Gore Place presents the Jane Austen Garden Party on the grounds of their beautiful 19th-century estate in Waltham—a site fit to be the setting for one of the celebrated author’s famous novels.
Tickets for the July 12 event, which begins at 2 pm, are sold out, but contact Gore Place to inquire about a wait list. https://goreplace.org/whats-on/jane-austen Regency Period dress encouraged, with a prize for the best dressed!
The Mayor’s Garden Contest is an annual citywide celebration of urban gardening. We recognize gardeners who have landscaped, planted flowers, vegetables, trees, and shrubs, helping beautify Boston’s neighborhoods. First place winners in the garden categories will receive the “Golden Trowel” award from Mayor Michelle Wu. They will also be entered to win a grand prize of two round trip tickets on JetBlue for non-stop travel from Boston, provided by JetBlue. Additional support provided by Mahoney’s Garden Centers. Mayor Michelle Wu will recognize Garden Contest Hall of Fame inductees at the awards ceremony. To be eligible for the Hall of Fame, a gardener must have won three or more times.
The contest is only for Boston residents who are amateur gardeners. Businesses and other groups may submit an entry in our “Storefront, Organization, or Main Street District Garden” category. The first round of judging is done by viewing the photos you submit as part of your application. Please include whole photos of the garden (not close ups of individual flowers, vegetables or plants.) Any photos or images you submit to us become City of Boston property. We may use these images for press or marketing purposes. Finalist gardens will be judged in person. City of Boston employees and their immediate family members are not eligible.
To download the contest entry form visit https://www.boston.gov/departments/parks-and-recreation/mayors-garden-contest
Join Wool Works as we honor the incredible small farms, passionate breeders, and super-talented makers who bring wool (and wool-adjacent goodies!) to life. Think of it as a joyful gathering of creativity, sustainability, and fuzzy fun in the middle of summer!
Our mission? To spark your curiosity and warm your heart with the science of wool, the beauty of sustainable agriculture, and the artistry that transforms simple fibers into fabulous creations.
What to Expect:
• Over 65 amazing vendors ready to dazzle you with unique finds.
• Inspiring art displays and captivating presentations.
• A chance to connect, learn, and fall in love with wool all over again.
Where: The Weave Shed at Greylock WORKS in North Adams, Massachusetts.
When: July 18, 2026, from 10 am to 7pm
Grab Your Timed Entry Tickets: Go to https://www.wool.works/ and click the button. Feeling extra generous? Add a little more to your ticket price to sponsor Wool Works programming—every dollar helps keep the woolly magic alive! Brought to you with love by: Brooklyn General Store + Wing and a Prayer Farm
On Wednesday, July 8 at 5:30 pm, discover how to prevent tick exposure and learn effective strategies to stay safe outdoors. In this talk, Polly Hill Arboeretum Horticulturalist Jack Morgan will guide you through essential tick prevention techniques, including the best clothing and repellents to use, safe tick removal methods, and ways to protect yourself from tick-borne illnesses. He will be joined by Patrick Roden-Reynolds, a public health biologist for the Inter-Island Public Health Excellence Collaborative and Director of the Martha’s Vineyard Tick Program.
Pre-registration required. PHA Members: $10; Non-Members: $20. Click here to register.
In the heart of European and American cities lies an overlooked yet vibrant space for resilience, ingenuity and magic: the garden. Part history, part reportage, part manifesto, Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present, and Future of the Self-Provisioning City follows the 300-year history of urban gardening—from feudal England to the Paris Commune, to Berlin’s green shantytowns, to contemporary Amsterdam, Chicago, and beyond.
Throughout, acclaimed MIT historian Kate Brown weaves in her own gardening experience, exploring the political and the practical while painting a picture of the necessity of self-provisioning in an increasingly chaotic world. Ever since wage labor in cities replaced self-provisioning in the countryside, gardeners have reclaimed lost commons on urban lots. They composted garbage into topsoil, creating the most fertile agriculture in recorded human history, without the use of fossil fuels.
The ecological diversity they fostered made room for human difference and built prosperity, too: In Nazi Berlin, working class gardeners harbored dissidents and Jews; in Washington, DC, Black southern migrants built communities around gardens and orchards, the produce funding homeownership. The Soviet superpower survived so long only because of its urban gardens. In Tiny Gardens Everywhere, Brown creates a mesmerizing hybrid of past and present, archive and experience, showing how down-to-earth gardeners, through resourcefulness, intuition, and inherited methods, can reap abundant, local, diverse and organic harvests while fostering mutual aid, community, and political engagement.
This July 14 Garden Conservancy webinar is $5 for Conservancy members, $15 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.gardenconservancy.org/events/web26-tiny-gardens-everywhere
Mark your calendar for July 10, when the online auction for Lotusland Celebrates: Botanical Splendor goes live. The curated selection features 30 unusual art pieces, objects, and experiences, and will continue to be open to bidders worldwide until July 19. The live auction at the live gala on July 18, hosted by actor Jane Lynch with special guest Martha Stewart, will highlight no more than eight exceptional lots. The fundraiser for Ganna Walska Lotusland supports plant conservation and its horticultural education mission. For more information visit https://www.lotusland.org/celebrates/
The Camden Garden Club’s 77th Annual Garden Tour will take place, rain or shine, Thursday, July 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Six distinctive gardens, designed and lovingly maintained by their owners will be showcased. From a sweeping five-acre estate to a charming village garden tucked into the woods, each stop offers inspiration and discovery. It is both a privilege and a pleasure for Club members to share these unique spaces with the community.
Not only are the homes the highlight, but this year, Tour Chairs, Susan Reider and Lynne Meagher welcome Cassie Sano as the En Plein Air Artist. Cassie will be working throughout the day at a designated garden. Raffle tickets for her painting will be available.
Another new aspect to the day will be two garden demonstrations held at one of Camden’s best-kept secrets, a modern barn in the middle of town that sits between an apple orchard, a wooded area, raised dahlia beds, and a wildflower meadow. All ticket holders are invited to enjoy special sessions held during the day. Linda Redmond of Brae Maple Farm and Gabrielle Jansen of Firefox Farm will create beautiful works of art from nature. There will be an additional raffle for the created works. All Raffle proceeds benefit the CGC Scholarship Fund.
Your Tour ticket is your all-access pass to gardens and activities across the day. At each location, a Master Gardener and the homeowners will be pleased to answer questions. The funds raised by the Annual Garden Tour support the Club’s ongoing activities, programs, and mission.
Proceeds enable the Club to provide Camden’s hanging flower baskets in the summer, the holiday wreaths in the winter, maintenance of the Camden Village Green and thirteen civic gardens, a robust scholarship program, an exciting winter Horticulture series as well as many other civic and educational projects. To purchase tickets visit https://www.camdengardenclub.org/gardentourtickets
The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, Inc Southeastern District presents Oceans Around Us, an NGC Standard Flower Show, at Heritage Museums & Gardens, 65 Grove Street in Sandwich. Free with Museum admission. This is the Southeastern District’s 45 Annual Standard Flower Show. For a copy of the schedule, click HERE
As part of the Nantucket Garden Club’s commitment to excellence in floral design and horticulture, it proudly hosts the Green Thumb Flower Show, a Garden Club of America sanctioned show, which features floral designs, botanical arts, horticultural entries as well as educational exhibits by garden club members. This year, “SHIFTING SANDS: A NANTUCKET STORY” will be held July 14 and 15th, 2026 at the Nantucket Inn. Free and open to the public 2 to 5 p. m. on July 14th, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on July 15th. It will include:
For more information visit https://nantucketgardenclub.org/nantucket-events/
The Massachusetts Master Gardener Association presents Fall Gardening Know-How online on three successive Wednesdays, August 12, 19, & 26, from 7 – 8:30 Eastern. Topics include growing bulbs, saving seeds, organic gardening, and preparing the garden for winter. Registration closes August 9. Questions – email knowhow@massmastergardeners.org and visit https://www.massmastergardeners.org/educational-resources/gardening-know-how-series
