The Southern Garden Symposium
Offering prestigious speakers amid gracious surroundings.
October 23 & 24, 2015
St. Francisville, Louisiana
With featured speakers like LSU Ag Center's Allen Owings, award-winning floral designer Scott Hasty, and noted author Larry Mellichamp, no other gardening program brings together top quality speakers and historic plantation settings as well as the Southern Garden Symposium in St. Francisville, Louisiana. Known as much for its engaging social events and historic venues as for its outstanding gardening lectures and workshops, the Southern Garden Symposium - now in its 27th year - has become an annual tradition for garden enthusiasts from across the south.
While the symposium’s workshops and lectures provide ideas and inspiration for the gardener, the social activities surrounding the event are classic southern elegance at its best. From the home-baked breakfast breads served in the morning, to the sumptuous fare of the evening gala and the delightfully relaxed Saturday afternoon tea, not a single detail of southern hospitality is overlooked.
Located about 45 minutes north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, St. Francisville was established in 1809. Set in a unique location on a bluff of the Mississippi River and often described as a town “two miles long and two yards wide,” the quaint community offers southern hospitality, fantastic shopping, and breathtaking scenery. Symposium events are held at several historic and picturesque locations, both public and private, including Afton Villa Gardens, Rosedown Plantation, Grace Episcopal Church, Wildwood, Underwood Cottage, and more.
The 2015 Southern Garden Symposium is underwritten by a grant from the ExxonMobil Foundation and sponsors including Didier Consultants, The Bank of St. Francisville, Barber Brothers Contracting Co., DEMCO, Entergy, Hemingbough, The Highlands Bank, Imahara’s Landscape Company, Inc., Ins and Outs Nursery, Kurz and Hebert Commercial Real Estate, Parlange Plantation, and Window World of Baton Rouge. Over the years, proceeds from the Southern Garden Symposium have funded numerous projects including scholarships in the School of Landscape Architecture at L.S.U., a revitalization project for historic Ferdinand Street in St. Francisville, sponsorship of the kitchen garden at Audubon State Historic Site (Oakley House), funding for plantings and benches at Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site, and others.
Seating is limited and hotel rooms can be scarce in St. Francisville in October, so register now!
