As the gardens green up and come into bloom special events are also popping up everywhere. Tower Hill Botanic Garden will have its Free Spring Open House on Sunday, April 11 from 10 to 5 pm. For the first time visitors will enter through the new Reception Gateway. Right now the famed field of 25,000 daffodils is in bloom. Read about my trip to Tower Hill last summer here.

Next weekend IKEBANA–the Japanese art of floral design–will be the focus of a flower show presented at Tower Hill Botanic Garden by the Boston Chapter of Ikebana International. The Show takes place Friday through Sunday of Patriot’s Day Weekend, April 16-18. The Show is included with regular Garden admission: $10 Adults, $7 Seniors, $5 Youth, and FREE for Tower Hill members and children under 6. Ikebana displays and the whole garden await. There is always something special going on at Tower Hill.

Nasami Farm and Sanctuary in Whately, the native plant nursery of the New England Wildflower Society, will open on weekends Thursday through Sunday, beginning Thursday, April 15. Hours are 10 am to 5 pm. At Nasami,  the New England Wild Flower Society is able to produce native plants suited to the region — its climate and character — on a scale that will make them available to all who wish to use native plants. In addition, Nasami is an ideal location to serve our membership in the Pioneer Valley and collaborate with the region’s nursery and landscaping industries.

Yoga for Gardeners.  Prepare yourself for the gardening season with Lindel Hart, Owner/Director of Hart Yoga, at Yoga for Gardeners, a workshop designed to help you learn ways to keep yourself healthy before, during and after gardening. This special event takes place on Saturday, April 24, 2010, from 9:00 – 11:00 AM at Hart Yoga, 1 Ashfield Street, Shelburne Falls, MA.

Yoga for Gardeners will focus on strengthening the core, opening the shoulders and hips, and protecting your knees and back. These are all areas that are used extensively in gardening. “A healthy, well-prepared body allows for a deeper enjoyment of the work that goes into creating and maintaining your garden,” Hart adds.

The cost of the workshop is $20. Prepayment and pre-registration is required, as space is limited. For more information or to pre-register, contact Lindel Hart at lindel@hartyoga.com or 413.768.9291.

The gardeners at Trillium Workshops are offering a session on Sunday, April 25 from 1-4 pm. tThe hree-hour container planting workshop includes everything from container selection to maintenance. They’ll walk you through all the steps with a round-up of container options, a review of great container plants
(annuals, perennials, vegetables, and shrubs), design ideas, how to plant and maintain your containers throughout the season, and ideas for refreshingcontainers to keep them in bloom until the first frost. Hands on demonstrations, question and answer time AND a snack. The snacks that Gloria makes are fabulous!

Please reserve your space ($30)  by e-mailing us at trilliumworkshops@gmail.com