<< Back 9/11/02 Native plants focus of Highlands gathering By Don Hendershot “Well we didn’t call the first one the First Annual conference, but this is our third one and they have all been extremely successful,” Dr. Robert Wyatt, director of the Highlands Biological Station said last Saturday during the Third Annual Conference on Landscaping and Gardening with Native Plants at the Martin-Lipscomp Performing Arts Center in Highlands. The program, which ran Sept.6-8, included field trips and garden tours Friday, a series of seminars, a silent native plants auction and an open auction Saturday, and more tours and workshops on Sunday. Glenda Zahner, who serves on the board of directors of the Highlands Biological Foundation, said the Highlands’ conference was an outgrowth of the highly successful Cullowhee Native Plants Conference. “We thought a lot of people, who would have liked to attend the Cullowhee conference simply couldn’t get in, [the Cullowhee conference is limited to 500 attendees] plus we felt like Highlands warranted a similar conference,” Zahner said. Zahner said the purpose of the conference was to raise awareness of the great diversity of native plants throughout the Southern Appalachians and to educate people about landscaping with natives. The revenues from the conference go to the Highlands Botanical Gardens. “There is a lot of development in the area and a lot of native habitats are being scraped away. We are trying to educate landowners, to make them aware that they can replant areas with native species and also have beautiful landscaping,” Zahner said. The first conference coincided with Wyatt’s first year as director of the Highlands Station. “I was kind of reluctant to take it on at first but there were a lot of willing volunteers and there seemed to be a genuine demand for the program.” Wyatt said the first and subsequent conferences have surpassed expectations. “We have made around $20,000 for the station and gardens each year.” This year the coffers received an added boost as The Laurel Garden Club presented Wyatt with a check for $10,000. The money was the profit, to date, from sales of the club’s cookbook , Celebrate Highlands: Recipes and Remembrance. Wyatt said he remembered when the club called him with the idea. The club proposed to donate revenues after the printing and publishing costs were recouped. “I was, of course, pleased, but I wasn’t expecting to see any money for a year or so. But, I also didn’t know what they were producing. I was thinking cookbook, you know, a spiral bound collection of recipes. But they put together a really well done, impressive publication.” According to Kitty Moore, Laurel Garden Club chairperson, Celebrate Highlands went to print in April and the club was realizing profits by June. Moore said the book was a unique collection of recipes, garden tips and celebrations of Highlands. There is an anecdotal history of Highlands, a description of some of the town’s celebrations with menus to correspond, a collection of recipes from club members and a “Celebrity Chef” section with recipes from Highlands chefs and celebrities like Forest Gump author Winston Groom who has a home in Cashiers. Grooms contribution is a recipe for Grillardes & Grits. Wyatt said the money from the annual conference has greatly benefitted the station and the gardens. It has provided a full-time landscape designer, Jeremy Schewe, for the facilities. Schewe, a Warren Wilson graduate has been on the job for 16 months. He is in the process of creating sustainable native plant gardens around the campus of the Highlands Biological Station. Schewe said his designs are intended to actualize the concept and theory espoused during the native plants conference. “I want to put this concept on the ground, to make the place look better, and to support the conference. We plan to include the gardens I’m working on, as a part of next year’s conference,” Schewe said. Wyatt said the biological station will also be hosting a charette facilitated by Art Rice of North Carolina State’s School of Landscape Architecture Oct. 3-5. Wyatt said Rice and students will be there to look at the campus and brainstorm regarding long-term development at the station. “The station has been growing piecemeal to date. We are hoping for a lot of good ideas from the charette,” Wyatt said. There will be a public presentation at 1 p.m., Oct. 5, to discuss the ideas and issues considered during the charette. For information concerning next year’s conference and/or the upcoming charette call the Highlands Biological Station at 828.526.2602. For information regarding Celebrate Highlands: Recipes and Remembrances call The Laurel Garden Club at 828.526.8134.