Sign up for MSU Extension’s Summer Compost Series where you can enhance your composting skills, learn more about various composting techniques, best practice methods and get connected to others in the industry.

Are you ready to turn food scraps, yard waste, or even manure into something valuable for your garden or farm? MSU Extension is excited to offer a free summer webinar series on composting and there’s something for everyone, from backyard beginners to experienced farmers. Sessions will repeat monthly, with each topic offered four times throughout the spring and summer. All sessions are free and hosted online via Zoom. Registration is required to attend.

Webinar schedule and topics

Composting Basics

New to composting? This session is for you Learn the fundamentals: what to compost, how to maintain your pile, and the benefits for your garden and the environment. REGISTER HERE for Compost Basics.

Friday, May 9, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Monday, June 9, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Wednesday, July 9, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Friday, August 8, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

The St. Clair Shores Yardeners and East Michigan Native Plants are holding their popular native plant sale on Friday, June 6, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Selinsky Green Farmhouse Museum grounds at 22504 E. Eleven Mile Road.

This popular Annual Plant Sale and Garden Market will be held on Saturday, June 7, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the United Methodist Church, 1200 Atlantic Street, Milford. Click here for more information.

The Garden Conservancy is excited to announce a new yearlong online series based on the success of Troy Scott Smith’s Sissinghurst Through the Seasons in 2023. This Virtual Program explores the magic behind the creation of one the most popular Open Days gardens in America, Sleepy Cat Farm. Sleepy Cat embodies the vision of Fred Landman who, since acquiring a Georgian Revival house and six acres of neglected grounds in Greenwich, CT, has transformed his property into a magical thirteen-acre landscape that serves as a testament to his belief in the harmony between house and garden.

In four episodes over the course of the year, Sleepy Cat Farm: The Making of a Garden delves into the evolution of Fred’s vision from 1994 to today. It tells the story of how the talented architects, horticulturists and artisans he collaborates with have married landscape and architecture to create a series of highly personal sanctuaries that Fred delights in sharing with hundreds of visitors every year. Each episode features a different guest involved in the making of this contemporary wonderland.

SUMMER EPISODE Pathways and Places

Charles J. Stick, Landscape Architect

Thursday, June 12 | 2 p.m. Eastern

Registration: $5 Members, $15 General admission. Click here to register.

In the second episode of our series, we’ll hear from Charles J. Stick, a distinguished landscape architect headquartered in Charlottesville, VA, who has been working with Fred Landman since Sleepy Cat Farm’s house and pool area were renovated in the late 1990s. Charles will take us through his design process, while considering the challenges he’s faced working with the property’s topography to achieve what he refers to as “pathways and places,” the enchanting design features that lend the magic of intimacy and surprise to Sleepy Cat’s gardens.

Details for the final two episodes will be announced later this year.

ABOUT SLEEPY CAT FARM FOUNDATION and FRED LANDMAN Sleepy Cat Farm Foundation, founded by Garden Conservancy Board Member Fred Landman, has been participating in the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Program for sixteen years. Starting with a modest attendance, Sleepy Cat Open Days now typically sell out with 900 visitors. Along with Open Days and various Garden Conservancy fundraising events, Fred’s wife, Seen Lippert, has hosted Farm to Table Cooking Classes, and Sleepy Cat Horticulturist Alan Gorkin has given Digging Deeper garden talks. Fred and Seen believe in sharing the beauty and bounty of their garden in many ways. They support the Greenwich Land Trust, Green and Clean, Greenwich Historical Society, and other local organizations and charities. They share the produce from their garden with a local food bank. In addition to Garden Conservancy Open Days, they host numerous Garden Clubs with private tours and special presentations throughout the year.

Note: You will receive the webinar link directly from Zoom.

Presented by Saundra Dunn of Along the Fence Daylily Nursery Gardens.  Learn about daylily forms; single, double, spider, unusual forms and the features that make a “WOW” daylily.  Program also includes a selection of SMDS members favorite “WOW” daylilies grown in their gardens.  Auction includes member selected “WOW” daylilies.  

Date: Saturday, June 14 at 10:00 a.m.

All speaker programs are at the Burgess Shadbush Nature Center, 4101 River Bends Drive, Shelby Township, MI 48317 at 10:00am Saturdays unless otherwise noted.

Free.  A reservation is required.  Email: marietta.crabtree@gmail.com   Questions: 586-612-1848

SMDS is a 501c3 non-profit society which promotes good earth stewardship through gardening as well as promoting and providing information about daylilies.  www.midaylilysociety.com

Visit America’s Best Private Gardens

Since 1995, the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program has opened the garden gates to thousands of private gardens across the country. Open Days offers the extraordinary opportunity to visit private sanctuaries across the country and to learn from the gardeners behind these exceptional spaces.

Founded by Director Emerita Page Dickey and friend and fellow gardener Pepe Maynard, the Open Days program has showcased over 4,500 gardens in forty states and has welcomed and inspired over 1.5 million visitors since its inception.

From backyard jewel box gardens to beautiful estate gardens, to sweeping landscapes, the Open Days program highlights the breadth of traditions and perspectives within American gardening. Bound together by a mutual love of nature, art, design, and horticulture, the Open Days community is marked by the love for sharing ideas and expertise and learning from one another.

On June 14 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. there are 5 private gardens open in Michigan! Three are in the Grosse Pointes, one in Detroit, and one in Mt. Pleasant.

Registration: Click here to register for one or all five gardens. Select each garden by clicking on the Open Day Garden button under each listing for detailed information on the garden, and to register to tour that garden.

• Garden Conservancy members, $5 per garden
• non-members, $10 per garden

Join us Saturday, June 14 from 10 am to 4 pm as Ann Arbor Farm & Garden presents its 32nd annual Ann Arbor Garden Walk™. Proceeds directly benefit garden and farm-related projects and education in Washtenaw County.

The six private gardens on the 2025 Walk offer everything from small city lots to expansive acreage, sun to shade, rain gardens, ponds, wildflowers, and perennials galore. Native plants feature in several gardens, with many benefits for sustainability and habitat.

Ann Arbor history is also on display this year. Three homes are more than 100 years old, including two co-located in the Old West Side. The former owners of one of these played an important role in the founding of the Old West Side Association and the 1978 Historic District Ordinance.

Be a part of this fun and favorite community event! It’s a great day for a great cause – growing more gardens! Find inspiration for your own green space; chat with and learn from fellow garden enthusiasts; enjoy the sights and sounds in beautiful landscapes. We look forward to greeting you in the gardens!
Online sales close June 12 at midnight. Tickets will be available at the gate on Garden Walk day ($20, cash/check only).

Tickets on sale now! Click here to purchase online tickets.

$15 per person May 9 – June 1; $20 per person June 2-12 and at the gate.

Youth (13+) tickets are $5. Children under 13, free admission.

Online sales end Thursday, June 12 at 5 pm.

Purchasers will receive an email receipt with full event details. This receipt must be presented at the first garden location visited to receive a wristband for entry into all locations. No printed ticket will be provided. The Garden Walk Guide and map can be downloaded from this page. The Walk is self-guided.