Conference Highlights  

 

Janisse Ray is a natural favorite of those who care about our natural heritage.

Social Events

Social Events will be conveniently located at the University of Florida Cultural Plaza directly across the street from the conference hotel  (no driving needed!)

Thursday Evening April 19th
Welcome Reception at the Hilton
Join old friends and meet new ones at this social event poolside. Free to conference attendees. Enjoy good food, music, and a great atmosphere.

Friday Evening April 20th
Florida Museum of Natural History Sponsored by University of Florida Environmental Horticulture Department The Florida Museum of Natural History is a special place for a social! Bring your books for authors to sign and plan to taste a variety of catered gourmet cheeses and hors d’oeuvres (with cash bar). You can also enjoy touring two exhibits. Northwest Florida: Waterways and Wildlife follows water as it flows through unique environments of hardwood hammock, life size limestone cave and coastal salt marsh. South Florida People and Environments celebrates Calusa, Miccosukee and Seminole Indians and features a full scale mangrove forest and an underwater vista. The museum is located across the street from the Hilton Hotel.

Saturday Evening April 21st
Dinner at the Harn Museum
Sponsored by University of Florida Environmental Horticulture Department Our annual banquet will be held in the new Cofrin Gallery of the Harn Muserum at the University of Florida, also located across the street from the Hilton Hotel. Enjoy fabulous food and music in an elegant surrounding of art collections. Each dinner ticket includes a chance to win one of a dozen fabulous prizes!

 

Plenary Sessions

Friday Speaker

Janisse Ray grew up in a junkyard along Highway 1. She is the author of Wild Card Quilt and Ecology of aCracker Childhood, which won the American Book Award, as well as other notable awards. A naturalist and environmental activist, she publishes her work in Wild Earth, Audubon, Florida Naturalist, Georgia Wildlife  and The Washington Post and has been a nature commentator for Georgia Public Radio. Her third book Pinhook: Finding Wholeness in a Fragmented Land is the story of a 750,000 acre wildland corridor between south Georgia and north Florida and was published by Chelsea Green in 2005.

Saturday Speaker

William Cullina holds degrees in plant science and psychology and has been working in plant propagation and nursery production for eighteen years.  In 1995 he became nursery manager and propagator at the New England Wild Flower Society’s Garden in the Woods and Nasami Farm, where he is currently the director of the New England Wild Flower Society Nurseries – now the largest of its kind in New England with locations in Framingham and Whately, MA.  Cullina lectures on native plants and propagation to garden and professional groups and writes for popular and technical journals.  His first book, The New England Wild Flower Society Guide to Growing and Propagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada, was published by Houghton Mifflin in 2000.  A follow up volume:  Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines – a guide to using, growing and propagating North American woody plants was published in June, 2002.  His new book – Understanding Orchids was published in November, 2004, and work is underway for a third volume in the natives series on grasses, ferns, and mosses due to be published in 2007.  He and his wife, Melissa live with their 4 year old son Liam on six wooded and wonderful acres in Woodstock, CT.

In the Area

Area Information    www.visitgainesville.com

Because of the conference's location near the UF campus, a variety of self-guided tours of campus and the natural areas teaching unit are available anytime you need to go get some fresh air.

Across the street from the hotel is the Florida Museum of Natural History and its Butterfly Rainforest exhibit.  The Florida Museum of Natural History located at the University of Florida is Florida’s state museum of natural history dedicated to understanding, preserving and interpreting biological diversity and cultural heritage.  With more than 20 million specimens of amphibians, birds, butterflies, fish, mammals, mollusks, reptiles, vertebrate, and invertebrate fossils, recent and fossil plants, and associated databases and libraries, the Florida Museum is the largest natural history museum in the southeast.  The Butterfly Rainforest, Florida Museum of Natural History's newest permanent exhibit, brings you face-to-face with exotic, vibrant butterflies fluttering atop a lush tropical canvas of foliage and flowers.  Guests can stroll along a winding path and relax to the sounds of cascading waterfalls.  This 6,400 square-foot, screened outdoor enclosure houses lush tropical and subtropical plants and trees, including nectar flowers to support 55 to 65 different species of Lepidoptera.  Visitors also may look into the collections and observe scientists working in laboratories, preparing specimens for the collection and rearing new butterflies.  It is the world’s largest research facility devoted to Lepidoptera and the second largest collection in the world. 

The Harn Museum of Art is one of the southeast’s largest university art museums with more than 6,200 works in its collection focusing on Asian, African, modern and contemporary art and photography, along with an array of temporary exhibitions. The museum enhances the activities of the University and serves a culturally diverse audience through educational programming.