MassHort’s ‘Wednesday Evenings at Elm Bank’ series of programs for the home gardener returns on July 14 with first-rate presentations by experts in the field.

“We think of it as a garden club without borders,” says Gretel Anspach, MassHort trustee and chair of the Horticulture, Education and Outreach Committee that sponsors the event. “It’s all the best stuff you join a garden club for, without ever having to listen to someone read the minutes.”  (NOTE: The Garden Club of the Back Bay mails out the minutes, and our meetings are truly enjoyable without a lot of parliamentary fuss, but we know what Gretel means.)

The series kicks off July 14 when Weston Nurseries’ Brian Karlsson-Barnes offers down-to-earth advice about plant shopping in the summer and fall. There are four more months of great gardening and planting weather. Prices come down and although plants always look best early in a season (especially herbaceous perennials), if well-maintained at a nursery or garden center, and planted right later in the season, the plants will look great the following year. Brian will detail what to look for at a nursery/garden center and how to tell a merely good plant from a terrific one.

Sessions begin at 6:30 and go until 8 p.m. or until the last question has been answered. All sessions are held at Elm Bank, either in the Hunnewell carriage house or the Education Building.  MassHort members pay $8 per session. The cost for non-members is $10. Refreshments are offered.  For more information log on to www.masshort.org.