Category — Conferences

Kate Baltzell, first year fellow, attended the Association of Zoological Horticulture’s annual conference in Jacksonville, FL entitled ‘Flora Meets Fauna’.

Welcome to Jacksonville! The host hotel was situated right on the St. Johns River with a great view of the Jacksonville city skyline.

The five day conference at the end of September was sponsored by the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. The schedule was packed full of informative presentations covering a range of topics including: the design of the new gardens at Jacksonville Zoo, bee keeping efforts at the Pittsburgh Zoo, invasive plant issues, and plant conservation partnerships. The opportunity to meet and network with other professionals within the field was a great learning experience. Kate looks forward to maintaining these relationships through thesis work and future ventures. During the conference, the group of zoo professionals had the chance to tour Kanapaha Botanical Garden and Jacksonville Zoo. Kate was excited to see the Longwood Hybrid Victoria Lily at both locations! Thanks for the great introduction into AZH and a fulfilling first time conference…See you next year!

Kanapaha Botanical Gardens in Gainesville, FL has a great display of 'Longwood Hybrid' water lilies. These overlapping platters are a much different sight than what visitors see at the lily ponds at Longwood Gardens.

Opened in the spring of 2005, the 'Savanna Blooms' area of Jacksonville Zoo and Garden is quite unique. This garden is inspired after a South African oasis with transitions from soft grasslands and fine textured acacia leaves at each entrance into a bold contemporary garden at its core.

After wandering through the Savanna Blooms' pathways, Kate was pleasantly surprised with what she found...Life sized elephant statues!

Flamingos and 'Longwood Hybrid' water platters-what a great example of flora meeting fauna at Jacksonville Zoo and Garden.

Seasonal Stingray exhibit at Jacksonville Zoo and Garden-Kate's first encounter with a stingray. The expression says it all...Yeesh!

Jacksonville Zoo and Garden opened the Gardens at Trout River Plaza in September 2007. The water spilling over the fountain helps to accentuate the menagerie of animals depicted in the mosaic under visitors' feet. Kids love splashing around in the fountain to beat the hot Florida heat!

Jacksonville Zoo and Garden NEWEST addition-Most recently, Jacksonville Zoo and Garden opened an Asian fusion inspired garden. This area includes an expertly selected green bridge, a classic moongate entrance, and a bamboo garden. The hedge framing this photo will continue to be maintained as a 'window' into the garden beyond. The gardens at Jacksonville Zoo and Garden are setting standards for zoo horticulture and definitely require a return visit in the future.

On 16th October Zoe Panchen attended the Perennial Plant Conference hosted by the Scott Aboretum at Swarthmore College. It was a wet and cold day, perfect for being inside to see and hear about beautiful, colourful perennials. The auditorium was packed with over 500 people from public gardens, commercial horticulture companies and avid gardeners attending. There were six excellent presentations given. Zoe found three of the presentations stood out in particular for her.
The stunning pictures of Jackueline van der Kloet’s bulb designs in Europe and the US brought anticipation of spring colour on a dreary autumn day. Van der Kleet explained her approach of naturalised bulb plantings where two or three bulbs of complimentary height, colour, texture and bloom time are planted in drifts to give the effect of, in her words, “the bulb flowers dancing above the foliage”.
Jimmy Turner, Director of Gardens at the Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Garden, spoke at a mile a minute in a Texan drawl but had the audience enthralled with what could have been a dry topic of the A to Z of outstanding perennials from the Arboretum’s trial gardens. His tongue in cheek moto was “if we can’t kill the plants nobody can” refering to the extremely tough conditions perennial must endure in Dallas, Texas.
Tomasz Anisko, Curator of Plants at Longwood Gardens, spoke on perennial bloom times. He started with a very clear and concise explaination of the botany behind bloom times and horticulture cultural practises relating to flowering and then finished with some very effective charts on chosing perenials for a colour scheme to give blooms from spring to fall.
As an incentive for participants to be green, the conference offered a $10 refund to those that used the Philadelphia public transport system (SEPTA) to get to the conference. Zoe took advantage of this offer and enjoyed a relaxed journey by train from Newark to Swarthmore.

Parish Hall, Swarthmore College

Swarthnore College Amphitheatre

In early October second year Fellow, Daniel Stern, attended the 2nd WaterSmart Innovations Conference to further his thesis research on public gardens and water-wise landscaping. The Southern Nevada Water Authority, EPA’s WaterSense Program, and the American Water Works Association were the primary sponsors of the conference, which brought together industry, government, and other professionals to share innovative approaches to water efficiency. Indeed, conference attendees needed to look no further than artificial turf used in the landscape outside the hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, where the average rainfall is less than four inches per year, to appreciate the dire need for water conservation.

View of desert scrub vegetation and colorful hills in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area outside of Las Vegas, NV

The conference took place at the South Point Hotel and Conference Center and drew over 1,000 participants from 42 states and 12 countries. Featuring 130 half-hour concurrent sessions in a variety of professional tracks and more than 100 exhibitors the casino was abuzz with activity. The three-day event was punctuated by keynote addresses by Dan Bena, the international sustainability director for PepsiCo, and Jill Gill, former CEO of the Water Corporation of Western Australia and inaugural chairman of Water Australia. Another highlight of the conference was Railbird’s 2009 Intelligent Use of Water award ceremony http://www.rainbird.com/iuow/award.htm. The Naples Botanical Garden, Inc. of Naples, FL was awarded the 2009 Intelligent Use of Water™ Leadership Award. The evening’s event also featured a screening of the finalists in the 2009 Intelligent Use of Water Film Competition http://www.iuowfilm.com/.

Roof from old water resevoir retrofitted to serve as an awning over parking area and hold banks of photovoltaics at Springs Preserve

Following the conference, Daniel visited The Springs Preserve, a 180-acre cultural site located three miles north of downtown Las Vegas http://www.springspreserve.org/html/home.html. There, Daniel met with Jay Nichols, General Curator, to get an overview of the institution’s history and tour of the site. The Las Vegas Valley Water District owns the Springs Preserve and started developing the site in 2005 as part of their public service strategic plan. The site houses the Desert Living Center, a campus of platinum LEED certified buildings dedicated to environmental education and providing a vision of sustainability by demonstrating “green” building techniques. Other major components of Springs Preserve include the Origen Experience, which features exhibits about the history of Las Vegas, and the Nevada State Museum.

Bird sculptures in the children's garden at Springs Preserve

Outside, Daniel explored the preserve’s carefully managed habitat collections that showcase the region’s history, geology, flora and fauna and also toured its eight-acre botanical gardens. The botanical garden’s history goes back to 1982 when the local Kiwanis Club opened a 2.5-acre Water Conservation Park on a different piece of land donated by the Las Vegas Valley Water District. The park’s gardens, which featured several hundred drought tolerant and regionally adapted species, was renamed the Desert Demonstration Gardens in 1990. In 2007, the Demonstration Gardens closed and many of its mature specimens were moved to the Springs Preserve site to form the backbone of its botanical garden. Today, the Garden provides educational outreach about water-efficient landscaping through demonstration gardens, classes, and expert advice.

Water-efficient display showing the irrigation demands of different kinds of turf at Springs Preserve

Display of drought-tolerant plants at the Springs Preserve Botanical Garden

Before flying back to the east coast, Daniel took advantage of the opportunity to visit a couple of nearby natural areas. He spent a morning hiking to Keystone Thrust in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and a scenic drive through Valley of Fire State Park in the afternoon. Both sites afforded a fantastic opportunity to learn about the region’s geological history, marvel at the beautiful rock formations, and practice some outdoor photography.

View of the Calico Hills in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

Valley of Fire State Park, NV

Red sandstone (formed during the Jurassic period) at Valley of Fire State Park

Rebecca Pineo attended this year’s Janet Meakin Poor Research Symposium, hosted by Chicago Botanic Gardens and co-sponsored by Botanic Gardens Conservation International.  The keynote speaker, Steven Blackmore, Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Scotland, highlighted the positive role gardens can play in promoting sustainability.  Other speakers addressed how plant science, education, outreach, and public-private partnerships can aid conservation and help tackle the challenges of climate change.

Jackie Bergquist, Shari Edelson, and Daniel Stern attended an APGA professional development symposium hosted at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The symposium featured a variety of speakers who addressed challenges and opportunities for public gardens to model sustainability and attendees were treated to a sneak preview of the Sustainable Sites Initiative.

The symposium also afforded opportunity to see how Phipps has integrated sustainability into all of its operations during a “behind-the-scenes” tour of the country’s first LEED certified visitor center in a public garden, and the world’s most energy-efficient conservatory. During the two-day event, conference attendees also enjoyed Phipps’ seasonal exhibition of Chrysanthemums, Flamingos, and Chocolate!

Chrysanthemums, Flamingos, and Chocolate!!!