Twelfth Annual Garden & Landscape Symposium 

The King’s Garden at Fort Ticonderoga presents the Twelfth Annual Garden & Landscape Symposium on Saturday, April 6, 2024. This program features practical strategies for expanding and improving your garden and landscape. We invite you to join us, whether you are an experienced gardener or you are just getting started, for helpful insights from garden experts who live and garden in northern climates. 

STREAMING THE GARDEN & LANDSCAPE SYMPOSIUM! Those who are unable to travel to Ticonderoga for the symposium can sign up to participate online through Fort Ticonderoga’s Center for Digital History using Zoom. 

Symposium Schedule: 

9:00 Welcome—Stuart Lilie, Vice President of Public History, Fort Ticonderoga. 

9:10-9:20 Challenges of the 2023 Growing Season—Fort Ticonderoga’s Horticulturist-in-Residence Ann Hazelrigg a brief review of the challenges gardeners faced in 2023. 

9:20-10:20 No-Dig Gardening Makes Gardening Easier and More Environmentally Friendly—Gardeners are always looking for ways to garden easier, more productively and in a way that helps our environment. No-Dig Gardening is a perfect way to use natural systems to build healthier soils and gardens, while making for less work. Charlie Nardozzi covers the basics of No-Dig and how it works, how to set up a no-dig bed, different ways of planting including companion planting, and ways to reduce your gardening work with No-Dig. He will also cover straw bale and hugelkultur gardening as other alternatives to traditional gardening methods. Charlie is an Regional Emmy award winning, nationally recognized garden author, speaker, garden tour leader, and radio and TV personality based in Vermont. Charlie delights in making gardening information simple, easy, fun and accessible to everyone. Visit www.gardeningwithcharlie.com for more information. 

10:30-11:30 The Lenox Horticultural Society—In the late nineteenth century, the great country houses of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, cultivated horticultural expertise, from England, Scotland and Scandinavia, training younger talent in their exalted gardening skills, today only found at botanical gardens. Explore the Lenox Horticultural Society, founded in 1893, an important local institution for the next 50 years, organizing sumptuous, hotly competitive, flower shows in the summer months, and in winter greenhouse meetings to discuss horticultural findings like pollinating peaches, or propagating rare orchids. A lifelong Berkshire resident, Cornelia Brooke Gilder was educated at Vassar College and Cambridge University. She grew up in Lenox and has lived in Tyringham for forty years. 

11:45-12:30 Lunch—Included in the registration fee. 

12:30-12:40pm What to Expect in 2024—Fort Ticonderoga’s Horticulturist-in-Residence Ann Hazelrigg shares about what to expect in the 2024 growing season.

12:40-1:10pm Unique Gardens of Europe—Take a virtual ride with Charlie Nardozzi as he briefly highlights some of the more innovative and unique gardens he’s visited over the years in Europe. He will highlight ornamental and edible gardens of beauty and diversity.

1:20-2:20pm Healing Herbs for Infused Oils & Salves—Welcome to the healing world of herbs. We will explore a handful of herbs, their healing properties, identification, harvesting, applications, and how to make a solar infused oil. Learn the steps to turn your infused oil into a salve and be enticed to delve deeper into the world of herbal healing. Donna Brown studied Horticulture at Temple University’s Ambler Campus in Ambler, Pennsylvania. She then ventured to Vermont and received her B.A. in Environmental Studies from Goddard College, in Plainfield. As a mother with two young daughters, she became interested in natural medicine and received her Herbalist certification by completing Rosemary Gladstar’s “Science and Art of Herbalism” while she apprenticed with Barbara Raab. Donna lives in Orwell, Vermont, loves playing in her ever-evolving perennial garden, enjoying the company of the many songbirds that visit each year, growing and wild-crafting herbs, and making salves under the name Wild Ginger Herbs and Udderly Herbal. 

2:30-3:30pm Meet Little-Known Perennials—There are some mostly native treasures that we all should know about! Gardeners love to find plants that add pleasure to their gardens, particularly when they are easy to maintain, and attract bees, butterflies, and birds. Marijke Niles will introduce you to some of those plants, explaining how to grow and maintain them. She will also discuss how to start your gardens in the spring to best benefit plants and wildlife. Marijke is the owner of Marijke’s Perennial Gardens Plus in Starksboro, Vermont. She is an Extension Master Gardener and Composter. She is featured in Jana Millbocker’s book: The Garden Tourist’s Book New England: A Guide to 140 Outstanding Gardens and Nurseries. Marijke serves on the Board of Directors for the Vermont Nursery and Landscape Association. Marijke is a favorite speaker and has presented many workshops such as for the Vermont Flower Show, the Flynn Garden Tour, (Master) Garden Clubs, and for some prestigious businesses. She is known for her suggestions on making gardening easier. Visit www.perennialgardensplus.com to learn more about Marijke and her gardens.