Meetings
One of the great benefits of the Bedford Garden Club is our presentations. We hold monthly meetings with a great variety of guest speakers who speak on a plethora of topics related to perennial, annual and vegetable gardening; trees; fruits and berries; flower arranging and wreath creation; cooking and more. In addition, we conduct special workshops, many of them hands-on, and also hold field trips to visit wonderful gardens, public and private.
Program Schedule – 2025/2026
ALL programs are open to the public, unless otherwise stated as “Members Only“.
Tuesday, August 27, 2025, Barn at Job Lane Farm Museum, 295 North Rd. 5:00 pm: Social period. 5:30 – 8:00 pm: Bedford Garden Club Book Club. Bring a bag dinner for discussion of the book, Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard, by Douglas W. Tallamy.
Douglas W. Tallamy’s book outlines his vision for a grassroots approach to conservation. It offers practical suggestions how homeowners can turn their yards into conservation corridors that provide wildlife habitats.
Tallamy’s methodology relies on the initiatives of private individuals, not government, to help preserve wildlife for future generations.
Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, his earlier book, Bringing Nature Home, educated readers about the decline of wildlife populations due to the disappearance of the native plants they depend upon, in particular, natives that support native pollinators and caterpillars.
Jana Milbocker
Tuesday, September 9, 2025, First Church of Christ, Congregational, 25 The Great Rd. EVENING PROGRAM: 6:00 pm: Social period. 6:30 pm: Meeting and guest speaker Jana Milbocker on Fall scaping: Extending the Season.
Bakers: Lisa Di Sanzo, Heather Day, Beth Taylor
Interested in keeping the garden beautiful and interesting beyond mums and asters? Want to extend the season?
Guest speaker Jana Milbocker will provide tips on adding beauty to your gardens in the sweet, golden days of autumn with flowers, shrubs, trees, and vines that shine during this season. She will describe plants with colorful blooms, rich foliage and dramatic seed heads, and teach strategies that will guide gardeners in designing a vibrant fall garden.
Jana is an avid gardener, designer, speaker, and author. She combines horticulture, design, and travel tips to educate, inspire, and delight both new and seasoned gardeners. Jana loves to visit gardens and historic sites and share her trips through her books, photos, and blog.
The owner of Enchanted Gardens, Jana has authored travel guides and has lectured at flower shows, horticultural societies, garden clubs, and libraries.
Saturday, September 20, 2025, Bedford Day. 10 am-2 pm: Bedford Garden Club’s Bedford Day Booth in the parking lot next to Town Hall.
Bedford Day is the celebration of the Town’s incorporation on September 23, 1729. The Club’s booth will be located on the west side of Town Hall. Club members are always needed to volunteer as salespeople and cashiers.
Kathy Leva
Tuesday, October 14, 2025, First Church of Christ, Congregational, 25 The Great Rd. 9:30 am: Social period. 10 am: Meeting and Fun with Flowers, a floral design demonstration by guest speaker Kathy Leva.
Bakers: Katie Durham, Ruth Beauchesne, Christine Johnston
Floral design is an easy and enjoyable way to be creative!
Kathy Leva will present simple steps in floral design that will support self- expression in the creation of beautiful flower arrangements.
As a recent past Middlesex District Director for the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts (GCFM), Kathy attended some of the Bedford Garden Club’s activities while serving in that position.
She is a GCFM Master Flower Show Judge in Floral Design and Horticulture. She has participated in numerous flower shows, including the Boston, Newport RI, Topsfield, Marshfield, and Tower Hill flower shows, winning an Honorable Mention at the Boston Flower and Garden Show.
An avid gardener, she is Past President of the Arlington Garden Club and current President of the Lexington Field & Garden Club.
She also volunteers at The Crane Estate in Ipswich, serving on the Gardening Team. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time in her gardens, and raising a flock of chickens.
Kathy retired from Mass General Hospital in Boston after working 38 years in the medical field. She now works part time as a florist and in the Wilmington Public Schools.
Gretel Anspach
Tuesday, November 11, 2025, First Church of Christ, Congregational, 25 The Great Rd. 9:30 am: Social period. 10 am: Meeting and guest speaker Gretel Anspach on Native New England Flora.
Bakers: Chris Lipson, Dawn Warrington, Judy Watkins
This presentation by Master Gardener Gretel Anspach will focus on the native plants of New England. Plants native to our region are easier to maintain, better able to withstand New England weather, and may offer better resistance to deer and rabbits.
The trees, shrubs, and perennials that evolved here will grow locally with much less work from the gardener. According to Gretel, you will reduce your workload while creating a paradise for the native birds and pollinators.
Gretel is Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association (MMGA), which honored her in 2016 with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Gretel established and maintains a 20,000 square foot food production garden that has provided fresh produce to the Marlborough and Maynard Food Pantries for the last 13 years. Her primary interest and focus always is the science behind horticulture.
Tuesday, December 9, 2025, at Noon: Bedford Garden Club Holiday Party, Location to be Determined. (Members Only)
Details will be available closer to the date of the event.
Dieffenbachia
Tuesday, January 13, 2026, via ZOOM. 9:30 am: Prepare your own cup of coffee or tea and socialize with Club members online. 10 am: Meeting and guest speaker Bonnie Power to discuss What’s Wrong with My House Plant?
As with our outdoor gardens, many things can go wrong when you grow plants indoors.
Learn from guest presenter Bonnie Power the factors that make for happy houseplants, including light, water, and soil…and how to provide them.
Common houseplant pests and diseases are also on the agenda, as well as how to treat them.
Bonnie became a Massachusetts Master Gardener in 2016 and is now a Lifetime Master Gardener for her many years of volunteer service to her community. She also has been a member of the Massachusetts Master Gardeners Association Speakers Bureau since 2018.
A serious outdoor/indoor gardener most of her life, Bonnie is curious and research-oriented by nature and has many horticultural interests and areas of expertise. She holds Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Zoology, which informs her perspective on the management of garden insects.
She is a member of the MGA Soil pH Testing Team and a 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.
At home in Marlborough, Bonnie grows a variety of vegetables and ornamentals (with a bias towards natives).
Tuesday, February 10, 2026, First Church of Christ, Congregational, 25 The Great Rd. 9:30 am: Social period. 10 am: Meeting and guest speaker Gretel Anspach on Lawns and Lawn Alternatives.
Bakers: Heather Day, Shibani Dalal, Carol Amick
Centerpiece: Carol Amick
Lawns are imported garden fixtures from places with cool, wet summers. Here in New England, a “perfect” lawn is a major drain on water supplies, a source of pollution, and a lot of work!
Presenter Gretal Anspach, who was the featured speaker at the Club’s November 2025 program earlier in this program series, will describe options for tailoring your lawn and lawn care to fit your needs, potentially eliminating hundreds of hours of labor and expensive yearly treatments.
Her talk will include some discussion of alternatives to the traditional grass lawn.
Gretel is active in gardening activities in Massachusetts, both in leadership and volunteer capacities as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association (MMGA) – a distinction given only to a gardener who demonstrates extraordinary contributions to her community through volunteer service within the Master Gardener program.
She is a speaker for the MMGA’s Speakers Bureau. She recently retired from Raytheon where she worked as a systems engineer, and for 10 years oversaw Raytheon’s Food Pantry Garden.
February 2026 (Date to be Determined) via ZOOM. 6:30 pm: Social period. 6:45 – 8:00 pm: Bedford Garden Club Book Club discussion of Genius of Place: The Life of Fredrick Law Olmstead by Justin Martin.
Zoom Link: Join the Meeting
Frederick Law Olmsted is an important historical figure best remembered for his landscape architecture, from New York’s Central Park to Boston’s Emerald Necklace. Olmsted also was an influential journalist, early voice for the environment, and abolitionist credited with helping dissuade England from joining the South in the Civil War.
Most of all, he was a social reformer. With our urgent need to revitalize cities and a widespread yearning for green space, his work is more relevant now than it was during his lifetime.
Using meticulous research and writing
in a narrative style, author Justin Martin provides the full and definitive biography of this interesting visionary.
Deborah Trickett
Tuesday, March 10, 2026, First Church of Christ, Congregational, 25 The Great Rd. 9:30 am: Social period. 10 am: Meeting and guest speaker Deborah Trickett presents Tips, Tricks, and Trade Secrets.
Bakers: Christine McGovern, Barbara Feehrer, Kaye Spofford
Centerpiece: Heather Day
Many of us have heard that putting a penny in the water will keep our tulips more upright, cutting flowers on an angle helps them draw up more water, and even that cayenne pepper can keep the deer and bunnies away.
But did you know putting dahlia stems in boiling water can help them last longer? Do you know how to guarantee the biggest blooms on your peonies? Do you know how a slinky can keep squirrels away from your bird feeder?
These and many more tips, tricks, and trade secrets will be presented by Deborah Trickett, owner of The Captured Garden. Whether you are a floral designer, master gardener or someone who just likes getting her hands in the dirt you will learn something new.
Deborah Trickett is an award- winning container garden designer whose work has been featured in The Boston Globe, Garden Gate magazine, New England Home magazine and on the TV show New England Dream Home.
She is a Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist and a Certified Landscape Professional and is a frequent lecturer on container gardening at the Boston Flower and Garden Show, as well as the Philadelphia International Flower Show. She has taught classes and workshops at the Arnold Arboretum.
Tuesday, April 14, 2026, First Church of Christ, Congregational, 25 The Great Rd. 6:00 pm: Social period. 6:30 pm: Meeting and guest speaker Nancy Tripodi will present Floral Arranging and Highlights of Running a Flower Shop in Bedford for 40 Years.
Bakers: Claire Higson, Raya Gildor
Bedford Florist owner Nancy Tripodi will create flower arrangements and talk about her 40+ years running a business in our town.
Sharing a love of flowers and gardening with her mother, Nancy began making wedding bouquets and arrangements for family and friends when she was a teenager.
As word of her skills spread and requests increased, she enrolled at Rittner’s Floral Design School in Boston.
Nancy began working at her current location when the business was called Palmeri’s Flowers. When the owner decided to sell the business in 1982, Nancy and her husband Leo purchased it.
The new name, the Bedford Florist, was adopted after her father-in-law suggested that she “name the business after the town.”
She has long been active in the Bedford community and is a member of the Bedford Chamber of Commerce.
Saturday, May 9, 2026
Bedford Garden Club Plant Share (Members Only)
Time: 10:00am to 12:00 pm.
Location: 12 School Avenue, Bedford, MA
For More Information click here!
Tuesday, May 5, 2026, at Noon.
Bedford Garden Club Annual Meeting and Luncheon, Princeton Station, North Chelmsford, MA. (Members Only)
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established for educational and civic purposes, the Club is required by law to hold an Annual Meeting to elect officers and conduct other business.
It is a time when important Club business is conducted, followed by a luncheon organized by the Social Committee: Chair Chris Lipson and members Judy Watkins and Claire Higson. The luncheon is always a wonderful opportunity to socialize with Club members.
Details about the luncheon price will be available closer to the event.
More Information Coming!!