Perhaps many of you are not familiar with this event. I posted my tongue-in-cheek message above simply to make people aware of the date.

This is a premier event and one that if you attend once, you eagerly return every year. A list of speakers follows.

Elwynn Taylor
Agronomy Professor and Extension Climatologist, Iowa State University

Elwynn is well-known for his analysis of weather in the Midwest and clear explanations of the complexities of long-term weather variability. He has published more than 200 articles reporting his research on the impacts of weather conditions. His voice is well known from his broadcasts of crop-weather on WOI's midday report each weekday noon hour on 640 AM.

Wayne Petersen
Urban Conservationist, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

After working with agricultural landscapes in five locations throughout Iowa for 21 years, he became NRCS?s first urban conservationist in Iowa. Wayne sees management of post-development runoff as a key urban environmental concern. He promotes low impact development techniques that absorb and infiltrate more rainfall on-site and shed less polluted runoff to receiving waters.

Jan Riggenbach
Garden Writer and Columnist

Jan is a newspaper and magazine columnist whose ideas and photos have been inspiring Midwest gardeners for 30 years. She writes a syndicated garden column, which appears weekly in cities throughout the Midwest. Her latest book is Landscape Makeovers coauthored with Dave Haupert. Jan maintains large test gardens and an arboretum on an acreage near Glenwood, Iowa.

Roy Klehm
Owner, Klehms, Song Sparrow and Beaver Creek Nurseries

Roy grew up in the nursery business and is a fourth generation nurseryman. He is the owner of Klehms, Song Sparrow and Beaver Creek Nurseries. Roy is a world-renowned peony expert and has introduced more than 300 peonies to the gardening public. His efforts with peonies have been recognized with several prestigious awards including a Saunders Memorial Medal for excellence in peony breeding given by the American Peony Society.

Neil Anderson
Associate Professor, University of Minnesota, and Director, Invasion Biology Research Consortium

Neil is a floriculture breeder/geneticist who directs the herbaceous perennial breeding program at the University of Minnesota. He has worked in the commercial flower seed industry as a flower breeder and new crop specialist. Neil conducts trials in Minnesota for annual bedding plants and winter hardy herbaceous perennials.

David Gianneschi
Staff Horticulturalist, Douglas Hoerr Landscape Architecture (DHLA) Firm

David's experience in horticulture design and hands-on gardening helps his Illinois firm stay at the forefront of horticulture trends. David guides the selection of residential clients' seasonal designs, including spring flowering bulbs, annuals, and container plantings. David is involved in the Michigan Avenue Streetscape, which received a 2003 design merit award from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).

IronBelly

Sounds very interesting, when is this?
LMK, thanks,
Rblrder

Rbirder,

There are two sessions. The Friday session alternates locations each year between the east side of the state and the west side of the state. This year, it is on the east side -- Davenport. Next year, it will be in Council Bluffs. The Saturday session is always in Ames. Both sessions are exactly the same.

See the link I posted in the original posting for all the details.

****************************

Herbaceous Perennial Friday
November 12, 2004
Holiday Inn, 5202 Brady Street, Davenport, Iowa

Herbaceous Perennial Saturday
November 13, 2004
Scheman Building, Iowa State University

IronBelly

The day after tomorrow (Friday), the above symposium will take place in Davenport. However, if you prefer something a little less costly, the Linn County Master Gardeners will be putting on their annual Winter Gardening Fair on February 19, 2005.

The event will be held at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. Iowa. This is a beautiful facility that our tax dollars have paid for so it is only appropriate that we get some benefit from it as well. There is a wide assortment of classes to choose from with each class costing only $9.00. A few of the topics are:
Prairie Ecology & Restoration
Roses
Rain Gardens
Gardening For Small Spaces
... and my favorite title
Salsa - The Dip, Not the Dance.

The featured speaker for the general session is Dr. Ann Marie VanDerZanden speaking on "Inspired Iowa Designs using New and Native Plants". I have written about her before on this forum and I highly recommend listening to what she has to say. If you don't learn something from her about landscape design, someone should have woken you from your nap. By the way, her session is FREE.

I'll post a link when it gets a little closer to February. In the mean time, I hope to see some of you in Davenport in a couple of days.

IronBelly