Come say hi at this weekend's Home & Garden Show

We will be at the Home & Garden Show in the expanded Classic Center in downtown Athens this weekend: Saturday 10 am to 5 pm, and Sunday 12 noon to 5 pm. Tickets $5 per person and children under 3 are free. Please visit www.aahba.com for details and come say hi to us at booths #704 and 705.
If you are not quite sure when to come to the show – here’s the seminar schedule to help you plan.  

Saturday, February 23rd
11:00 - 12:00   Ted Stephens - Plants from Around the World
1:00 - 2:00       Dr. Allan Armitage - Tales from the Garden - Book Signing
2:15 - 3:15       Clint Garner - Irrigation for the Homeowner 101
3:30 - 4:30       Matthew Chappell - Top 10 Native Trees, Shrubs, & Perennials

Sunday, February 24th
1:00 - 1:45       Vince Dooley – Coach’s Perspective on Gardening – Book signing
2:00 - 2:45       Dr. Donglin Zhang - Innovative Plants
3:00 - 3:45       Dr. John Ruter - Conifers of the South

Seminars Sponsored by R.W. Allen

Exotic Birds and Reptiles on Planet Earth

Exotic birds and reptiles will come to the State Botanical Garden of Georgia’s Visitor Center on Saturday, March 2 from 10:00 – 11:30 am. For $5/person ($20/family, children under 2 are free) families can watch an informative and entertaining presentation by Roy Hodge of Exotic Paradise, Atlanta, and his cast of cockatoos, exotic parrots, spectacled owls, monitor lizards, anacondas, boa constrictors and more!

Discover amazing facts, adaptations, and conservation concerns of these animals, and then meet the animals and their handlers. After the 10:00 presentation, children are encouraged to participate in hands-on activities and crafts to learn more about forests of the world.

For more information visit botgarden.uga.edu or call 706-542-6156. The State Botanical Garden is located at 2450 South Milledge Avenue in Athens, one mile south of the Highway 10 Loop.

Like our summer camps? Join us for a spring break camp.

Spring Break Mini-Camp

MARCH 11 - 13, 2013 | 8:30 AM - 2:30 PM

VISITOR CENTER & CONSERVATORY CHILDREN'S CLASSROOM

2450 S. MILLEDGE AVE. ATHENS, GA 30605

COST: $88 MEMBER COST: $79.20

Send your kids on a naturalist adventure at the Garden during our spring break mini-camp. Each day will be filled with activities connecting our youth to the natural wonders that surround us. We will explore the gardens, trails and streams using each of our senses and dissecting the importance of these systems on our lives through observation and investigation. 

Register here.

Painting Workshops at the Garden this spring

Watercolor Painting Workshops

at The State Botanical Garden of Georgia

2450 South Milledge Avenue, Athens

botgarden.uga.edu – 706/542-1244

Watercolor Painting Inspired By Nature

Saturday, February 23 (10-4) and Sunday, February 24 (1-4)
Visitor Center, Gardenside Room , $160
Kie Johnson - www.kiejohnson.com

The natural world with its endless variety will be the focus of inspiration for this two-day workshop.  This workshop is designed for students with a variety of experience levels. Students should have basic knowledge and experience with this medium.  After developing initial drawings, students will explore using value studies as important building blocks to a successful painting. There will be demonstrations during each class, plus individual work time during classes with one-on-one instruction.

Roadside Flower + Exotic Blossoms + Watercolor = Magic

Monday, March 11, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Visitor Center, Gardenside Room, $75
Margaret Walsh Best - www.margaretwalshbest.com

Margaret will lead you through her process of making a special plant the star of a painting, while at the same time giving it a background which makes it look at home in its landscape. In this one-day workshop participants will have the opportunity to learn about the history, anatomy, medicinal or culinary uses of specific plants before painting them. There will be plenty of demonstrations on techniques, accompanied by individual work with each participant. All skill levels welcome.

Botanical Watercolor Illustration

Saturday, May 11, 9:30 am – 4:00 pm

Visitor Center, Gardenside Room, $75
Dorset Trapnell, Plant Biology Department, UGA

Learn the gentle art of botanical watercolor illustration.  Using a flower of your choice selected from the Garden, learn how to compose, sketch, and paint a botanical watercolor illustration.  The class will focus on techniques and materials for execution of a lasting rendition.  The workshop is appropriate for beginners as well as experienced artists. 

 
More information on each workshop is available at botgarden.uga.edu

Art Exhibits

Art Exhibits

at The State Botanical Garden of Georgia’s

Visitor Center Gallery – Spring 2013

2450 South Milledge Avenue, Athens - botgarden.uga.edu – 706/542-1244

The public is invited to the free opening receptions.

 

through March 3:

Women on Paper: Lauren Kerbelis, Gail Smith, Caroline Swanson, Nancy Schultz, Karen Banker, Lillie Morris and Ingrid Hofer

Women on Paper is a small group of professional artists from Augusta, Georgia. They have been gathering weekly since 1989 to paint en plein air using a variety of media on paper. The purpose of the group is to celebrate the individual creative spirit while providing each other with encouragement and support.

Each contributes her own unique way of looking at the world while the support of the group encourages this special voice.

 

March 10 thru April 28; opening reception, Sunday, March 10, 2-4 pm

Margaret Walsh Best: Balancing Act: Invasive Alien Plants

Margaret Walsh Best is a watercolorist and art educator visiting the Garden from St. John’s, Newfoundland. This exhibition is part of a national and international tour.  Margaret was recently honored with a lifetime membership in the Art Association of Newfoundland and Labrador. In 1999, Margaret’s work was chosen to create “Flowers of Hope”, a poster used in a fundraising campaign by the Canadian Cancer Society. While at the Garden, Margaret will offer a one day workshop and work with children, inspiring her students to study their subject matter,” to get up close and personal allowing for a greater appreciation of its intricacies”. 

 

May 12 – June 30, Opening reception May 12, 2:00-4:00

David Foster: Floral Wonders

David has been exploring photography for over 40 years. “My images are created as an ongoing celebration of the extraordinary beauty to be discovered in the natural world around us – beauty that lies in the delicate glint of a dewdrop, the glory of a waterfall, or the sweep of a radiant sunrise.” David has an image in the Atlanta Celebrates Photography exhibit in the Atrium Gallery at the Atlanta airport and was recently selected Artist in Residence at Cheraw State

Park in South Carolina.

If you are interested in both gardening and history, the Southern Garden Heritage Conference is for you!

A day listening to fascinating speakers like Felder Rushing and William C. Welch talk about heirloom fruits and vegetables sounds good to me! How good? Good enough to take a day's vacation and come back to the same building where I work for that vacation day. I try to do that every year, because this is always a great conference. It is a relaxing, fun day, with time to interact with the speakers and other attendees, yet informative and detailed enough that landscape architects can count CEU credits. Come join us on Friday, February 15th! - Connie

Annual Southern Garden Heritage Conference celebrates heirloom fruits and vegetables

Gardeners, landscape architects, preservationists, and plant lovers of all levels of expertise will gather at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia on Friday, February 15 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm to learn about heirloom fruits and vegetables and explore the rich gardening traditions of the South. The 2013 Southern Garden Heritage Conference features speakers such as William C. Welch of Texas, author of Heirloom Gardening in the South, and Felder Rushing of Mississippi, author of Slow Gardening: A No-Stress Philosophy for All Senses and All Seasons. This event is sponsored by The State Botanical Garden of Georgia and UGA College of Environment and Design in cooperation with The Garden Club of Georgia, Inc., Friends of The State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Cherokee Garden Library ofthe Atlanta History Center, and the Southern Garden History Society. For more information or to register for this conference, call 706-542-6156 or visit www.botgarden.uga.edu.

Here's the direct link to the conference page.

 

Southern Garden Heritage Conference: Gardening with Heirloom Fruits and Vegetables

Friday, February 15, 2013 | 9 AM - 4 PM
Callaway Building Auditorium, The State Botanical Garden of Georgia
2450 S. Milledge Ave. Athens, GA 30605
Cost: $105, includes lunch
Landscape architects can receive CEU credits for this conference.

Schedule:
9:00     Welcome
9:15     Georgia’s Agrarian History: Dreams, Successes and Failures, Jeff Lewis
9:45     Heirloom Gardens and Landscapes of the South, William C. Welch
11:15   Heirloom, Smeirloom – How Does it Look and Grow Today?, Felder Rushing
12:15   Lunch
1:30     Great Sources for Heirloom Plants, William C. Welch
2:00     Historical Overview of Blueberries in Georgia, Gerard Krewer
2:30     Heirloom Seedsavers: Their Contribution to Southern Landscapes, Virginia Nazarea and Susannah Chapman
3:30     Hyde Farm: Continuing Local Agriculture along the Chattahoochee River, Beth Wheeler Byrd and Cari Goetcheus