A Great Conference

The conference today went very well. Held at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, MI, this event was organized and facilitated by the Marquette Beautification Committee. I met many of the committee members from this organization the night prior and was very impressed with all their civic planting projects (which are very significant). I know I won't be able to remember everyone's name but I wanted to thank Emily, Judy, Tina, Suzy, Barb, Lynette, Phyllis and the rest of the group for their hospitality. When I received my information packet upon arrival (see to the right), I noted my ugly mug on the cover of not only my folder, but ALL the attendees' folders. That will be a keepsake as that particular photo that I supplied featured a prominent "alfalfa" tuft of hair in the back. It was nice to see this magnified and shared!

The event was very well organized and I had wonderful conversations with so many of the attendees. It was neat to see a row of planted shoes, boots (see to left) and other footware planted but more importantly, used for the clever idea of guiding event attendees to the right areas. I was told that there were about 112 attendees. The event also had a neat vendor area and many break out sessions. To the right is one of the many planters that were supplied for decoration by a local garden center / nursery. I spoke on both Elements of Landscape Design and Late Blooming Perennials (twice). The lunch spread was amazing and I definitely ate well. There was a neat "after event" tour of a hoop house project on campus that is facilitated by the Marquette Food Cooperative. We had a great tour and some of those photos are included here. At the bottom are some other scenic shots that I captured after the conference concluded.