Heritage Museums and Gardens

Tuesday, May 23 – Sunday, May 31 – Virtual Rhododendron Festival

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Heritage Museums and Gardens is renowned for its collection of thousands of world-famous rhododendrons in over 175 varieties. The Rhododendron Festival is often a sign of summer’s approach and our gardens awakening here at Heritage. While the museums and gardens are closed, we are very proud to offer our first ever Virtual Rhododendron Festival! We have compiled a trove of online resources you can enjoy from home!

Check out the Rhododendron Festival Youtube Playlist to learn about proper plant care and pruning techniques via video demonstrations with our Director of Horticulture, Les Lutz. Manager of Interpretation, Alexandra Mulrow, shares the story of Heritage’s fascinating rhododendron legacy and much more.

Also visit www.heritagemuseumsandgardens.org for all things Rhododendron with fun from home activities, blogs, and challenges.

The Insider at Heritage Museums & Gardens Podcast

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The Insider at Heritage Museums & Gardens is a weekly podcast series, which takes a deeper dive into the museum’s gardens, exhibits, events, behind-the-scenes work and more!  New episodes will be released every other Wednesday through November.  Subscribe to the Insider podcast on YouTube, SoundCloud, and Itunes. Right now hear an interview with Heather Mead, Director of Visitor Engagement, an interview with David Camp, Principal of Dirtworks, PC, designer of the Gardens of the Senses, and an interview with Les Lutz, Director of Horticulture, to name a few options available now at https://heritagemuseumsandgardens.org/theinsider/

Saturday, October 26, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Hydrangea Success

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Hydrangeas continue to be a very popular woody ornamental genus. Widely grown along the New England coastline – and increasingly in more interior locations – they create something special in so many gardens. Mal Condon’s October 26 discussion at 2 pm at Tower Hill Botanic Garden will cover a broad range of best practices for growing hydrangea successfully in your gardens – from the technical perspective to the all-important ‘dirt under the fingernails’ Issues.

Sponsored by the New England Hosta Society. Free with admission to the Garden.

A lifelong gardener, Mal Condon has been collecting, propagating, and growing hydrangeas for more than 40 years. He and his wife Mary Kay operated Hydrangea Farm Nursery on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts for many years. It was a well-known specialty nursery featuring a touring garden containing one of the largest hydrangea collections in the Northeast. In February 2014 they moved to Yarmouth Port on Cape Cod, where they are continuing their passion establishing a significant new garden. Mal is Curator of Hydrangeas at Heritage Museums & Gardens in Sandwich, MA, a former President of The Cape Cod Hydrangea Society, and the ‘hydrangea whisperer’ for several major residential landscapes on the Cape.

Thursday, August 15, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm – Companion Planting for Hydrangeas Workshop

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Enjoy a walk through the Heritage Museums and Gardens on August 15 from 10:30 – noon as Horticulturist Laura Swain and Curator of Hydrangeas Mal Condon simplify the process of selecting plants to complement and highlight hydrangeas throughout the season. For the novice or expert gardener, this workshop will encourage creative experimentation and provide information needed to start designing your own space. While Mal covers the major hydrangea species and their preferred growing conditions, Laura will delve into design, sharing tips and techniques for site analysis, planting layers, and considering structure, texture, and color.

$17 for Heritage members, $27 for nonmembers. Register at www.heritagemuseumsandgardens.org

Saturday, September 22, 12:00 noon – 5:00 pm – Hoppy Fall Festival

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Celebrate fall and the resurgence of small craft brewers at Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich on Saturday, September 22 from noon – 5 at the Hoppy Fall Festival. The event features beer tasting from local and hyper-local breweries. Staff from each brewery are on hand to answer questions about their beers and brewing processes, plus you can indulge in fare from local food trucks while you enjoy your drinks in an autumn biergarten at the largest public garden in southern New England! Visitors can also enjoy fun, backyard games and commemorate the day by taking a photo with a display of living hops grown at Heritage.

Tasting Tickets: $35 Heritage Gardens Members; $40 Non-Members. Price includes museum admission. Must be 21+ and valid ID is required to enter the event. Buy tickets online at https://heritagemuseumsandgardens.org/event/hoppy-fall-festival-2/

Image result for hoppy fall festival

Saturday, November 4, 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm – Hydrangea Winterizing Workshop

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Hydrangea macrophylla are the least cold-hardy of hydrangea species and are hard to keep alive during harsh Cape Cod winters. Heritage Museums & Gardens Hydrangea Curator Mal Condon will provide information and demonstrate techniques for protecting hydrangeas from the ravages of winter, in this workshop on Saturday, November 4 from 1:30 – 2:30 at the gardens on 67 Grove Street in Sandwich. $10 for Heritage members, $25 for nonmembers (includes Museum admission.) For more information visit https://heritagemuseumsandgardens.org/event/hydrangea-winterizing-workshop-2/ Photo by Luc Balemans from www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com.

Saturday, November 5, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm – Winterizing Hydrangeas

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Hydrangea macrophylla are the least cold-hardy of hydrangea species, and therefore are hard to keep alive during harsh Massachusetts winters. Heritage Museums & Gardens Hydrangea Curator Mal Condon will provide information on protecting hydrangeas from the ravages of winter in this demonstration taking place Saturday, November 5 from 11:30 – 12:30 at 67 Grove Street in Sandwich. $10 for Museum members, $15 for nonmembers. Register by calling 508-888-3300, x 175, or email jraynor@heritagemuseums.org. Image from www.finegardening.com.

Wednesday, September 28, 10:00 am – 10:45 am – Pest Management

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Join a Heritage Museum & Gardens Horticulturist in Sandwich on Wednesday, September 28 beginning at 10 am, and walk the gardens to learn about pests, integrated pest management, and how Heritage uses a sustainable approach to control pest problems. Buy tickets online at www.heritagemuseumsandgardens.org. $10 for Heritage members, $25 for nonmembers.

Questions? Contact Julie Raynor at jraynor@heritagemuseums.org or call 508-888-3300. Image from www.portageturf.com.

Through Monday, October 10 – Natural Threads

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Heritage Museums & Gardens, 67 Grove Street in Sandwich, is hosting ten artists this year for Natural Threads, this year’s seasonal outdoor art installation in the gardens. Their imaginative works interpret the theme of connected natural and synthetic fibers by bending, shaping, and linking natural elements of Heritage Museums & Gardens’ varied terrain.

The artists in this outdoor art installation use rope, cord, textiles, and branches among other materials to get us to pay close attention to aspects of Heritage’s peaceful environment. Heritage’s seasonal outdoor art installations inspire visitors to create and to view their familiar gardens in new ways.

Each artist competed and was selected by a jury panel for acceptance into the show. The artists featured this year are from Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, California, Mississippi, Utah and Pennsylvania. To create the art installations these experienced artists used knots, cables, ropes, mirrors, and yarn to express the passage of light, chaos and order, tree bark skins, and identity. Landscape configurations, webs, and woven lines figure into some of the pieces. One artist’s piece was inspired by rainwater and an ancient ceremonial drinking vessel. The sponsor of this exhibition is the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod.  Free with admission.  For hours of operation visit www.heritagemuseumsandgardens.org.