Winter is here, although snow has been mostly missing in action. The soil outside is frozen enough so that you aren’t going to get much gardening done. So from now until sometime in April, you can tend to your houseplants or attend classes, lectures, demonstrations or full-blown courses to get your gardening fix.

There are a lot of options, and there are going to be even more. For some reason — I’m blaming the unusually warm fall — a lot of organizations had not completed their schedules when I started contacting people the week after New Year’s Day.

In almost all cases, pre-registration is recommended, if not required.

One place you can take classes is your local garden center. If you have a nursery or garden center that you use, get on its mailing list. That way, you will be up to date on any offerings or changes at the business.

Skillins Greenhouses, with locations in Falmouth, Brunswick and Cumberland, has regular programs at 10 a.m. Saturdays at all three locations.

This Saturday, the topic is “Orchids and Their Care,” and the class is free. At the Cumberland location only at 201 Gray Road, the class will be on how to grow native orchids such as lady slippers. If you are more interested in growing tropical orchids indoors, go to the other two locations.

On Jan. 28, classes on flower arranging will be held at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at all three locations, and there is a fee of $15 to cover materials. At 10 a.m. Feb. 18, free classes at all locations will be on windowsill gardening.

Go to skillins.com to check out any additions.

Longfellow’s Greenhouse in Manchester (longfellowsgreenhouses.com) has several programs, and plans more.

At 1 p.m. Saturday, the free program will be houseplants with Shellie Harding, Longfellow’s in-house expert. At 1 p.m. Jan. 28, Harding will teach participants how to make a terrarium. There is a $20 fee, but you get to build a terrarium. 

It’s not really gardening, but on Feb. 4 and 5, Longfellow’s will hold its annual Cabin Fever Art Show and Sale. And on Feb. 12, Mary Lou Hoskins of Green Care in Hermon will present a program on orchids.

O’Donal’s Nursery in Gorham had not set up its programs by my deadline, so check out odonalsnurseries.com.

Botanical gardens, public gardens, nature parks and arboretums also offer classes.

McLaughlin Gardens in South Paris has a number of free programs scheduled through the winter at 4 p.m. on select Wednesdays.

Edith Ellis of Sunnyside Gardens in Turner will speak on “The Bones of an English Garden” Feb. 15; Tom York of York’s Hardy Rhododendrons in Bath will speak Feb. 29; Brett Thompson of The Worm Wiz in Bowdoinham will promote “global worming” at 4 p.m. March 7; Steve Palmer of Plainview Farm in North Yarmouth will speak on hostas March 21; and Jeff O’Donal of O’Donal’s Nurseries will speak on the history and current status of barth daylilies on April 4.

McLaughlin Gardens will also conduct a trip, for which there is a charge, to Winslow Farm in Falmouth for a container-gardening workshop. For details, visit McLaughlingarden.org.

Viles Arboretum, 153 Hospital St., Augusta (vilesarboretum.org), has not set up its winter schedule yet, but it will be holding its 12th annual Super Bowl Sunday Table Tour on Feb. 5. It’s not a gardening event, but for $25 — $20 for members — participants will hike, snowshoe or ski over groomed trails through the arboretum grounds and taste culinary treats from a number of Augusta businesses.

Merryspring Nature Park in Camden (merryspring.org) is an old hand at these events, and has talks at noon most Tuesdays. The cost is free for members; $5 for non-members.

Programs include turkey vultures by Barbara Tomlinson on Tuesday; rain gardening by Laura Wilson on Jan. 24; beekeeping by Antje Roitzsch on Jan. 31; the great blue heron by Danielle D’Ajrka on Feb. 7; Maine’s wild plants by Tom Seymour on Feb. 14; American chestnuts by Eric Evans on Feb. 21; what’s new for 2012 by Hammon Buck on Feb. 28; shade perennials by Dennis Milliken on March 6; winter/early spring tree identification by Morten Moesswilde on March 13; wildlife photography by Kathy Davis on March 20; solar energy by Bill Behrens on March 27; grapes by David Handley on April 3; bats by Annie Kessler on April 10; and the future of Maine agriculture by John Jemison on April 24. Programs continue at least until October.

At Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, the theme this year is “Feathers and Foliage.”

It includes “Celebrating Bird and Plant Interactions,” a program from 5:30 to 7 p.m. March 21 at the Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth, and a 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. program March 24 at the gardens featuring Botanical Gardens director Bill Cullina and Mike Windsor on attracting birds to your backyard. Cost is $15 for garden or Audubon members, and $20 for others.

The garden will also offer two series of lectures this year.

Landscape horticulture by the garden staff features seven monthly programs, and will cost $225 for members; $270 for others. It opens March 31 with a brief history of horticulture and an introduction to garden design by Diane Walden.

The other series, tentatively scheduled to begin March 17 with “New Foods to Try,” is “Growing Your Own Food: Beyond the Basics.”

Another program is kitchen garden design with Ellen Ecker Ogden at 9 a.m. April 14 ($50 for members; $60 for nonmembers). “Shaping a Nature Site into a Landscaped Space” with Irene Brady Barber is scheduled for 9 a.m. April 7 ($100 members; $120 nonmembers).

The garden is sponsoring a four-day, three-night trip to the Philadelphia Flower Show and Longwood Gardens March 8-11 for $560, and a Boston Flower Show day trip on March 14. For more information, go to mainegardens.org.

The Cumberland County Extension has yet to finish its winter calendar, but it is offering beginner and intermediate beekeeping courses. The five-session beginner course beginning Wednesday will be taught by Geoff MacLean and Jack Hildreth, and costs $80. A six-session intermediate course taught by Erin Forbes begins Feb. 6 and costs $130. To register, call 781-6099 or (800) 287-1471.

In addition, extension educator Richard Brzozowski will be teaching a class on growing an organic garden from 6 to 9 p.m. May 17, and master gardener Joel Leak will be teaching a class on growing fruit trees from 6 to 8 p.m. March 14, but as part of Gorham Adult Education. Those classes cost $10. For information, go to gorham.maineadulted.org.

A log of garden clubs offer classes. The Belfast Garden Club is especially active, offering free public programs at 2 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church Parish House, 95 Court St.

On Tuesday, licensed forester Didier Bonner-Gantner will discuss trees; on Feb. 21, Jean English will speak (she’s a writer for Village Soup, writer and editor for Maine Organic Farmer and Gardener, and a plant grower for Fedco); on March 20, Kip Penney of Fedco will discuss bulbs; and on April 17, C.J. Walke, orchardist and librarian for MOFGA, will discuss fruit trees.

Finally, the best wintertime diversion of all is the Portland Flower Show, scheduled for March 7-11. The theme this year is “Gardening in Maine.” The list of speakers has not been set, but check out portlandcompany.com/flower to see the latest.

Tom Atwell has been writing the Maine Gardener column since 2004. He is a freelance writer gardening in Cape Elizabeth, and can be contacted at 767-2297 or at:

tomatwell@me.com

 

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