroom, lion’s mane mushroom, reishi, turkey tail, maitake, pioppino, chestnut, nameko, and beech mushrooms and cordyceps. Noble Mushrooms supplies the cultivation products (cultures, spawn, mushroom blocks etc.) to local farms so they can grow their own mushrooms and also sells direct to consumers online. Educational classes are offered throughout the year, as well as currently hosting the Cultivation Curiosity calls for the New Jersey Mycological Association.
November 2025
Monday, November 3, at 7:30 PM
Subject: New Ideas from English Gardeners
Speaker: Marta McDowell
Wake up your beds and borders with fresh ideas from across the pond. This lecture takes a peek at design techniques and plant combinations from contemporary gardens as different as the Eden Project and the Thames Barrier Park. Take inspiration from new designers at the Chelsea Flower Show as well as the horticulturists responsible for breathing new life into historic gardens like Great Dixter.
Biography
Marta is a frequent MGC speaker. She teaches landscape history and horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden and is a popular lecturer and writer. Her latest book is Gardening Can Be Murder, about the horticultural connections to crime fiction. Timber Press also published Unearthing The Secret Garden, Emily Dickinson’s Gardening Life, The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder, New York Times bestselling All the Presidents’ Gardens, and Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life, now in its ninth printing. She was the 2019 recipient of the Garden Club of America’s Sarah Chapman Francis Medal for outstanding literary achievement.
December 2025
Monday, December 8, at 7:30 PM
Subject: Back to the Garden: Art Inspired by Nature
Speaker: Lois Bender
Lois Bender’s slideshow talk will explore the History of Garden Styles from antiquity’s Persian Gardens to European Gardens, Gardens of the East and today’s modern contemporary designs, and show some of her artwork inspired by gardens and flowers. She advocates for art about gardens, following the words of legendary Joni Mitchell’s song “Woodstock”: “We have to get ourselves back to the Garden!”
Biography
Lois is a New York artist who interprets varied nature and garden themes, creating a fresh mix of painting, mixed media and printmaking. GardenSpiritsNY, her design brand with a national and international presence, grew out of her retail art direction experience (Godiva Chocolates) and her role as a retail product designer at The New York Botanical Garden. She was born into her aesthetic garden sensibility as the daughter of Flora Bloom and granddaughter of Hortense Bloom. She founded a non-profit called GardenSpiritsNY which provides funds for gardens to support contemporary artists creating art inspired by their gardens. She speaks about her artist experiences painting gardens and is an advocate for art about gardens.
January 2026
Monday, January 5, at 7:30 PM
Subject: Celebrating 250 Years of American Horticulture
Speaker: Barbara Melera
The native plants and extraordinary plant developments that America has shared with the world. Since 1492 when Columbus arrived in the Caribbean, the American continents have been introducing the world to some of the most incredible, dramatic, fantastic, delicious and beautiful plants, fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs the world has ever known. The Spanish may have come looking for gold and precious gems, but what they discovered was horticultural gold and the gems of the plant kingdom that would forever enrich the lives of every living thing on this planet.
This lecture is divided into two parts: the first part describes three of the most significant American plant developments affecting the lives and/or gardens of all the people of this planet; and the second part tells the little known story of the unique role that American horticulture played in the founding of The United States of America. Very little research has been done to organize and detail the important contributions America has made to the horticultural splendor of this planet. If you love history and have an interest in or passion for gardening, this is a lecture for you and well worth your time.
Biography
Barbara, who you may remember from last year’s program on citrus trees, is president of Harvesting History Heirlooms LLC, a horticultural company founded in 2016. For 13 years, she was president and CEO of The D. Landreth Seed Company, the oldest seedhouse in America established in 1784, and the fourth oldest US corporation. Prior to purchasing Landreth, Barbara was the Managing Partner of Tritech Partners, LLP, a seed stage venture capital partnership which invested in early stage technology enterprises in the Mid-Atlantic region.
February 2026
Monday, February 2, at 7:30 PM
Subject: Bees, Invasive Bugs & More
Speaker: Eileen M. Hyland
This program is a review of the making of a Beekeeper and includes how honey is made and harvested. The discussion covers nectar flows, swarming and invasive creatures, as well as the role of the spotted lantern fly with regard to honey. This presentation will dispel myths and misconceptions about bees and raise awareness of these incredible insects that are so important to human life.
Biography
Eileen is an enthusiastic Beekeeper from Montclair, New Jersey. She operates Stately Hyland Apiaries, also in Montclair. Eileen’s interest in beekeeping began in 2017 as a student of the Rutgers Master Gardeners of Essex County and taking part in the organization’s “package install” of bees at their Roseland location.
A Certified Master Gardener, Eileen is presently on her way to achieving Eastern Apiculture Society (EAS) Master Beekeeping Certification. Her practical experience includes raising queen bees and nucleus hives, rural farmland beekeeping and commercial apiary inspections. Eileen is also familiar with urban rooftop beekeeping at several locations including the Liberty Science Center.
March 2026
Monday, March 2, at 7:30 PM
Subject: Shade Gardens
Speaker: Dr. Hubert Ling
Does your yard have shady areas where not much of anything grows? Well many native shade plants and spring ephemerals can fill the niche. We will discuss who they are, where to get them and why they are important. We will also discuss how to grow them and fill up your bare spots with color and interest!
Biography
Hubert has been excited about nature starting in his youth when he had to pass a test to go to a nature camp. His interest led him to an M.S. in Botany, a Ph.D. in Biology, and an RN. He went on to work in industry and academia focusing on microbiology, mycology, botany, and general biology. He has served on the board for the NJ Native Plant Society almost since its inception and is a past president. He is an avid native plant gardener who has shared his expertise as consultant, speaker, and field trip leader for various organizations. He is now retired from academia and nursing, but he is the NPSNJ Horticulture Chair and a monthly contributing writer for the “Gardener News”.
April 2026
Monday, April 6, at 7:30 PM
Subject: 89th Annual Plant Sale
Speaker: MGC Plant Sale Committee
Get some behind-the-scenes glimpses of New Jersey’s “Big Momma of Plant Sales” and learn what makes the sale so popular and so much fun. We’ll also preview some of the many (many!) perennials, annuals, herbs and other special and unique plants that draw shoppers from all over the region and beyond.
May 2026
Monday, May 4, at 7:30 PM
Subject: Growing Beautiful Food
Speakers: Matthew Benson
“Growing Beautiful Food” is a chronicle of growing food and living sustainably as a transformative experience, with all the joy, folly, work and wonder of it told through evocative words and photographs.
With his organic farm (Stonegate Farm) as a backdrop, Matthew Benson’s Benson’s program offers insight into the history and practice of farming as an art form, as both ornament and nourishment, as well as an examination of the broken politics of our current food system. The program shows that almost anyone can take their preened, green patch of grass or garden and turn it into a vibrant, local food¬shed. By exploring the idea of integrating edibles into the flower garden, and transitioning aesthetic gardeners into food growers, the suburban lot becomes a hallmark of the paradigm shift towards a more local, sustainable lifestyle.
At the heart and soul of “Growing Beautiful Food” are seasonal observations on the rhythms of small farm life, from madly swarming bees and wayward chickens to harvesting miraculous floral salads or making quince preserves. These observations are integrated into a field guide for backyard food growers, with detailed growing advice for growing extraordinary crops, ranging from salad greens, fruiting vegetables, tree fruit and berries to cut flowers, bees, and chickens.
Biography
Matthew is a contributing editor and television spokesman for Rodale’s Organic Gardening. He writes and photographs frequently on issues of small-scale farming, sustainability, organics, and food justice. He is on the National Speakers Tour for the Garden Clubs of America and lectures widely on Garden and Landscape Photography.