Just in time for the growing season come learn the basics of floral design using seasonal flowers sourced from flower farmers in Massachusetts. Sam's Stems will guide participants through creating their own beautiful arrangement to take home. 

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

6:30-8:30 PM

Paxton COA

Cost $12 members. $15 non-members

Sign Up here: https://forms.gle/rV5seXwdYtjTVqmD8

Space is limited to 20 participants. Advanced signup and payment is required. 

Join us as we celebrate our 3rd membership year in the Reservoir Room at the Stonehouse on the Hill.

This year's program will consist of brief business meeting, buffet lunch & desert, lecture with Scott Lehto (see below) and self-tour of the gardens.

Saturday, May 31, 2025

11 AM to 2 PM

Stonehouse on the Hill

314 Stone House Hill Rd., Holden MA

Cost $30 per person

Sign Up to Attend the 3rd Annual Meeting:

https://forms.gle/WxTApWmkme5bHKdeA

Space is limited to 70 attendees. Advanced signup and payment is required. Please note this event is for current 2024-25 PMAGC members only. Guests and 2025-26 members are not eligible to attend.

"Giant Pumpkin Growing and the Secrets of Soil Health, Fertility, and Biology" with Scott Lehto

Explore the fascinating world of giant pumpkin growing and discover how it can make you a better gardener. Join Scott Lehto, a competitive grower and soil health expert, as he shares his journey to growing record-breaking pumpkins and how the same principles of soil health, fertility, and microbiology can be applied to all gardening situations, whether it be growing better petunias, cucumbers, or roses.

Scott will delve into the technology, fertility analysis, and soil microbiology that underpin successful growing. He’ll also demonstrate how soil testing and hands-on analysis can improve your gardening results. Attendees are encouraged to bring a small soil sample for live analysis using Scott’s microscope, time permitting.

Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just starting out, this session promises valuable insights and practical tips to help you maximize your yields and enhance your gardening skills.

About the Presenter: Scott Lehto is a Senior Scientist at Comprehensive Environmental Inc. and a competitive grower based in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Specializing in giant pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, and sunflowers, Scott is passionate about soil health and its role in successful farming. His expertise includes soil microbiology, chemistry, and fertility management, which he combines with his hands-on experience in competitive growing. In 2024, his son Alistair won the Youth Division at the Ridgefield, NH weigh-off with a 729-pound pumpkin, while Scott earned a blue ribbon for his family-best 1,156-pound pumpkin. Scott enjoys sharing his knowledge and inspiring others to explore the fascinating world of soil science. 

We will be at the annual Paxton Days event. 

Stop by to renew/join PMAGC,  pickup plants, floral arrangements or just to to say "Hi"!

Saturday, June 14, 2025

10 AM to 3 PM

Center Fields & Bandstand, Paxton MA
(rain venue is Paxton Center School)

Help Run the Booth, Sign up Here: https://forms.gle/Co4YgUHnLzHXBQgGA

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 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.

Tuesday, 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.