10:00 - Intermission
Garden Gift Shop and Plant Sales Available

10:30 - "God in the Garden: Spiritual Realizations Through Gardening.”
Bill Fontenot
From a human perspective, gardening's most hidden and valuable benefits manifest themselves only through the humble act of repeatedly dirtying one’s hands. Over time, it is inevitable that the spiritual doors in the garden are discovered and opened. Usually in increments at a time, the gardener's senses cannot help but be elevated. Gradually and naturally, the difference between reality and Reality becomes more and more apparent.

11:15 - “Yard Art and Handmade Places: Extraordinary Expressions of Home.”
Jill Nokes
Jill looks at the ways ordinary people organize and shape the space around their houses to express identity and belonging. More than a mere catalog of eccentric gardens or a collection of folk art pieces, her book includes the stories of some extraordinary "place-makers" who beautifully and lovingly show us how the garden can be a powerful gesture of hospitality and sociality. By seeing all the ways people use their yards or gardens to create particularly exuberant statements about themselves, their history or background, and even religious beliefs, we learn that the larger meaning binding all these places together is what they have to say about the relationship of the owner to his or her homeland.

12:00 - 12:30 - Presenter Book Signing and Garden Gift Shop & Plant Sales

About our speakers ~~~

Scott Ogden & Lauren Springer Ogden are a husband and wife design team that has horticultural experience in the United States and Europe that spans zones 4 through 10. They seek plants and design inspiration in the wilds of the United States, as well as Mexico, South Africa and Argentina. They speak widely and design public and private gardens around the country, including 2007 APLD award winner Tropical Mosaic Garden in Naples, Florida and the groundbreaking Water-Smart Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens. In addition to their latest book, Plant-Driven Design, they have authored three books each; Lauren’s classic The Undaunted Garden is coming out in an expanded and updated version this fall. At home in the challenging climates of Austin, Texas and Fort Collins, Colorado, they tend two intensive gardens together.

William (Bill) Fontenot is a naturalist with the Acadiana Park Nature Center in Lafayette. He and his wife run a native plant nursery and ecological consulting service at their home in Carencro, Louisiana. He is the author of several books including Native Gardening in the South and has contributed hundreds of articles to various newsletters, newspapers, and magazines throughout the eastern U.S. He is a former president of the Louisiana Native Plant Society, a former director of the Gulf Coast Native Plant Conference, and a former program director for the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference, held each summer at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina.

Jill Nokes is a landscape designer and author living in Austin, Texas. Currently Jill is involved in promoting her new book, Yard Art and Handmade Places: Extraordinary Expressions of Home. She takes a look at the ways ordinary people organize and shape the space around their house to express identity and belonging. Jill is shifting the focus of her practice from residential design to public open space projects and land management consulting. Her first book, How to Grow Native Plants of Texas and the Southwest, records the knowledge of several generations of plant experts and growers. Some consider it a classic reference text that has been influential in increasing awareness of the value of native plants in both vernacular and built landscapes. Her studies in graduate school focused primarily on the propagation and uses of native plants, an area of horticulture that until that time had been largely overlooked.