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Fall flowers will be on showy display at the 2022 Garden Club of Virginia Symposium. (Photo by Donna Moulton)
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The floral artistry of Francoise Weeks (Photo by Theresa Bear Photography)
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Another floral creation by Francoise Weeks (Photo by Theresa Bear Photography)
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A free lecture during the event will explore the “Life, Legacy and Garden of Anne Spencer,” the Harlem Renaissance poet who lived and wrote in Lynchburg during segregation. (Photo by Roger Foley)
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Another lecture discusses three historic Virginia landscapes restored by the internationally acclaimed landscape architect Thomas Woltz and his firm. (Photo courtesy Garden Club of Virginia)
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Photo courtesy Garden Club of Virginia
From deconstructed plant life to reconstructed landscapes, in diminutive detail and across broad vistas, the Garden Club of Virginia’s 2022 Symposium promises to be a kaleidoscope of new ways to look at and learn from nature. With exhibitions designed to indulge the aficionado and inspire the uninitiated, the two-day event, September 20 and 21 at the Science Museum of Virginia, will offer a full roster of free and ticketed workshops, lectures, and exhibitions with a focus on flowers.
“If the last symposium is any gauge, we should have over 500 stems in the horticulture show alone,” says Jennifer Kelley, the returning chair of the event. Kelley, along co-chair Dawn Byrd, has been working with a dedicated team of committee members for over two years to plan an event that they believe “will appeal to individual interests in a broad range of topics.”
Nine lectures during the two-day gathering include presentations by the innovative Francoise Weeks, who creates fashion accessories from floral elements and foraged woodland plants; a look at Robert Llewellyn’s microphotographic images of nature; a talk on the culture and history of boxwood by plant pathologist Matthew Borden; a look at the newly restored Lynchburg garden where Anne Spencer, the internationally recognized Harlem Renaissance poet, found refuge and inspiration during the segregated times in which she lived and wrote; and a tour of three historic Virginia landscapes restored by the internationally acclaimed landscape architect Thomas Woltz and his firm.
Between lectures, attendees can tour several juried exhibitions including the flower show, a celebration of fall flowers and foliage; an exhibition of photographic images of Virginia’s Appalachian region inspired by songs from the Carter Family playlist; and floral design workshops designed to challenge participants’ creativity.
A mixology presentation featuring botanical-infused cocktails will wrap up the first day, followed by Mix It Up, a cocktail party where guests will mingle with symposium presenters, flower show judges and event sponsors on the patio or stroll through the photography exhibits, floral displays and fall horticulture specimens.
At the close of the exhibition, the displays will be dismantled and plant materials donated to local food banks and residents in Richmond retirement communities and nursing homes.
For more information about Symposium 2022, or to purchase tickets, visit symposium.gcvirginia.org.
