Check-in begins at 9:00 a.m.  Program begins promptly at 9:30, with welcome and announcements.  First speaker from 9:45-10:45, followed by a short break with second speaker from 11:00 a.m.-noon.  After a one hour lunch break, Arthur Haines will speak at 1:00 p.m.

Gardening with Nature  by Mark Richardson, Horticulture Director, New England Wild Flower Society
Will C. Curtis bought the land that would become Garden in the Woods in 1931 and almost immediately began building a “big wild garden and finding out why wild flowers will grow here and not there.” The gardens Curtis created were ahead of their time–emphasizing native plants, promoting a sense of place, respecting landforms and growing plants in their “natural environments.” Nearly 50 years after Curtis left his treasured Garden to the New England Wild Flower Society, we’re still learning how best to garden with nature, rather than fight against it. Let’s explore some of our natural gardening practices and discuss how home gardeners can follow suit. 

Landscaping with Native Woody Plants by Justin Nichols

Justin’s presentation will focus primarily on landscaping with native woody plants: vines, shrubs, and trees.  He will discuss the use of native woody plants at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, soil preparation and maintenance techniques and other gardening approaches. He focuses on effective, ecologically sound garden design and maintenance, soil health, trail making, and control of pests, pathogens and invasive plants. 

Preserving Native Plant Knowledge for Their Future by Arthur Haines

Useful knowledge of plants is passing from this culture due to the absence of a meaningful connection to nature.  Botanical Gardens, museums, land trusts, and similar institutions are attempting to re-establish an interest in local flora, but their efforts reach only a small portion of the populace.  Discussion of beauty, rarity, and interesting natural history is not enough to engage all people in becoming active in local ecology.  Wild food and medicine offer real, concrete ways to interest people in the participation of land conservation.  These topics have been relegated to the fringe of our society, but nutritional, anthropological, and medical studies show people cannot live a healthy life without them.  Arthur Haines’ presentation looks at interesting examples of wild food and medicine that grow here in New England, shares some stories from the pages of history, and demonstrates how wild plants can promote healthy living for the generations to come.

Presenters:

Arthur Haines

Arthur Haines, Research Botanist, New England Wild Flower Society, is author of Flora Novae Angliae, Ancestral Plants and several other books and peer reviewed articles. Haines is presently working with the Society on Go Botany, an online botany education site using Flora Novae Angliae as a resource. In addition to his work with New England Wild Flower Society, Haines owns and manages the Delta Institute of Natural History in Canton, Maine, a school for small group instruction on a diversity of natural history topics with focus on plant taxonomy and primitive technologies. Haines is also Vice President of the Josselyn Botanical Society.  He grew up in the western mountains of Maine, a rural area where he began his independent study of foraging, taxonomy, and survival techniques.

Justin Nichols

Justin Nichols has been active in horticulture since 1990, working for a city park department, a private estate, and a perennial nursery before settling in as a horticulturist at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in 2008.  He is the gardener for CMBG’s Alfond Children’s Garden and has started youth gardening and community supported agriculture programs.  He has a master’s degree in education and has taught many classes including pruning, vegetable gardening, and landscape maintenance.  Justin is a NOFA Accredited Organic Land Care Professional. You may have read his plant profiles in Fine Gardening Magazine.

Mark Richardson

After earning a degree in Urban Horticulture at University of Rhode Island and a Master of Science in Public Horticulture from the Longwood Graduate Program, Mark ran Longwood Gardens’ undergraduate programs for five years with ever expanding roles. He then managed education programs and developed a strategic plan for technology in the garden at Brookside Gardens, a botanic garden in Montgomery County, Maryland. In 2012, Mark accepted the position of Director of Horticulture at the New England Wild Flower Society.

Cosponsored with Friends of the Hort Farm, Hardy Plant Club, The Fells and Master Gardeners.

Saturday, April 13, 2013, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Vermont Technical College, Randolph Center, VT at Exit 4 off I-89.

Course Code: SYM1001

Fee: $47 (Member) / $53 (Nonmember)

Includes lunch, symposium packet, and free parking. Member fee applies to members of any of the cosponsoring organizations.  No refunds for cancellations after April 6.  To be sure of a place, register early. 

Registrations prior to March 1, mail a check payable to NEWFS-VT to  Thelma Hewitt, PO Box 2333, New London, NH 03257, (preferred) or mail Master Card or Visa information including expiration date to the above address. Please include name, address, phone number ande-mail address for registration confirmation, and organization name. 

After March 1, please register through New England Wild Flower Society, 180 Hemenway Rd, Framingham, MA 01701. Call Registrar Lana Reed at 508-877-7630 x 3303. Or register online at www.newenglandwild.org/learn/adult