Tranquil Lake Nursery

Speaking & Teaching

At Tranquil Lake, we offer a wide range of educational and informational talks and events at the Nursery. However landscape horticulturist and garden designer Warren Leach is also available to give lectures at your event. To invite Warren to your event and to discuss speaking fees please fill in the form below or contact Warren at 508-252-4002.

Upcoming Public Speaking Engagements

With Warren Leach

Thursday, January 9, 2020

7:30 p.m.

Mansfield Garden Club

First Congregational Church, Mansfield, MA

Planting A Garden for Pollinators

	Pollinators are everywhere and they play and extremely important role in our lives and habitats, from pollinating the foods that we eat to initiating the development of the seeds that ensure survival of native plants. Warren Leach, horticulturist and garden designer, will review pollinator needs and offer a selection of ornamental trees, shrubs, perennials and vines with flowering characteristics that will benefit pollinators and also complement the school calendar. These beauties will add ornamental beauty and interest to the schoolyard, while also offering opportunities for classroom study. He will also provide suggestions for care and culture.

Thursday, February 27, 2020 10:00 a.m.	Weston Garden Club First Parish Church, Weston, MA
	Gardening for Winter Interest
	The winter garden is truly a low maintenance affair and a time to enjoy - no weeding, no watering and no dead-heading! The winter landscape may be quiescent but the garden need not be bleak. Plants with brightly colored berries, twigs, stems, foliage and even winter-blooming flowers shrug off the snow and cold. They bring cheer, even as the sun enters Capricorn. Landscape horticulturist Warren Leach will showcase gardens he has designed that celebrate the winter season as well as planting design ideas for your own garden.

Monday, March 2, 2020 6:30 p.m.	Rehoboth Garden Club Goff Hall Library, Rehoboth, MA
	Planning and Planting for Sustainable Landscapes
	Join Warren Leach as he offers planning and planting suggestions to support the creation of gardens and landscapes that minimize the use of limited resources. His design tips and plant recommendations will help you conserve your own precious time and energy as well as our limited natural resources such as water, soil and fossil fuels. Meet a variety of drought tolerant plants, conservation gardening practices and design techniques that will easily translate to your own home.

Tuesday, March 3, 2020 7:00 p.m.	The Walnut Hill Garden Club Phoenix Lodge, Hanover, MA
	Plant Combinations for A Long Season of Bloom
	You can enjoy colorful and fragrant flowers even in January, long before the vernal equinox and have blooms celebrate all of the other seasons; spring, summer and fall! This is not a fanciful ideal and you don’t need a heated greenhouse or conservatory. Landscape Horticulturist Warren Leach will introduce plants and planting combination to extend your garden enjoyment.

Wednesday, March 11, 2020 1:00 p.m.	The Plymouth Garden Club Chiltonville Congregational Church, Plymouth, MA
	Beyond Blooms: Creative Design with Color, Structure and Seasonal Senescence
	Warren Leach, talented garden designer and owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth, will recommend a diverse selection of superlative plants with exceptional foliage characteristics in his talk “Beyond Blooms: Creative Design with Color, Structure and Seasonal Senescence”. Warren will highlight woody and herbaceous plants with good garden foliage color, architectural structure, multi-season interest and stunning shape and texture characteristics that can be used in a diversity of ways to compliment flowers, provide structure and offer seasonal succession in the mixed border. Warren will also suggest plant combinations that you can translate into your own garden, echoing leaf colors and texture to brighten the garden through the seasons.

Wednesday, March 19, 2020 6:30 p.m.	The Swansea Garden Club Christ Church Hall, Swansea, MAA
	Quenching Heat, Humidity & Drought Gardens that Dazzle - Withstanding the Dog Days & Onward
	The energy and exuberance of spring is both much anticipated and unstoppable. Buds expand and burst into colorful flowers and unfurling leaves. This spring garden spectacle of flowers and luxuriant foliage need not be fleeting. Though by August, the heat and humidity may take its toll on the gardener, a garden designed with a plant palette to withstand the dog-days and drought of summer also offers a stunning exuberance of flowers, maturing seed heads and colorful foliage. Warren Leach will explore planting design in gardens that continue to dazzle from late summer, fall and onward.

Thursday, March 26, 2020 7:00 p.m.	The Fall River Garden Club The Elks Club, Main Street, Fall River, MA
	Quenching Heat, Humidity & Drought Gardens that Dazzle - Withstanding the Dog Days & Onward
	The energy and exuberance of spring is both much anticipated and unstoppable. Buds expand and burst into colorful flowers and unfurling leaves. This spring garden spectacle of flowers and luxuriant foliage need not be fleeting. Though by August, the heat and humidity may take its toll on the gardener, a garden designed with a plant palette to withstand the dog-days and drought of summer also offers a stunning exuberance of flowers, maturing seed heads and colorful foliage. Warren Leach will explore planting design in gardens that continue to dazzle from late summer, fall and onward.

Tuesday, April 7, 2020 1:00 p.m.	Garden Club of Harwich Harwich Community Center, Harwich, MA
	Walkways, Patios & Water Features for the Small Garden
	Walkways, Patios & Water Features for the Small Garden

Saturday, June 6, 2020 10:00 a.m.	Garden Conservancy Digging Deeper Workshop Brigham Hill Farm, North Grafton, MA
	Design Dialectic — Formal Structure in the Garden
	The acclaimed gardens at Brigham Hill Farm are the result of a lively 25-year collaboration between garden owners and accomplished gardeners Shirley and Peter Williams and landscape horticulturist Warren Leach. In this morning conversation, the team will carefully examine the formal structural elements of the garden. Join them to explore the distinct design elements and planting combinations that convey formality and make areas like Shirley’s Perennial Garden, the Herb Entry Garden, the Terrace and the Vegetable Garden truly memorable. For a rare chance to dive deeply into the totality of this remarkable garden, also register for the afternoon session on informality. (Fee: $30 for Garden Conservancy Members and $40 Non-Members). Read More or Register

Saturday, June 6, 2020 1:30 p.m.	Garden Conservancy Digging Deeper Workshop Brigham Hill Farm, North Grafton, MA
	Informal Structure in the Garden
	The acclaimed gardens at Brigham Hill Farm are the result of a lively 25-year collaboration between garden owners and accomplished gardeners Shirley and Peter Williams and landscape horticulturist Warren Leach. In this afternoon conversation, the team will carefully examine the informal structural elements of the garden. Join them to explore the distinct design elements and planting combinations that convey informality and make areas like Peter's Woodland Water Garden and the Native Plant Arboretum truly memorable. For a rare chance to dive deeply into the totality of this remarkable garden, also register for the morning session on formality. (Fee: $30 Garden Conservancy Members and $40 Non-Members). Read More of Register

Saturday, June 20, 2020 9:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.	Sogkonate Garden Club Symposium The Commons, Little Compton Community Center Little Compton, Rhode Island
	Why Native Plant Landscapes Matter to You
9:00 a.m.	Welcome
9:10 - 11:00 a.m.	Claudia Thompson - Grow Native Massachusetts
	Why native plant landscapes matter to you and the community. Present a primer for those new to native planting as well as helpful info to those with established native landscapes. Also address community conservation a la Doug T’s new book. (A tall order!!)

11:15 - 12:15 p.m.	Hope Leeson - RI Natural History Project
	Describe RI native seed & plant program. Talk about the meadow NW of Quicksand Pond ?? (planted in 2015?) How to source seeds. Helpful hints to assess what will do well in your landscape

1:15 - 2:45 p.m.	Warren Leach - Tranquil Lake Nursery
	Designing with native plants in a residential landscape. Use guideline of 1-2 acre properties in Little Compton. Address: design, color, structure, shrub border, perennial border, trees, groundcovers, sun & shade, seasonal senescence

2:45 - 3:15 p.m.	Panel Discussion - Wrap Up

Warren has offered a number of talks at local Garden Clubs and Horticultural Organizations as well as for School Gardening conferences. Here are just a few of the presentations that he has offered in the past few years. The fee for a garden lecture is generally $300 for garden clubs and $500 for professional organizations.

Presentation Topics

Beyond Blooms:

Creative Design with Color, Structure and Seasonal Senescence

Warren Leach, talented garden designer and owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth, will recommend a diverse selection of superlative plants with exceptional foliage characteristics in his talk “Beyond Blooms: Creative Design with Color, Structure and Seasonal Senescence”. Warren will highlight woody and herbaceous plants with good garden foliage color, architectural structure, multi-season interest and stunning shape and texture characteristics that can be used in a diversity of ways to compliment flowers, provide structure and offer seasonal succession in the mixed border. Warren will also suggest plant combinations that you can translate into your own garden, echoing leaf colors and texture to brighten the garden through the seasons.

Celebrating the Winter Garden

The winter garden is truly a low maintenance affair and a time to enjoy - no weeding, no watering and no dead-heading! The winter landscape may be quiescent but the garden need not be bleak. Plants with brightly colored berries, twigs, stems, foliage and even winter-blooming flowers shrug off the snow and cold. They bring cheer, even as the sun enters Capricorn. Landscape horticulturist Warren Leach will showcase gardens he has designed that celebrate the winter season as well as planting design ideas for your own garden.

Classic Design for Contemporary Gardens

Our contemporary lives are full of expressions of classic design. These timeless principles of artistic composition may not always be plainly revealed but should be heeded. Landscape designer Warren Leach, owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, will explore some of these elements of Classic Design, from the Classic Chinese Scholar’s Gardens to 18th century American landscapes and 19th century paintings. He will show how to embrace these principles in your own gardens and landscape.

Color, Texture and Design in the Garden

Designing, Constructing and Planting the Entry Garden

The garden space between the street, driveway, walkway and your home offers a powerful first impression to someone arriving to your door. Landscape Horticulturist Warren Leach, owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, will take you on a visual tour of enticing entry gardens using before and after scenarios. He will focus on walkway design and construction techniques, solving problems of scale and grade as well as showcasing a rich planting palette that offers year-round beauty with an eye on low-maintenance. Your entry garden will be a pleasure for you to enjoy as well as a warm welcoming to guests.

Drought Tolerant Gardening and Landscaping

Thoughtfully designing and planting our display gardens to thrive, even in a rainfall shortage, has been an essential gardening practice at Tranquil Lake Nursery with our sandy-loam soils and the recent erratic rainfall. Planting for drought tolerance is being recognized as a sustainable paradigm for all landscapes as unlimited water use becomes prohibited and costly. Explore verdant and water-wise gardens with Landscape Horticulturist Warren Leach as he introduces a broad palette of hardy trees, shrubs and perennials. Warren will showcase several drought tolerant plant alternatives to turf grass showing before and after landscape designs. This colorful and fiery presentation of garden images will inspire your own sustainable garden. Whether you garden in sun or shade, you will take away valuable horticultural ideas for your own garden.

Edible Plants in the Garden

Edible Landscaping for the Schoolyard

Meet a variety of trees, shrubs, groundcovers and vines that are edible and also offer interesting ornamental qualities that are sure to add to your school landscape. In his presentation, Warren Leach, horticulturist, garden designer and co-owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth will show images and discuss a diverse variety of plants that are easy to grow, edible for humans and also offer attractive flowers, foliage, seed heads, barks and twigs during the school year.

Fluid Imagination - The Artful Design of Water in the Landscape

Water adds many enchanting qualities to the garden. Transparent as glass, yet reflective as a mirror, water can magnify a small space or add a visual focus to a large expanse. Depending upon how it is used, water may project many moods - still, gentle, playful, agitated, turbulent or cascading. Its voice ranges from silent pools to roaring cataracts. Warren Leach explores these magical characteristics as well as construction and installation of water features in a diversity of landscape settings and styles

Gardening Beyond Horizontal Plane - Planted Walls and Inclines

Planting the vertical plane can add drama to a garden space than a hedge of possibilities. Planting a steep slope is more dynamic than a wall. Horticulturist and Landscape Designer Warren Leach will explore green walls and ramparts in the landscape. He will show their construction and design application in the garden as well as the plants that inhabit the vertical plane.

The Late Season Garden

The late season garden is full of dynamic contrasts - melding colorful late blooms, maturing fruit, fiery foliage and the plumes of ornamental grasses. The inertia of the season is compelling and with a little preparation a gardener can sit back and leisurely enjoy the garden fireworks. Join Landscape Horticulturist Warren Leach for an in-depth look at exciting plants to add to your late season garden display. Warren will offer design ideas using before and after images of gardens he has designed and planted. Fall is an ideal time for planting and adding glorious fall fireworks to your own garden. In Vita Sackville-West poetry we are reminded that the beauty of the garden does not end with the change of the seasons. "So Autumn's not the end, not the last rung of any ladder in the yearly climb, When that is deathly old which once was young, Since time's no ladder but a constant wheel."

Ornamental Plants for the School Yard Landscape

Bright colorful flowers, fruits and twigs help create an enjoyable and interesting environment and also provide food and shelter for birds, butterflies and other desirable wildlife. Many school sites provide challenging cultural conditions for growing plants, such as shallow soil; poor soil structure and texture; road salts from parking lots; other toxins from previous construction in the area, as well as a lack of skilled horticultural maintenance. Horticulturist and garden designer Warren Leach from Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth will showcase a variety of tough plants for the schoolyard and provide examples of how each can be used to create a beautiful and inspirational landscape that also offers opportunities for educational links to the classroom.

Plant Combinations for a Long Season of Bloom

You can enjoy colorful and fragrant flowers even in January, long before the vernal equinox and have blooms celebrate all of the other seasons; spring, summer and fall! This is not a fanciful ideal and you don’t need a heated greenhouse or conservatory. Landscape Horticulturist Warren Leach will introduce plants and planting combination to extend your garden enjoyment.

Planning and Planting for Sustainable Landscapes

Join Warren Leach as he offers planning and planting suggestions to support the creation of gardens and landscapes that minimize the use of limited resources. His design tips and plant recommendations will help you conserve your own precious time and energy as well as our limited natural resources such as water, soil and fossil fuels. Meet a variety of drought tolerant plants, conservation gardening practices and design techniques that will easily translate to your own home.

Planting a Garden For Pollinators

Pollinators are everywhere and they play and extremely important role in our lives and habitats, from pollinating the foods that we eat to initiating the development of the seeds that ensure survival of native plants. Warren Leach, horticulturist and garden designer, will review pollinator needs and offer a selection of ornamental trees, shrubs, perennials and vines with flowering characteristics that will benefit pollinators and also complement the school calendar. These beauties will add ornamental beauty and interest to the schoolyard, while also offering opportunities for classroom study. He will also provide suggestions for care and culture.

Quenching Heat, Humidity & Drought

Gardens that Dazzle - Withstanding the Dog Days & Onward

The energy and exuberance of spring is both much anticipated and unstoppable. Buds expand and burst into colorful flowers and unfurling leaves. This spring garden spectacle of flowers and luxuriant foliage need not be fleeting. Though by August, the heat and humidity may take its toll on the gardener, a garden designed with a plant palette to withstand the dog-days and drought of summer also offers a stunning
exuberance of flowers, maturing seed heads and colorful foliage. Warren Leach will explore planting design in gardens that continue to dazzle from late summer, fall and onward.

Read a Garden Article by Warren Leach

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