Where Tovah’s lecturing in the coming months. For more information and to look ahead, go to www.tovahmartin.com.
January 27 & 28, 2012
Callaway Gardens ~ Pine Mountain, GA
Lecture Topics: January 27, 10:00 AM ~ Terrarium Workshop
January 28, 8:00 PM ~ Infusing the Garden with Personality
Book signing
For more information: www.callawaygardens.com
February 6, 2012 ~ 11:00 AM
Suffield Garden Club ~ Suffield, CT
Lecture Topic: Terrariums & You
Lecture, demonstration & book signing
February 11, 2012 ~ 10:00 AM
Berkshire Botanical Garden ~ Stockbridge, MA
Lecture Topic: Begonia Workshop
For more information: www.berkshirebotanical.org
February 14, 2012 ~ 10:00 AM
Darien Garden Club ~ location to be arranged
Lecture topic: Terrariums & You
Book signing
February 16, 2012 ~ 7:00 PM
Naugatuck Garden Club ~ location to be arranged
Lecture topic: Terrariums & You
Book signing
February 23, 2012 ~ 9:30 AM
New Canaan Garden Club ~ New Canaan Nature Center
Lecture topic: Terrarium workshop
Book signing
February 26, 2012 ~ 12:30 PM
Connecticut Flower Show ~ Hartford, CT
Lecture topic: The New Terrarium
Book signing
For more information: www.ctflowershow.com
March 10, 2012 ~ 11:30 AM
Philadelphia Flower Show ~ Philadelphia, PA
Lecture topic: The New Terrarium
Book signing
For more information: www.theflowershow.com
March 15, 2012 ~ 12:00 noon
Bristol Garden Club ~ Bristol Public Library ~ Bristol, CT
Lecture topic: Terrariums & You with a demonstration
Book signing
March 17, 2012 ~ time to be arranged
Mercer County Master Gardener Symposium ~ Princeton, NJ
Lecture topic: Trowels and Tomorrow – Garden Stewardship
Book signing
For more information: www.mgofmc.org
Tovah on the Newsstand
News Flash!!!!
I’m tickled pink to be the 2012 Writer in Residence for Victoria magazine, kicking off the year with her first essay =
Victoria January 2012 issue ~ The Secret Handshake of Seeds
Better Homes & Gardens ~ January 2012 issue ~ Top Plants for Terrariums an interview of Tovah by Jane McKeon.
Country Gardens ~ Early Spring 2012 issue ~ Growing a Legacy
LCT (the monthly magazine of The Litchfield County Times) ~ January 2012 issue ~ Planters’ Choice Nursery Keeps Branching Out
I’ll look for the January issues of Victoria and BH&G, but what is LCT?
Wait ’til you see BH&G, Lisa, it’s so state of the art! It’s got video apps connected with it and it’s really thrilling. And the glassware we used for the terrariums is to die for. The Litchfield County Times is a local magazine that I write for monthly. Good point — I’ll explain that in the post for the folks that aren’t local (most of my blog family, I bet).
Thanks for the info. I picked up a copy of Victoria yesterday and read your seed article immediately. It was very sweet and so true! I have friends in England who have sent me seeds from their gardens and now their plants are thriving in my garden beds. Each time I see the columbines surrounding my weeping cherry tree out front, I think of my generous gardening friends in the U.K. I look forward to the BH&G article.
O Lisa! What a picture that must be — and what a great idea to bed a weeping cherry in columbines. That one’s going to hold me through the winter and happen in my garden next spring, maybe with magnolia in my case. And you hit it = second only to poppies as a passalong seed would be columbines, wouldn’t it? And with columbines, there’s usually a seedhead or two waiting to be plucked for visitors…the Victoria venue is such a creative outlet. It syncopates the year.
I’ve always loved columbines of any kind and my friend in the U.K. grew and propagated them and cranesbill and sold the seeds. She surprised me one year with several packets of each! My weeping cherry had the lawn grass growing right up to the trunk flare when we bought this house and removing the sod about 3-4′ out to create a grass free zone was one of my first landscaping jobs after we settled in. In between the columbines I sow bedding plants of white sweet alyssum so there are no bare spots. Looks nice and smells nice. Picked up a copy of Jan BH&G late yesterday. Will read it when I get a chance, but flipped through it at the checkout and have already decided I want the wood and glass terrariums pictured on p. 61 & 62! I’ve never seen anything like them~ Will enter the contest and try to win one.
Sounds like you’re duty-bound to save those British columbines and share them with gardening friends (hint, hint), Lisa. My heart goes out to you with that sod removal challenge — easily my least favorite gardening chore. And you’re awfully wise to interplant the columbine with later performers. Mine poop out when the weather gets warm. I hated to send the wood and glass terrarium back to the supplier after we finished photographing it for BH&G because it was borrowed. But if you don’t win, it’s made by Roost and you can buy them on line. I’m probably going to use some of their terrariums at a grammar school in NYC that’s going green through terrariums — I’m helping them set up the systems. Should be really exciting. I’ll keep you posted. You’re gonna love growing in terrariums, Lisa.
Well, I’m ready! I’ve got your book, a huge glass brandy snifter, the charcoal, and potting soil, and gloves. I’m hoping to pick up a great assortment of appropriate plants at the Philadelphia Flower Show in March so I can finally make my own terrarium. Those lucky kids in NYC should have a wonderful time. By the way, the easiest way for sod removal is over the winter. In the fall, I placed several sheets of newspaper down on the grass surrounding the base of my tree and repeated that until it was about 3-4′ away from the trunk. Then I hosed down the newspaper to keep it in place and help it to eventually break down. I topped the newspapers with a few inches of compost and wet that too. Then I added a few inches of mulch and soaked that good and left it alone for the winter. In the spring, the sod had composted down and had usable soil. Because of the tree roots, I did not dig to plant, hence the sowing of the columbine seeds.
Happy New Year, Lisa! I’m home early from a First Night celebration — I can never make it to midnight. GREAT instructions for sod removal. I’ve never heard of your method and like your lasagna MUCH better than the straight cardboard trick that always ends up looking like someone forgot to go to recycling. I’m going to give it a whirl. I tried direct sowing chamomile seeds in mulch for groundcover last spring with zero results (well, that’s not actually the truth — 2 seeds germinated, I sowed hundreds). But it might have been an erosion washout. At the Phila Flower Show there’s a vendor who sells little bonsai plants (I might have told you about him last year) — many are PERFECT for terrariums and very reasonably priced.
Happy New Year to you too, Tovah! I was asleep by 11:30 pm myself! The sod removal method essentially is lasagna gardening on a smaller scale. A year ago I did lasagna gardening in my backyard ( 4 1/2′ deep by 40′ long ) up against a fence. Took a ton of material and I was still working on it the day before Thanksgiving! Came out nice though. I can’t wait for the Phila Flower Show. I’m going to stock up on plants for terrariums~ just realized I have 3-4 family birthdays coming up the end of March, in April, and May, so I’m going to make each of them a terrarium! Gotta get the plants first. Not much of a selection around here.
Officially 2012! Let the resolutions begin! It’s true = terrariums make the best gifts. It’s like giving someone a little work of art that you created yourself. And you can make it personal — one of my sisters got one with a mini rustic bench, the other got one with a mini urn and my mom (the birdwatcher) got a little metal bird and nest in hers. Don’t know if this is anywhere near you = but I’m doing a workshop at the Adult School of Montclair in NJ on May 8.
Montclair, NJ is not near me, unfortunately. It would be at least a 4 hr drive for me one way. Do check out Montclair NJ on Wikipedia. I was impressed with all that little town has to offer. While you’re there in May, maybe you’ll have time to check out the Howard Van Vleck Arboretum, the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens, and the Van Vleck House and Gardens. All are listed, pictured, and described on the Wikipedia link.
I am so glad you mentioned these, Lisa — I’ve been trying to get to the Presby iris garden for years, and it should be exactly iris time. And I’ve also heard of the Van Vleck gardens. I’m not lecturing until evening, so I’ll plan to leave early in the AM and make a day of it. Thank you!
Glad to help! 🙂