   Come to the Arizona Highlands Garden Conference 2006 - August 30, 2006 Jeff Schalau, County Director, Associate Agent, Agriculture & Natural Resources Arizona Cooperative Extension, Yavapai County This year’s Arizona Highlands Garden Conference (AHGC) will be held in Pinetop at the Hon-Dah Resort and Conference Center on October 13 and 14. The conference is organized by the Arizona Highlands Master Gardeners: Cooperative Extension volunteers from Navajo, Coconino, Gila, and Yavapai Counties. The conference theme is “Out on a Limb: Gardening Challenges in the High Desert and Forest”. This will be the seventh year of the AHGC and we invite you to join us. Several notable speakers will be presenting at the 2006 AHGC. Michael Melendrez is the owner of Soils Secrets, Trees That Please, and Arboretum Tome and lives in Los Lunas, New Mexico. Mr. Melendrez will be giving two presentations: Planting Trees and Shrubs Suitable to the Climate and Soils You Have and Successful Tree Planting Techniques. He is well-known for growing native trees in his nurseries and improving difficult soils using organic/microbial materials. Since 1997, Michael has been creating and marketing microbial products for use in gardens and landscapes through his company Soils Secrets LLC. Bill McDorman will be speaking on Seed Saving Techniques. Bill is president of Seeds Trust, Inc. which he founded in 1984 and is a well-known author and lecturer. He recently moved to Cornville, Arizona where he operates High Altitude Gardens: a seed company devoted to sustainable agriculture and preserving the genetic diversity of crop plants as well as native grasses and wildflower seeds. Bill is an excellent speaker and passionate about seed saving. David Salman will be speaking about High Country Xeriscape Gardening. David is the Chief Horticulturist at Santa Fe Greenhouses and owner of High Country Gardens. High Country Gardens should be a familiar name to most northern Arizona Gardeners. They sell a range of perennial plants through their catalog and web site. David has a wealth of experience and specializes in perennial plant palettes offering pre-planned xeriscape gardens composed of plants that compliment each other. In addition to these well-known speakers, the AHGC will feature: Steve Yoder, Executive Director of The Arboretum at Flagstaff presenting Do Try This At Home: Lessons Learned from the Flagstaff Arboretum; Mary Ellen Biddorf of the White Mountains Audubon Society presenting Attracting Birds to Your Garden; Carl Olsen (The Bugman) of the University of Arizona presenting Insects in the Garden; Terry Mikel of U of A Cooperative Extension presenting A Journey Through the Life Zones of Arizona; yours truly speaking about Mulching; and many other experts in their fields speaking about their various gardening passions. Nora Graf and Mary Ann Penning will also present a two two-hour hands-on sessions on Creating Gourd Birdhouses (requires pre-registration and an additional $15 materials fee). The AHGC costs $80 for two days if registered before September 13 ($90 thereafter). Single day registration is also available. The registration information is available on the Navajo County Cooperative Extension web site (cals.arizona.edu/navajo/) or requested by phone at 928-532-6139. Registration includes conference notebook, lunches, snacks, gift bag, and door prizes. A block of rooms is reserved at Hon-Dah Resort and Conference Center ($79/night call 800-929-8744). Other motels and camping are also available in the area. Bring a jacket and raingear as well as shorts and sandals – you never know what the weather will be like in the high country in the fall. The Arizona Highlands Garden Conference is always fun and educational. I hope you can make it and look forward to seeing you there. Below are web links to some of the conference speakers. Michael Melendrez' web site: www.soilsecrets.com Bill McDorman's web site: www.seedstrust.com David Salman's web site: www.highcountrygardens.com The Arboretum at Flagstaff web site: www.thearb.org White Mountain Audubon Society web site: www.whitemountainaudubon.org Naming of companies or products is neither meant to imply endorsement by the author nor criticism of similar companies or products not mentioned. The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension has publications and information on gardening and pest control. If you have other gardening questions, call the Master Gardener line in the Cottonwood office at 646-9113 ext. 14 or E-mail us at cottonwoodmg@yahoo.com and be sure to include your address and phone number. Find past Backyard Gardener columns or submit column ideas at the Backyard Gardener web site: http://cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/. |