The focus of our 28th Native Plant Symposium is Planting with Purpose. This includes at home, in designed landscapes, and when restoring habitat in the wild. Researching appropriate native plants and choosing to incorporate a major of native plants in our properties and projects makes a difference to the other inhabitants of our ecosystems: birds, butterflies, and bees.

Specialist butterflies, moths, and bees need native plants. Native plants are the first trophic layer to convert sunlight into food for insects, helping to ensure that those insects thrive. Bird populations rely on abundant insect life to sustain their populations. Our purposeful selection of plants makes a difference to these creatures.

On Day 2, we will also take some time to highlight the activities of our chapters. Our chapters are the boots on the ground folks that bring activities closer to and more regionally meaningful for our members.

Saturday Feb 18 9:00 am – 12 pm

• Trecia Neal – Native Plant Gardening Myths – Why We Need Native Plants!
• Gabe Andrle – Understanding Habitat to Support Birds and other Wildlife with Native Plants
• Kathryn Kolb – What’s in your Yard? – Reveal and restore the natural landscape on your property

Registration will close at the following times/dates to give staff a chance to upload participants to the Zoom meeting.

• 8:00 AM Saturday, February 18 – Last chance to register for Saturday event
• 1:00 PM Sunday, February 19 – Last chance to register for Sunday event

PLEASE NOTE: REGISTRATION FOR THE SATURDAY SESSION IS NOW CLOSED. IF YOU REGISTER FOR A ONE-DAY SESSION, YOU WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE ADDED TO THE SUNDAY PROGRAM.

Sunday Feb 19 2:00 – 4:30 pm

• Benjamin Vogt – Fundamentals of Garden Layers
• GNPS Chapter Highlights – What Worked Well and Where We’re Going

Our GNPS 2023 Symposium event will be virtual again this year. To make the event more manageable, it will be spread across two days and each session will be recorded for future playback. GNPS is partnering with Georgia Audubon to present this program. The cost for GNPS and Georgia Audubon members is $10 per day ($20 total across the two days); the cost for non-members is $12 per day. You can register here, but note that registration is being handled by Georgia Audubon. When you get to the registration site, dismiss the pop-up asking you to login in if you are not also a Georgia Audubon member.

Speaker Bios:

Benjamin Vogt is owner of Monarch Gardens, LLC in Lincoln, Nebraska. His design work has been featured in numerous publications including Fine Gardening, Garden Design, Horticulture, The Wall Street Journal, and The American Gardener.  For five years (2012-2017) Benjamin wrote an award-winning garden column for Houzz (over 3 million reads with 200 articles) and has contributed to books such as Lawn Gone!, Pollinator Friendly Gardening, and The Xerces Society’s Gardening for Butterflies. He has been interviewed for dozens of podcasts, articles, and books while speaking nationally on environmental activism and sustainable urban design for wildlife.

He is the author of two popular books: A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future and the brand new Prairie Up: An Introduction to Natural Garden Design. His passion and humor come through on his Facebook page Milk the WEED, a lively space where over 23,000 folks share the joys and purpose of gardening for wildlife.

Kathryn Kolb is Executive Director of EcoAddendum and a Master Naturalist who shares over 30 years of field experience in forests and wild lands of the Southeast.  Her fresh and insightful perspectives on our native forest make each Eco-A walk a new and interesting experience. She has collaborated for over 25 years on projects with many regional environmental groups including The Wilderness Society, Georgia Forestwatch, Georgia Conservancy, Trees Atlanta, South River Watershed Alliance, West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, and many others. Kathryn was founder and director Atlanta’s Keeping It Wild program, under the umbrella of the Wilderness Society, leading a diverse, community based, education and outings program from 2005-2009. She also served as consultant to DeKalb County Commissioners in 1999-2000, leading an initiative to revise the DeKalb County Tree Ordinance.  She also served on a City of Atlanta tree ordinance task force, and today consults with other municipalities and community groups on raising awareness about the value of regional forests and natural areas, and methods of incorporating trees and forests into urban and suburban environments.

Kathryn is also known for her distinctive, award-winning work as a fine art photographer of natural forms and landscapes. Her photographs are found in prominent regional collections and public venues throughout the US.

Trecia Neal was a biologist at Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta for thirty years. Upon retirement, she formed Green Gardens Education and Designs LLC and is now using her expertise and talents to design wildlife gardens for homeowners to help transform their barren lawns to living landscapes full of pollinators, birds and wildlife. She speaks on a variety of topics that include composting, vermicomposting, monarch butterfly ecology and biology, and gardening for pollinators and birds.  Trecia is also a member of the Ecological Landscape Alliance.

Her most recent accomplishments include collaboration in the design and sourcing of plants for 63 raised pollinator beds for all of the Georgia State Parks.  These beds were registered as Monarch Waystations to promote the planting of milkweed and good nectar sources for monarchs on their migration.

Gabe Andrle is Georgia Audubon’s Habitat Program Manager.