Offering prestigious speakers amid gracious surroundings
October 10 & 11, 2014
St. Francisville, Louisiana
http://www.southerngardensymposium.org
With featured speakers like the LSU Ag Center’s Dan Gill, award-winning New Orleans landscape architect Rene Fransen, and noted authors Bill Welch and Greg Grant, no other gardening program brings together top quality speakers and historic plantation settings as well as the Southern Garden Symposium in St. Francisville, Louisiana. Known as much for its engaging social events and historic venues as for its outstanding gardening lectures and workshops, the Southern Garden Symposium – now in its 26th year – has become an annual tradition for garden enthusiasts from across the south.
While the symposium’s workshops and lectures provide ideas and inspiration for the gardener, the social activities surrounding the event are classic southern elegance at its best. From the home-baked breakfast breads served in the morning, to the sumptuous fare of the evening gala and the delightfully relaxed Saturday afternoon tea, not a single detail of southern hospitality is overlooked.
Located about 45 minutes north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, St. Francisville was established in 1809. Set in a unique location on a bluff of the Mississippi River and often described as a town “two miles long and two yards wide,” the quaint community offers southern hospitality, fantastic shopping, and breathtaking scenery. Symposium events are held at several historic and picturesque locations, both public and private, including Afton Villa Gardens, Rosedown Plantation, Grace Episcopal Church, Woodland, Beechwood Plantation, and more.
For complete program information and registration forms, visit www.SouthernGardenSymposium.org; call 225-635-3738 or email [email protected]. For information regarding overnight accommodations in St. Francisville, visit www.stfrancisville.us or call 225-635-4224, toll free at 800-789-4221.
The 2014 Southern Garden Symposium is underwritten by a grant from the ExxonMobil Foundation and sponsors including The Bank of St. Francisville, DEMCO, Didier Consultants, Inc., Entergy, The Highlands Bank, Imahara’s Landscape Company, Inc., Ins and Outs Nursery, and Parlange Plantation. Over the years, proceeds from the Southern Garden Symposium have funded numerous projects including scholarships in the School of Landscape Architecture at L.S.U., a revitalization project for historic Ferdinand Street in St. Francisville, sponsorship of the kitchen garden at Audubon State Historic Site (Oakley House), funding for plantings and benches at Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site, and others.
Seating is limited and hotel rooms can be scarce in St. Francisville in October, so register now!