Boston Flora

Tag: Gretel Anspach

  • Wednesday, March 5, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm Eastern – Seed Starting & Growing From Seed, Online

    Growing plants from seed is a rewarding and cost-effective way to cultivate a diverse and healthy garden. Whether you’re starting vegetables, herbs, or ornamental flowers, understanding the basics and techniques will make all the difference in your success. 
    In this Massachusetts Horticultural Society virtual lecture on March 5, we will cover everything you need to know to get started, including choosing the right seeds, creating an ideal growing environment, and selecting the correct materials and supplies. We will discuss ways to develop a timeline for germination and transplanting, ensuring your seedlings are strong and ready for the season. Whether you’re brand new to seed starting or looking to refine your process, this lecture will provide practical tips, DIY solutions, and the knowledge to help you grow with confidence.

    This lecture will be recorded and sent to registrants following the class date. Instructor Gretel Anspach is a retired systems engineer for Raytheon. She is a trustee of Massachusetts Horticultural Society and a lifetime master gardener with MMGA. Gretel enjoys the elements of science & math involved in horticulture. For nine years she oversaw the Food Pantry Garden at Raytheon. In 2016 she won the MMGA Lifetime Achievement award. Gretel has gone on to establish and maintain a 20,000 square foot food production garden that has provided fresh produce to the Marlboro and Maynard Food Pantries for the last fourteen years. MHS members $26, nonmembers $32. Register HERE.

  • Mondays, January 8 – February 12, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Introduction to Gardening, Online

    Welcome to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s winter Introduction to Gardening series. This series consists of 6 individual lectures over the course of 6 weeks. Lectures take place on Zoom on Monday evenings at 6:30 pm. Save by purchasing the whole series. Lectures will be recorded and posted to the class webpage within 48 hours of the class. Recordings will be made available until November 2024. Register at https://www.masshort.org/

    This series will cover the following topics: Siting, Water, Soil & Light, Setup: Tools, Fencing, Beds, Seed Starting and Planting, Diseases, Maintenance & Dealing with Pests, and Overview of Perennial Crops

    Urban gardening is about growing food and ornamentals in small spaces.  Whether you have a huge yard without the time or desire to tend it all, or an apartment with no outdoor space at all, this talk will give you tips and techniques to start and maintain a garden you can call your own.

    Instructor: Gretel Anspach is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, a Trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon. Gretel helped to establish and maintain two food production gardens that have provided fresh produce to the Marlboro Food Pantry for the last eight years. 

    $156 Mass Hort Members
    $195 General Admission

  • Wednesdays, November 8 – December 6, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm Eastern – Winter Gardening Know-How Series, Online

    Registration Deadline November 4! The Massachusetts Master Gardener Association sponsors the Winter Gardening Know-How Series online starting November 8 and continuing through December 6. Gardeners with all levels of experience and lots of questions, new homeowners starting from scratch, garden “rehabbers”, everyone can benefit from some know-how. Lectures will include Gardening Basics, Cold Frames, What’s Wrong with my Houseplant?, Inviting Wildlife Into Your Garden, and more. Virtual sessions include a question and answer time live with speakers, and a number of handouts to read in advance or to revisit in the future. Register at https://www.massmastergardeners.org/educational-resources/gardening-know-how-series

    ● Gretel Anspach is a Trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon. She won the MMGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. Gretel established and maintains a 20,000 square foot food production garden that has provided fresh produce to the Marlboro and Maynard Food Pantries for the last ten years. Her primary interest and focus is always in the science behind horticulture. 

    ● Bonnie Power has been a Massachusetts Master Gardener since 2016 and member of the MMGA Speakers Bureau since 2018 … and a serious outdoor/indoor gardener most of her life. Curious and research-oriented by nature, she has many horticultural interests and areas of expertise. Bonnie holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Zoology, which informs her perspective on the management of garden insects. She spent the past year as manager of the MMGA Soil pH Testing team and while she has passed this on to a new manager, she continues as a member of the team. She also volunteers at Garden in the Woods, a Native Plant Trust botanical garden in Framingham, where she is a guide. She learned to grow vegetables as a child from her father, and flowers and houseplants from her mother. Early in her marriage, her father-in-law provided her first lessons in organic gardening. At home in Marlborough, Bonnie grows a variety of vegetables and ornamentals (with a bias for natives). 

    ● Laurie Bebick is a graduate of Massachusetts Master Gardener Training and a long-time gardener, who has been fascinated by nature her whole life. A practicing fine artist, she approaches gardening as both an art and a science, always with an eye toward supporting nature’s creatures. When not working as a Certified Veterinary Technician, Laurie can be found in her home garden, spying on and offering greetings to all the critters who visit, especially Wally the whistle pig who lives under her garage. She is a graduate of the MMGA Speakers Bureau Training Program.

    COST: The cost of the four-lecture Fall Gardening Know-How Series is $60.00, payable online by  credit/debit card or PayPal. Classes are not available individually.

  • Wednesday, February 7, 10:00 am – Garden Club of the Back Bay February Meeting: Urban Gardening with Gretel Anspach

    Urban gardening is about growing food and ornamentals in small spaces.  Whether you have a huge yard without the time or desire to tend it all, or an apartment with no outdoor space at all, this talk will give you tips and techniques to start and maintain a garden you can call your own. We will also learn about what’s new in small space gardening. The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s February 7 meeting will be held at The Chilton Club, 152 Commonwealth Avenue (entrance on Dartmouth Street) beginning at 10 am.

    Gretel Anspach is a Trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon. She won the MMGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. Gretel established and maintains a 20,000 square foot food production garden that has provided fresh produce to the Marlboro and Maynard Food Pantries for the last ten years. Her primary interest and focus is always in the science behind horticulture (Biography citation: Plymouth Public Library).


    If you are not a member but are interested in attending, email info@bostonflora.com

  • Tuesday, January 25, 6:30 pm – Genetically Modified Plants: Friend or Foe? Online

    The Gardening Consultants Council, in conjunction with the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts. will sponsor a free January 25 Zoom lecture on Genetically Modified Plants: Friend or Foe? at 6:30 pm. The speaker is Gretel Anspach. Register HERE.

    Gretel is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, a Trustee of Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon. Gretel helped to establish and maintain two food production gardens that have provided fresh produce to the Marlboro Food Pantry for the last ten years.

  • Tuesday, September 21, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Introduction to Propagation, Online

    Garden Centers are bursting with beautiful annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees, but filling your garden from these nurseries costs more than most people can afford. Tune in on September 21 at 7 pm with the Massachusetts Horticultural Society to learn how to garden for less with seedlings, divisions, cuttings, etc. from your friends and neighbors and your own garden. 

    This lecture will be led by Gretel Anspach. Gretel is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, a Trustee of Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon. Gretel helped to establish and maintain two food production gardens that have provided fresh produce to the Marlboro Food Pantry for the last eight years.

     Interested in becoming a member? Click here to learn more!

    $18/member
    $27/general admission

  • Tuesdays, February 2 – March 9, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Botany for the Home Gardener

    In this six-session Massachusetts Horticultural Society course beginning February 2 from 7 – 8:30, join Master Gardener Gretel Anspach online to explore the fundamentals of plant structures and their function, reproductive and floral biology, introductory concepts in physiology and metabolism, and overall systematic organization and classification of major plant groups within the plant kingdom. Participants will better understand the world of plants and gain a far deeper appreciation for their wonder.

    Gretel Anspach is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, a Trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon. Gretel helped to establish and maintain two food production gardens that have provided fresh produce to the Marlboro Food Pantry for the last eight years. 

    Tuesdays, February 2nd – March 9th 7 – 8:30 pm

    $185 members $240 general admission Register at www.masshort.org.

  • Saturday, August 24, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon – Build Your Own Cold Frame

    Cold frames are great season extenders, allowing vegetables to be planted 2-4 weeks earlier than unprotected plants as well as extending the growing season in the fall. They can also play a key role in the transition of seedlings of all kinds from the sheltered windowsill or greenhouse environment to the outdoors.

    Build your very own cold frame which disassembles for easy transportation and storage, in this Tower Hill Botanical Garden workshop on August 24 from 9 – noon with Gretel Anspach. The cold frame’s footprint is 2′ x 4′, and slopes from 24″ at the back to 16″ at the front. All tools will be supplied (though you can bring your own drill or power screwdriver if you like), and no experience with woodworking is needed. Fee includes materials.

    Gretel Anspach is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, a Trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon. Gretel helped to establish and maintain two food production gardens that have provided fresh produce to the Marlboro Food Pantry for the last eight years.

  • Saturday, September 22, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Cold Frame Gardening

    Cold frames, hot beds and hoop houses are great season extenders, allowing vegetables to be planted 2-4 weeks earlier than unprotected plants as well as extending the growing season in the fall. They can also play a key role in the transition of seedlings of all kinds from the sheltered windowsill / greenhouse environment to the outdoors.

    Build your very own cold frame at this Massachusetts Horticultural Society class on Saturday, September 22 from 10 – noon at The Gardens at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street, Wellesley. The cold frame’s footprint is 2′ x 4′, and slopes from 24″ at the back to 16″ at the front. It disassembles for easy transportation and storage. All tools will be supplied (though you can bring your own drill if you like), and no experience with woodworking is needed. $65 for Mass Hort members, $75 for nonmembers. Pre-registration is required at http://masshort.org, or by calling 617-933-4973.

    Teacher Gretel Anspach is a Trustee of Mass Hort, a Lifetime Master Gardener, past-president of the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association and a retired systems engineer for Raytheon.

    Image result for small wood cold frame

  • Saturday, March 17, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm – Urban Gardening

    On Saturday, March 17 from 1 – 2:30, Tower Hill Botanic Garden will sponsor a lecture on Urban Gardening in the education building at 11 French Drive in Boylston.

    Urban gardening is about growing food and ornamentals in small spaces. Whether you have a huge yard without the time or desire to tend it all, or an apartment with no outdoor space at all, this comprehensive talk will give you tips and techniques to start and maintain a garden you can call your own.

    Gretel Anspach is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, a Trustee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and a recently-retired systems engineer for Raytheon. Gretel helped to establish and maintain two food production gardens that have provided fresh produce to the Marlboro Food Pantry for the last eight years.

    Tower Hill members – $10, nonmembers – $20. Register online at www.towerhillbg.org.