I love being a master gardener (MG), especially during the holidays. Here are some of the delightful gardening events from November and December 2025, that certainly stoked the holiday spirit.
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Christina Ruark. Photos by Cindy Yee
First, MG Christina Ruark presented "Decorating for the Holidays with Nature" at the Fairfield Garden Club. Christina donated all the beautiful plant material grown on her 5 acre property, and even provided glass vases for our arrangements. I brought a bunch of aeonium cuttings to share, and loved this class so much! What luck, my arrangement was still in great shape for Thanksgiving, and received compliments from all our guests.
Diane Hagen's Terrarium class was very well attended, and she had grown a big variety of plants for the class. I even rooted some tradescantia 'Nanouk' cuttings to donate. Everything was included and there were kits for purchase. The attendees had a marvelous time. I bought 3 kits and made terrariums as hostess gifts for the holidays.
Terrariums.
Some time in early December, Kaiser physicians came to the MG office and made wreaths for the holidays. After the first 45 minutes or so, the participants were independently making their wreaths, and we volunteers were able to make our own with leftover material. I made a little one, but others were much more competent at wreathmaking and produced big wreaths in a very short amount of time. This year the lavender, turquoise and silver color scheme spoke to me. The MG bow lady Amy chose and made the perfect bow for my wreath (see photo below).
Next was Ruth Clawson's most enjoyable "Gifts from the Garden" event. What a fun morning that was! Ruth had so many stations all around the room, from floral arrangements, wreaths, herb vinegars to dried sachets, simmer pot ingredients and ornaments. She donated all the materials. This was an event not to be missed. So glad I told some friends about it, and we all had a wonderful time.
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The sachet making station.
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Ruth Clawson
Finally (not an event) I decided to slather pinecones with chunky peanut butter and birdseed as a festive gift to the birds. It was a messy solo activity but the finished pinecones were so cute. Unfortunately 2 hanging pinecones were immediately stolen (by squirrels? raccoons?) overnight. The ribbon of one pinecone was neatly cut by sharp squirrel teeth? The other pinecone was removed, straw hanger and all. The pinecones were fairly heavy - would 2 squirrels have worked together in getting them down from the tree? There was no debris on the ground. I acknowledged the futility of hanging a third one, and gave away my last pinecone. Maybe the recipient's animal visitors will be better behaved. So much for pretty pinecone feeders. The birds in my yard are back to eating their seeds from a hanging Mickey Mouse. Cheers and Happy Gardening!
