Workshops & Events

Saturday Speaker Series

Join us for Hamilton’s Saturday Series, where expert speakers share practical tips for your garden, yard, and home. Some sessions feature demonstrations. Don’t forget to explore our beautiful, accredited campus arboretum while you’re here.

All events in this series begin at 10 a.m. on Saturdays and are free and open to the public.

Attend in person in the Taylor Science Center’s Kennedy Auditorium, or join online via Zoom by registering below.

Campus Map       Zoom Registration

The Wood Wide Web with Tom Horton

February 7, 2026, at 10 a.m.

You may have heard about Suzanne Simard’s Mother Tree book. It is a topic that gets a lot of attention. Tom Horton’s take is a little different from Simard’s in that he starts from the mycorrhizal network itself—the fungi below ground—and works up to the connected trees. This ‘mycocentric’ view yields insights that are largely absent in the Mother Tree.

Mycorrhizal networks are not continuous networks connecting the trees. They are made of many species with varying life histories. Fungi in general have evolved ways to recognize hyphae as not their own and will reject fusions with individuals from the same species, let alone from other species. Further, the fungi do not grow equally well with all tree species in a forest. So, a mycorrhizal network is made of many individuals that are patchily distributed at a relatively small scale. The transfer of resources through such a complex network is likely not as free and easy as the popular press suggests.

Learn more about this fascinating topic on February 7.

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Embracing the Evolution of a Compassionate Landscape with Maggie Reilly from Wild Ones Mohawk Valley

March 7, 2026, at 10 a.m.

Join Maggie Reilly from Wild Ones Mohawk Valley for her sequel to “The Power of a Compassionate Landscape.” Maggie will inspire us to transform our small suburban yards into a welcoming, restorative landscape where you and others will want to spend time developing an even more meaningful connection with nature. She will discuss why it is more important than ever that we establish a reciprocal relationship with the land, becoming its guardians, while celebrating biodiversity in our own outdoor spaces.
Maggie will show us how to create our own sanctuary with a sense of enclosure, distinct destination areas or rooms, focal points, and functional spaces, surrounded by beautiful, ecological native plant communities of our ecoregion. She will present some of her favorite plant combinations as she reviews a hedgerow, foundation, and pollinator garden design.
Throughout, Maggie will reveal to us how she embraces her own ever-changing,
compassionate landscape to heal the land, build community, and share her passion for
native gardening.

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Observing Changes in Frog Behavior with Ariel Kahrl, Hamilton College Assistant Professor of Biology

April 11, 2026, 10 a.m.

Professor Ariel Kahrl is an evolutionary biologist studying the evolution of traits that are subject to sexual selection. She accomplishes this by combining experimental biology, comparative analyses, and fieldwork. She is developing a new research program centered around the evolution of reproductive physiology in frogs and salamanders. She hopes that her lab research can be integrated into her classroom, providing students with active research experiences and teaching them valuable skills. An assistant professor of Biology at Hamilton College, she earned her bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and her Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. Kahrl’s research focuses on understanding broad patterns of evolution across all animals and the physiological mechanisms that underlie them.