FREE TO MEMBERS!

Join Madeline Hooper and Jeff Hughes of the PBS "GardenFit" TV series for a fun and informative workshop about how to take care of your body while taking care of your garden.

The workshop is free for BBG members. (Become a member!)

Jeff will share his commonsense fitness approach to help gardeners develop techniques and habits that alleviate and prevent their aches and pains from gardening. Madeline will give an inside scoop on some of the amazing gardens and gardeners featured in the 13 episodes highlighting the variety of garden styles, tips and techniques they have developed.

Before wholeheartedly devoting herself to gardening, Madeline de Vries Hooper forged a trailblazing career in public relations, beginning at Bergdorf Goodman in the days when the Goodman family still owned the store, and culminating in her own company in New York City, DeVries Public Relations, which became the leading marketing and public relations agency specializing in iconic brands. She immersed herself in the world of gardening when she was invited to become a trustee of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and later the Berkshire Botanical Garden, where she has been Vice Chair for the past 10 years. She continues her gardening education by taking courses and attending lectures and workshops. She has visited many of the finest gardens in the United States and Europe and developed relationships with leading horticulturalists, garden designers and plants people. Madeline has devoted herself for the past 20 years to a 10-acre garden that she and her husband created from scratch in Columbia County, New York.

Jeff Hughes is an award-winning fitness trainer with more than three decades of experience. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and began working as a fitness trainer at the Turnberry Spa in Miami, renowned for its celebrity clientele. He went on to own and operate fitness businesses in Los Angeles and New York City, and has maintained a private training business since 1988. Jeff has created programs for a wide variety of clients, from high school athletes, Hollywood celebrities and CEOs to skiers, golfers, farmers, moms and dads. In 2004 he opened his TrainerFit Studio. This is where he coined the phrase “train the mind, the body will follow,” which incorporates a cognitive slant to conventional fitness training practices. Jeff’s training philosophy is that bodies accept new habits because they make sense, and his training sessions are filled with logical balance-and-strength techniques taught as habits. He trains one-on-one and creates programs that fit each client’s physical and lifestyle needs.