Meet the presenters for Saturday’s Monadnock Gardening Day: Gardening for Sanity workshop — Fergus Garrett, Matt Mattus, Katia Lysy, and Taylor Johnston — among many other garden lovers, during this special dinner hosted by Eleanor Briggs in Hancock. We’ll enjoy cocktails in Eleanor’s garden and a buffet dinner in the barn, with food by fabulous chef Sam Rule of Fiddleheads Cafe.

Cocktails begin at 6 p.m., and dinner will be served at 7 p.m. Exact meeting location will be provided prior to the event. Space is limited, and registration is required.

Cost: $125 per person (includes all food and drink). For questions about registration, contact Miles Stahmann. For all other information, contact Susie Spikol.

Lodging Options

If you need lodging for this event, here are some local options: Aldworth Manor, Harrisville Inn Bed & Breakfast, Courtyard by Marriot in Keene, Riverhouse in Peterborough, and the Hancock Inn.

About the Monadnock Gardening Weekend

This event is part of the Monadnock Gardening Weekend series—a three-day celebration of gardens as places of restoration, creativity, and connection! Through shared meals, thoughtful conversation with leading garden writers and thinkers, and behind-the-scenes access to extraordinary private gardens, this series invites gardeners and plant lovers to slow down, exchange ideas, and find inspiration. Space is limited, and separate registration is required for each event.

About Fergus Garrett

Fergus Garrett trained in horticulture at Wye College, London University. He worked in Kent at a National Trust Property for Rosemary Alexander of the English Gardening School, for Beth Chatto at the Unusual Plants Nursery in Essex, and then privately for a family at Cap d’Antibes, France, and Gstaad, Switzerland. In 1992, he became Head Gardener at Great Dixter, working closely with Christopher Lloyd until Christopher’s death in 2006. Since then, he has become the Chief Executive of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust. Fergus plays a major role in the garden, as well as in Great Dixter’s educational program, which trains students from all over the world.

About Matt Mattus

Matt Mattus is the Senior Director of Horticulture at the American Horticultural Society in Washington, D.C., and is a botanic travel host for the society with trips planned to the Netherlands, Japan, and Morocco. A leading voice in the world of gardening, Matt is also a long-time board member and trustee of the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill and is the past president of the North American Rock Garden Society (NARGS) as well as active in many specialist plant societies.

About Katia Lysy

Katia Lysy, after a career in Italian television and writing, moved to southern Tuscany to manage La Foce, her family’s estate, purchased by her grandparents, Iris and Antonio Origo, in 1924. Katia is dedicated to preserving the unique garden, created by her grandmother and British architect Cecil Pinsent, with its extraordinary environmental, historical, and ethical heritage. Every year, La Foce is visited by garden enthusiasts, readers of Iris Origo, a celebrated writer, and admirers of the beautiful Tuscan landscape of which La Foce is so much a part

About Taylor Johnston

Taylor Johnston is a gardener, nurserywoman and workwear designer. Her work in plants over the last few decades ranges from growing veg and building meadows to tending kiku and tropical orchids. Her current work at issima, co-owned with nurseryman, Ed Bowen, uses an analog approach to selecting unusual hardy plants.