Garden Talk #2 Spring 2025: Small Space Gardening

Online registration form below. The Garden Talk programs are FREE. Registration is preferred due to limited space, but not required.

Buttonwood Nature Center announces the 2025 spring series of small-group garden talks. Talks will be held on four Thursdays in May from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Civil War era garden adjacent to Monterey Pass Battlefield Museum.

Programs are held rain or shine.

#2: Small Space Gardening

The second of a series of four spring Garden Talks. Gardening expert Melissa Irwin presents an in-the-garden program about gardening in a smaller space.

Productive gardens don’t always require a large yard. Learn how you can grow food, herbs and flowers for your family with only a small space. Whether you have a postage-stamp yard, a couple of raised beds, or just a sunny balcony, you might be surprised how much you can grow with just a little bit of soil and a lot of creativity! Irwin will explore vertical gardening, too.

Participants should wear shoes appropriate for being inside the garden. Seating is not provided, but feel free to bring a chair.

Melissa Irwin is a naturalist who has experience working with the Audubon Society and Moonfire Orchard. She holds a degree in Environmental Studies and specializes in all things growing in soil!

Check out the upcoming programs:

Thursday, May 22: Cooking with Herbs—What’s the Buzz?
Thursday, May 29: Garlic 101: Planting, Growing, and Harvesting

About the garden:

Created in partnership with the Friends of the Battle of Monterey Pass, the garden was based on extensive research and was planted by The Institute’s (now Buttonwood Nature Center’s) garden director and volunteers. It will be an educational tool for visitors of all ages to Monterey Pass Battlefield Museum.

“The garden is an interpretation of a Civil War-era garden, not a literal reproduction,” said Rowland, Buttonwood Nature Center’s educational site coordinator and the garden director. “In addition to traditional vegetables, 19th-century gardens often included a variety of herbs, used for both medicinal and culinary purposes.”

The garden will have a significant number of such herbs. Many of these were used historically as “backyard medicine” by households, and were also used by surgeons and doctors tending to wounded Civil War soldiers.

“For example, lamb’s ear was used on wounds,” Rowland said, “and lemon balm was used to relieve headaches.”

The 25-by-28-foot garden is enclosed by a period style wooden fence, constructed with reproduction 19th-century-style nails.

With six raised beds and one 24-foot-long bed, the plantings will change from year to year, always with an eye to reflecting period gardens. This year, veggies like rhubarb and onions have been planted with the herbs.

A corps of Buttonwood garden volunteers and Blue Ridge Garden Club members work with our staff to maintain the garden throughout the season.
Participants should wear shoes appropriate for being inside the garden.
Seating is provided, but feel free to bring your own chair if you prefer.

Programs underwritten in part by M&T Charitable Foundation and Younger Toyota, and also by Marge Kiersz, Lucinda D. Potter, CPA, and SEK CPAs & Advisors.

The program is presented in partnership with Friends of Monterey Pass Battlefield.

Additional program support is from our Today’s Horizon Fund contributors: The Nora Roberts Foundation; Alma W. Oyer; Marge Kiersz; APX Enclosures; Don Gibe and Nancy Erlanson; and the family of the late Carolyn Terry Eddy, with daughters Connie Fleagle & Kim Larkin. Facility support courtesy of Monterey Pass Battlefield Museum.

Created by Buttonwood Nature Center in partnership with Friends of the Monterey Pass Battlefield, the garden project was made possible through financial support by the M&T Charitable Foundation and Younger Toyota, and in-kind support by GRC General Contractor, Inc. 

Register for Garden Talk #2 here.