This is the time of year for garden symposiums in Connecticut.  With spring only days away, it is the perfect way to get primed for the season.  Conferences supply inspiration, new ideas, new products, and plants and the perfect setting to commune with fellow gardeners. Attend a conference and surround yourself with wonderful groups of like-minded individuals in an atmosphere teaming with anticipation and excitement.  The winter blues quickly fade and thoughts of cold dark days, snow and ice melt away.

Upcoming Conferences:

UConn Perennial Plant Conference

Thursday March 11, 2010  a symposium for the professional horticulturist features presentations from ten horticultural professionals. Topics include New Woody Shrubs for the Mixed Border, New Perennials, Organic Invasive Plant Management, Edible Landscaping, and one of my favorite speakers, ecologist Doug Tallamy will discuss the necessity of using native plant material in our perennial borders.

For more information on this conference go to www.hort.uconn.edu/2010ppc

 UConn Garden Conference for the Home Gardener-

Toward a Sustainable Future

Friday March 12, 2010 The conference keynote address features the edible landscape gardener extraordinaire Rosalind Creasy who will enlighten her audience  to think beyond the straight rows and everyday vegetables, open the garden borders to feast from the worlds’ table.  Moving out of the garden into the kitchen, she will share her creative ways to cook these new garden delights.

Other presentations include Gardening with Rain, Twenty Ways to Become a Greener Gardener, Designing with Elegant Silvers, and An Eclectic Approach to Using Trees, Shrubs, Annuals, Tropical, Edibles and Perennials in the Crazy Mixed-up border.

For more information on this conference:  www.hort.uconn.edu/2010garden

CMGA Annual Symposium on Saturday, March 27, 2010 at Manchester Community College, Manchester, Ct.

CONNECTICUT MASTER GARDENER ASSOCIATION Annual Symposium

GREENSCAPES: Variations on the Theme

The keynote address from Ellen Zachos noted garden writer and instructor at New York Botanic Garden. Ellen’s Keynote address is entitled “Just Because You’re a gardener does not mean You’re Green!”  Many gardening practices can harm local ecosystems. Learn how to work with our landscapes to create a fully organic environment.

 

Another highlight of the conference is Eric T. Fleisher, Director of Horticulture at Battery Park City Parks Conservancy a national leader in the field of sustainable horticulture balanced soil ecology with an emphasis on composting, water conservation and the use of nontoxic means of pest and disease control. His lecture is entitled-“MANAGING THE ENVIRONMENT: An Adaptive challenge”

 

Continuing on the sustainable theme, other conference offerings include:

  • THE GRAVEL GARDEN:GROWING PERENNIALS & ANNUALS WITHOUT IRRIGATION
  • BLENDED GARDENS: MIXING EDIBLES & ORNAMENTALS
  • GREAT FERNS FOR THE NORTHEASTERN GARDEN
  • RESPONSIBLE GARDENING FOR THE 21st CENTURY: THE SUSTAINABLE
  • YOUR BACKYARD REVOLUTION  a plan for cutting your landscape irrigation

         

 For more information on the CMGA symposium go to: http://www.ctmga.org/

 

 

 

 

Go Native Symposium

Sasqua Garden Club

 

On April 10, 2010 in Fairfield, CT, you have another opportunity to hear Doug Tallamy present at the daylong Go Native Symposium presented by the Sasqua Garden Club.  Doug will lecture on using natives in the suburban garden.  Another of my favorite horticulturists William Cullina former director of the New England Wildflower Society and present curator of the Coastal Maine Botanical  Gardens will present 50+ Native Plants for the Northeast.  Bill photos and lectures are amazing.

For more information on Go Native, see www.sasqua.org

Leslie Alexander