The State Botanical Garden will hold its second annual Georgia Gold Medal Symposium Sept. 14 from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. in the Callaway Building Auditorium. Admission, which includes lunch, is $48 for the general public and $40 for botanical garden members and master gardeners. The symposium will include speakers, a book signing and raffle.
Registration for the symposium will begin at 8:30 a.m. Shelly Prescott, director of the Georgia Gold Medal Program, will give a welcome at 9 a.m. Wilf Nicholls, director of the botanical garden, will discuss “Foolproof Plants for the Horticulturally Challenged” at 9:05 a.m., and Matthew Chappell, a faculty member with UGA Cooperative Extension, will give a talk entitled “The Magic Plant 8-Ball: Shrubs and Trees That May Win a Georgia Gold Medal in the Future” at 9:50 a.m.
The Georgia Gold Medal Plant Sale will be held from 10:35 a.m.-4 p.m. on the plaza in front of the Callaway Building.
Vince Dooley, avid gardener and former director of athletics at UGA, will give the symposium’s keynote address at 11 a.m. This will be followed by a buffet lunch with vegetarian options in the botanical garden’s Visitor Center and a book signing with Dooley.
In the symposium’s final session, Rita Randolph, owner of Randolph Greenhouses in Jackson, Tenn., will discuss “Outdoor Rooms” at 1:15 p.m.
Raffle winners will be announced at 2:15 p.m. Prizes include specimen plants, garden items and a gift basket from the Garden Gift Shop.
Additional information about the symposium is available online www.georgiagoldmedalplants.org or by calling 706-542-1244.