Tidewater Garden Symposium

Today I was able to attend the 21st annual Tidewater Garden Symposium, and I look forward to this event each spring. The Garden Clubs of Norfolk and Virginia Beach are co-sponsors, and the great thing about it is the outstanding caliber of speakers for an event that is not all that large. Over the years I have had a chance to hear many excellent speakers including Dan Hinkley, Pamela Harper, Tony Avent, Ken Druse, Brent and Becky Heath, Rick Darke and the Tylers of Pine Knot Farm. This year were no less outstanding.

The first speaker of the day was Ray Rogers who has worked at the Morris Arboretum, the American Horticulture Society's River Farm, has authored three books and has won over 338 blue ribbons at the Philadelphia Flower Show. One of the books he wrote was Coleus: Rainbow Foliage for Containers and Gardens, and this plant was his topic today. There was no leaf unturned in his talk. Coleus already happened to be one of my favorite annuals, and I plant them every year, this lecture just made my choice that much stronger.

The second speaker was J. Dean Norton who is the Director of Horticulture at Mt. Vernon. He took us through the history of the gardens and grounds at the famous home from their inception, redesign, decline and restoration. He detailed many aspects of his position and what is like to garden in the middle of archaeological treasure. I found his problems growing boxwood (no Virginia home of a certain age should be without some) and the care of the trees on the property to be the most interesting. Norton is also the current vice-president of the Southern Gardens Historical Society which I mentioned in January.

The next speaker was Paul Cappiello who is the Executive Director of Yew Dell Gardens in Kentucky. He has also co-authored with Don Shadow a major book on the genus Cornus entitled Dogwoods. Not surprisingly we got to see some new Dogwoods, most of which are Anthracnose and mildew resistant, but they are also gorgeous. I will be looking to carry some of these at the garden center as soon as they are available, particularly the C. kousa cultivar 'Greensleeves'. We also got a nice armchair tour of Yew Dell. After lunch the final speaker was David L. Culp who has been featured in many garden magazines and has also been an instructor at Longwood. We were treated to 3 trays of slides showing plants for the winter garden, and I could have sat through more. I have never been a huge fan of the Red Twig Dogwoods, maybe because I have never seen them so effectively used as he showed. I know that Hellebores have been showing up on a lot of blogs recently, but if you are not sated yet, you may want to visit his Hellebore Gallery to see some very unusual forms.

After the last talk came time for door prizes, and this was what I had a hand in, and my contributions are pictured below. The little crate included Camellia japonica 'Crimson Candles', Agave ferox, Salvia greggii, Eleutherococcus sieboldianus 'Variegatus' , Saxifraga stolonifera 'Maroon Beauty' , Cryptomeria japonica 'Spiralis', Gaultheria procumbens, plus a big Crinum bulb and a really huge Elephant Ear bulb.
Most years the Symposium is held at Norfolk Academy while the kids are on spring break. The school was founded in 1728 and is one of the area's most prestigious private schools. I would love for my son to go there, but tuition for this prep school is more than it will cost us to send him to university (in-state) when the time comes. The facilities and programs available at the school are top notch, and unlike public schools, there are no signs of graffiti or vandalism. There is a nice courtyard garden in the center of the school with a memorial fountain.

The current campus is located in the eastern part of Norfolk, almost in Virginia Beach. For many years of its history it was located in downtown Norfolk in a building built in 1840 designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, who was also the architect of the Capitol dome in Washington.

The inspiration of the building came from the Temple of Thesus in Athens.
During the Civil War classes were interrupted, not so much because there was a war on, but the Union troops appropriated the building and grounds to use as a camp and hospital.
I will end with these plaques I saw in the courtyard garden of the new campus, where the fountain garden is dedicated to several students whose lives had ended before they really even began.