Apr 2, 2026 – Maria Noel Groves

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Apr 2, 2026

An Herbal Guide to Holistic Self-Care

Presented by Maria Noel Groves

Maria Noël Groves is the author of Herbal Remedies for Sleep, Grow Your Own Herbal Remedies, and Body into Balance. She is a clinical herbalist and herbal medicine teacher with more than two decades of experience, and a registered professional member of the American Herbalists Guild. 

She writes for numerous publications including Herbal Academy’s The Herbarium, Taste for Life, Remedies, Herb Quarterly, and Mother Earth News. Her business, Wintergreen Botanicals, is based in Chichester, New Hampshire.

Starts at 10:30 am
Messiah Lutheran Church
303 Route 101
Amherst, NH

Guests are warmly welcomed

Mar 5, 2026 – Debra Dellanina-Alvarez

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Mar 5, 2026

Saved by the Garden: Victory Gardens Then & Now

Presented by Debra Dellanina-Alvarez

Travel through time and discover the history of Victory Gardens and their inspiration.  Virtually visit breathtaking present-day gardens, their garden architecture, plans, plantings, some unique plant characteristics, and early used techniques and tips that you can use in your own garden today. Also highlighted are the health and wellness benefits that these gardens bring to a community. These benefits are reminders as to why garden clubs and green spaces are essential to the well-being of all communities.

Speaker Debra Dellanina-Alvarez is life-long gardener and has always had a passion for being out-of-doors and amongst nature.  She has an overwhelming desire to venture out and immerse herself in gardens and green spaces as these are the places where she feels stress simply melt away. She began a joyful, restorative journey through both public and private gardens throughout the U.S. and this has inspired the program “Saved by the Garden:  Tales of a Gardener’s Journey”. 

Starts at 10:30 am
Messiah Lutheran Church
303 Route 101
Amherst, NH

Guests are warmly welcomed

Feb 5, 2026 – Linh Aven and Elizabeth Haskett

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Feb 5, 2026

Building a Pantry from Local & Wild Foraged Foods

Presented by Linh Aven and Elizabeth Haskett

We are surrounded by an abundance of food, from what we can grow ourselves locally, to what we can forage all around us.

Linh Aven and Elizabeth Haskett of Dandelion Forest Farm will lead us in this presentation, which focuses on preserving the harvest to highlight hand-crafted seasonings, condiments, ferments and dried goods in the preparation of meals.

Linh and Elizabeth will guide us through a holistic plan to build a home pantry across the seasons and will discuss techniques to process crops. They will also share ideas for how to cook with your pantry ingredients.

Dandelion Forest Farm, located in Nottingham, is an agroforestry farm started by a chef, a farmer, and a scientist on a mission to figure out a better way to grow and eat food. Their focus is on edible perennial plants that naturally grow well in the northeast, such as chestnuts, elderberries, lavender, and paw paws. Inspired by permaculture, biodynamics and Indigenous practices, the staff at the Farm are working to transform six acres of hay fields into a magical and bountiful food forest, all while making a multitude of delicious treats along the way.

About Linh — Linh Aven is a chef, a baker, a farmer, and a scientist. She weaves all these threads together at Dandelion Forest Farm, which offers CSAs, workshops, and a farm-to-dinner series called the Farmer’s Table.

About Elizabeth — Elizabeth Haskett is an experienced chef, who ran her own restaurant in Brooklyn, NY and then switched gears, diving into natural and biodynamic farming. She currently co-chefs at the Farmer’s Table, launched an astrology practice called Thema Mundi, makes a line of apothecary products, and homesteads in Raymond, NH.

Starts at 10:30 am
Messiah Lutheran Church
303 Route 101
Amherst, NH

Guests are warmly welcomed

Nov. 6, 2025 – Holiday Floral Workshop

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Nov 6, 2025

Holiday Floral Workshop

Presented by Michael Derouin

The Amherst Garden Club is pleased to begin the holiday season with its annual tradition of a floral design workshop. This year, we are excited to invite Michael Derouin, floral artist and educator to present at our November meeting. Our November meeting is always a popular event!

Michael’s career has been shaped by decades in luxury floral design. He creates refined floral compositions for private clients and offers thoughtful, hands-on instructions to floral professionals and enthusiasts alike — helping to define, refine, or rediscover their creative perspective.
​Derioun’s work is guided by nature-edited with purpose, composed with restraint, and shaped to preserve the quiet integrity of the botanicals​.

Whether designing or teaching, his focus is the same: to create an experience that remains long after the flowers fade.

Michael will demonstrate four unique floral designs during his presentation — two for autumn and two for the upcoming holiday season. Each of these designs will be raffled, so make sure you have some pocket cash! The money raised will go into our club’s Charitable Fund supporting the Amherst Garden Club’s charitable endeavors.

Starts at 10:30 am
Messiah Lutheran Church
303 Route 101
Amherst, NH

Guests are warmly welcomed

Oct 2, 2025 – The Language of Leaves

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Oct 2, 2025

The Language of Leaves

Presented by Willamina Coroka

Few can argue that there’s anywhere more beautiful than New England in Autumn. With air as crisp as a freshly picked apple and scents of wood smoke accompanying a crimson, orange, and gold horizon… Really, how lucky are we to experience such idyllic fall feels? 

But why is it that the maples, oaks, and aspens (to name just a few) put on this stunning show? What is the purpose behind the carnival of leaves destined to drop? Let’s discover the not-so-secret science behind fall foliage as we tap into a bit of basic botany with UNH Extension Master Gardener, Willamina Coroka.

Willa is a New Hampshire native and has a deep connection to nature and wildllfe that developed from her childhood experiences in Hudson and her love for the Granite State. She is a project implementation specialist at the New Hampshire Audubon and oversees education-focused conservation projects including pollinator gardens in urban areas.

Please join us for her presentation titled “The Language of Leaves.”

Starts at 10:30 am
Messiah Lutheran Church
303 Route 101
Amherst, NH

Guests are warmly welcomed

Sep 4, 2025 – Butterfly Gardens

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Sep 4, 2025

Butterfly Gardens

Presented by Brian Cassie

The Amherst Garden Club is excited to kick off the 2025-2026 year with naturalist Brian Cassie who will be speaking on the topic of butterfly gardens. Brian is the founder of the Massachusetts Butterfly Club and he helped create Mass Audubon’s Butterfly Atlas in 1986.

Cassie is the author or co-author of twenty books on nature including: A World of Butterflies, Say It Again, and numerous National Audubon Field Guides on topics ranging from Trees, Amphibians, and Shells. He has also written a number of articles for the publication Bird Observer. 

Brian Cassie has been studying butterflies in Massachusetts for more than four decades; these observations have now been included in a landmark study recently published in the journal Science. The research finds butterflies are declining rapidly across the contiguous United States, including New England.

Starts at 10:30 am
Messiah Lutheran Church
303 Route 101
Amherst, NH

Guests are warmly welcomed

May 1, 2025 – Deborah Trickett

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May 1, 2025

Creating Container Gardens

Presented by Deborah Trickett

April showers are hopefully behind us, while the warm weather and beautiful spring days of May await us, holding hopes for future happy and carefree days spent in the garden…

Come celebrate spring as we welcome Deborah Trickett of The Captured Garden for a presentation about container gardening.

Watch and learn as Deborah creates two amazing container gardens. Each valued around $150.00, the completed container gardens will be raffled off at the end of the program! Raffle tickets will be available for purchase at the meeting and during the social time before the presentation.

The Captured Garden has worked throughout New England, creating container gardens and designing gardens for clients who want their homes to be beautiful, not typical. By using custom designs that showcase uncommon plants, they create combinations for their clients that are anything but cookie-cutter. Their goal, when the project is completed, is to hear, “It’s perfect, it’s just what I wanted,” followed quickly by, “What is that beautiful plant? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

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 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.

Starts at 10:30 am
Messiah Lutheran Church
303 Route 101
Amherst, NH

Guests are warmly welcomed

Apr 3, 2025 – Roxanne Meldrum

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Apr 3, 2025

Gardening Strategies to Grow a Healthier Body

Presented by Roxanne Meldrum

This month we proudly welcome garden club member Roxanne Meldrum, Physical Therapist and Athletic Trainer, to share tips, everyday stretches, and movements that you can use to make sure your garden experience is both safe and enjoyable.

Do you struggle through gardening with aches and pains that hold you back from enjoying your time in the soil? While gardening is great for keeping the body moving, it can also cause problems such as knee, back, and neck pain, which can slow you down.

Attendees are invited to participate as they feel comfortable with some of the “lab” activities. Wear sneakers if you’d like to safely participate in the active portion of the presentation, but participation is not required!

Roxanne Meldrum, an AGC Member since 2022, has recently taken on the position of one of the leads of the Civic Gardens in town.  She has worked for over 25 years as a Physical Therapist and Athletic Trainer, specializing in orthopedics, sports and dance medicine, bone health and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.

In June 2021, she began working in her own practice called PT Health Academy, located here in Amherst, where she offers private hour-long Physical Therapy or fitness sessions.


She has given a number of workshops such as: Combating the Negative Effects of Sitting, Treating Low Back Pain: A Novel Approach, and Gardening Tips for Injury Prevention.

Starts at 10:30 am
Messiah Lutheran Church
303 Route 101
Amherst, NH

Guests are warmly welcomed

Come learn how to garden with good body mechanics to prevent injury and grow a healthier body.

Mar 6, 2025 – Connecticut’s Historic Gardens 

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Mar 6, 2025

Connecticut’s Historic Gardens

Presented by Laurie Masciandaro

Did you know that Connecticut is home to many beautiful and unique gardens? Come learn how sixteen historic sites, dotted throughout the state, with historically significant gardens, have joined to form Connecticut’s Historic Gardens. These delightful places offer visitors an opportunity to explore a variety of garden styles and time periods. 

In her slide presentation, Laurie Masciandaro will introduce us to the history and beauty of these sixteen distinctive historic sites and gardens that have charmed and inspired visitors for a century or more.

About Laurie – Laurie is currently Site Manager at Historic New England’s Roseland Cottage in Woodstock, Connecticut, where daily she enjoys one of the loveliest Historic Gardens in the northeast.

Hailing from Washington state, Laurie is a graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle. She holds a Master’s Degree in American History from the University of Connecticut. Her Master’s thesis, “Disdaining the Republic: William Wetmore Story, Expatriate Aristocrat,” reflects her primary interest in ante-bellum United States history, with an emphasis on the 19th century expatriate artists’ community in Rome, Italy.

Laurie was an avid golfer before full time employment robbed her of discretionary time. She served on the board of the First Tee of Connecticut, is past president of Southern New England Women’s Golf Association, is currently a board member of Connecticut’s Historic Gardens and serves on the American Association of State and Local History’s (AASLH) Awards of Excellence committee. In a past life, Laurie was a lyric soprano, and remains a dedicated opera buff.

Copies of Jana Milbocker’s book “The Garden Tourist’s New England: A Guide to 140 Outstanding Gardens and Nurseries” will be available for sale benefiting Roseland Cottage.  Several of the gardens in Laurie’s presentation are included in the book.

Starts at 10:30 am
Messiah Lutheran Church
303 Route 101
Amherst, NH

Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden, North Bethlehem, CT

Guests are warmly welcomed

Jan 9, 2025 – All About Houseplants

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Jan 9, 2025

All About Houseplants

Presented by Charlie Nardozzi

Do you love your houseplants? Is your home lush with plants, a natural haven of sorts, with plants flourishing under your green thumb?  Or do you struggle to keep anything alive, mourning the loss of another once beautiful, but now dead plant? Either way, you’ll want to join us for this enlightening presentation! 

The popularity of caring for houseplants continues to grow around the country. But so does the frustration with getting them to flower and look good year-round. In this talk, Charlie will discuss the light, water, temperature, and humidity needs of various houseplants. He will also talk about different houseplants for different spaces in your home, how to care for them, problem solving, and how to get flowering houseplants to re-bloom. There will be time for you to ask him your specific houseplant questions and — BONUS! — Charlie invites you to bring in a sample of your houseplants that might have insect or disease problems. 

Charlie Nardozzi is a Regional Emmy® award winning, nationally recognized garden writer, speaker, and radio and television personality. For more than 30 years he has brought expert gardening information to home gardeners through radio, television, talks, tours, online, and in print. Charlie delights in making gardening information simple, easy, fun and accessible to everyone. He is the author of seven gardening books, has three radio shows in New England, and a TV gardening segment in Vermont. He speaks around the country at flower shows, to Master Gardener groups and garden clubs on a variety of gardening topics. Charlie also leads international garden tours around the world.