Forest Lawn Cemetery hosts Garden Symposium -- a day-long event as part of National Buffalo Garden Festival. Featuring Magical Garden and Patio Transformations – Taking Spaces From “Blah” to “Aha!”  with Siobhan Nehin; Creating Sacred Spaces in Your Garden with Virginia Burt, OALA, ASLA; The Great Botanic Gardens of the World with Richard Benfield; The Women and Gardens of Forest Lawn with Sandy Starks; and a box lunch from Buffalo’s own Quaker Bonnet.

Series of lectures plus lunch, to include:

9:30 a.m.

Magical Garden and Patio Transformations – Taking Spaces From “Blah” to “Aha!”  

Siobhan Nehin, Design & Time

11:00 a.m.

Creating Sacred Spaces in Your Garden

Virginia Burt,  OALA, ASLA, Visionscapes Landscape Architects Inc.
12:00 p.m.

Box lunch from Buffalo’s Quaker Bonnet

During lunch, participants will meet a small flock of Garden Fairies, who are flying in for the National Garden Festival and are part of a 500 strong group of artistic gardeners from Tampa Bay, Florida.  See the Garden Fairies’ demonstration on how to make personalized garden mementos. Using letters pressed into cement, you will learn how to make customized stepping stones and plaques. The Garden Fairies will also talk about their latest community beautification project: a 22' x 17' mosaic mural.

1:00 p.m.

The Great Botanic Gardens of the World

Richard Benfield, Professor of Geography, Central Connecticut State University

2:15 p.m.

The Women and Gardens of Forest Lawn

Sandy Starks, Interpretive Program Director, Forest Lawn Cemetery

   
WHEN:

Friday, July 23, 2010

Registration begins at 9:00 a.m.
   
WHERE:

Forest Lawn Cemetery

1411 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14209

WHO:

Open to the public. Seating is limited; reservations required.

Tickets are $50 per person and can be purchased by calling 885.1600.

About Forest Lawn Cemetery
As one of the first rural cemeteries in the United States, Forest Lawn Cemetery – located in downtown Buffalo, NY – is at the heart of Western New York’s cultural tourism renaissance. Its first interment took place in 1849; today there are more than 157,000 permanent residents in this 269-acre, non-denominational, non-sectarian, not-for-profit cemetery. Forest Lawn Cemetery offers year-round guided tours, educational programming, flag retirement ceremonies for scouts, special veteran programming and so much more.  Forest Lawn is the only local full-service cemetery for traditional and cremation arrangements listed on the State and National Registries of Historic Places. For more information, visit www.forest-lawn-com.