AHS 
July 8. Summer Youth Workshops: Scarecrow Creations. Sponsored by Friends of River Farm. George Washington's River Farm, Alexandria, Virginia. (703) 768-5700.

Aug. 10-12. North American Fruit Explorers Annual Meeting. Lectures, workshops, tours of orchards and fruit operations. Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia. (804) 984-9822.

Aug. 20. The Great Salsa Festival. Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (412) 622-6914.

July 12-Aug. 20. Butterfly Bonanza. Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Madison, Wisconsin. (608) 246-4724.

July 19. Twilight Garden Walk. Purdue Cooperative Extension Service Display Gardens. Fort Wayne, Indiana. (219) 481-6826.

Aug. 4. Garden Day at MSU. Workshops and lectures. Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. (517) 355-8362.

Aug. 5. Backyard Composting. Workshop with the Chicago Recycling Coalition. Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago, Illinois. (773) 638-1766.

Aug. 9-13. Carnation City Festival. Alliance, Ohio. (330) 823-6260.

Aug. 18-20. Midwest Bonsai Society Show and Sale. Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, Illinois. (847) 835-5440.

Aug. 19. The Nose Knows. Lecture on the the aromatic potential of gardens by Chad Franer. Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (317) 920-2660.

July 6-16. Massachusetts Gardens on Tour. A series of self-guided tours of more than 70 gardens statewide. Sponsored by the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts. Tewksbury, Massachusetts. (877) 436-8688.

July 8 & 9. Newport Flower Show. Presented by the Preservation Society of Newport County. Rosecliff, Newport, Rhode Island. (401) 847-1000.

July 15. Vermont Children's Trust Foundation Garden Tour and Tea. Trapp Family Lodge Gardens, South Burlington, Vermont. (802) 860-7292.

July 20. House & Garden Tour. Hosted by Camden Garden Club. Rockport, Maine. (207) 236-9797.

Aug. 2. Plant Science Day. Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station open house. Lockwood Farm, Hamden, Connecticut. (203) 974-8500.

Aug. 5 & 6. Berkshire Botanical Garden Flower Show. Stockbridge, Massachusetts. (413) 298-3926.

Aug. 11-13. 26th Annual Summer Conference and Celebration of Rural Life. The Northeast Organic Farming Association. Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts. (978) 355-2853.

Aug. 18 & 19. Private Garden Tour. Hosted by Blithewood Mansion, Gardens & Arboretum. Westport, Massachusetts. (401) 253-2707.

Aug. 19. 9th Annual Plant Sale. The Fells, John Hay National Wildlife Refuge, Newbury, New Hampshire. (603) 763-4789.

July 8 & 9. Herb Fest Northwest & Unusual Plant Sale. Washington County Fairplex, Hillsboro, Oregon. (503) 359-1705.

July 29 & 30. Pruning Ornamental Shrubs, Trees & Fruiting Plants. Lakewold Gardens, Lakewood, Washington. (253) 584-4106.

Aug. 12. Fort Collins Gardenfest. Garden tour. Fort Collins, Colorado. (970) 498-4074.

July 15. Bulletproof Plants Plus a Lesson in Composting. Seminar. Descanso Gardens, La Canada, California. (818) 952-4400.

Aug. 10. Gardening in a Mediterranean Climate. Garden talk and plant sale. Huntington Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California. (626) 405-2141.

Aug. 18-20. Heather Garden Tour. Hosted by the National Heather Society. Fort Bragg, California. (707) 961-1881.

July 18-21. Herbs 2000. 15th conference of the International Herb Association. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. (540) 368-0590.

Aug. 8-12. Designing for the Senses, Mind and Spirit. Association of Professional Landscape Designers 11th Summer Conference. Courtyard by Marriott, Toronto, Ontario. (630) 579-3268. M

Now in its ninth year, the Annual Native Plant Seminar and Sale at Irvine Nature Center in Stevenson, Maryland, will take place on August 26.

Despite its relatively modest size, over the years the Center has consistently enlisted an impressive lineup of speakers for its largest summertime event, which regularly attracts more than 200 professional and home gardeners eager to learn more about planting natives from the experts.

This year's roster features Martha Simon Pindale, president of Bluemount Nurseries in Monkton, Maryland, who will address the topic, "Right Plant, Right Place"; Peggy Olwell, senior endangered species biologist for the Bureau of Land Management and co-chair of the Federal Native Plant Conservation Committee, who will lecture on plant conservation efforts in her talk titled "Plants: The Invisible Kingdom?"; and Neil Diboll, co-founder of Prairie Nursery, a Westfield, Wisconsin, native plant nursery, who will both lecture and lead a workshop on developing wildlife meadow habitat. 

If you can't make the seminar, try to at least stop by the plant sale, which is one of the largest exclusively native plant sales in the region.

Located just north of Baltimore on the campus of St. Timothy's School, Irvine Nature Center is at 8400 Greenspring Avenue in Stevenson, Maryland. Seminar registration is $50; admission to the Center is free. For more information or to register, call (410) 484-2413 or visit the Center's Web site at www.explorenature.org.

Butterfly Festival at Powell Gardens

Visitors to Powell Gardens in Kingsville, Missouri, from August 18 through 21 will be treated to a winged spectacle during Festival of Butterflies 2000, a salute to this most beautiful and beneficial of insects. Powell's glass-domed Starr Butterfly Conservatory will be aflutter with hundreds of butterflies representing some two dozen species, and Gary Noel Ross, a world-renowned lepidopterist and director of the North American Butterfly Association, will be on hand to lead educational multimedia presentations appropriate for all ages.

This popular event promises to be even bigger and better this year-the staff have stepped up both the number of butterfly viewing areas around the gardens as well as the activities for families and seniors. Along with interpretive exhibits, giant topiaries, and up-close butterfly encounters in the free-flight areas, you can tag along on a wild butterfly expedition, participate in butterfly catching and releasing in the outdoor gardens, and learn how to develop your own butterfly garden with Powell's horticulture manager and resident butterfly expert, Alan Branhagen. Hands-on activities for children abound.

August 21 has been designated Seniors Day, featuring special programs for senior citizens. Although the festival runs just through the 21st, the Butterfly Conservatory will remain open to the public through the 25th.

Powell Gardens is located 30 miles east of Kansas City, Missouri, at 1609 NW U.S. Highway 50. Festival admission is $6.50 for adults, $5.50 for seniors, and $2.50 for children. For more information, call (816) 697-2600 or visit the Web site at www.powellgardens.org.

Evanston's Earthen Art

You won't find the newest art installation at Illinois' Evanston Art Center tucked away in a cozy indoor gallery. Not that you'll have any trouble locating it: Exhibited squarely on the Center's front lawn, you'll be hard-pressed to overlook Herb Parker's towering sculpture-despite the camouflage. Not only is Grosse Pointe Passage located right on the grounds, it's made of the stuff as well.

Titled in deference to the Center's famous neighbor along the Lake Michigan shoreline, the Grosse Pointe Lighthouse, Parker's massive work is composed entirely of sod and rammed earth-a spiraling, colonnaded, 65-foot-long walkway attached to an 18-foot-tall earthen tower. The South Carolina artist's sculpture was painstakingly constructed over a three-week period in May, with the help of two assistants and a team of local volunteers. 

"As the seasons change, the sculpture will also change, reflecting nature's cycles of birth, growth, and decay," says Patricia Battaglia, public relations coordinator for the Center. Parker counts transcendentalists such as Emerson and Thoreau among his influences in his approach to landscape and art, particularly in the sense of "becoming one with nature, creating an environment that has a feeling of completeness, self-sufficiency, and the passage of time," he says. Grosse Pointe Passage will remain on exhibit through March 2001.

The latest addition to the Center's innovative "Sculpture on the Grounds" program, the sculpture is one of 12 artworks the Center has featured on its front lawn since 1994, including several nature-themed installations. Evanston Art Center is located just north of Chicago at 2603 Sheridan Road in Evanston, Illinois. For more information, call (847) 475-5300 or visit its Web site at www.evanstonartcenter.org.

Mango Madness in Miami

If it's July, then that must be the sweet smell of mangos wafting above the heat in South Florida, where the International Mango Festival takes place on July 8 and 9 at Miami's Fairchild Tropical Garden. The annual celebration of the king of fruits begins with Saturday's Mango Morning, featuring mango tastings and displays of more than 150 cultivars grown locally, but with origins around the world. 

Local tropical fruit experts will be on hand to answer questions, and guests are encouraged to bring in cuttings or fruit from their own trees for a diagnosis of mango problems. 

The day continues with afternoon workshops and demonstrations on mango tree management, along with an eye-popping variety of mango trees, fruit, baked goods, and art for sale. 

Sunday's Mango Brunch will feature an array of gourmet mango dishes created by area chefs, and mango madness reaches a fever pitch with the auction that evening, where hard-to-find varieties will be up for grabs.

Now in its seventh year, the festival has become one of the city's most popular summer events. A word to the wise: If you're planning to buy trees, arrive early. 

Last year, more than 1,000 mango trees were purchased in the festival's first 90 minutes. Fairchild Tropical Garden is located at 10901 Old Cutler Road in Coral Gables, just south of Miami. For more information, call (305) 667-1651 or check the garden's Web site at www.ftg.org.

Margaret T. Baird - Communications Assistant