PLEASE PRE-REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT BY JANUARY 15 AT https://web.extension.illinois.edu/registration/default.cfm?RegistrationID=19514

Purdue University Extension and University of Illinois Extension are pleased to collaborate to offer their annual Bi-State Gardening Conference, being held at The Beef House Restaurant at 16501 Indiana State Road 63, Covington, Indiana, on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2018. Registration begins at 5:30 p.m. EST (4:30 p.m. CST), and the presenters will begin following a Beef House buffet dinner.

The cost for the program is $20, which includes dinner.

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The Green Pathway to Invasion: Invasive Plants and Landscaping
By Chris Evans, University of Illinois Extension Forester

While invasive plants are nearly universally recognized as a major threat to our natural ecosystems, this wasn’t always the case. In fact, we have a checkered past in terms of actions taken to introduce and promote exotic plants that ultimately ended up being invasive. Many of the worst invaders started out as landscape plants. Join Chris Evans, Extension Forester with the University of Illinois, as he explores the history of invasive species in the landscape trade, why some plants end up becoming invasive, invaders that are still in the ornamental trade, and what we as landowners and concerned citizens can do to help.

Gardening Under the Influence (of Myths)
By Bill McKnight, a.k.a. The Mad Botanist

Many gardening practices result from blind faith acceptance of something they were told and often are irrelevant or counter-productive. These methods, many of them commonly employed, often have no scientific basis, are developed from an underlying truth, or are simply too ingrained. Bill will expose and discuss many of these myths.

Bill McKnight is a botanist and author of “Rantings of a Mad Botanist: A Comprehensive Guide to Gardening and Land Use Practices Emphasizing Central Indiana.” Bill is also past president of the Indiana Academy of Science, as well as a former museum curator, biology teacher, and 2018 Indiana Plant & Wildflower Society Conference Chair.