UConn offers Perennial Plant Conference

The University of Connecticut is sponsoring the “Perennial Plant Conference – A Conference for the Landscape and Horticultural Professional.”  The conference will be held at the Lewis B. Rome Commons on the University of Connecticut Storrs campus on Thursday, March 21, 2013. 

This all-day educational conference will address a wide range of topics focusing on herbaceous perennial production, sustainable landscape design, and retail marketing.  Topics were selected to appeal to professional landscapers and designers, nursery and greenhouse producers, and retail garden centers.  Two concurrent educational sessions will feature nationally recognized speakers from both industry and academia.

The speakers featured at the conference will include:
• Karen Bussolini, Garden Photographer, Writer, Eco-friendly Garden Coach, from South Kent, CT who will be speaking on Gardening with Kids: Opening Eyes and Doors.
• Ben Campbell, from the University of Connecticut, who will be speaking on What Really Captures Consumers’ Eyes in the Retail Garden Center, Garden and Landscape?
• Margery Daughtrey, from Cornell University, Riverhead, NY who will be speaking on Diseases of Perennials - Pox on your Peonies?  Rash on your Rudbeckias? 
• Janet Draper, Horticulturist, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC who will be speaking on Evolution of a Space.
• Chris Hansen, from Great Garden Plants in Holland, MI who will be speaking on Hot New Perennials for 2013 and Beyond.
• Ed Lyon from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who will be speaking on Changing Trends: Ornamental Edibles, New Audiences and More and Promise and Reality: Contemporary Marketing Issues.
• Michael Nadeau, from Michael Nadeau Wholistic Land Care Consulting, Sherman, CT who will be speaking on Landscaping in Wetlands.
• Claudia West, from North Creek Nurseries in Landenberg, PA who will be speaking on The Landscape’s Color Spectrum: Applying Natural Color Theories to Design and Vegetated Stormwater Management Solutions: Inspired by Natural Plant Communities.
 
Program and registration information, including online registration, is available at www.2013perennial.uconn.edu.  A pre-registration fee of $80 per person is due by March 14th.  The fee is $90 per person if postmarked after March 14th or for walk-ins.  Registration is limited and nonrefundable.  Please make checks payable to the University of Connecticut and send to Donna Ellis, University of Connecticut, Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, 1390 Storrs Road, Unit 4163, Storrs, CT 06269-4163.

Included with your registration: admission to sessions, an information packet, lunch, morning & afternoon snacks, free parking, and an opportunity to meet speakers and purchase autographed books from the Perennial Plant Conference bookstore.  Two pesticide recertification credits will be offered for attendees from CT, RI, MA, ME, NH, and VT (pending state approval).  Additional CEUs are available.