Join us for this free & open to the public lecture on hydrangeas

This lecture focuses on the key points that gardeners should consider before they invest in a hydrangea. With over 600 cultivars to select from, it’s easy to select a plant based on some attributes only to find that it will definitely not be the “right plant in the right place.” The seven species are identified, examples of each are provided, and their best use in the landscape. 

Saturday, June 28, 2025

10:30 AM

Richards Memorial Library
44 Richards Ave. Paxton MA

About the Presenter: Kathie Skinner is a Lifetime Master Gardener, the past Education Coordinator and past Master Gardener Training Coordinator for the MMGA. She is a retired educator with over 40 years teaching and administering in K-12. She currently does education policy research and writing for various state and national education organizations. 

Join us for an afternoon in the Garden. 

PMAGC  member Joan Laracy, has graciously offered to let us tour her gardens; drop in anytime between 1 and 5. This sprawling 1 acre property abuts Asnebumskit Ridge and features stunning perennial gardens featuring roses, dahlias and other unique specimens.  

Sunday, June 29, 2025

1-5 PM (drop in)

Paxton MA

Please note this is for FY25-26 PMAGC Members only

Join us for this free & open to the public lecture on spiders.

Are you looking for something a little different? Possibly a topic suitable for a late October/Halloween meeting? Actually, this talk is great for any time of the year as an opportunity to learn more about a very underappreciated group of garden arthropods. Spiders are valuable apex predators in our gardens. This talk, shared from a spider expert In Indiana, includes pictures and descriptions of a wide variety of different spiders.   

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

6:30 PM

Paxton COA
17 West St. Paxton MA

About the Presenter: Bonnie Power has been a Massachusetts Master Gardener since 2016 (now a Lifetime MG) and member of the MMGA Speakers Bureau since 2018…and a serious outdoor/indoor gardener most of her life. Curious and research-oriented by nature, she has many horticultural interests and areas of expertise. Bonnie holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Zoology, which informs her perspective on the management of garden insects. She is a member of the MGA Soil pH Testing team and also volunteer guide at Garden in the Woods, a Native Plant Trust botanical garden in Framingham. She learned to grow vegetables as a child from her father, and flowers and houseplants from her mother. Early in her marriage her father-in-law provided her first lessons in organic gardening.  At home in Marlborough, Bonnie grows a variety of vegetables and ornamentals (with a bias for natives). 

Join us for this free & open to the public lecture on mushrooms!

They can delight, sicken, enlighten, or kill. They’re mushrooms, the fruiting bodies of an otherwise invisible world of fungi hidden in our forests, lawns…and flowerpots. Join Certified Field Naturalist Jonathan Kranz as he reveals what mushrooms are and how they live; reviews the most common and most spectacular mushrooms in our region of New England; identifies the most delicious mushrooms to eat; and teaches the basics of safe mushroom foraging.

Thursday, August 14, 2025

6 PM

Richards Memorial Library
44 Richards Ave. Paxton MA

About the Presenter: Jonathan Kranz is a MA Audubon Certified Field Naturalist who leads mushroom walks and talks for libraries, land trusts, clubs, and other interest groups in southern New England. He currently serves as vice president of the oldest mushroom club in North America, the Boston Mycological Club, and is a board member of the Pioneer Valley Mycological Association. He lives with his family in a former funeral home in Ayer, where he is chair of the Planning Board.