Native Planting and DIY drip irrigation subject of Belfast Garden Club's November Meeting

Polar Bear Dip & Dash: Run, Walk, Make a Splash!
A benefit for NRCM’s work to fight global warming!

Join us at the East End for the Year End celebration! The fun will take place at East End Beach in Portland, Maine on Saturday, December 31st, 2011. We invite you to walk or run a 5k, plunge into the Atlantic Ocean, or both. East End Beach is off the Eastern Promenade on Cutter Street. Registration for the 5k will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the Back Cove parking lot (run ends at East End Beach) and at 11:30 a.m. at the East End Beach for the polar dip.

The monthly meeting and speaker series of the Belfast Garden Club features a talk by Megan Pinette, president of the Belfast Historical Society. Pinette will discuss the Belfast Village Improvement Society. In the early 1900s the Belfast Village Improvement Society, a group of dedicated ladies, was the moving spirit in the creation of Belfast's municipal park, in making the city's streets and public places more attractive, and inspiring many civic improvements.

The monthly meeting and speaker series of the Belfast Garden Club features a talk by Megan Pinette, president of the Belfast Historical Society. Pinette will discuss the Belfast Village Improvement Society. In the early 1900s the Belfast Village Improvement Society, a group of dedicated ladies, was the moving spirit in the creation of Belfast's municipal park, in making the city's streets and public places more attractive, and inspiring many civic improvements.

Lorie and Patrick Costigan, co-owners of Glendarragh Lavender Farm, will host an afternoon visit at their 1812 homestead and farm where they grow more than a dozen varieties of English and French lavenders. They have been farming on the twenty-six-acre farm, which borders the St. George River, since 2007 — reviving an older farm, which had not been used agriculturally since the late 1960s.

Maureen Heffernan, executive director of Maine Botanical Gardens, is an engaging speaker and will present two talks that will be followed by book signings. She is the author of Native Plants for your Maine Garden and Fairy Houses of the Maine Coast.

Fairy houses are cool — just ask your kids. The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens’ annual Maine Fairy House Festival is the place to be when it comes to building for the pixie folk. And remember: If you build them, the fairies will come. As well as fairy abodes, there will be fairy arts, crafts, and games, including Gnome Toss and Gnome Bowling.

The Maine Iris Society sponsors its fifty-first annual show with hundreds of colorful blossoms, as well as flower arrangements, a plant sale, and awards. From 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Izzy McKay, president of Half Moon Gardens, in Thorndike, will discuss the latest gardening trends for 2011: permaculture, and sustainable landscaping. Half Moon Gardens, of Thorndike, is known for luscious wintertime greens grown on site in greenhouses with a full array of annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees, as well as landscaping services, classes, and special events.

Celebrate Halloween with the Maine Wildlife Park’s native wildlife! Get into the spooky spirit with Halloween displays, haunted hay rides, nand wear your costumes!