Why do gardeners turn to the internet to find outrageous solutions to simple problems? Why does the introduction of one plant into a garden start a game of musical chairs that results in the displacement of at least two other plants? And why do we have garden benches around our yards if no one ever sits in them?
These are the questions that readers of author Neal Sanders’ popular blog, “The Principal Undergardener,” get to ponder. And on Oct. 25, Sanders will speak at the Francestown Community Church at 18 Main St., where he will share his humorous observations about gardening and gardeners. His program is part of the meeting of the Francestown Garden Club and is open to everyone, with a $5 contribution for non-members. The presentation starts at 7 p.m.
Sanders is no ordinary gardener. He and his wife maintain a two-acre garden in suburban Boston that has been part of the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program as well as featured in the Wall Street Journal. Sanders readily acknowledges that he is not the “head gardener” at home; rather, he is the Principal Undergardener, which lends its name to Sanders’ blog. Adaptations of his essays appear monthly in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Leaflet magazine.
His humorous talk, “Gardening Is Murder,” is drawn from those essays. For example, he has discovered “The Rule of Three”: that the introduction of any new plant into his wife’s garden requires the digging of not one hole but three, because the perfect spot for that new plant is already occupied by another plant, which will displace yet a third before everything is settled.
Sanders is also the author of 10 mysteries and he’ll tell where he gets ideas for his stories, many of which center on garden clubs, why his wife no longer comes in the door saying, “You wouldn’t believe what happened to me today,” and why neither of them is any longer privy to garden club gossip.
For additional information, contact Elly Miles at 547-3515.