Piedmont Master Gardeners

National Pollinator Week Garden Tour and Presentation at The Center
2023-06-20 17:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York)
The Center at Belvedere and the Piedmont Master Gardeners will celebrate Pollinator Week with an open house and tour of the Center’s rose and pollinator demonstration gardens, followed at 6:30 p.m. by a presentation on “How to Create a Pollinator Paradise in Your Yard.” The program is free and open to all and will provide an overview of the best plants for attracting and supporting pollinators in home landscapes in our region. To register, visit https://thecentercville.org/calendar/event/90394//3/.
Completed in 2022, The Center’s pollinator demonstration garden comprises mostly native perennials and grasses and is designed to provide food, shelter and nesting areas for pollinators throughout the growing season. The Piedmont Master Gardeners reinstalled the demonstration rose garden at The Center when it moved to its current location in 2020. It features a diverse array of rose varieties.

Garden Basics: Simple to Sensational Summer Container Gardens
2023-06-17 14:00 - 16:00
Learn tips and techniques for planning, creating, and caring for an attractive and healthy container garden. Participants in this free class will learn how to grow ornamentals, pollinator plants, herbs, and vegetables in containers, and will create a flowering summer container garden to take home. Space is limited. Registration will close at 5 p.m. June 16 or when then the class is full. Garden Basics is a partnership with the Bread and Roses ministry at Trinity Episcopal Church.

Garden Basics: Vermicomposting to Enrich Your Soil
2023-05-20 14:00 - 16:00
Composting with earthworms (vermicomposting) in an enclosed container can turn food waste into a nutrient-rich soil amendment. Vermicomposting is an excellent alternative for people who lack the space for traditional composting. It can be done indoors in a garage, a basement, or under a sink, or outdoors with some protection from the cold. In this free Garden Basics class, you will learn how to set up your own system, how to feed the worms and harvest the castings, and where to go for resources and supplies. Space is limited. Please reserve your place in the class by registering below. Registration closes at 5 p.m. May 19 or when the class is full. Garden Basics is a partnership with the Bread and Roses ministry at Trinity Episcopal Church.

Rain Barrel Workshop at Pen Park
2023-05-11 18:00 - 19:00
Rain barrels can reduce stormwater runoff from your property while providing water you can use for irrigating landscaped beds, watering potted plants, or outdoor chores like bike or car washing. In collaboration with the City of Charlottesville, the Rivanna Stormwater Education Partnership, the Albemarle County Service Authority, and the James River Association, the Piedmont Master Gardeners will participate in a workshop on how to set up your own rain barrel at 6 p.m. May 11 at Pen Park Shelter 2. Registration opens at 10 a.m. April 24. For the registration fee, you will receive a plastic barrel and a DIY assembly kit.

The Piedmont Master Gardeners' 20th Annual Spring Plant Sale
2023-05-06 10:00 - 14:00
Join us for our 20th Annual Spring Plant and Green Elephant Sale. The sale offers something for all gardens:
• plants for sun, shade, or something in between
• annuals, perennials, native and pollinator plants
• herbs
• vegetables
• houseplants
• trees
• shrubs
• fruit
New this year: Native plant combination trays for sun and shade.
Click here to see the wide array of other plants available.
Plus, you can drop off tools and knives to have them sharpened.
Cash, credit cards, and checks accepted. Sale happens rain or shine.* Wagons or carts are welcome to load up your plants.
Master Gardeners will offer demonstrations, educational displays, and a Horticultural Help Desk to answer your questions about problem plants, insects and more. Plan to pick up a soil test kit.
The Plant Sale is the primary source of funding for the Piedmont Master Gardeners’ work in the Charlottesville-Albemarle area, including our support for schoolyard gardens, partnerships with community gardens, native plant and pollinator demonstration gardens, free and low-cost classes and lectures, a monthly online newsletter, onsite advice on healthy lawns and landscapes, and gardening opportunities for people with special needs.
Shop with us and support our educational efforts in the community!
* If extreme weather causes a change in schedule, we will announce it on our Facebook page.

Garden Basics: 'Planting Your Annual Garden'
2023-04-15 14:00 - 16:00
An annual garden adds beauty, color, texture, and diversity into any yard, and it’s easy on the pocketbook. Whether standing alone or supplementing a perennial garden, it can be in sun or shade and can be adapted to fit into almost any spot, large or small. This free Garden Basics class will cover how to choose a site, create a design, select the seeds, prepare the soil, and keep annuals attractive and healthy through the growing season. Garden Basics is a partnership with the Bread and Roses ministry at Trinity Church. The class will include a tour of the Bread and Roses annual beds.

PMG Speakers Bureau at The Center: "Don't Guess; Soil Test!"
2023-04-04 18:30 - 19:30
At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, The Center at Belvedere will host “Don’t Guess; Soil Test,” a free presentation by soil scientist and Piedmont Master Gardener Linda Blum. Without a soil analysis, adding nutrients and other supplements to your yard or garden can result in overfertilization that harms plants and threatens local waterways, even when organic fertilizers are used. Blum, a faculty member in the University of Virginia’s Environmental Sciences Department, will explain how to have your soil tested, how to interpret the results, and how to follow the recommendations for amending your soil. This program is open to all. The Center is at 540 Belvedere Blvd. in Charlottesville. To register, visit https://thecentercville.org/calendar/event/82752.

Spring Lecture Series—Elisa Meara and Alex Thompson, “Attractive, Functional, Sustainable Solutions to Managing Stormwater Runoff in the Home Yard and Garden”
2023-03-30 19:00 - 20:15 | https://www.piedmontmastergardeners.org/event/spring-lecture-series-elisa-meara-and-alex-thompson-attractive-functional-sustainable-solutions-to-managing-stormwater-runoff-in-the-home-yard-and-garden-2/
In this online presentation, landscape designers Elisa Meara and Alex Thompson will show how smart planting and attractive rain gardens can reduce stormwater runoff and filter pollutants that threaten rivers and streams feeding the Chesapeake Bay. A graduate of London’s Inchbald School of Design, Meara (above) hails from the Dominican Republic and is owner of the Native Plant Landscape Design Corp. in Falls Church. Thompson is a principal designer for the firm. She grew up in the English countryside and holds a master’s degree in landscape design from The George Washington University.

Spring Lecture Series—Elisa Meara and Alex Thompson, “Attractive, Functional, Sustainable Solutions to Managing Stormwater Runoff in the Home Yard and Garden”
2023-03-30 19:00 - 20:15 | https://www.piedmontmastergardeners.org/event/spring-lecture-series-elisa-meara-and-alex-thompson-attractive-functional-sustainable-solutions-to-managing-stormwater-runoff-in-the-home-yard-and-garden/

Garden Basics: Spring Cleanup in the Perennial Garden (CLASS IS FULL)
2023-03-25 14:00 - 16:00
Waiting until spring to clean up your perennial garden allows plants to overwinter for structural interest, protection for insects, and food sources for birds. Join us for an outdoor Garden Basics class at PMG’s demonstration garden at Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital. (Look for the welcome table at the Outpatient Care Center parking area, 595 Martha Jefferson Drive.) You will learn:
• The native plants in the demonstration garden
• The importance of cleanup in the spring rather than the fall
• How to divide plants in the spring.
Participants will have a hands-on activity and will take home a native plant for their own gardens.
Space is limited. See below to register and reserve a place in the class. Garden Basics is a partnership with the Bread and Roses ministry at Trinity Episcopal Church.

Virginia Festival of the Book: Poet, Essayist and Gardener Ross Gay
2023-03-25 14:00 - 15:00
The Piedmont Master Gardeners are co-sponsoring an appearance by poet, essayist and passionate gardener Ross Gay at this year’s Virginia Festival of the Book. The Same Page Community Read event is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, March 25, at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. We are partnering with the Friends of JMRL, which selected his essay collection The Book of Delights (a New York Times best-seller) for the 2023 Same Page Community Read program. He will also read from his latest book of essays, Inciting Joy. As critics observe, this award-winning writer “celebrates the beauty of the natural world–his garden, the flowers peeking out of the sidewalk, the hypnotic movements of a praying mantis.”

Spring Lecture Series—Kim Eierman, “Designing a Pollinator Victory Garden for a Changing Climate”
2023-03-16 19:00 - 20:15 | https://www.piedmontmastergardeners.org/event/spring-lecture-series-kim-eierman-designing-a-pollinator-victory-garden-for-a-changing-climate-2/
Kim Eierman, an ecological landscape designer specializing in native plants, will cover the dramatic decline of pollinators due to factors that include climate change and will offer simple strategies gardeners can use to support bees and an array of other pollinator species. Based in Westchester County, New York, Eierman is author of The Pollinator Victory Garden: Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening. She teaches at the New York Botanical Garden and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, among other places.

Spring Lecture Series—Kim Eierman, “Designing a Pollinator Victory Garden for a Changing Climate”
2023-03-16 19:00 - 20:15 | https://www.piedmontmastergardeners.org/event/spring-lecture-series-kim-eierman-designing-a-pollinator-victory-garden-for-a-changing-climate/

Spring Lecture Series—Bob Schamerhorn, “Attracting Birds and Other Wildlife to Your Garden with Easy-to-Create Water Features”
2023-03-09 19:00 - 20:15 | https://www.piedmontmastergardeners.org/event/spring-lecture-series-bob-schamerhorn-attracting-birds-and-other-wildlife-to-your-garden-with-easy-to-create-water-features/
Bob Schamerhorn’s online multimedia presentation will demonstrate water’s powerful attraction to birds and other wildlife in every season and will suggest ways to enhance our enjoyment of nature by bringing water into our backyards. Based in Richmond, Schamerhorn is an award-winning nature photographer and a lifelong bird and nature enthusiast. His work has appeared in numerous exhibitions and publications, including Virginia Wildlife and Audubon, the National Audubon Society’s magazine.

Spring Lecture Series—Bob Schamerhorn, “Attracting Birds and Other Wildlife to Your Garden with Easy-to-Create Water Features”
2023-03-09 19:00 - 20:15 | https://www.piedmontmastergardeners.org/event/spring-lecture-series-bob-schamerhorn-attracting-birds-and-other-wildlife-to-your-garden-with-easy-to-create-water-features-2/

Spring Lecture Series—Michael Carter Jr., "Africulture and Unique Organic Vegetables You’ll Want in Your Home Garden"
2023-03-02 19:00 - 20:15 | https://www.piedmontmastergardeners.org/event/spring-lecture-series-michael-carter-jr-africulture-and-unique-organic-vegetables-youll-want-in-your-home-garden/
In this online presentation, Michael Carter Jr. will highlight the many contributions the African continent and people of African descent have made to farming and food traditions in the United States. He will also introduce some of the unique plants he grows organically at his family’s certified Virginia Century Farm in Orange County. Carter is the fifth generation of his family to farm this property and is managing director of Carter Farms and Africulture, a nonprofit focused on educating the public about the principles, practices, plants, and people of African descent that have contributed to U.S. agriculture.

Spring Lecture Series—Michael Carter Jr., "Africulture and Unique Organic Vegetables You’ll Want in Your Home Garden"
2023-03-02 19:00 - 20:15 | https://www.piedmontmastergardeners.org/event/spring-lecture-series-michael-carter-jr-africulture-and-unique-organic-vegetables-youll-want-in-your-home-garden-2/

Garden Basics: Tools for Gardening Smarter, Not Harder
2023-02-18 14:00 - 16:00
The Piedmont Master Gardeners will offer a primer on easy-to-find as well as odd, little-known, but handy tools for tending the yard and garden—from socks and gloves to clippers and tree-extraction tools. This free Garden Basics session will cover:
• caring for your tools;
• where to buy them; and
• how, when, and where to use them properly.
Space is limited. See below to register and reserve a place in the class. Garden Basics is a partnership with the Bread and Roses ministry at Trinity Episcopal Church.
