Winter Symposium: Tossing the Turf

Online Rare & Unusual Plant Auction
Featuring Preston Montague, Dr. Mike Richardson, and Mark Weathington

• Saturday, February 18, 2023 – 9:00 am–12:30 pm

Registration has been closed.

It's time to toss the turf in your home landscape and create a beautiful alternative to the labor intensive green patch occupying your yard.

For many, the neat and tidy turf in their yard takes extensive watering along with fertilizers and other chemicals to create a monoculture of one species. The alternative? For those areas of your lawn that aren't being used as a soccer or bocce pitch, a flowering lawn can create a biodiverse zone that relieves some environmental pressures of a traditional lawn. Add in the beauty of the flowering groundcovers and who can say no?

Join us for a morning exploring the design, research, and plants used to create this new lawn movement so you can be empowered to spend less time mowing this summer!

Schedule       Presentations       Speakers       Online Plant Auction    

Registration

Early Registration (ends Friday, January 20, 2023): $50.00 for members, $65.00 for nonmembers.

Regular Registration (Saturday, January 21 through Sunday, February 12, 2023): $65.00 for members, $80.00 for nonmembers.

Late Registration (Monday, February 13 through Friday, February 17, 2023): $75.00 for members, $90.00 for nonmembers.

Continuing Education Credit

The North Carolina Landscape Contractors' Licensing Board has approved this program to provide continuing education for landscape contracting. This course has been approved for 3 landscape credit hours assigned number CE 2408.

The North Carolina Board of Landscape Architects has approved this program for three and one half hours of educational continuing education.

Schedule

Saturday, February 18

8:30 am

Check-in

9:00 am

Welcome
Mark Weathington, JC Raulston Arboretum

9:15 am

"Reducing Lawns through Deliberate Design"
Preston Montague, Landscape Architect and Botanical Illustrator

10:05 am

"Bermudagrass, Bulbs, Blooms, and Bees"
Dr. Mike Richardson, University of Arkansas

10:50 am

Break

11:05 am

"From Flat to Fabulous: Creating No-Grass Flowering Lawns"
Mark Weathington, JC Raulston Arboretum

12:00 pm

Questions & Answers with Presenters

12:30 pm

Conclusion

1:00 pm

Winter Symposium plant auction closes

Presentations

"Reducing Lawns through Deliberate Design"
Preston Montague, Landscape Architect and Botanical Illustrator

Lawns are a staple in home landscapes, but do they have to be the dominant element of your design? Explore ecological planting design with Preston and learn how to intentionally reduce lawn area without reducing the usefulness or curb appeal.

"Bermudagrass, Bulbs, Blooms, and Bees"
Dr. Mike Richardson, University of Arkansas

Much research is done on diseases, drought tolerance and other problems in turfgrass. Research in the University of Arkansas' Department of Horticulture is also experimenting with how to create more biologically-diverse lawns. In this talk, Dr. Richardson will share findings about the these lawns where flowering plants are incorporated into turfgrass settings to enhance pollinator habitat.

"From Flat to Fabulous: Creating No-Grass Flowering Lawns"
Mark Weathington, JC Raulston Arboretum

Lawns require tremendous inputs and unless used regularly serve relatively few purposes. Why not create a pollinator paradise by turning unused lawn areas into high impact flowering lawns? Creating your own lawn tapestry is easy and you won't know what to do with all the time you save once it's installed!

Speakers

Preston Montague, M.L.A.
Landscape Architect and Botanical Illustrator

Preston Montague is a landscape architect and artist who developed a passion for the natural world while growing up in the rural foothills of Virginia. Currently, he lives in Durham, North Carolina, working on projects that encourage stronger relationships between people and the natural world for the purpose of improving public and environmental health.

Mike Richardson, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Horticulture, University of Arkansas

Dr. Mike Richardson is a Horticulture professor at the University of Arkansas, where his research focuses on both warm- and cool-season turfgrass systems. Over the past decade, his work has also included research on enhancing biodiversity in turfgrass systems and restoring native grassland habitat in the prairie regions of Arkansas.

Mark Weathington
Director, JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State University

Mark Weathington is the director of the JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State University where he is passionate in his work to connect plants to people. Mark travels extensively searching for new plants to diversify the American landscape. His explorations have taken him to China, Taiwan, Japan, Ecuador, Europe, Mexico, New Zealand, and throughout the United States. He writes for Fine Gardening, Horticulture, and other national magazines and is the author of Gardening in the South: The Complete Homeowner’s Guide.

Online Rare and Unusual Plant Auction

The JCRA Horticulture team has done it again. Our Winter Auction is chock-full of amazing plants—so many choices. We've got plants that the team has collected from around the world like aucubas and clematis that we haven't even fully identified to variegated loquats and viburnum. Not enough? How about an evergreen climbing hydrangea from Mexico, crested ferns or choice sacred lilies and an abutilon straight from Dan Hickley's home garden?

No matter how jaded a plant lover you might be, there is sure to be something on the list to get your blood pumping and your temperature rising—the perfect antidote to the winter blues.

Auction Opens 12:00 pm et, Wednesday, February 15, 2023 and closes 1:00 pm et, Saturday, February 18, 2023. Plants can be picked up from the JCRA on Wednesday, February 22, 2023 from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm.

All proceeds from the plant auction benefit the daily operations of the JC Raulston Arboretum. All funds raised from the plant auction are collected and managed by the North Carolina Agricultural Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit (tax ID 56-6049304).

Cost

Early Registration (ends Friday, January 20, 2023): $50.00 for members, $65.00 for nonmembers.

Regular Registration (Saturday, January 21 through Sunday, February 12, 2023): $65.00 for members, $80.00 for nonmembers.

Late Registration (Monday, February 13 through Friday, February 17, 2023): $75.00 for members, $90.00 for nonmembers.

Registration

Advance registration is required. Register online using our registration e-store.

Registration is limited and is considered complete when payment is received. Registration will close at noon on Friday, February 17, 2023.

Cancellation

Program cancellations can be made up to two weeks before the program's start date. A 15% cancellation fee applies.

Location

Ruby C. McSwain Education Center, JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State University, 4415 Beryl Road, Raleigh, North Carolina and online.

Directions

Need directions? Click here.

Parking

Free parking is available at the JC Raulston Arboretum and along Beryl Road.

Questions

Please write jcraprograms@ncsu.edu for more information about this program.