Master Gardeners of North Alabama (MGNA), with the Morgan and Limestone County MGs, are pleased to invite you to the 2017 AMGA Conference in Huntsville. This conference will celebrate the heritage of gardening in Alabama and honor the founders of Master Gardening in our biologically diverse state. We will conduct our fantastic program at two amazing venues, the Huntsville Botanical Garden (HBG) and the Jackson Center. You will not want to miss the featured speakers, workshops, Silent Auction, door prizes, vendors, and our unique Seed Savers Exchange! Monday at the beautiful Huntsville Botanical Garden will be jam-packed, featuring hands-on Papercrete workshops, local subject matter experts speaking about roses, orchids, ferns, and hummingbirds; several Advanced Master Gardener topics; and a ‘Stroll thru the Garden’. Be sure to register early for the workshops! You will make a papercrete pot to take home and receive instructions for making more on your own. Monday evening will feature a delicious buffet dinner, complete with live music, held in HBG’s Nichols Arbor. Because we have so much planned for Monday, starting at 9:00 AM, you may want to travel to Huntsville on Sunday so you can take advantage of as many activities as possible. Tuesday and Wednesday at The Jackson Center will feature exciting presentations by such celebrated gardening experts as Jere Gettle, Dr. Doug Phillips, Harvey Cotten, Darryl Patton, Sara Bright and Paulette Ogard, and Dr. Troy Marden. Tuesday evening will feature the annual banquet, installation of officers, and awards ceremony. Keynote speaker Dr. Neil Lamb will introduce us to plant genomics. And don’t miss the first-ever AMGA Conference Seed Savers Exchange! The Exchange will offer you the opportunity to swap your seeds (no hybrids, please!) for others, including vegetables, fruits, and flowers. We hope you’ve harvested seeds from this season’s flowers and crops. And you’ll be able to pay for your Silent Auction purchases with a credit card! Your registration fee will include your choice of presentations, the Garden Stroll, breakouts, Tuesday’s lunch, and both evening meals. A nominal additional fee is charged for the Papercrete workshops. If you register prior to March 1, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a refund on your registration! We’ve arranged for fantastic rates at 4 area hotels. Huntsville is also home to the US Space and Rocket Center, Burritt Museum, and Lowe Mill, the largest privately owned arts facility in the U.S. Plan to come early, stay late, and enjoy everything we have to offer!

AMGA 27th Annual Conference AGENDA – DAY 1

Registration form available online at www.amgaconference.org

MONDAY, MAY 1 HUNTSVILLE BOTANICAL GARDEN

9:00 AM Registration opens Follow the Signs

10:00 AM-10:45 AM Eleanor Craig, Ferns Murray Hall

10:30 AM-12:00 PM Advanced Master Gardeners, Pruning Anderson Education Center

11:00 AM-12:00 PM Papercrete Workshop, Session I Nichols Arbor

11:00 AM-11:45 AM Josie Asquith, Orchids Murray Hall

11:00 AM-4:00 PM “A Stroll thru the Garden” (weather permitting) Garden Maps and Shuttle Available

12:00 PM Lunch (on your own – consider visiting the Garden’s café)

1:00 PM-2:00 PM Mallory Kelley, Advanced Master Gardeners Course Anderson Education Center

1:30 PM-2:30 PM Papercrete Workshop, Session II Nichols Arbor

1:30 PM-2:15 PM Gigi Bullman and Barbara McFarlen, Roses Murray Hall

2:00 PM-3:30 PM Advanced Master Gardeners, Landscape Design Anderson Education Center

3:00 PM-4:00 PM Papercrete Workshop, Session III Nichols Arbor

3:00 PM-3:45 PM Melissa Kirkindall, Hummingbirds Murray Hall

5:30 PM-6:00 PM Welcome Reception Nichols Arbor

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM Dinner, catered by Market Place Café Nichols Arbor

AMGA 27th Annual Conference AGENDA – DAY 2

Registration form available online at www.amgaconference.org

TUESDAY, MAY 2 THE JACKSON CENTER

8:00 AM-8:30 AM Beverages and Snacks; Selfie Spot Opens

8:00 AM-12:00 PM Registration Follow the Signs

8:00 AM-5:30 PM Vendors Open

8:00 AM Silent Auction Opens Follow the Signs

8:30 AM-8:55 AM Welcome Session Halls A & B

9:00 AM-5:00 PM Seed Savers Exchange Board Room Facilitated by the Founders of the Sand Mountain Seed Exchange

9:00 AM-10:00 AM Dr. Doug Phillips, Grand Garden of the Creation Halls A & B

10:00 AM-10:25 AM Break - Vendors, Book Signing, Silent Auction, Group Photos, Seed Savers

10:30 AM-12:00 PM AMGA Annual Business Meeting Halls A & B

12:00 PM-12:55 PM Lunch (boxed; see Registration form), Group Photos

1:00 PM-2:00 PM Breakout Session #1

Dr. Troy Marden, Inspiring Gardens Around the World Hall A Sara Bright and Paulette Ogard, Creating a Haven for Butterflies Hall B

2:00 PM-2:25 PM Break – Vendors, Book Signing, Silent Auction, Group Photos, Seed Savers

2:30 PM-3:30 PM Breakout Session #2

Darryl Patton, Traditional Folk Herbalism Hall A Lee Coates, Miniature Landscapes Hall B

3:30 PM-5:00 PM Break – Vendors, Book Signing, Silent Auction, Selfie Spot, Seed Savers

4:00 PM Silent Auction Closes

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM Social Hour Pub and Halls A & B

6:00 PM Banquet: Honoring the Founders of AL Master Gardening Halls A & B Keynote Speaker: Dr. Neil Lamb, Plant Genomics

AMGA 27th Annual Conference AGENDA – DAY 3

Registration form available online at www.amgaconference.org

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3 THE JACKSON CENTER

7:30 AM-8:30 AM Beverages and Snacks

8:00 AM-12:00 PM Vendors Open

8:00 AM-10:00 AM Silent Auction Check-out

8:00 AM-12:00 PM Silent Auction Pickup – We will have volunteers on hand to help get your items to your vehicle

8:30 AM-8:45 AM Opening Remarks Halls A & B

8:50 AM-9:50 AM Jere Gettle, Seeds of the South Halls A & B

9:00 AM-12:00 PM Seed Savers Exchange Continues Board Room

9:50 AM-10:30 AM Break - Door prizes, Vendors, Book Signings

10:35 AM-11:35 AM Harvey Cotten, Protecting Our Pollinators Halls A & B

11:40 AM-12:00 PM Closing Remarks, Announcements, Door Prizes Halls A & B

12:00 PM Conference Adjourns – Visit Metropolitan Huntsville!

ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS

Eleanor Craig

Monday, May 1 - Great Perennial Ferns for the Southern Garden

Ferns are one of our oldest

Mallory Kelley, Advanced MG

Monday, May 1 – Advanced Master Gardener Course

Regional Extension Agent, ACES-AFNR-Field

Josie Asquith, MG, W’84

Monday, May 1 – Orchids

Josie grew up on a farm in Foley and moved to HSV in 1962. She attributes part of her interest in

gardening to her farming background. Josie has had a wide breadth and depth of experience with the Master Gardening community in North Alabama. She teaches the Tri-County MG Propagation class, and is a member of the Heart of Dixie Orchid Society, Huntsville Botanical Garden, and the Garden Guild. Life for Josie now involves lots of family time and lots of gardening. Josie’s husband does some gardening although he focuses more on the manual labor aspects of the work. He built Josie a greenhouse and it now houses about 300 orchids.

Gigi Bullman and Barbara McFarlen

Monday, May 1 – Roses

Gigi has been a MG since 1983. She has been a member of Huntsville’s Twickenham Rose Society and the American Rose Society since 2003 and was the recipient of ARS’ 2012 Bronze Medal for her efforts in Madison for identifying

Rosette Disease in municipal plantings. Barbara has been a Master Gardener since 2008 and has been growing roses for over 35 years, including growing hybrid teas, grandifloras, floribundas, climbers, shrubs, and mini roses. She is a member of the Twickenham Rose Society and is an ARS consulting Rosarian.

Melissa Kirkindall

Monday, May 1 – Hummingbirds

Melissa was raised in Orlando, Florida, pre-Disney. She graduated from Emory University

Autauga, Coosa, Elmore, Lee, Macon, and Montgomery Counties Home Grounds, Gardens, and Home Pests

and largest plant groups, but are still often challenging for us gardeners. Join Eleanor as she explores some of the mysteries and questions about many of our old and new garden ferns. “Are ferns really that finicky? Do they really have to be watered every day? Can ferns take any sun? What are the best garden ferns with this soil I have? And, is there anything besides Autumn Fern to use?” The presentation will include some of her favorite and most dependable ferns for our ever changing climate.

and has lived in Huntsville/Madison since 1971. She is a member of Church of the Nativity, Madison Garden Club, Master Gardeners of North Alabama, the Huntsville Botanical Garden, the Alabama Nature Conservancy, and The Land Trust of Huntsville and North Alabama. Her yard is certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat and was on the 2011 Huntsville Botanical Garden’s Madison Garden Tour. She became a Master Gardener in 1998. Everything she knows about hummingbirds she learned from the late Bob Sargent.

Dr. Doug Phillips

Tuesday, May 2 – Grand Garden of the Creation

“Dr. Doug” is known widely for his adventurous travels in Alabama’s wildlands as host of the highly-rated public television program Discovering Alabama, an educational documentary series featuring the natural history and natural wonders of Alabama.

Dr. Phillips has pioneered many other Alabama initiatives for education and conservation, including the model school curriculum, Discovering Our Heritage: Incorporating Environmental Education to Integrate the Teaching of History, Geography, Science, Mathematics, and Language, and the nationally-recognized model for wildland conservation, the Alabama Forever Wild Program. Dr. Phillips holds the position of Coordinator for Environmental Information and Education with the Alabama Museum of Natural History at the University of Alabama.

ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS

Dr. Troy Marden

Tuesday, May 2 – Inspiring Gardens Around the World

Dr. Marden is a plantsman, garden designer and author with a passion for plants. His nearly 30 years of professional experience includes time spent in virtually every facet of the horticulture industry. Troy has been a co-host of Nashville Public Television’s hit gardening show, “Volunteer

Gardener,” for 15 years, writes regularly for some of the country’s top gardening magazines and Troy’s blog, Gardener Cook, has become popular with plant lovers and food lovers alike. 2014 found Troy publishing two books, Plant This Instead! and The Southern Gardener’s Handbook.

Sara Bright and Paulette Ogard

Tuesday, May 2 – Creating a Haven for Butterflies

Sara Bright (photographer) and Paulette Ogard (writer) are the authors of Butterflies of Alabama: Glimpses into Their Lives. The book chronicles the life histories of 84 species of Alabama butterflies and the plants on which they depend. They have collaborated for 20 years to document the life histories of southeastern butterflies and continue to work together on butterfly-related projects, including the online Alabama Plant Atlas.

Darryl Patton

Tuesday, May 2 – Traditional Folk Herbalism

Darryl has been hunting, gather- ing and working with medicinal

plants for the past 25 years on Lookout Mountain in the Southern Appalachians. Darryl is a Naturopathic Doctor as well as a Master Herbalist and brings many years of experience to the field of alternative medicine. He is the author of Mountain Medicine, The Herbal Remedies of Tommie Bass, published by Natural Reader Press and has appeared on Alabama Public Television and the Comedy Channel. He also publishes The Southern Herbalist and Stalking the Wild.

Having retired from twenty plus years as an owner of a wholesale perennial flower nursery, Lee now travels speaking, teaching, and vending at horticultural events. His presentations are filled with common sense and humor, which will help gardeners avoid many of the pitfalls of landscape design in any scale.

Lee Coates

Tuesday, May 2 – Miniature Landscapes

Lee is a self-described semi-retired plant geek, writer, speaker, and purveyor of fine Ozarkian humor.

ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS

Dr. Neil Lamb, Keynote Speaker, Vice President for Educational Outreach, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology

Tuesday, May 2 – Plant Genomics

Prior to joining HudsonAlpha in 2006, Dr. Lamb was a faculty member in the Department of

Human Genetics at Emory University’s School of Medicine. His career shifted from hands-on science to science education after realizing that he had found his true calling: inspiring a passion in others for human genetics and biotechnology. Today, Dr. Lamb leads the Educational Outreach team at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in its endeavor to foster a genomically-literate society and to inspire and train tomorrow’s biotechnology workforce. Innovative teacher training, student experiences, public enrichment, classroom kits, and digital resources created by his team are reshaping how science education is delivered.

Jere Gettle

Wednesday, May 3 – Seeds of the South

In 1998, at the age of 17, Jere printed the first Baker Creek Heirloom Seed

catalog. The company has grown to offer more than 1800 varieties of vegetables, flowers and herbs, the largest selection of heirloom varieties in the USA. He has built a pioneer village on the homestead where Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company was founded. Jere and his wife have co-authored 2 books: The Heirloom Life Gardener and the Baker Creek Vegan Cookbook.

Harvey Cotten, Author and Consultant

Wednesday, May 3 – Protecting Our Pollinators

After 22 years with the Huntsville Botanical Garden, most recently as vice president and chief horticulturist, Harvey retired in 2014. He continues to present workshops for the Botanical Garden and for Master Gardener Associations, while lecturing across the southeast on various

garden topics. He is active in the Green Industry and is the Past President of the Alabama Invasive Plant Council, the Horticultural Research Institute, and the Alabama Nursery & Landscape Association, where he still serves as Director Emeritus.

Harvey co-authored the popular book Easy Gardens for the South, published in 2009.

Don’t forget to register for one of the three Papercrete

workshops!

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