Boston Flora

Tag: cutting gardens

  • Saturday, January 28, 10:00 am – 11:30 am Eastern – The New Cutting Garden, Online

    Dreaming of a luscious cutting garden that produces blooms all season long? Join Colie Collen, the grower and designer behind Flower Scout, for this comprehensive Berkshire Botanical Garden online course on planning, starting, troubleshooting and maintaining a prolific cut flower garden. 

    Colie Collen, founder, farmer, and designer at Flower Scout, brings her love of all things wild and seasonal to her work. After many years of farming on the West and East Coasts, in 2012 her interest turned to flower production, and subsequently, to design. She seeks to create individual experiences for clients based on the colors, textures and shapes the land, garden and season are creating at a particular moment, with customers’ aesthetic preferences continually in mind.

    The class will take place Saturday, January 28 from 10 – 11:30 and is $15 for BBG members, $18 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/new-cutting-garden-0

  • Saturday, October 8, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – Cutting Gardens Revisited

    Join flower farmer Elisabeth Cary at Hollister House Garden in Washington, Connecticut on October 8 at 10 am and learn about her successes and failures on her 5 year journey to develop her home cutting garden into a micro flower farm for fun and profit.  She will share practical information including selecting the best plants, scheduling a growing sequence, and balancing annuals, perennials and biennials for a long seasonal bloom. Elizabeth will touch on layout, pest and weed control, industry sources for seeds, plugs and bulbs, harvesting, storage and garden wrap up. This program is for anyone crazy enough to start a flower business or a “mad” home gardener in love with flowers. Now is the time to plan your 2023 cutting garden!

    Elisabeth Cary was formerly the Director of Education at the Berkshire Botanical Garden and has been gardening for over 30 years. She is the owner and founder of Cooper Hill Flower Farm, a micro flower farm in Sheffield, Massachusetts.

    Advance reservation is suggested. Hollister House follows all state and local guidelines for Covid-19 at our events.

    HHG members $25 Non-members $35 Register HERE

  • Saturday, March 3, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Growing a Cutting Garden

    Cutting gardens are lovely to look at and provide fresh cut flowers for indoors. Learn how to make a small, highly productive cutting garden, in a class to be held at Berkshire Botanical Garden on Saturday, March 3, from 10 – 12. Consider all aspects of growing cut flowers, including selecting varieties that hold up best, sowing times and techniques, planting and transplanting, cultivating and preparing for market. This program is designed for both the home gardener and the nascent market gardener. After the presentation, participants will sow some of the instructor’s favorite seeds and transplant seedlings to grow on at home.

    Jan Schaffer and Marty Sax are horticulturists and own Joe Pye Weed Nursery in Carlisle, Massachusetts. They have been growing flowers for over 30 years. Their special obsession is hybridizing Siberian iris. Their nursery includes beautiful display gardens and a large cutting garden that serves the Boston Flower Market. This session is priced at $25 for BBG members, $30 for non-members, and you may register on line at www.berkshirebotanical.org.