2009 Native Plant Symposium - Columbia, SC

October 16 - 18, 2009 - Native Plant Symposium at Poinsett State Park, Columbia SC

Mark your Calendars!!

The Midlands Chapter is planning the 2009 SCNPS Native Plant Symposium for October 16th through the 18th at Poinsett State Park , which is located east of Columbia . We would like to hear your ideas on speakers, field trip leaders, and breakout sessions. Please include contact information for speakers and field trip leaders.

The Symposium will start Saturday morning with Dan Tufford who will speak about Carolina seeps and Dr. Pat DeCoursey about the USC Belzer Arboretum. Afternoon activities will be at or near the park. There will be a bog gardening workshop by Mike Creel and a naturescaping workshop by Jean Woods. Afternoon field trips will investigate the mill pond at Poinsett, seeps at the park and nearby Carolina Bays. On Sunday morning there will be field trip to Bates Landing (the newly acquired part of Congaree Swamp), a kayak trip to Sparkleberry Swamp and a field trip to the USC Belser Arboretum in Columbia.

Please contact Ellen Blundy ellenblundy@windstream.net or Mary Morrison at maryrob1@comporium.net if you have speaker ideas or will volunteer to help or speak or lead a field trip or work on a committee.

2008 Native Plant Symposium - Clemson, SC

The South Carolina Native Plant Society's 2008 Symposium entitled "Building Bridges - We're In This Together" was held March 28 - 30, 2008 in the Upstate at Clemson's Madren Center on the Clemson University Campus. Speakers included Cole Burrell and Patrick McMillan. The event was "sold out" which certainly testifies to the outstanding quality of the speakers, workshops and field trips. We offer a sincere "thank you" to Eva Pratt and her committee for the hard work that went into producing such an amazing program!

2007 Native Plant Symposium - Rock Hill, SC

The NCNPS and the SCNPS along with the Museum of York County held the first ever joint symposium and it was a great time! There were great trips, great speakers, great workshops, many native plants to buy and a marvelous silent auction. On Friday evening, Randy Westbrooks eloquently reminded us of the invasive exotic problem but also offered us a sound suggestion to thwart these invasions with an early detection and rapid response method. Then on Saturday, Larry Mellichamp talked to us about our native orchids with the emphasis on “you can grow this or don’t even think about it.” André Michaux’s alter ego, Charlie Williams (I don’t think he had his tricorne on) talked about Magnolia macrophylla. Andy Lazenby whetted our appetite for a couple of the Sunday morning trips to see the Rocky Shoals Spider Lily. Little did the audience realize what the afternoon held in store. We had to work! Now picture this, it has rained all morning and you want me to build a rain garden in the rain?? Yep! That’s exactly what the slave driver/rain garden expert Lara Rozzell had in mind. From start to finish in one afternoon except for the new downspouts. All the plants were donated by the vendors, members and the NC Botanical Garden.

Not to be out done, Mary Stauble showed us how to properly construct a wire compost bin and watched us construct and fill it. While all this was going on other groups were conducting a plant inventory on a new museum site and touring a prairie restoration site, complete with a greenhouse. All of this activity was made even better by the fact that the museum will use all the fruits of this labor. Then we gathered by Lake Wylie for the BBQ and this time the real André Michaux showed up. The only thing missing was warmth. But the chill was cut just a bit when the silent auction closed and everyone got to carry off their treasures. I couldn’t believe André wanted to roast the Mallard family that strolled through the shelter.

Sunday morning dawned cloudy but it cleared off before we departed for the Lily show and Red Lair Farm. Down on the Catawba River at Landsford Canal State Park, the morning was perfect. One group took canoes down the river and were up close and personal with the lilies. Another group walked along the river, tracing the old canal. Both groups were absolutely WOWED by the lilies. Try as you may, it was like trying to photograph a beautiful sunset—you just couldn’t capture the majesty of thousands of lilies in bloom, and to think that the peak bloom was a week away? It can be said without qualification that Jean Woods, NCNPS, Mary Morrison, SCNPS and Nancy Crane from the Museum of York County put on quite a show.