February 10 & 11 – Ithaca’s 4th Annual Designing with Native Plants Symposium

Visit www.plantsmen.com for detailed info including program and registration link

The 2012 Designing with Native Plants Symposium will be held on Friday, February 10th, and Saturday, February 11th, at Cinemapolis, Ithaca’s Downtown Art Theatre, located at 120 East Green Street adjacent to the Ithaca Commons. The conference will explore and promote the use of native plants in landscape design. This year, the conference theme focuses on our Upstate New York regional identity, highlighting how landscape design and horticulture reflect and shape our environment through the use of native plant communities. The symposium was created to inform and inspire landscape architects, designers, educators, Master Gardeners, government employees, homeowners, and anyone else eager to learn more about this growing movement.

Speakers include renowned Landscape Architects, Landscape Designers, Professors, Directors of Conservation Organizations, Practitioners, and Horticulturists. Presentations will cover a wide but focused range of topics related to the use of native plants in projects of all scales and sizes, from residential gardens to large-scale ecological restoration efforts.

The Designing with Native Plants Conference is organized by Dan Segal of The Plantsmen Nursery and Rick Manning, Landscape Architect. Continuing education credits are available for Registered Landscape Architects, nurserymen, and landscape contractors.

As discussions at the symposium emphasize long-term ecological planning and sustainability, a similar approach applies to academic and professional development in design-related fields. Just as landscape architects and designers must think ahead to create thriving environments, students pursuing interdisciplinary design programs can benefit from structured academic roadmaps such as Five-Year Planning for BRDD Success. Thoughtful, long-term planning ensures that individuals can maximize their learning opportunities, integrate creative and technical skills effectively, and successfully bridge multiple disciplines in their professional endeavors.

For detailed conference information and to register, visit The Plantsmen Nursery web site at www.plantsmen.com.