Pictures of several types of flowers.
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Arbor Day Division Home |
Conference News - February 2007Celebrate
Gardening in the Natural State! Spring is in the air in Arkansas! Daffodils are blooming, and plants are coming back to life. We are gearing up to wow you with our gardens this May. April 1 is only a few short weeks away. Yes, we know it’s April Fools’ Day, but it is also the deadline for sending in your registration for the International Master Gardener Conference which will be held May 2-5, 2007 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Over 940 Master Gardeners from 43 states and 4 provinces have already registered and we want to include you in that group. Registration materials can be found at http://mg2007.uaex.edu Due to the high volume of registrations we will not be offering one-day conference registration. However you can purchase additional meal tickets if you have a spouse/guest wanting to attend either the Wednesday evening meal function or the Thursday evening Taste of Little Rock function. At this time, we are not able to alter the registration form on-line to accept payment for these tickets. If we have a credit card on record that you would like it charged to, you may email your request to me, giving me name, meal needed, and food choice if applicable. DO NOT send credit card information via email. A ticket for Wednesday evening includes an invitation to the cash bar cocktail hour, dinner, and presentation by keynote speaker Dr. David Lipschitz for a fee of $42.50. A ticket for the Taste of Little Rock activities on Thursday night from 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. can be purchased for $55.00 and includes transportation to the River Market, Clinton Library, Historic Arkansas Museum, and the Old State House, as well as entertainment, dinner, and other refreshments at each of the four stops. Spouses may also register for the whole conference and attend tours, seminars, meals, etc. even if they are not Master Gardeners but are attending with a Master Gardener. If you have already registered, and wish to purchase these additional meal tickets for a spouse or significant other, please email us with the name and food choice, and we can add it to your credit card bill—or mail it in with a check or credit card information. Do NOT send credit card information via email, as it is not secure. Attached is the form you may use to send in for additional meal tickets. We have several choices of hotels for you to choose from, The Peabody has limited space, but try the Doubletree or Holiday Inn Presidential. There is also space reserved at the Little Rock Hilton, but this is the farthest from the site. Limited shuttle service will be available. If you need a room mate, let us know ASAP. I have heard from a few MG’s who are traveling alone and willing to share a room. As you register on-line, if a tour or seminar is full, it will be shown as sold out. Please put down your next choice. Remember, you must put down a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice for all events before the computer will accept your reservation. When you come to Little Rock for the conference, we want to entice you to arrive early or stay late to see more of Arkansas, so we have also planned some pre- and post-conference tours at special Master Gardener rates. Little Rock is at the center of our diverse, vibrant, beautiful "Natural" state, and whatever your interest, we have something special to share with you, from amazing natural beauty to the dazzle of city lights – all served up with a generous helping of our own Arkansas brand of Southern hospitality. We encourage you to check out these tours before you make your final travel arrangements. Get all the details at http://mg2007.uaex.edu Take a look at the pre-conference tour to Arkansas’ wine country and Mount Magazine State Park. You will leave Little Rock by 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, May 1 on a two-hour bus ride through the Arkansas River Valley for an introduction to the vineyards and wineries established in the early 20th century by Swiss and German settlers who brought their traditional expertise to the hills surrounding Altus, Arkansas. From Altus, it’s a short ride south across the Arkansas River to Mount Magazine State Park where you will be spending the night in the lovely, brand new, state-of-the-art lodge. Mt. Magazine is Arkansas’ highest point (and the highest point between the Appalachians and the Rockies) and the views across the valley will be truly breathtaking this time of year. The immediate environment is equally awe-inspiring. Mt. Magazine’s natural beauty includes more than 94 of the state’s 134 resident butterfly species, including the very rare and recently named "Arkansas State Butterfly", the Diana Fritillary. Lori Spencer, author of the field guide, Arkansas Butterflies and Moths, will present a program for participants on this tour. (You might even get the bug and want to come back for the International Butterfly Festival on Mount Magazine June 22-24!) On the return trip to Little Rock on May 2, we will stop for a visit at the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service Fruit Station at Clarksville. Other "overnight" pre-conference tour choices include a trip to the Ozark Folk Center and Blanchard Caverns where you will visit a recreated 19th century pioneer village and enjoy a guided tour along the water-carved passages of the caverns to see an amazing subterranean world that includes an underground river and the world’s largest flowstone. Or you might want to go southwest to Hot Springs National Park and Garvan Gardens where you will visit Bathhouse Row downtown, spend the night in the grand old Arlington Hotel, and have lunch and tour of Garvan Woodland Gardens, Arkansas’ Botanical Garden. Buses will leave for the overnight trips no later than 9:30 on Tuesday, May 1 so if you sign up for one of them, be sure that your travel arrangements get you to Little Rock early on Tuesday, at the latest. If your time is limited, you might go on the day trip south to Old Washington, a National Register of Historic Places site, and an Arkansas state park. Along the way, stop at the town of Hope, the home of world famous watermelons and former U.S. President Bill Clinton. This tour will leave on May 2 by 9:30 a.m. and will return in time for the evening’s opening events. If you have the time to stay after the conference you can join a group going for a two-night stay to Hot Springs and Garvan Woodland Gardens. This tour allows more time to explore downtown Hot Springs or for scheduling a bath and/or massage at the hotel or one of the bath houses. The return to Little Rock on Monday will leave time to arrive at the Little Rock Airport by 11:00 a.m. for people with flights after 12:30. Again, for further details on all of the tours go to the official IMGC ’07 website: http://mg2007.uaex.edu and select Registration, then Pre and Post Conference Tours. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! Please share this information with other Master Gardeners in your state or province. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! Don’t forget April 1 is the deadline to register, you won’t want to miss out. We hope to see you in Little Rock, May 2007! Janet B. Carson |
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