May/June 2000

From Regional Happenings

Mid Atlantic | North Central | North East | North West
South Central | South East | South West
West Coast | Canada
Special Events

 Events sponsored or co-sponsored by AHS are indicated by an AHS symbol. Expanded and updated Regional Happenings listings can be viewed on the Society's Web site click here!

Mid-Atlantic

May 13. Cylburn Market Day. Plant and craft sales. Cylburn Mansion, Baltimore, Maryland. (410) 367-2217.

May 14. 62nd Annual Garden Days. Friends Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (215) 831-7817.

May 20 & 21. Virginia Peninsula Rose Society Show. Coliseum Mall, Hampton, Virginia. (757) 838-3899.

June 10. Backyard Wildlife Habitat(tm) Tour. Virginia yards and gardens certified by the National Wildlife Federation. (703) 790-4434.

June 10. Earth On Our Hands. Tour of private Virginia and Maryland gardens. National Capital Area Federation of Garden Clubs. (703) 680-5425.

June 10 & 11. Blue Ridge Garden Festival. Virginia's Explore Park, Roanoke, Virginia. (540) 989-5652.

AHS 
June 25. Family Picnic. Friends of River Farm. River Farm, Alexandria, Virginia. (703) 768-5700.

  North East

May 12 & 13. Hill-Stead Museum's May Market. Lectures, demonstrations, sales. Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, Connecticut. (860) 233-9853.

May 20 & 21. Spring Plant Sale. Landis Arboretum, Esperance, New York. (518) 875-6935.

June 2-4. "Evergreen" Open House. Visit the famed woodland gardens of landscape designer Robert Gillmore. Landscape Education Project. Goffstown, New Hampshire. (603) 497-8020.

June 3. 15th Annual Plant Sale. Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Boylston, Massachusetts. (508) 869-0314.

June 3. Plant Sale. Rhode Island Wild Plant Society. URI Greenhouses, Kingston, Rhode Island. (401) 783-5895.

June 3. Spring Gardens in Bloom. Tours, lectures, demonstrations. Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Massachusetts. (800) 733-1830.

June 10. Annual Wildflower Sale. New England Wild Flower Society. Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts. (508) 877-6574.

June 12-17. "Hildene" Peony Festival. Historic estate of Robert Todd Lincoln. Manchester, Vermont. (802) 362-1788.

June 16 & 17. Pocket Gardens of Portsmouth Tour. Self-guided tour. Portsmouth, New Hampshire. (603) 436-4762.

June 24. Private Gardens of the Kennebunks. Tour. Biddeford, Maine. (207) 284-1337.

June 25. City Spaces, Country Places Garden Tour. Tour of 10 private gardens in Worcester. Sponsored by Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Boylston, Massachusetts. (508) 869-0314.

May 13. Garden Expo 2000. Spokane Community College, Spokane, Washington. (509) 535-5903.

June 28-July 2. 2000 Lily Show and Symposium. North American Lily Society. Monarch Hotel, Clackamas, Oregon. (503) 656-1575.

May 1-Sept. 4. Butterflies! Huntsville- Madison County Botanical Garden, Huntsville, Alabama. (256) 830-4447.

SouthWest

June through August. Santa Fe Greenhouses Summer Garden Tours. Santa Fe, New Mexico. (877) 811-2700.

June 17 & 18. Wildflower Festival. Lookout Mountain Nature Center & Preserve, Golden, Colorado. (303) 526-0594.

West 

May 20. Through the Garden Gate Tour. Tour of private gardens. Petaluma Historical Museum, Petaluma, California. (707) 778-4398. May 20. 26th Annual Plant Sale. Huntington Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California. (626) 405-2141.

June 3 & 4. 9th Annual Orange County Herb Faire. Fullerton Arboretum, Fullerton, California. (714) 278-3579.

July 1. National Cactus and Succulent Show. Huntington Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California. (626) 405-2141. CANADA May 12-14. International Tulip Festival. Truro, Nova Scotia. (902) 895-6328.

May 21-28. Lilac Festival. Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington, Ontario. (905) 527-1158.

June 2-4. VanDusen Flower and Garden Show. VanDusen Botanical Garden, Vancouver, British Columbia. (604) 878-9274. M

  Canada

Special Events

Asheville Hosts Conservation Meeting

The first ever World Botanic Gardens Congress (WBGC) will convene June 25 through 30 at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, North Carolina, promising to be a landmark plant conservation meeting as well as a "can't miss" opportunity for representatives of North American botanical gardens and conservation groups to welcome and associate with an unprecedented assemblage of international colleagues. Titled "Partnerships Within and Beyond the Garden," the WBGC is jointly organized by Botanic Gardens Conservation International, the Center for Plant Conservation, and the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta. Each of these organizations will also be holding their annual conferences during the congress. The WBGC is expected to attract upwards of 500 participants from some 50 countries and will mark the launch of the International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation, a new global strategy for safeguarding plant species and protecting biodiversity that will be implemented by botanic gardens and their network organizations worldwide. Registration rates range between $320 and $635, depending on membership status and time of registration. Half day and single day registrations are also available. For more information, call (610) 925-2500 or visit the North Carolina Arboretum's Web site at www.ncarboretum.org and click on the WBGC link. -Margaret T. Baird, Communications Assistant

Remembering Aldo Leopold in Pennsylvania

A fixture on the conference calendar long before the recent resurgence of interest in native plants, the annual Native Plants in the Landscape Conference, to be held June 8 through 10 at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year with the theme, "Revisiting Leopold's Land Ethic: Celebrating the Past and Envisioning the Future." Since its inception, this meeting has regularly attracted a cross-section of native plant enthusiasts, including environmental and landscape professionals, backyard gardeners, educators, and students. "We've decided this year to step back and look at the underpinnings of what we're about-environmental ethics and aesthetics-as well as address more traditional topics of native plant horticulture and conservation," says Program Chair Cyane Gresham. Scheduled speakers includes Buddy Huffaker, executive director of the Aldo Leopold Foundation, and Carl Leopold, a plant physiologist at Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University and a son of Aldo Leopold. Another highlight is the native plant sale, which will be open to the general public at scheduled times. Registration costs range from $125 to $195; continuing education credits are also available. For more information, contact the Department of Continuing Education, Millersville University at (717) 872-3030, or e-mail roma.sayre@millersv.edu.

Tucson's Enchanted Evenings

If you happen to be in or around Tucson, Arizona, from late May through early August, be sure to check on the status of the night-blooming cereus (Peniocereus greggii) collection at Tucson's Tohono Chul Park. If your timing is right, you'll be lucky enough to witness the fleeting, fragrant bloom of this spectacular desert native. Nicknamed the "Queen of the Night," the large, creamy white flowers of the night-blooming cereus-a member of the cactus family-bloom only at night, and each flower lasts just one night. With over 250 plants, Tohono Chul Park has what it believes is the largest collection of night-blooming cereus in the United States. When many of the flowers will be blooming at once, the park schedules a "bloom night," usually from around 4 p.m to midnight. On these nights the park is decorated with luminarias and visitors are taken on small tours to view the "Queen," observe Sphinx moths pollinating the flowers, and listen to the telling of the Tohono O'odham legend about the origin of these mysterious plants. To stay informed on upcoming bloom nights, call the park's Queen of the Night Hotline at (520) 575-8468, or visit the Web site at www.tohonochulpark.org. You can also e-mail marketing@tohonochulpark.org and request an e-mail announcement when a bloom night is called. -M.T.B.