An LGF Spring Preview, Inside and Out

w/ Vincent Simeone and Dennis Schrader

Saturday, March 22, 10 am – 1 pm

We are pleased to welcome back perennial favorite Vincent A. Simeone, who will lead an eye-opening outdoor tour of a garden on the threshold of spring; then move indoors with Landcraft Environment’s co-owner, LGF’s co- founder, and plant explorer Dennis Schrader to preview the Landcraft plant collection – a display of tropical plants from around the world – created and curated for decades by Dennis and Bill Smith. Simeone will highlight the wonders of landscape emerging from rest, while Schrader will inspire the plant collector in all of us.

Vincent Simeone has worked in public horticulture for 37 years at Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park in New York where he is currently the Director.  Over the last 15 years, Vincent has assisted Dr. Allan Armitage with garden tours through Southern England, Northern France, Southern Germany, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa and Sweden. Simeone specializes in woody plant id, culture, use and selection of superior varieties and is an experienced lecturer, instructor, and horticultural consultant.

Dennis Schrader is co-owner of Landcraft Environments, a leading wholesale greenhouse growing operation, located in Mattituck, NY and Ridgley, Maryland, producing hundreds of thousands of plants each year. Landcraft ships its plants to garden centers, public gardens and garden designers throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Schrader’s garden design accomplishments range from penthouse gardens in Manhattan to large-scale commercial and estate landscapes on Long Island and throughout the Northeast to tropical gardens in Florida, Hawaii, California and Costa Rica.

Fresh Cut Wreaths & Swags

w/ Beth White & Kerry Ann McLean

Thursday, December 5, 10 am – noon

Pick from an incredible assortment of unusual pine, cedar, cryptomeria and chamaecyparis boughs, freshly harvested from Landcraft’s own backyard.  Add zing with berries, cones, dried florals, branches with character, gold, glitter and even fresh tropical cuts to make one of kind wreaths that will dazzle visiting friends and family. Floral expert Beth White will show guests all the best tips and techniques for making a lasting and beautiful seasonal door piece.

Beth White is a veteran florist with 40 years of experience at floral shops along the south fork.  She also styled flowers for Living Magazine. While retired, wreaths continue to be a special passion of hers.

Kerry Ann McLean is Landcraft Garden Foundation’s Head Gardener. Trained at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA, Kerry Ann brings to the North Fork years of experience as a grounds and estate manager, public gardener, Horticulture Specialist for W. Atlee Burpee Seed Company, plant buyer for Terrain, the garden-lifestyle brand of Urban Outfitters and Senior Horticulturist for Longwood Gardens.

Leaving An Impression: Flower Fosil Ornaments

w/ Kerry Ann McLean

Saturday, November 23, 10 am – 1 pm

Flower fossils are the impressions of actual flowers and other plant parts then cast in plaster to make raised three-dimensional forms like the original.  Exquisitely detailed, these casts make beautiful wall art or ornaments; they can be pieces in your own collection of memorabilia or personalized gifts to others. Join Head Gardener Kerry Ann McLean in the execution of these fun to make botanical gems just in time to share with family and friends for the holidays.

Kerry Ann McLean is Landcraft Garden Foundation’s Head Gardener. Trained at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA, Kerry Ann brings to the North Fork years of experience as a grounds and estate manager, public gardener, Horticulture Specialist for W. Atlee Burpee Seed Company, plant buyer for Terrain, the garden-lifestyle brand of Urban Outfitters and Senior Horticulturist for Longwood Gardens.

A Chill In The Air: Dried Floral Wreaths for Fall

w/ Beth White and Kerry Ann McLean

Saturday, October 5, 10 am – noon

Get crafty and grounded while learning the art of wreath-making! Using frames, vines, dried florals and picks, guest floral expert Beth White will walk participants through the steps of assembling a wreath that captures the essence of fall and all its wonders. From bare branches to dried fruits and flowers and maybe even a woodland creature or two, nothing is off limits, and every wreath will reflect your own inner artist. Frames and floral materials provided.

Beth White is a veteran florist with 40 years of experience at floral shops along the south fork.  She also styled flowers for Living Magazine. While retired, wreaths continue to be a special passion of hers.

Kerry Ann McLean is Landcraft Garden Foundation’s Head Gardener. Trained at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA, Kerry Ann brings to the North Fork years of experience as a grounds and estate manager, public gardener, Horticulture Specialist for W. Atlee Burpee Seed Company, plant buyer for Terrain, the garden-lifestyle brand of Urban Outfitters and Senior Horticulturist for Longwood Gardens.

The Layered Garden: A Three Season Container

w/ Kerry Ann McLean, LGF Head Gardener

Saturday, September 21, 11 am – 1 pm

There are dainty spring containers and riotous summer containers, containers of copper, gold, burgundy and purple for fall and sometimes an evergreen stuck in a pot for winter; but what if there was a container that spanned three seasons in one planting?  There is! Creating a layered container of bulbs, fall cabbages and dramatic dried autumnal florals gathered in the center can last from the early fall to late spring and even early summer. Join Landcraft Garden Foundation’s Head Gardener Kerry Ann McLean for this innovative and cost-effective floral display in a pot.  Learn all the tips and tricks to keeping this arrangement of live and dried material fresh and gorgeous for its full 8 months of display!

Kerry Ann McLean is Landcraft Garden Foundation’s Head Gardener. Trained at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA, Kerry Ann brings to the North Fork years of experience as a grounds and estate manager, public gardener, Horticulture Specialist for W. Atlee Burpee Seed Company, plant buyer for Terrain, the garden-lifestyle brand of Urban Outfitters and Senior Horticulturist for Longwood Gardens.

Honey Harvest at the Landcraft Garden

With Chris Kelly, Master Beekeeper, Promise Land Apiaries

Friday, August 30, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm

Distinguished by unique and varied pollinator paths throughout expansive display gardens as well as ten acres of native meadows of plants and wildlife, Landcraft Garden Foundation is an ideal setting to learn about the importance of the Honeybee as the “little self-sacrificial servant” in the broader symbiotic relationship between plant and bee life. Bees play a vital role as pollinators in every aspect of nature’s constant dance. They contribute to complex, interconnected ecosystems that allow a diverse number of different plant and animal species to coexist. Using Landcraft’s very own bee colonies and pollinator heavy gardens, Master Beekeeper and Cornell trained entomologist,

Chris Kelly, will teach participants how to better understand the importance of the bee, as well as how gardeners and wildlife lovers alike can contribute to their prosperity in our very own backyards. In addition to his informative walk & talk, Kelly will demonstrate his hands on approach to beekeeping, capped off with a demonstration on harvesting honey straight from the source. Come join us for a special closeup of the honeybee – learn the basics of how, why and what we do to establish a hive – then taste for yourself the wonder of raw, unfiltered honey.

The workshop is open to 24 participants.  Participants will receive a small jar of Bee & Dee Landcraft Honey to take home!

Welcoming Wellness at the Landcraft Garden

With North Fork Life Coach, Lesaya Kelly

Friday, August 30, 4:30 – 6:30 pm

Immerse yourself in the tranquil surroundings of the pine grove as you engage in a guided meditation where you can mindfully release stressors and foster peace. Following the meditation, participants will embark on a silent walk through the Labyrinth. This tactile and sensory experience is designed to ground individuals in the present moment and promote a still mind. The event will conclude with a gathering where participants can share their reflections at the end of the silent walk.

 Lesaya Kelly has been a pastoral minister for 35 years, which has afforded her many learning experiences in supporting people in a practical process of transformation. She offers small business coaching clinics, workshops and guided retreats and continues to learn and grow in my own journey of transformation alongside the people she serves.

Pilobolus Family Workshop

The Human Alphabet for Families

Sunday, August 25, 10:00 – 11:30 am

In a playful, productive and fast-paced workshop designed for families and people of all ages and abilities, we will create alphabet letters with the human body! The workshop begins with a Pilobolus warm-up and exploration of principles of collaborative creativity and partnering basics. Then Teaching Artists will guide participants to work together to create the human alphabet.

The Pilobolus Family Workshop was made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Garden Design: Three Perspectives

w/ Bill Smith, Dennis Schrader, and Kerry Ann McLean

Saturday, August 3, 10:00 am – 11:30 pm

In surveys and from conversations, we understand that you, our friends and guests of LGF, want to understand the design dialogues and happy accidents that made the Garden as it is today. During open days, staff and volunteers can, at best, offer tidbits into the intentionality that connects all the different rooms, features and plant combinations. However, there is usually just not enough time for a deep dive, until now. Join The Garden’s creators Dennis Schrader and Bill Smith, and LGF’s Head Gardener Kerry Ann McLean as they offer three comprehensive but different perspectives on the design process. Learn their tips and tricks to making a great garden.

Natives and More: Glover Perennials in the Garden

w/ Jim Glover

Wednesday, July 31, 10 am – 11:30 pm

Join Jim Glover as he tours Landcraft Garden highlighting the strange and special plants that are specific to Glover Perennials.  The Garden at Landcraft is proud to grow an extraordinary number of Jim’s plants for their many outstanding qualities which Jim will explain. Learn which plants will give you multiple seasons of interest, feed pollinators early or late into the season, or have aesthetic forms that will enhance any design.  This is a rare opportunity to hear the many merits of relatively unknown plants from a master plantsman.

Glazed Planter Workshop

w/ Ester R. Kislin

Saturday, July 27, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

Using methods like traditional Majolica, students will learn to glaze and decorate pre-made terracotta planters using metal oxides, stains and the unique brushwork required for glazing. This course includes instruction, inspiration, two planters, glazes, oxides and stains, and a firing. The finished products will be fired and returned for pick up approximately one week after the course completion.

Painting in the Garden: Plant Forms & Vignettes

w/ Wendy Prellwitz

Friday, July 19, 9:30 am – 4:00 pm

Explore watercolor painting in beautiful Landcraft Garden, taking inspiration from individual plants and the amazing garden environment. We will review basic watercolor techniques, how to use materials & tools, and color mixing, The day begins with a plant form still life and moves on to vignette views working out in the garden. Some familiarity with watercolor is helpful, but not required, as all levels of experience are welcome.

Wendy Prellwitz is an abstract print maker and artist inspired by water’s motion and light. Her work has been described as “a connection to the infinite, unknowable beyond.” Educated at The Rhode Island School of Design and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, she lives and works in both Cambridge, MA and Peconic, NY and has exhibited in the New England/ New York areas and beyond for 30 years.

Digging Deeper, A Garden Conservancy Event: Topiary, Art of the Clipped Form

w/ Landcraft Garden Foundation Team

Saturday, July 13, 2023, 10 am – 12 noon

Topiary is the practice of training a plant into a shape through careful and repeat clipping and other manipulations. Topiary is also the plant that has been topiarized. At Landcraft Garden Foundation, we often assemble assorted classic topiaries (balls and cones) when building a tablescape for events. Singularly or in a group, nothing elevates display making as quickly as the topiary.

Get the inside scoop on how to train a young houseplant cutting to a photo-ready tabletop topiary. One ball, two balls or three; cones, pillars, spirals and pompoms – learn to clip and shear the perfect form, then make your own. All attendees go home with a clay-potted topiary plant and the know-how to grow it strong.

Pocket Meadow Containers: Pollinator Friendly Pots

w/ Kerry Ann McLean, LGF Head Gardener and Educator

Saturday, June 22, 11 AM – 1 PM

Pocket gardens and pocket meadows are bite-sized plantings; crammed with plants suggestive of much larger gardens or open spaces, they are often very small – sometimes no larger than a pot on a stoop.  But despite their size, they are great opportunities to expand an area’s plant diversity and to create much needed habitat for displaced pollinators looking for food, rest or places to nest.   Make your own pollinator haven using locally-grown native and near native plants in a container perfect for your deck, porch or balcony. Landcraft’s horticulturist and educator will guide the selection and arrangement of plants and how to craft and incorporate additional nesting structures for beneficial insects and animals within the planting.  Containers are provided. Fun for children and adults.

Kerry Ann McLean is Landcraft Garden Foundation’s Head Gardener. Trained at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA, Kerry Ann brings to the North Fork years of experience as a grounds and estate manager, public gardener, Horticulture Specialist for W. Atlee Burpee Seed Company, plant buyer for Terrain, the garden-lifestyle brand of Urban Outfitters and Senior Horticulturist for Longwood Gardens

Mossy Pots

w/ Kerry Ann McLean, LGF Head Gardener and Educator

Saturday, May 25, 10:30 AM – Noon

DESCRIPTION: A person who admires, studies, or collects old to ancient objects is called an antiquarian. There is a certain beauty to a well-worn thing; that beauty is often described as patina. In the garden, nothing says age as much as moss (and maybe, rust). A mossy urn suggests a long life, quality, and sophistication. It is an object that has endured weather and use; were it to be anthropomorphized these qualities frequently equate to wisdom and classiness. If you like this look but you haven’t the time for something to naturally age, accelerate the process. Learn how to encourage the growth of moss on a favorite piece of stone or pottery using simple ingredients and a touch of patience. Join LGF Head Gardener, Kerry Ann McLean, as she reviews the wonders of moss and demonstrates how to encourage its growth on terra cotta and stone.  Leave with a pot that will soon be as verdant as the Emerald Isles., and for events.

Close to Home: Bouquet Making with North Fork Flower Farm

w/ Charles Sherman & Drianne Benner (North Fork Flower Farm)

Saturday, May 18, 10 AM – Noon

DESCRIPTION: Join us in a bouquet-making workshop using seasonal flowers grown by the North Fork Flower Farm in Southold. The workshop is two hours long and includes an introduction to floral design by the team at NFFF. Bouquets are made using seasonal May flowers grown on the farm and include anemone, ranunculus, tulips, blooming fruit branches, and more. All floral materials are provided. Bring your own vases or use our quart Mason jars. Charles Sherman and Drianne Benner will be leading the workshop.

North Fork Flower Farm is a small-scale, local flower farm proud to call Long Island’s North Fork its birthplace and home. Its goal is to grow and provide the finest selection of beautiful, locally-grown cut flowers, bouquets, and arrangements that combine uncommon flowers, herbs, grasses, and other floral elements to individuals, floral professionals, and for events.

Monitoring the Migration: Bird Watching and Identification

w/ Ben Bolduc, Guide

Fridays, May 3, 10, 17, and 24, 8 AM

DESCRIPTION: Diversity is at the core of Landcrafts’ ethos. Whether it be vegetive, two legged, or four, Landcraft welcomes all; and in May, Landcraft is especially excited to welcome back to the garden its migrating feathered friends, the birds. Through mindful gardening practice, Landcraft, over the years has become a proud and very special bird sanctuary with a glorious diversity of birds either passing through or nesting within its 17 acres. Join Birding Guide, Ben Bolduc, as he helps guests see and understand the calls and habits of all the birds, conspicuous and inconspicuous, making Landcraft their home.

Ben Bolduc, a Mattituck resident and avid birder, has travelled extensively to view birds in their native habitats including the Lower Rio Grande Valley, of Texas, the boreal forest of the Adirondacks, Monhegan Island, Maine, and the Andes mountains and rainforests of Ecuador. Today, Ben leads guided walks for the North Fork Audubon Society, friends, and family, helping others discover the captivating world of birds. Ben looks forward to sharing his passion for birds and the spectacle of migration this year at Landcraft Gardens.

The Perfect Houseplant: Bromeliad Neoregelia

w/ Kerry Ann McLean, LGF Head Gardener and Educator

Saturday, April 13, 10 AM – 11:30 AM

DESCRIPTION: Meet your houseplant soulmate: Neoregelia – the blushing Bromeliad. Easy to care for, exceedingly vibrant and very happy indoors, this epiphytic plant doesn’t need soil, full sun or a lot of water. In fact, it thrives on relatively benign neglect (what more can you ask of any plant!). Join LGF Head Gardener and Educator, Kerry Ann McLean as she reviews the wonderful world of bromeliads, heralded most recently by NY Times columnist Margaret Roach as the easiest plant class to grow indoors. Pot up your own specimen plant in a hanging crate and discover how addicting to a collector this Genus can be!

Spring Zing: Seasonal Kokedamas

w/ Kerry Ann McLean, LGF Head Gardener and Educator

Saturday, March 30, 10 AM – 11:30 AM

DESCRIPTION: Want spring flowering plants without the heartache of a rogue late frost killing them prematurely? Make these manageable spring-inspired moss balls to decorate your home. Kokedama is the Japanese tradition of growing bonsai in balls of soil covered in moss. They are highly symbolic of the verdant earth; replace the bonsai with pansies, anemone, or bulbs, and they are the early bird songs of spring. Enjoy the color and vibrancy of spring flowering plants indoors, away from the fickleness of March and April temperatures. Hang them in windows, set them in saucers or glass, or place them on altars of driftwood – these giftable and fun living ornaments will delight guests and bring the promise of growth and renewal to your fingertips.

Topiary: Art of the Clipped Form

With Kerry Ann McLean

Saturday, September 7, 10:00 am to 12 noon

DESCRIPTION: Topiary is the practice of training any plant into a shape through careful and repeat manicuring. Topiary is also the plant that has been topiarized. At Landcraft Garden Foundation, we often assemble assorted classic topiaries (balls and cones) when building a tablescape for events. Singularly or in a group, nothing elevates display making as quickly as the topiary. Get the inside scoop on how to train a young houseplant cutting to a photo-ready tabletop topiary. One ball, two balls or three; cones, pillars, spirals and pompoms – learn to clip and shear the perfect form, then make your own. All attendees go home with a clay-potted topiary plant and the know-how to grow it strong.

Flower Fossils: Garden Science & Art for Ages 12-18

With Kerry Ann McLean

Saturday, September 16, 1:00 – 3:00 pm

DESCRIPTION: Most herbaceous plants are fleeting – in a season, they grow, then die back to the ground at season’s end. And while a picture is a lasting memory there are other more tactile ways to preserve a moment in a plant’s life. Join Garden Educator Kerry Ann McLean in making forever gardens using collected wildflowers, clay, and plaster and experience the lasting detail of a plaster cast verses the quick tap of a cell phone’s camera app.

Painting in the Garden: Plant Forms & Vignettes

With Wendy Prellwitz

Saturday, September 9, 9:30 – 4:00 pm

DESCRIPTION: Explore watercolor painting in the beautiful Landcraft Garden, taking inspiration from individual plants and the lush natural environment. Wendy Prellwitz will review basic watercolor techniques, how to use materials & tools, and color mixing, The day begins with a plant form still life and moves on to vignette views working out in the garden. Some familiarity with watercolor is helpful, but not required, as all levels of experience are welcome.

Sunprinting: Science & Art for Ages 12 – 18

With the Landcraft Garden Foundation Team

Friday, August 25, 1:30 – 3 pm

DESCRIPTION: Sunprinting is the art of reverse shadowing; it relies on a series of chemical reactions to capture an object’s outline and transparency when exposed to sunlight on treated paper. The effect is ethereal. Combine this wonder of science with Landcraft’s enormous palette of leaf shapes, marginalia, and arrangements to make compositions as ghostly and gorgeous as the gardens. Learn the science. Learn the plants and their morphology. Then design using the power of sunlight and water.

Hypertufa Containers: Make Your Own Molded Planter

With The Landcraft Garden Foundation Team

Saturday, August 5, 10:00 am – 12 pm

DESCRIPTION: Mix, pour and shape an organic-looking aggregate container using a recipe including lightweight sphagnum and cement. A human-made substitute for natural tufa (a highly porous rock-like material made when minerals precipitate (solidify) out of unheated water), hypertufa’s are ideal for alpine plants and succulent garden displays; and they weather beautifully – acquiring a pitted, mossy patina that blends into nature seamlessly. Join the Landcraft Garden Foundation Team as they give you the recipe and raw material to make your own planting vessels. The process will start in the garden; finished vessels will be allowed to cure there until ready to go home.

Honey Harvesting 

With Chris Kelly, Promise Land Apiaries

Saturday, August 19, 10:30 am – 12 pm

DESCRIPTION:  Join us for a Honey Harvest workshop! Local Master Beekeeper Chris Kelly of Promise Land Apiaries will guide participants through the wonderful world of beekeeping and harvesting honey. Children accompanied by a paying adult are FREE. You will bring home a jar of freshly-harvested honey.

Raptors (And a Groundhog!) in the Garden

With Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center

Saturday, June 3, 10:30 am – 12 pm

DESCRIPTION:Meet four rehabilitated raptors – and one groundhog – up close and personal! The birds of prey will include one or more species of owl, hawk, vulture and/or falcon. Learn how each bird had been injured & rehabilitated by the Rescue Center – to become a wildlife ambassador that helps us humans learn how raptors live in the wild and help us coexist with them. You’ll also meet education animal Allen McButterpants, a groundhog who is very popular with children!

Suspended Beauty: Epiphytic Orchids & Ferns on Teak Frames

With Kerry Ann McLean, Landcraft Garden Foundation Horticulturist

Saturday, May 13, 10 am – 12 pm

DESCRIPTION: A workshop made for spending time with your mom or friends; learn about epiphytic plants and how they grow in nature and how they can thrive in your own home or shaded garden. Guests will choose from a variety of epiphytic orchids, ferns, and other plants — and mount them onto a teak frame with guidance from horticulturist, Kerry Ann McLean. A perfect gift for a loved one or a specimen to keep in your houseplant collection. Light refreshments will be provided.

Start the Season Bright: Spring Containers to Wake up the Garden

With Kerry Ann McLean, Landcraft Garden Foundation Horticulturist

Saturday, April 15, 10 am – 1 pm

DESCRIPTION: Start the new gardening year with more than a few pansies – plant bold containers filled with wild stems and dramatic foliage. Greet returning wildlife with habitat and early food. Dazzle the yard with fresh color and cold tolerance. Join Kerry Ann McLean, Landcraft Garden Foundation’s Horticulturist in making take-home slip-in containers that will remind you that warmer weather is just around the corner!

Spring Pick-Me-Up: Moss and Bulb Baskets for Indoors

Saturday, April 1, 10 am – 12 pm

with Kerry Ann McLean, Landcraft Garden Foundation Horticulturist

DESCRIPTION: Invite spring indoors with this workshop that combines floral design and living plants to create unique and warming tabletop centerpieces filled with the promise of a new gardening year. Join Landcraft Garden Foundation Horticulturist Kerry Ann McLean in the Landcraft Greenhouses to build basket-gardens using assorted mosses, emerging bulbs and other spring tidbits collected from the Landcraft gardens to take home and enjoy in the warmth of your own home.

Living Holiday Wreaths

Friday, December 2, 2022, 9:30 am- 12:00 pm

with Kerry Ann McLean, Landcraft Garden Foundation Horticulturist

DESCRIPTION:

Push the envelope of traditional holiday wreath making by including live plants!  Succulents, poinsettias and more combine beautifully with seasonal cut greens, seed pods, cones and florals for long lasting indoor holiday decor.  Gift them, hang them on walls or set tablescapes of mixed circlets, the possibilities are infinite and fun.  After the holidays, repurpose living plants into houseplants.  You can never have too many!

Hedging 

Tuesday, November 1, 2022, 1:30 pm- 3:30 pm

with Kerry Ann McLean, Landcraft Garden Foundation Horticulturist

DESCRIPTION:

Learn proper hedge maintenance and depth pruning of hedges with Landcraft horticulturist Kerry Ann McLean.  Taught in English with Spanish translator.