Boston Flora

Tag: Matt Mattus

  • Tuesday, April 21 – Thursday, April 26, 2026 – Artistry and Floral Splendor: Dutch Waterways by Private River Barge

    Embark on an enchanting spring cruise with the American Horticultural Society April 21 – 26, 2026, along picturesque Dutch waterways aboard the privately chartered river barge, Magnifique II, led by AHS Senior Director of Horticulture Matt Mattus. Amidst blooming season, visit public and private gardens on expert-guided tours and observe innovative horticultural techniques inspired by Wageningen University’s Foodvalley. While highlighting Holland’s botanical wonders, the journey also showcases world-class art museums that house masterpieces of the Dutch Golden Age. This cruise promises a harmonious and fascinating exploration of natural beauty and human artistry. Additionally, there will be the opportunity to participate in an optional post-trip extension in Amsterdam, featuring private access to historic homes and gardens along the Vecht River. Click here for Program Brochure and Registration.

  • Sunday, May 15, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – The Garden Conservancy’s Worcester County Open Day

    Two gardens in the Worcester area will be open through the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program on May 15 from 10 – 4. Pre-registration is REQUIRED. Admission fee to each garden: Members $5 per person; General admission $10. Children 12 and under free.

    Enjoy the garden of Matt Mattus and Joe Philip right in the city. Matt’s garden is a mature, third- generation family property in a suburban neighborhood. It contains many tall trees (now more than 90 feet tall) planted in the 1920s by his grandfather and father. “The garden is an ongoing restoration project” says Matt. “I’ve never opened it up for tours as I’ve always believed that it was more of a small collector’s garden than one that is ‘tour-worthy’, yet I know that most visitors enjoy the casual atmosphere, and the ‘down the rabbit hole-ness’ of a true collector’s garden!” Expect to see collections of interesting plants and greenhouse projects, sweet peas, stone and gravel paths, boxwood and hornbeam hedges, garden rooms, and even a small 100-year-old goldfish pond. Charming and picturesque as a small English garden and as horticulturally interesting as a botanic garden, this 1.5 acres is essentially a home garden, yet one that has recently been featured in Martha Stewart Living, Better Homes and Gardens, and other magazines. Matt Mattus, whose blog is Growingwithplants.com, is the author of Mastering the Art of Vegetable Gardening (2019) and Mastering the Art of Growing Flowers (2020). Both books will be available for purchase on site.

    The Swift River Farm in Petersham (below) is the second offered garden on that date. A woodland garden screens the house from the road and continues along the north side of the house with many spring ephemerals and flowering trees, ending in a small collection of tree peonies. A stone walkway leads past a tulip border to a small perennial garden enclosed by a box hedge. Further on is a water garden with a gazebo that overlooks a koi pond. A small herb garden behind the house leads out through a set of clematis arbors to another perennial garden. Next to the greenhouse is a rock garden and beyond it a spring garden with primulas, spring bulbs, and species peonies. The rock garden looks out on a large meadow designed by Gordon Hayward with a mix of nectar-rich perennials and grasses. Paths through the meadow lead to an apple orchard and a vegetable/cutting garden.

    Register for either or both at www.gardenconservancy.org

  • Thursday, April 2, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Mastering the Art of Flower Gardening – Postponed

    A comprehensive and highly practical study of growing flowers, Mastering the Art of Flower Gardening presents expert advice and guidelines on growing many of today’s favorite flowers. Author Matt Mattus has curated a selection that ranges from the most common of flowers, like zinnias and dahlias, to uncommon or challenging flowers like primroses and sweet peas. Learn about old-fashioned biennials and the finest perennials as well as beloved flowers that grow as shrubs, bulbs, or vines. Organized seasonally, there is even a winter chapter featuring flowers for cool, indoor windowsills or a backyard greenhouse. Mattus shares what he’s learned over decades of first-hand experience as a horticulturist, testing techniques in his own garden and greenhouse. Whether you’re interested in raising a small cut-flower garden, enhancing your flower border or containers, or figuring out how to grow the best Bread Seed Poppies next year, Mattus has it covered.

    Active in many horticultural leadership roles, Matt’s day job is quite different. Professionally Matt works as a Principal Designer at toy and entertainment giant Hasbro, Inc. (Pawtucket, RI), but that doesn’t preclude his deep involvement in many plant societies and botanic gardens. Matt has been involved with horticulture throughout his career. By age 10 he was exhibiting as a ‘junior exhibitor’ in the many plant society shows held at Worcester County Horticultural Society’s Horticultural Hall in Worcester, MA throughout the 1970’s. He is the author of the award-winning gardening blog Growing With Plants. His greenhouse and gardens have also been included in many popular magazines, blogs and books including Martha Stewart Living (Nov. 2016 – Chrysanthemums), House & Garden (Nov 2016, South African Bulbs), and Better Homes & Gardens, to name a few.

    This Tower Hill Botanic Garden talk and book signing will take place April 2 from 6:30 – 8:30, and is $15 for Tower Hill members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Thursday, November 7, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Botanizing in the Land of the Blue Poppy

    Join Blithewold Mansion, Gardens, and Arboretum on Thursday, November 7 from 10 – 2 for some high-elevation Himalayan escapism via Matt Mattus’ stunning photos and film from a recent expedition.

    He followed in the footsteps of some of the greatest 19th-century botanists (Farrer, Ward, Forest) through a fascinating horticultural area, Yunnan and the borderlands of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. This area remains of immense interest to botanists and alpine gardeners and is home to varietals of primula, rhododendron and meconopsis: the famed blue poppy.

    $85 per person – register at www.blithewold.org

    ***The lecture will be followed by a luncheon, book signing, and raffle at the R.I. Country Club.***

  • Sunday, November 1, 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm – The Art of Raising Fancy Exhibition Chrysanthemums

    Learn everything you need to know about fine craft of raising, training and displaying fancy exhibition chrysanthemums in this Tower Hill Botanic Garden presentation by plantsman and blogger Matt Mattus, to be held Sunday, November 1, from 2:30 – 4. With cultural techniques that date back to the 15th century the chrysanthemum remained popular until the early 20th century, when the economics and interest in keeping such a collection, waned. Today, those fancy varieties (spiders, recurves and brush types) as well as their training methods (columns shields, arches, cascades) are rarely seen outside of the handful of specialist collectors and botanic gardens who continue to raise and display these flowers. Inspired by this deep tradition, plantsman Matt Mattus has dedicated much of his research in learning as much as he can about the culture and history of these flowers. He has amassed an important collection of exotic and vintage named varieties, which he grows and displays in his private greenhouse in Worcester. We’ve been able to convince Matt to share with us his not only his tips and tricks, but also some of the actual specimens. A slide presentation is included, full of tactical information such as where to find all the materials you will need to create your own display for next autumn. Free with admission.  Image from www.fhshh.com.

  • Wednesday, July 17, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm – The Stoddard Garden Talk with Matt Mattus

    Many years ago, garden blogger Matt Mattus worked several summers as Mrs. Stoddard’s gardener. He’ll relive his experiences there and what he learned from working in a Fletcher Steele designed garden. He claims to remember every plant!  There will be plenty of time for questions following the Wednesday, July 17  talk, which begins at 6:30 pm,  and a chance to visit the current library exhibit, “When Fletcher Steele came to Worcester”, an exhibit that focuses on the Stoddard Garden designed by Fletcher Steele in the late 1940’s.  The library will be open that evening from 5PM to 8PM.  The talk is free with garden admission.  Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

    http://dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu/bitstream/handle/1951/45281/C408%20S%20E3%202032.jpg?sequence=1

  • Saturday, November 19, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Winter Flowering Bulbs

    Join the Cactus and Succulent Society of Massachusetts on Saturday, November 19, from 1 – 4 at Tower Hill Botanic Garden, 11 French Drive in Boylston, for a talk by noted plant author and blogger Matt Mattus, who will be speaking on Winter Flowering Bulbs.  Matt is a passionate horticulturist with a particular love of flowering South African bulbs.  Learn about the beauty and diversity of these fall and winter flowering plants.  With a little special care you, too, can enjoy these rare beauties at home. For more information, contact margothammer@mac.com.`

  • Saturday, October 22, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Beyond Paperwhites: Amazing Winter Blooming Bulbs for Pots and Greenhouses

    Many gardeners think about bulbs as spring-blooming, such as tulips, crocuses and daffodils. But here in New England winters are long, and although we are familiar with some winter bulbs such as amaryllis and paperwhites, most gardeners are ready for something new and unusual. Winter-blooming bulbs are the answer. Bulbs are designed to be practically foolproof, but where can you find unusual ones, and which ones should you try indoors or in a cool room? Join Matt Mattus at Berkshire Botanical Garden on Saturday, October 22, from 1 – 3, as he shares some of his favorite bulbs for culture in pots, under glass and indoors. Matt will introduce you to all types of bulbs, from South African rarities for collectors to easy-to-grow yet hard-to-find gems, many of which you may have never heard of. Participants will take home a pot or two of some of Matt’s favorites. Matt Mattus is editor and publisher of Plant Society Magazine and the popular rare plant blog Growing With Plants. He is a member of numerous plant societies and is a wizard with all things horticultural.  $35 for BBG members, $45 for non-members, with a $5 materials fee payable to the instructor.  To register, visit www.berkshirebotanical.org, or contact info@berkshirebotanical.org.  Image below from Matt Mattus’ rare plant blog:

  • Plant Society Magazine Launches

    Matt Mattus, of Worcester, Massachusetts, maintains a very good website, www.growingwithplants.com, and this week formally announced the publishing of the first prototype issue of Plant Society Magazine, available now at Magcloud.com.  Here is what Matt says about his new venture:

    “Magcloud is HP’s new Beta self publishing site for magazines, and I am using it to launch the first few issues. Magcloud tells me that that they can currently ship directly to USA, Canada and the UK. Let me know how it works if you are outside of the US. As a designer, horticulturist, trend hunter, artist, photographer, blogger and plant collector, it only seemed natural to use this new platform to launch this venture. After all, I design magazines for a living, I evaluate publication design for many of the major graphic design journals and annual award issues, I speak at both leading visual design conferences, and plant societies, and I have a vault of images taken over the past ten years from my greenhouses, alpine house and gardens.

    The publishing business is changing so fast, that what once was seen as vanity publishing, is now much more accepted in our new digital world of blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. You can think of this as a magazine, or a blogazine. Either way, it will morph and change as I develop future issues to include both plant related features focusing on subjects not examined by the mass market magazines, and garden lifestyle – with inspirational crafts, holiday design, food, travel, and more all planned for future issues.

    The first issue of this quarterly magazine is for people who are serious about plants. You know who you are, you don’t just like plants, you are crazy about them. You don’t just collect them, you curate your collections and you will do most anything to get that plant that you do not have.  This stunningly designed plant quarterly is a plant connoisseur’s dream come true.  It’s part botanical journal, part lifestyle magazine and part blogazine.

    This issue focuses on high summer, both in the greenhouse and in the garden of the plant collector. Learn about Nerine sarniensis, the Guernsey Lilies, Japanese trained chrysanthemums, rare South African Geraniums (Pelargonium in the section Horarea), and Crocosmia.

    Currently the magazine sells for $14.99. at 75 pages, but it is on sale as a feature of Magcloud for around $12.00 US give or take some change for shipping and handling directly through the website MAGCLOUD. Anyone in the US, Canada or UK can order direct from the Magcloud website portal, and can even pay directly from their credit card or Paypal on the site. Magcloud prints to order, and the process is very easy. In five days or less, the magazine will be printed, bound, and mailed directly to you.”