Irvine Nature Center

Three dynamic speakers, who are experts in their field will be featured during Irvine Nature Center's Native Plant Seminar & Sale on Saturday, August 21st. This year's seminar will take place from 9:30 to 1:00 p.m. with workshops from 2:30 - 4:30 p.m.

Now in its 19th year, the Native Plant Seminar & Sale provides an opportunity for nursery and landscape professionals, land managers, garden club and native plant society members and home owners to increase their knowledge about native vegetation, sustainable practices and the conservation of native landscapes. Admission is $60 for Irvine members and $70 for non members.

Renowned plant experts Dr. Donald Leopold, Ned Tillman and Claire Sawyers will participate in the seminar to be held at Garrison Forest School (300 Garrison Forest Road, Owings Mills, MD). Leopold, professor at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (Syracuse) and author of six books including Native Trees of the Southeast, will review the ecological conditions that help define the natural plant communities and the dominant species within them. Tillman, environmental scientist and author of The Chesapeake Watershed, will help broaden attendees' perspectives of the role native plants and fungi have played in the past, and how important they are to us and to the future of the Chesapeake Bay. And Claire Sawyers, author of The Authentic Garden: Five Principles for Cultivating Place, will show how we can create gardens that are both deeply rooted in their surroundings and deeply satisfying to their creators and owners.

After the seminar, four afternoon workshops will take place from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Irvine Nature Center. To attend these workshops, participants must pay a $25 fee which is not included with seminar registration (Creating a Bog Garden requires a $35 fee including materials). Throughout the day, people interested in learning more about species native to the state of Maryland can visit Irvine's Native Plant Sale from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Nature Center. This sale is free and open to the public. More information, including registration details, can be found at here.  Thank you to our sponsors Biohabitats, Ecological Restoration Management, Inc., and Media Sponsor, Mason-Dixon Arrive.