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FITCHBURG — Long before Jane Austen became one of the world’s most celebrated novelists, she was observing the world around her — including the gardens, flowers and landscapes that would find their way into her novels and letters.

Austen’s connection to gardening will be the focus of a presentation by garden designer and author Jana Milbocker when she visits the Laurelwood Garden Club at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 9, at the Fitchburg Art Museum, 185 Elm St.

In “The Garden World of Jane Austen,” Milbocker will take a closer look at Austen’s appreciation of gardens, her interest in flowers and kitchen gardening, and the role gardens played in her life and writing. The presentation will explore everything from Austen’s own cottage garden to the grand estates she visited, and how those places and experiences became part of the world she created in her novels.

For readers familiar with Austen’s works, the program offers an opportunity to see her writing through a different lens — one in which gardens and landscapes provide more than a backdrop. They reflect the interests, lifestyles and social worlds of the people who inhabited them.

Milbocker brings together her own interests in horticulture, landscape design and travel in her work as a garden writer and lecturer. She is the author of four garden travel books and has lectured at flower shows, horticultural societies, garden clubs and libraries throughout the East Coast.

Her travels to gardens and historic sites in the United States and abroad have also inspired her books, photography, blog and garden tours. She is the owner of Enchanted Gardens, a landscape design firm in the Boston area.

The Laurelwood Garden Club, founded in 1965, welcomes gardening enthusiasts from throughout North Central Massachusetts. Members currently come from Fitchburg, Leominster, Lunenburg, Lancaster, Ashby, Ashburnham and Westminster.

The club holds morning meetings and educational programs on the second Friday of the month from September through June at various locations. Meetings are open to guests with an interest in gardening, floral design, working with flowers and the club’s programs.

The Laurelwood Garden Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and a member of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts Inc., Central North District. It is also affiliated with National Garden Clubs Inc., New England Region.

For information about attending a meeting or membership, contact Public Relations representative Julie Palioca at 978-537-7630. More information is available at gcfm.org/laurelwoodgardenclub.

Original article