'Dublin' climbing on the porch of one of the Cemetery museum buildings.
According to the brochure I received in the mail yesterday, this year's theme is "Extending the Life of your Garden". The schedule is as follows:
Friday afternoon, we will take a walking tour of Diamond Hill and experience period architecture, old plantings, and stories of those who made Lynchburg one of the South's wealthiest cities. Light refreshments in a period home will finish the tour.
Here is a beautiful Diamond Hill Victorian.
Does the style of this Lynchburg beauty look vaguely familiar?
Friday evening, symposium guests will mingle with the three speakers in the Old city Cemetery's new reading room and conservatory, and enjoy drinks and light hors d'oeuvres.
'Climbing Souvenir de la Malmaisson' on the brick wall beside the Pest House Museum.
Saturday is for the presentations. At 9:00am, Peggy Singlemann, director of horticulture at Maymont in Richmond, will present a program titled "Flowering Shrubs to Spice Up Your Garden". We will learn how mixing in flowering shrubs will add bursts of color, wonderful fragrance, and fall color to our gardens.
The Brick Wall in the cemetery's Confederate Section, where most of the historic roses are planted.
At 10:45, Cherie Foster Colburn will speak about "Fireflies and Four O'Clocks: Ingredients for a 24-7 Landscape". This program is intended to help us extend our enjoyment of our gardens into the evening hours. Cherie's web site is HERE.
The cemetery has a spectacular collection of trees!
After a box lunch (which is always delicious!), at 1:30 Doug Seidel will present a program called "Final Resting Places", a brief history of cemeteries and why people grew certain plants on and around the graves of their loved ones. He will also demonstrate unique ways we can use these items as inspiration for our home landscapes. After his presentation, Doug will lead a walk through the Cemetery gardens for a hands-on walk and talk.
Here is Doug Seidel, seated, and Dennis Whetzel doing their annual Antique Rose Show ... a rose identification workshop at Monticello's Tufton Farm open house every May.
I have attended this symposium every year, and last year I was honored to be the featured rose speaker. I did blog posts from Lynchburg about it last May, which can be found HERE and HERE.
This is Stephen Scanniello during the first Symposium in 2008, demonstrating how to divide and replant over-crowded colonies of rose suckers.
The Lynchburg City Cemetery is very unique, and it is one of my all-time favorite places. It is owned by the city of Lynchburg, who still actively carries out burials in the Potter's Field, and it is managed by the Southern Memorial Association. It is a rosarium, an arboretum, a museum, a park, a wedding destination, and a beautiful place to spend the day. Proceeds from the symposium will benefit the Horticulture Endowment of the Old City Cemetery.
Interested in attending? Be sure to let me know, and we can meet up and do something while we are there. There is a WONDERFUL deli downtown!! You can buy your Symposium tickets HERE. The cost for all activities is $125 ... Friday tour $15, Friday night reception $30, Saturday workshops $70, Saturday box lunch $10 ... it's definitely money well spent!
Will I see you there?
