Programs

All programs are held in the Abbott Room of the Belfast Free Library at noon on the third Tuesday of each month, from September until April, unless otherwise noted.

January 20: Tovah Martin, “Gardening As If the World Depends On Us”

Worried about the world? Take action! Just by being a gardener, you are already making a big difference. Want to do more? Gardens offer so many opportunities to link with nature and rescue the world. What can you do to help? Everything! This lecture is filled with ideas from gardeners who rallied their acreage in backyards large and small to make a difference. From 21st Century versions of Victory Gardens to pollinator plants, native shrubs, and bird forage with scenic excursions into cover-the-earth density plantings, lawn alternatives, herbs, and drought-tolerant suggestions, we’ll discuss how you can ally with nature to make the world a better place for all creatures. The results are ravishing—these gardens bristle with beauty and overflow with pride. With a trowel in hand, you can save the earth.

An avid (verging on obsessed) gardener indoors and outside, Tovah Martin is the author of many gardening books. Most recently, she was a lead author as part of a team writing Phaidon’s new 2025 book, The Contemporary Garden. Prior to that book, The Garden in Every Sense and Season received GardenComm’s Gold Medal Media Award in 2019, following several titles on houseplants including The Indestructible Houseplant, The Unexpected Houseplant, and The New Terrarium. One of her first titles was the bestselling Tasha Tudor’s Garden. As a freelance writer, her articles have appeared in publications throughout the world including The Washington Post, Yankee, New England Home, and CT Gardener as well as Gardens Illustrated in Britain and the Korean Airlines inflight magazine. She is an accredited Organic Land Care Professional through NOFA and an honorary member of the Garden Club of America. She speaks throughout the country and lectured aboard the QE2 during one of its roughest transatlantic crossings, somehow managing to stay vertical while speaking. With lifelong indoor gardening experience, she serves as a houseplant coach, helping clients make their homes greener places. For more information, Tovah can be found at www.tovahmartin.com and she posts on Facebook at Plantswise by Tovah Martin and on Instagram @tovah1.

Register for the Zoom link for this program: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/2ADGkKLhREaZDR-2BOnJag

Please note that Tovah Martin will be talking to the group via Zoom.

Evening Program: 630pm

January 27: Michael Wojtech, “The Growth of Trees: A Journey Through Time”

No single view of a tree is a fixed snapshot in time that tells the complete story. Join Michael to discover how trees grow, reproduce, and interact with their environment across days, weeks, seasons, and years and over varying spatial scales—from the intricate details of buds, flowers, leaves, and bark that we use for species identification to the collaborative roles of trees in ecosystems. Experience the function and beauty of characteristics such as peeling bark, overwintering buds, lobed or toothed leaves, flowers by the thousands, and seeds that fly on the wind.

Michael strives to make the science and beauty of natural history accessible and compelling. He writes and teaches about the structure, growth processes, and ecology of trees—including their bark, buds, leaves, roots, and wood—for audiences at all levels of experience, and explores how knowing the natural history of the places we live nd love fosters connection and the feeling of home. Michael is the author of Bark: A Field Guide to Trees of the Northeast. He has a Master’s degree in Conservation Biology from Antioch University, New England, where his infatuation with the natural history and ecology of trees was nurtured and flourished.

Register for Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/DLSanc-3RrSwfL2qKlXOPQ

February 17: BGC Public Gardens Volunteers, “Keeping Belfast Beautiful”

Many people comment on the beautiful downtown gardens in Belfast, but may not be aware of the large team of Belfast Garden Club volunteers who participate in designing and maintaining them. For several decades our volunteers have supported the city by tending gardens in public areas to help keep Belfast beautiful all year. Currently we care for thirteen different gardens.  From the new pollinator garden at Wales Park to the Water Loo garden near the town wharf, the recently-renovated Post Office garden to the gardens around the library, our volunteer gardeners are busy planning, planting, pruning, watering, and updating gardens throughout the city.
 
This program will discuss where the gardens are located, how they are maintained and how they have evolved over time to include more native species and plants that attract pollinators and birds. Expect lots of great pictures of various gardens throughout the seasons, and a lively presentation by several of the volunteers who help to manage the gardens. 
 

Register for the Zoom link for this program: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/0ogTLhM_SwGnZ5VUZfaAww

March 17: Sean Birkel, “Maine’s Changing Climate: Historical Trends and Future Projections”

Since the late 1800s, Maine’s climate has warmed more than 3.5 °F and total annual precipitation has increased. The past two decades have been marked by an increase in extremes such as heavy rainfall and impactful drought. In this presentation, we explore these changes, how they tie into milder winters and a longer growing season, and what is expected in future decades. For perspective and reflection, the presentation will end with photographs and stories of a bygone era, when, during some of the coldest winters of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Penobscot Bay would freeze as far south as Rockland – events hard to imagine today.

Dr. Sean Birkel is an assistant professor at the University of Maine with a joint appointment to the Climate Change Institute and Cooperative Extension. He is also the Maine State Climatologist, a role in which he provides climate and weather information to Maine stakeholders to facilitate decision-making and planning. He serves on the Scientific and Technical subcommittee of the Maine Climate Council.

Register for the Zoom link for this program: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/jiokI8wDRV2olY_GIH7pIA

April 21: Kevin Martin, “Big Trees of Maine”

Kevin Martin will discuss the largest trees in Maine and New England. You will hear how he got involved with finding the trees, how lumber from similar trees is used in his boat-building work, and how wildlife also use these impressive parts of the landscape. The discussion will cover trees on public land in the region and where they’re located so you can see them for yourself. He will also suggest some city tours and highlight some trees local to the Midcoast Maine area. A tree-measuring walk and demonstration will follow at 3:30pm, after the BGC Membership Meeting.

Writer and outdoors enthusiast Kevin Martin has been a woodworker and wooden boat builder for over forty years. He has served on his town’s Conservation Commission, chaired the Lamprey River Advisory Committee, and also chaired the New Hampshire Big Tree Program. His books Big Trees of New Hampshire: Short Hikes From the Seacoast to the North Country and Big Trees of Northern New England are geared toward helping lay people appreciate the trees and forests of the region.

Register for the Zoom link for this program: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/MMYMEVFGQBepnv6gXWTEJw

September 15: Ethan Hughes, “Permaculture For the Home Garden”

Ethan’s talk will cover the 16 core design principles of permaculture, and how they can be applied to the home garden. Begin to see your garden in a whole new way, by creating gardens that feed you with food and beauty, and also nourish all life: bugs, birds, water, and soil.

Ethan Hughes, of the Possibility Alliance, has been applying permaculture techniques and design for over 25 years. He has been an educator at Shelburne Farms, Aprovecho Research Center, The Peace and Permaculture Center, and at the Possibility Alliance. Ethan has co-taught more than ten permaculture design courses, and consults with ecological centers, organic farms, and Universities. Along with his wife Sarah, he has been running a permaculture education center for 18 years where they have hosted over 15,000 visitors to their off-grid homestead property. More about the Hughes family can be found in articles in The Mother Earth News, The Boston Globe, and The Bangor Daily News.

Register for the Zoom link for this program: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/j9U6fzB0S36FSy2Frhwvhw

September 26: Belfast Garden Club Members’ Annual Field Trip

Tom Wessels, “Forest Forensics: Ferreting Out Landscape History”

For our annual field trip, Tom will lead an interpretive walk as we explore the disturbance and land use history of the forests on Sears Island, a large nature preserve in an area that was formerly inhabited and farmed. We will be examining the possible evidence of former crop fields, hay fields, and pastures—that are now forest—as well as any evidence of logging, blow-downs, or fires. We will also look at unique adaptations of some of our regional trees, as well as co-evolved interactions of various species encountered in the forest.
Tom Wessells is a terrestrial ecologist and professor emeritus at Antioch University, New England, where he founded the master’s degree program in Conservation Biology. He has conducted workshops on ecology and sustainability throughout the country for over three decades and has particular expertise at reading the landscape to interpret evidence of past use and disturbance. Tom is author of numerous books, his latest being New England’s Roadside Ecology: Explore 30 of the Region’s Unique Natural Areas. Tom will bring a selection of his books to offer for sale and signing. Cash or personal checks only, please.

October 20: Gabriel LeMay, “The Emerald Ash Borer In Maine”

The Emerald Ash Borer is an invasive insect pest that threatens health and survival of our native ash species. It was first detected in Belfast in 2025. Gabe will present a review and update of the status of Emerald Ash Borer in Maine, including its current distribution and effects on the state’s ash tree populations. Learn what signs and symptoms to look for on your own trees, as well as what treatment options are available for management of this insect.
Gabriel LeMay is an entomologist with the Maine Forest Service, where he provides technical assistance to municipalities, forest landowners, and members of the public. He also manages multiple insect monitoring programs, which include surveys for exotic wood boring beetles and a statewide network of light traps targeting moth species. His areas of expertise include plant-insect interactions, integrated pest management, and entomological impacts on forest health.

Register for the Zoom link for this program: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/gvlRgmzTQgGK2BcrxPb1ew

November 17: Matt Arsenault, “Maine’s Wetland Plants”

Maine’s freshwater aquatic and wetland plants are incredibly beautiful, diverse, and uniquely adapted to their watery environs. This talk will explore showy water lilies and pond lilies as well as many of the often overlooked, yet intriguing and ecologically important, species such as pondweeds, duckweeds, bladderworts, and milfoils. Matt will also highlight some of the unique adaptations and important functions of common terrestrial wetland plants, known as “emergents,” such as sweet flag, bogbean, pitcher plant, arrowhead, and cattail. The talk will discuss some of the conservation concerns and risks many of these species face along with opportunities to integrate native wetland plants into landscaping.

Matt Arsenault is a Senior Ecologist and Botanist for Stantec Consulting. He is one of the four authors of the Aquatic Plants of New England Field Guide (anticipated 2026), which covers more than 200 species of aquatic plants. Based in Topsham, he also leads Stantec’s botanical survey and vegetation assessment and monitoring services for projects throughout the northeastern US. His work includes surveys for threatened and endangered species, habitat assessments, species protection and mitigation plans, incidental take permitting, and long-term vegetation monitoring. He has B.S. in Botany from the University of Maine.

Register for the Zoom link for this program: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/mLwZTxcwSFKWU93DrA_NlA

To find information about our past programs, please follow this link.