Apr 9, 2026 – A Field of Dreams

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Apr 9, 2026

A Field of Dreams

Presented by Lea Devriendt

Lea Devriendt, owner of Devriendt Farms in Goffstown, NH will give a lecture on soil and fertilizer selections, container gardening, plants, and insects in addition to relaying the interesting story behind the birth of her family’s farm.

Filled with a lot of determination, Lea and her husband Dan in 1995 opened a farm stand with one greenhouse. This beginning evolved into today’s thriving family farm consisting of 14 greenhouses and acreage used to grow flowers, plants, vegetables, and fruit.

Currently, they work with their three adult children who have been farming with their parents since they were old enough to pick vegetables. The Devriendts are still at their original location where they start and grow all their own annuals, bedding plants, hanging plants, patio pots, perennials, shrubs, roses, and vegetable plants. In addition to the 14 greenhouses, they also have outdoor growing spaces filled with chrysanthemums, vegetables, cut flowers, Christmas trees and a seasonal pick-your-own (PYO) area.

Lea will have some handouts for audience members and there is a $50 gift certificate door prize.

Starts at 7:00 pm
Amherst Town Library
14 Main Street
Amherst, NH

The public is welcome. All must register through the library

Feb 12, 2026 – Invasive Plants in NH

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Feb 12, 2026

Invasive Plants in NH

Presented by Kathie Breen, Club Member and Master Gardener

This presentation will be on Zoom. Register through the library to receive the Zoom link.

Learn the difference between invasive and aggressive plants and why invasive plants are so harmful to our environment. This talk will focus on 10 common invasives in NH, including identification, as well as when and how to eradicate and dispose of them.

Kathie is a retired software/systems engineer whose career focused on medical device design and development. She became a Master Gardener in 2019 and Natural Resource Steward in 2021. This training led to an intense interest in native plants and invasive plant control. 

One of her first projects, in concert with other Amherst Garden Club Master Gardeners, was to establish a children’s vegetable garden at the Boys and Girls Club in Milford in 2019. Through ongoing lessons, kids have experienced planting, tending, harvesting and eating the produce. A pollinator and a native plant garden, certified by the Natural Wildlife Federation, were added in 2021. In 2022, a new program was started to enhance the nature trail behind the club with the kids. This included developing signage, adding erosion control along the river bank, removing invasives, and adding several native plant gardens along the trail. 

Additionally, Kathie enjoys coordinating, developing and/or presenting gardening programs to Club members and to the General public.

Starts at 7:00 pm on Zoom

The public is welcome. All must register through the library

Nov 13, 2025- Plant Propagation

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Nov 13, 2025

Plant Propagation

Presented by Ron Trexler, UNH Extension Master Gardener

During this presentation, attendees will learn the basic science behind plant propagation, different methods of plant propagation, which methods work best for different plant types, and the various steps to common vegetative propagation methods.    

Ron Trexler has been a UNH Extension Master Gardener since 2016 and has achieved the level of Advanced Master Gardener.  He is extensively involved in the training and mentoring of new Master Gardeners, trains Master Gardeners who wish to participate in the Master Gardeners Speakers Bureau, and regularly presents to libraries, garden clubs, and community organizations.  In addition, Ron serves in a leadership role with the Hooksett Garden Club and serves on the Executive Board of the New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs. He especially enjoys growing vegetables in raised beds that benefit from his home composting system.

Starts at 7:00 pm
Amherst Town Library
14 Main Street
Amherst, NH

The public is welcome. All must register through the library

Oct 9, 2025 – All About Houseplants

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Oct 9, 2025

All About Houseplants

Presented by Charlie Nardozzi

Houseplants have become very popular again, and now there are new varieties making houseplants even more appealing. In this talk, Charlie will discuss the best houseplants for different areas of your home, including houseplants for shade, sun, and low humidity. He will offer examples of low-water houseplants and flowering houseplants as well. Further, our speaker will discuss watering, fertilizing, repotting, propagation and pest control. Feel free to bring your sick houseplant to the talk, and we will discuss it there. 

Charlie Nardozzi is a Regional Emmy award-winning, nationally recognized garden writer, speaker, radio, and television personality. He has worked for more than 30 years bringing expert gardening information to home gardeners through radio, television, talks, tours, online, and the printed page.

Charlie delights in making gardening information simple, easy, fun, and accessible to everyone. He has authored 7 gardening books, has radio and TV shows in Vermont, gives garden talks around the country and online, and leads garden tours to the UK and Europe.

As a bonus, Charlie may bring books for sale and offer one as a door prize!

Starts at 7:00 pm
Amherst Town Library
14 Main Street
Amherst, NH

The public is welcome. All must register through the library

Sep 4, 2025 – Restoring the Little Things That Run the World Through Lawn Conversion

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Sep 4, 2025

Restoring the Little Things That Run the World Through Lawn Conversion

Presented by Judy Bement, Valerie Gamache, Kathie Breen, and Laura Kozel

Learn from a panel of experienced gardeners why they decided to convert a portion of their lawn to a native habitat, how they did it, and lessons learned along the way! 

Let’s find out about some of their favorite plants used for these conversions: Black Eyed Susan, Bee Balm, Coneflower, Goldenrod, Aster, Joe Pye Weed, Golden Alexander, Serviceberry, Penstemon, NY Ironweed, and Verbena.

Our speakers are all members of the Amherst Garden Club and several are Master Gardeners. Join us to learn about supporting nature through lawn conversion.

Starts at 7:00 pm
Amherst Town Library
14 Main Street
Amherst, NH

The public is welcome. All must register through the library

May 8, 2025 – The Joy of Simple Arrangements

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May 8, 2025

The Joy of Simple Arrangements

Presented by Barbara Williams

In a slide show presentation, our speaker will show us how plant materials and vessels combine to shape arrangements and highlight the beauty and flow of every element.

Since girlhood, Barbara has found special joy in creating wildflower and other floral arrangements. Also, Barbara is an active member of the Amherst Garden Club and cannot imagine not living in New England with its seasonal changes – each with its own inspiration!

Join us to see how you too can find joy in simple arrangements.

Starts at 7:00 pm
Amherst Town Library
14 Main Street
Amherst, NH

The public is welcome. All must register through the library

Apr 10, 2025 – Ecoscaping — Creating Quality Wildlife Habitat on Your Landscape

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Apr 10, 2025

Ecoscaping – Creating Quality Wildlife Habitat on Your Landscape

Presented by Gail Coffey

Butterfly and bird populations continue to drop. Frogs and many turtle species are becoming threatened or endangered. The ecological food web is diminished and presents real threats to preserving ecosystems and wildlife. Fortunately, we can make a difference and be part of the solution by creating quality wildlife habitat in our landscapes. 

Using Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Naturescaping Planning Guide, you will learn how to assess your property’s current ecological value and how to maintain or add keystone plants and other important natural features and elements that will support and sustain a diversity of wildlife.

You will find much joy and wonder in discovering all the new wildlife your landscape supports.

*** Please bring a notebook and pen ***

About Gail — Gail Coffey, a member of the Amherst Garden Club, completed the UNH Master Gardener Program in Fall 2023. She has been eco-landscaping for 20 years with a focus on creating habitat for birds and insects using native perennials and shrubs on her properties in Hollis and now Wilton, NH. In 2009, her Hollis property was recognized as a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation.

Gail worked in wildlife conservation for 14 years with The Nature Conservancy-NH Chapter and NH Audubon. She was also an environmental educator at Beaver Brook Association in Hollis, NH for 15 years

Starts at 7:00 pm
Amherst Town Library
14 Main Street
Amherst, NH

The public is welcome. All must register through the library

Mar 13, 2025 – The Perfect Perennial: Hardy Geraniums!

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Mar 13, 2025

The Perfect Perennial: Hardy Geraniums!

Presented by Marti Warren

If you were told about a perennial that was easy to grow, grows in any soil, grows in sun and shade, comes in shades of purple, pink, and white, has long-lasting flowering power, and is a great pollinator would you go out and purchase one? Hardy geraniums, also called Cranesbill, are often confused with the zonal geraniums (Pelargonium) that we purchase and use as annuals.

Join us for garden club member Marti Warren’s presentation on this wonderful “perfect” perennial.

Marti has been a long-time member of the Amherst Garden Club and a leader of the club’s annual spring plant sale. She has a depth of knowledge in gardening gained through working in her own gardens as well at our town library gardens. March is a wonderful time to start dreaming of how your gardens might look in 2025.

Starts at 7:00 pm
Amherst Town Library
14 Main Street
Amherst, NH

The public is welcome. All must register through the library

Feb 13, 2025 – Dani Baker

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Feb 13, 2025

Native Perennial Food Plants for Your Edible Landscape (Zoom Event)

Presented by Dani Baker

Join the Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 917 5836 4715
Passcode: 461969

When placed in habitats that meet their needs, native plants tend to be well adapted to our climate and have few pest, disease or maintenance problems. This illustrated talk will describe the growth habit, preferred habitat, care required, food value, other users, aesthetic appeal and propagation techniques for over 25 native perennial plants you can include in your edible landscape. The plants range from trees to bushes, groundcovers, roots and even vines. If you want to create an edible hedge, an edible bed, a foundation planting, a you-pick venue, or a forest garden, you will discover there are a variety of native food plants to choose from to fill your space.

Dani Baker is a self-taught organic farmer and edible forest gardener who began planning and planting the “Enchanted Edible Forest,” a permaculture-inspired acre of over 300 different food-producing plants in 2013. In May of 2022 her book, The Home-Scale Forest Garden: How to Plan, Plant and Tend a Resilient Edible Landscape was published by Chelsea Green.

Dani loves to inspire others: homeowners, homesteaders, farmers and landscapers to landscape their plots, large or small, with perennial food plants incorporating principles that reduce their labor going forward while increasing the abundance of their harvest year after year.

Handout: Native Perennial Food Plants for Your Edible Landscape

Starts at 7:00 pm
Amherst Town Library
14 Main Street
Amherst, NH

The public is welcome. All must register through the library

Jan 9, 2025 – Jane Raymond

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Jan 9, 2025

Go Native! Incorporating Native Plants into Your Landscape

Presented by Jane Raymond, UNH Extension Master Gardener

Starts at 7:00 pm
Amherst Town Library
14 Main Street
Amherst, NH

Learn what native plants are and why they are important to add to your landscapes. Photos of native plants appropriate for various growing conditions will be shown as well as photos of native garden examples. Attendees will learn where to buy natives and how to use them successfully in their new and existing gardens. Ideas for creating a container native garden will be discussed. The instructor hopes to inspire the attendees to make small changes in their gardens with native plants.

Jane became a Master Gardener in the spring of 2022 after retiring from forty-five years of teaching high school biology and chemistry. She was born in New Hampshire and at her family farm in Ashland, they raised Morgan horses and Hereford cattle in addition to growing hay and vegetables. Jane was a farmer at a very young age, training animals, and helping with farm work. These early experiences fostered a love of plants and animals and led to an undergraduate degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in biology.

Jane is a dedicated teacher. She taught many levels of high school students and also taught adults as an adjunct at the UNH School for Lifelong Learning. She is a member of the Goffstown Conservation Commission. Gardening and forestry take a prominent role in her life as she manages a 100-acre wood lot and tends her home vegetable and flower gardens.

When Jane and her husband James moved to Goffstown in 1982, they acquired a five-acre property that had been neglected. In the past 40 years, they have cleaned and improved the property, growing vegetables and flowers. The garden is designated as a Pollinator Habitat and their yard is registered with the National Wildlife Federation as Certified Wildlife Habitat.

The public is welcome. All must register through the library