Derby Garden Pollinator Chat and Stroll

168 Derby Street,Salem MA 01970

25 June, 2022

Description

Join Essex Heritage and the National Park Service for a leisurely chat about pollinators and the gardens behind the Derby House. Join Essex Heritage and the National Park Service for a leisurely chat about pollinators and the gardens behind the Derby House. Anna Spencer, Facilities and Grounds Supervisor for Salem Maritime and Saugus Ironworks National Historic Sites, will lead a Q&A session with visitors about the Colonial Revival gardens and their benefits to pollinators. The garden is in bloom from spring well into late November and even December (heavy frost permitting), where you can find an abundance of life, including, pollinators of all kinds; mammals, birds and tons of bees and bugs, as well as the array of color offered in every season with over 100 varieties of historic plants and trees, and shrubs. The garden has gone through many permutations, including laying "fallow" for many years, in which very little was done to it, or cultivated, and most recently has been restored to it's former glory. Today, the garden still has many of the old perennials that were originally planted, including heirloom roses, peonies, germander, lavender, hops, hollyhock and hibiscus, to name a few. There are many things to eat, too including, sweet cherry, apples by the bushel, grapes, strawberries, and most recently pears! there are also over 50 herbs, including, catmint, lavender, sage, anise, lemon balm, saint john's wort, artemisia, fragrant geranium, germander, alliums, such as chive and onion, dew berry, angelica, and even wild ginger, About the Gardener/Author, Anna Spencer: An avid outdoorswoman, Anna has lived all over the country and started farming and gardening at 16, working on whatever farm could offer critters to learn about and organic produce to eat. At 19, realizing the importance of local produce and local dairy products, she started, owned and operated her own coffee shop in Stockbridge, MA and ran that until 2004, where she then attended college to acquire degrees in subjects she loved, and had previously applied as a business owner and as gardener/farmer. Anna holds two degrees a BS in Animal Science and an AS in Fruit and Vegetable Science, both from UMass Amherst, and has learned the fine art of animal husbandry and fine gardening from a handful of spectacular mentors, including Sherri MacDonald of the Berkshire Botanical Gardens, Brenna Kucinski, formerly of Amethyst Farm in Amherst and Grand Prix Dressage rider/trainer, Ursula Herz, who has cultivated a plethora of her own hybrid hostas in South Carolina and is also a prize winning Nubian goat breeder. Anna has been with the National Park Service for almost 8 years in a variety of positions, but most recently Supervisor of Facilities Maintenance and Grounds for Salem Maritime National Historic Site and Grounds Supervisor for Saugus Iron Works, NHS. This is her first participation in a Salem garden tour and she is very excited!