Zumba for Great Cause

You've heard about Zumba! You've been wanting to try it!
Now's the perfect time to have fun, get in shape, enjoy the Garden and help others!

Dancing Dawgs for Haiti - UGA Haitian Relief Effort 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
5:30pm - 8:00pm
State Botanical Garden of Georgia - Conservatory
2450 South Milledge Avenue, Athens, GA

Join several Athens Zumba instructors for an evening of fun, sweat and dance while raising funds for Dawgs for Haiti! Come for an hour, just stop by, or stay the whole time! Just make sure to enjoy yourself! Proceeds will be split between Doctors Without Borders and the American Red Cross, two organizations that are working directly with the Haitian relief effort.

Never done Zumba before? No worries! There will be several instructors scattered throughout the floor to provide different levels of workout intensity from low-impact (for new Zumba-goers or those with an injury) to high-impact (experienced dancers and those who just love to get crazy!). It's all about having fun while getting a great workout.In addition to Zumba there will also be a belly dancing session, door prizes, and refreshments!

The conservatory, for those who have never been to the Gardens, is the big open room in the Visitor Center, next to the gift shop and above the cafe, with trees and plants EVERYWHERE! It's a wonderful place to dance with a great view!

$5 *suggested* donation (but more is welcome and anything is appreciated!)
Dawgs for Haiti will be selling t-shirts for $10.
For more information, please contact Cora Keber at 706-542-6156 or ckeber@uga.edu

The Southern Garden Heritage Conference - February 19

There is still time to register for the Southern Garden Heritage Conference, a wonderful combination of gardening and history. This informative all-day conference includes lunch and provides seven contact hours for Georgia landscape architects.

2010 Southern Garden Heritage Conference
The State Botanical Garden of Georgia, 2450 South Milledge Avenue, Athens, Georgia 30605

Call 706-542-6156 or register online at www.uga.edu/botgarden.

Friday, February 19 Callaway Building Auditorium
9:00 am – 4:00 pm members $95; non-members $110

The State Botanical Garden of Georgia is pleased to host the Southern Garden Heritage Conference, which brings an audience from throughout the Southeast. Robin Salmon will open the conference with a lecture about garden sculpture and close the conference with a presentation about Brookgreen Gardens, one of America's finest sculpture gardens. Sue Burgess will provide a brief history of efforts to save the historic Root House in Marietta and create a garden of the period. Keyes Williamson will provide an update on work being done to preserve the Elizabeth Lawrence Garden in Charlotte. John Waters and Jim Cothran will provide a look into the architecture and gardens of Savannah and their interrelationships. And Gerard Krewer will speak about some of Georgia's rare and unusual fruits-some familiar and some unfamiliar. Amateurs and professionals alike are sure to find this conference interesting and informative.

AGENDA

9:00 - 9:15 Opening Remarks - Dr. Jeff Lewis

9:15 - 10:00 A Brief History of American Garden Sculpture - Robin Salmon,
Information about the origins of garden sculpture in America, and examples of important works in that field from the 19th Century to the present will be discussed.

10:00 - 10:30 Break

10:30 -11:15 The Root House, A Mid-Nineteenth Century Middle Class Merchant’s Home: Challenges of Recreating the Historic Southern Landscape in a Hostile 21st Century Urban Environment - Sue Burgess
The Root House Garden is designed to reflect the gardening practices of the mid-19th century. The Root’s garden in the 19th century would have contained plants that were ornamental, medicinal, or edible, or a combination of types. The garden is planted with vegetables, culinary herbs, medicinal herbs, fruit trees, decorative flowers and flowering shrubs. All the plants have been researched for their availability in Georgia at the time the Root House was built.

11:15 - 12:00 The Elizabeth Lawrence Garden - Keyes Williamson
Elizabeth Lawrence had already established herself as a preeminent garden writer when, in 1949, she moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. Over the next three decades, Lawrence cultivated an overflowing garden within the confines of a typical, modest residential lot measuring 70’ by 225’. Lawrence used her garden as a horticultural laboratory, where she cultivated a wide range of plants with an eye towards their usefulness in the Southern Garden. This presentation will examine Lawrence’s contribution to gardening in the region using the garden as a vehicle to explore her life and writing.

12:00 - 1:00 Lunch

1:00 - 1:45 The Architecture and Gardens of Savannah - John Waters & Jim Cothran
Established in 1733, Savannah was America’s first planned city. Noted for its fine architecture, parks, and gardens, Savannah retains its romantic character and attracts thousands of tourists each year to experience its picturesque charm. The presentation will focus on some of Savannah’s finest historic buildings, notable parks, and ornamental gardens.1:45 - 2:30 Rare and Unusual Fruits of Georgia - Gerard KrewerLearn about the fascinating history of the rare and unusual fruits of Georgia from the nearly semi-tropical coastal islands to the Blue Ridge mountains.

2:30 - 3:00 Break

3:00 - 3:45 Brookgreen Gardens Past and Present - Robin Salmon
An overview of the significance of the land known as Brookgreen Gardens including its historic landscape, its role as the first public sculpture garden in America, the history of its founders Archer and Anna Huntington, and highlights of its collections through the years.

3:45 - 4:00 Closing Remarks

Larger-than-life Blooms Come to Life on Silk at The State Botanical Garden of Georgia

Jamie Kirkell, Silk Artist
Art Exhibit: January 16 – February 28, 2010
Exhibit Opening: Sunday, January 17 2:00-4:00 pm with a Gallery Talk at 3:00 pm

The Alice Hand Callaway Visitor Center & Conservatory
The State Botanical Garden of Georgia
2450 S. Milledge Avenue, Athens
706-542-1244 www.uga.edu/botgarden

Flowers will fill the lobby of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia’s Visitor’s Center & Conservatory this winter. Traditional silk painting methods and modern design combine to create vivid, larger-than-life blooms that are at the same time delicate and bold.

This vibrant, beautiful exhibit will be on display from January 16 – February 28, 2010. Works by silk artist Jamie Kirkell, who trained in Java under Indonesian Master of Batik Bambang Oetoro, are part of permanent collections on display in many resorts and businesses and exhibited in galleries and botanical gardens throughout the country. Kirkell has lectured or taught at the Museum of Natural History in New York, Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Taos Art Center, the Northeast United States Craft Expo in Reinbeck, NY, Leu Gardens and Brooklyn Botanic Garden. He has 25 years of experience as an artist, including 10 years as a studio art director in New York City. Kirkell will discuss his work, the history of batik and more in a free gallery talk at 3:00 on Sunday, January 17th. Meet the artist and view the many works on display at the art reception from 2:00-4:00 p.m. Visit his website at www.KirkellSilkStudios .com.
You’ll want to own one of the large, bold originals that sell for thousands of dollars, but there will also be gallery wrap pieces that can be purchased for under $100. New in Kirkell’s exhibit are exquisite silk scarves that can decorate a wall or be the focal point of an outfit. Stationery featuring Kirkell’s paintings will be available in the Garden Gift Shop.

Make plans to warm up a winter afternoon with tropical flowers in a tropical conservatory, learning more about an art form of the tropics – at The State Botanical Garden of Georgia.

ZUMBA! in a Tropical Conservatory - Every Wednesday

ZUMBA!
Who is ready to shake those holiday calories away?

We have decided to offer Zumba as an ongoing class throughout the year.
We will have class every Wednesday, 5:30-6:30. We will be using a punch card system to track the classes. Participants will pay for 9 classes and get one class free (members $54/non-members $72). There will be no expiration for the punch card. There is plenty of room in the Visitor Center & Conservatory, which means spread the word.

If you are new to Zumba then be ready to smile, sweat, and shake! It is a great, fun way to exercise and feel like the only thing you have done is visited the Garden to hang out with friends. Once you are able to get the feet movements the rest of your body will follow suit. No one moves the same, so be sure to bring your own flare.

Zumba on the Today Show--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Hxw_Jf2B4
What to bring/wear: water bottle, towel (if you plan to sweat), tennis shoes, comfy clothes, smiles and hoots. See you there!

Contact Cora for more information at 706-542-6156 or ckeber@uga.edu. Cora is on the Garden's Education staff, a certified Zumba! instructor, and teaching these classes with high energy, a big smaile and lively Latin music. Please join us!

Last Tuesday a group of folks from the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, which is a diverse group of organizations throughout the state that have come together to meet plant conservation goals, met near Toccoa to plant endangered Echinacea laevigata and other native wildflowers in North Georgia. The hard work had been done – clearing some trees on the hillsides to allow the sunlight in for these perennials to thrive and reestablish in North Georgia forests. In our group today were Heather and Jennifer, botanists from The State Botanical Garden of Georgia, A botanist from the DNR Heritage Program, a few US Forest Service biologists, volunteers from the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, who donate countless hours to help plant and monitor these populations, and me. I needed this to complete my 16 required hours of volunteer time so I can be in the second graduation class receiving a Certificate in Native Plants from the State Botanical Garden. I also needed this time in the woods and away from my to-do lists. Never mind the temperatures in the 40s and drizzly rain. I agreed with Liese – I’d take that cold, wet day over the heat and insects of July.

The 250+ plants brought with us were grown from seed collected in Georgia and grown at The State Botanical Garden of Georgia - Echinacea laevigata, Hypericum punctatum (St. John’s wort), Symphyotrichum georgianum (Georgia aster – a threatened species in Georgia with purple flowers in fall), and Oligoneuron (white-top solidago, which has clusters of little white flowers that look like asters or daisies, not the solidago that is commonly called goldenrod).

The first site was on a steep slope. We didn’t even need to kneel down to plant the seedlings – just lean forward a little to dig the holes and set in the perennials. Although each site access became easier that morning the weather got wetter and wetter – and colder. By the end we were pretty soaked, but feeling good about what got into the ground and the condition of the plants that were planted there before and are now established. Details were recorded and the sites will be visited to monitor the survival rate. The goal is that these plants not just survive, but reproduce and reestablish colonies throughout this area. In another county in North Georgia, native bog orchids and pitcher plants have started to reproduce on their own, a significant success for the folks of the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance.

Saving the Smooth Coneflower (Echinacea laevigata) is one of the original priority projects of the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance. Read Heather Alley’s 2002 account here.

Wet, tired and cold at the end of the excursion – but smiling!

Exercise Classes at the Garden start in early January

I don’t know about you, but it’s still 9 days away from Christmas and I’m feeling sluggish already from not enough exercise and too many holiday treats! I sure don’t want to go through 2010 feeling like this! Luckily, there are 2 very different exercise classes happening at the Garden starting in early January.
One sounds serene, yet energizing – yoga in a chapel during Monday lunch hours. I’ve taken an exercise class there before and it is not like any gym. Imagine the beautiful architecture of the Day Chapel reception room with lots of privacy and lots of windows looking out into the woodland.
Zumba! is quite the opposite, yet just as wonderful. Cora, the instructor, who’s also on the Garden’s Education staff, calls Zumba ‘Latin infused aerobics’. I’ve tried it and it is fun and challenging. These classes will be in the large tropical conservatory on Wednesday evenings, with lively Latin music.
Find out more and sign up at http://www.uga.edu/botgarden/educationalevents.html

First Greenhouse at the new Horticulture Complex!

How exciting! The first greenhouse is appearing at the Horticulture Complex along the entrance drive.