VGIC Sponsors VA Garden Festival

Richmond, VA… March 1, 2007 … The Virginia Green Industry Council (VGIC) is challenging Virginians to GoGreen, ‘respectfully live with all things green’, at their second Virginia Garden Festival held September 22, 2007 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens (LGBG), 1800 Lakeside Avenue in Richmond Virginia. For directions, call (804) 262-9887 or see web site www.lewisginter.org . Festival admission and parking is free.

Save this date and attend an event where art, magic, music and fantasy come together with expert ‘green living’ information that you can take home. Talented individuals from all facets of the Green Industry are on site to make this event an educational and fun-fill family experience.

For details see http://virginiagreen.org/virginiagardenfestival.htm

Festival Summary:

2007 VA Garden Festal, Festival admission and parking free, held ‘rain or shine’, sponsor: the Virginia Green Industry Council (VGIC), September 22, 2007 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens (LGBG), 1800 Lakeside Avenue in Richmond Virginia. For directions, call (804) 262-9887 or see www.lewisginter.org

Schedule:

9 a.m. to 11 a.m. – live on site Viette’s In the Garden radio show

10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. & 2:30 p.m. – Smokey Bear meets and informs children of fire safety

10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. - Story Times - Cris Arbo & Joseph Patrick Anthony

11 a.m. – speaker: Edmund Snodgrass - Greening the Roofs of our Communities!

11:30 a.m. & 12:30 – concerts by the Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra

Noon – speaker: Brent Heath - Bayscaping with Bulbs!

1 p.m. – speaker: Mike Goatley - Environmental Turf Management

2 p.m. – speaker: Andre Viette - Perennials and More

*all speakers host book signings and there are ongoing stonework, pottery and wreath making demonstrations plus gardening equipment on display

 

VGIC has partnered with Virginia’s Green Industry professionals to provide practical and fun activities for the whole family. Hear well-known speakers share their garden and landscape strategies, visit vendor display booths and receive their top 10 earth-friendly tips, stop by and “ask the experts”, watch tree care and lawn demonstrations, hear Andre Viette as he airs his radio show “IN THE GARDEN”, sample some of “Virginia’s Finest” foods, listen to music in the garden, purchase “rare and unusual” plants as well as garden décor’; and new this year, visit the Kids’ GoGreen and VA Farmer Market corners.

Extend your visit to the VA Garden Festival by exploring LGBG. For a small fee, visit multi-themed gardens and a greenhouse conservatory; and don’t forget to explore LGBG’s garden shop, patio dining and educational facilities.

Attend an event that celebrates ‘respectfully living with all things green’!

Featured Speakers

Edmund Snodgrass -

Green Roof Plants:

Greening the Roofs Of Our Communities!

Edmund C. Snodgrass started the first green roof nursery in the United States and has collaborated on green roof research with colleges and universities. A fifth-generation farmer and nurseryman, he is owner and president of Emory Knoll Farms Inc. and Green Roof Plants in Street, Maryland, specializing in plants and horticultural consulting for green roofs. In the 1980s Ed redesigned Emory Knoll using the principles of sustainability. A committed conservationist, he has put most of his land into an agricultural preservation trust. Emory Knoll Farms Inc., www.greenroofplants.com , supplies plants for over one million square feet of green roofs in 20 states and the District of Columbia, as well as internationally. It is the only nursery in North America that is solely dedicated to green roof plants. He is the co-author of Green Roof

 

 Plants: A RESOURCE AND PLANTING GUIDE.

Brent Heath -

Bayscaping

with Bulbs!

Brent Heath is a third generation bulb grower and co-owner with his wife, Becky, of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, www.brendandbeckysbulbs.com  , a wholesale/retail mail-order flower bulb catalogue and web site business that provide numerous types of bulbs to many botanical gardens, cities, universities, garden centers and discriminating gardeners across the country.

Recognized by The Wall Street Journal as ‘Best Bulb Company in America’,

Brent and Becky have co-authored two books: Daffodils for North American Gardens and Tulips for North American Gardens. Through Brent’s slide lectures and workshops, he shares his love of gardening and enthusiasm for teaching, giving you many new eco-friendly ideas that will help you have more colorful and successful gardens while landscaping as a steward for Virginia’s streams and water systems.

The Viettes, Andre, Claire, and Mark, are trained horticulturists who share their knowledge, unique perennials and beautiful homestead with you. Their nursery is known for home grown unique perennials: daylilies, hosta, oriental poppies, ornamental grasses, peonies and iris as well as distinctive and unique plants that they bring in from around the world. Their beautiful gardens located in Fishersville, VA., www.viette.com , feature over 3,000 varieties of rare and unusual sun and shade perennials.

During the early hours of the festival, Viette’s national weekly radio call-in program “IN THE GARDEN” will air. During the show, Viette will interview festival speakers, Brent Heath and Ed Snodgrass as well as other Green Industry personalities. But, take this opportunity to stop by and ask questions to Viette and his staff, in person. Later, he speaks on the topic, Perennials and More!

All speakers will host book signings immediately following their presentations.

MC for the Speakers’ Event

Sylvia Hoehns Wright-

Virginia’s

Eco-chic

Landscape/Gardener

Wright, hostess for the speaker event, is a consultant, lecturer & wordsmith, specializing in communications and environmental theories. An avid landscape gardener, she conducts eco-scape workshops, was featured by VA Home Grown WCVE Richmond PBS TV and Birds & Blooms magazine for her eco-activities, and is the back-page columnist for VA Gardener magazine. Recently, she partnered with Doug Hensel of the Great Big Greenhouses, www.greatbiggreenhouse.com , to provide for the Metropolitan areas an eco-chic landscape design program. See www.TheWrightScoop.com  for details.

About the sponsor – VGIC, champions of the environment!

As a Virginia coalition, the Virginia Green Industry Council provides outstanding industry and public sector services. These activities include consumer education, coordination and promotion of professional certifications, distribution of monthly news releases, maintenance of an online speakers bureau, promotion of Green Industry careers and scholarships, coordination of grant applications, “ask the experts” services, sponsorship of Arbor Day activities, consolidation of the economic impact of specialty crops, and is sponsoring the second Green Industry VA Garden Festival held September 22, 2007. An umbrella group, VGIC strives to be proactive in its support and promotion of positive Industry values. How can you participate? Join VGIC as an association or individual or make a sponsorship contribution. Contact VGIC’s executive director Jeff Miller at 540-382-0943 or info@VirginiaGreen.org  and list events on VGIC’s Calendar of Events. Provide information for the consumer website, www.VirginiaGardening.com , or professional website, www.VirginiaGreen.org . Contact Mary Williams at   to become a VGIC member. Participate in an organization committed to adhering to the highest level of environmental guidelines and horticultural practices. GoGreen! Be a champion for the environment!

Virginia Garden Festival
            GoGreen,

           respectfully

   live with all things green!

    September 22, 2007

       9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

               LGBG

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