Davidson Garden Club members (from left) Mary Martin, Ann Allen, and Pam Grant posed during the event. See a photo gallery below. (Lincoln Davidson/DavidsonNews.net)

By LINCOLN DAVIDSON
DavidsonNews.net

Gardeners from across North Carolina gathered at Davidson College Tuesday for the 29th annual Davidson Horticultural Symposium, where renowned horticulturalists and garden gurus spoke to a packed house on topics ranging from the private spaces of leading designers and contemplative gardens, to vertical gardening and terrariums.

The symposium, hosted annually by the Davidson Garden Club, attracted more than 400 professional landscapers, horticulturalists, and amateur gardeners. Club member Robin Wilgus said this year’s symposium was better attended than any since 1989.

“I think the speakers are what brought so many people this year,” Wilgus said. “All of this year’s speakers are really, really good.”

Attendees seemed to agree. Kelly Lojk, an amateur gardener from Charlotte, said this year’s speakers were “very impressive.”

Robert May, a landscape architect from Mooresville, added that the Horticultural Symposium is ”one of the best [gardening] courses in North Carolina.”

Liz Harris, a member of the symposium’s steering committee, said that about half of those in attendance are professionals, coming for training. “We bring in landscape architects, landscape designers, but also new gardeners and more serious gardeners,” she said.

One of those serious gardeners is Allein Stanley of Mount Holly. “I’m a gardener, I have acreage,” Stanley said. “This is the place to be [to learn about gardening.] It’s always a learning experience … the workshops are really stimulating. As you’re listening to them, you’re trying to apply things at home, thinking ‘would this work for me?’”

The symposium ran all day at Davidson College’s Knobloch Campus Center. Info: www.davidsonsymposium.org or davidsonsymposium@gmail.com