The Belfast Garden Club, in cooperation with cemetery superintendent Steve Boguen and Belfast Public Works, plans to provide a lasting addition to the beauty of Grove Cemetery and to give the community a public opportunity to honor loved ones with the planting of fifteen community sponsored “Remembrance Trees." The memorial trees will be planted in mid-October at street tree size (roughly seven to twelve feet tall) and over time are expected to grow to be large shady estate trees of between forty and a hundred feet.

The monthly meeting and speaker series of The Belfast Garden Club will be by Ava Goodale, outreach coordinator for Coastal Mountain Land Trust. Ava will discuss new Land Conservation projects in the Belfast Area. Goodale will give an illustrated presentation about new conservation projects in the Belfast area, including the Head of Tide Preserve, Belfast Rail Trail, and more, all belonging to the Passagassawakeag Greenway campaign.

The next stop for Belfast Garden Club’s Open Garden Days is at the gardens of neighbors Colonel Manley Rogers and Sara and Arthur Hayes. Col. Rogers, who as a teen worked in his father’s gardens and at some commercial farms in Waterville, where he grew up, has rekindled the interest of his youth at his Belfast property where he has gardened since 1983. The Hayes Garden offers the manicured style of a formal flower garden at their stately brick Greek Revival home built in 1846, and designed by the same architect as the Rogers’ home.

Tour nine local gardens, including an English inspired garden, a sculpture garden, and a formal garden in Rockland. This is the perfect time of year to come out to support the library and see these gardens in all their glory. Tickets are available at the Rockland Public Library and at Caravans, 415 Main Street in Rockland.

May is the best month to hone your birding skills, and this weekend retreat in Maine’s western mountains coincides with peak songbird migration. Limited to twelve participants.

At this annual plant sale buy up freshly dug divisions straight from the Merryspring Nature Center’s own herb and perennial gardens.

The festival combines lectures, walks, and adventures to connect you to Maine’s many bird species, diverse habitats, and local birding experts. Explore Mount Desert Island and its birds. Greet warblers on early morning walks, visit with puffins and pelagic birds at sea, and observe peregrine falcons at an active breeding site in Acadia National Park.

Amateur and professional gardeners alike will enjoy and learn from a stellar roster of presenters: Stephanie Cohen, William Cullina, Lee Schneller Sligh, and John Greenlee as they show how to stretch a garden's capacity and season and create spectacular landscapes in which to entertain friends and wildlife. Sign-in begins at 8:30 a.m., presentations at 9:30 a.m. Breakfast, lunch, activities, and handouts included.

 The Belfast Garden Club's annual Green Thumb Plant Sale has a wide array of annuals, perennials, vines, herbs, and vegetables, as well as other gardening related items for sale. The annual plant sale benefits the Belfast Garden Club activities in the community and its scholarship fund for higher education relating to the goals of the club. If you are a gardener and you will be dividing perennials, or starting extra seedlings this spring, please consider donating them to the Belfast Garden Club Green Thumb Plant sale.

The natural world becomes a giant puppet show as bears, birds, and barnacles lead you on an expedition through forest, freshwater, and intertidal ecosystems. Create your own nature inspired puppet for a final grand performance. The Art of Science investigates forest, freshwater, and marine ecosystems through the creative arts.