A Nice Symposium

I've been away in Pewaukee for the Midwest Perennial Conference and it was a fun and well attended event today. Above is the purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) variety 'Vintage Wine'. Coneflowers and many other perennials and plants were mentioned today with the five speakers. Jim and Shelly Garbe (Shady Acres Nursery), along with George and Liesl Radtke (W.E. Radtke Nursery) ran another successful event which was apparently the 25th symposium in this series. Last night, we all had dinner and I was able to meet the other speakers: Pam Duthie (author, landscape designer from the Chicago area), Steve Folz from the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanic Garden, Chuck Martin (Dow Gardens, Midland, MI) and Susan Martin (Walters Gardens, MI). The "plant speak" was fun and we had a great time. Pam and I realized that we were co-speakers over 10 years ago at a different event. All the presentations were well received. I went last and made sure I could fit my 180 images in my 1 hour time slot. There were about 300 attendees and I saw many people that I knew and was able to spend time with Ed Lyon and Richard Hawke (Chicago Botanic). Back to seed ordering tomorrow.

Don't forget about the volunteer soup dinner this Thursday night from 5 pm - 7 pm! Next Wednesday evening, February 23rd (6 pm - 8 pm) is Dave Wanninger's talk on woody plants. Maybe you'll learn about the linden viburnum (Viburnum dilitatum 'Iroquois') below... Don't miss it!