Plantations fall lecture series covers valuable (and worthless) plants

From "million dollar landscapes" to weeds worth removing, Cornell Plantations addresses a range of horticultural topics with its fall series of Wednesday night lectures, beginning Sept. 6.

Highlights of the 10-lecture series, which continues through Nov. 8, are expected to be the 12th Annual Audrey Harkness O'Connor Lecture Sept. 13 and the 18th Annual William J. Hamilton Jr. Lecture Sept. 27. All the lectures except the first one are held at 7:30 p.m. in James Law Auditorium at the College of Veterinary Medicine.

The lectures are organized by Cornell Plantations, which maintains the botanical gardens, arboretum and natural areas of the campus. The lectures are free and open to the public, and the series also is offered for college credit as Horticulture 480 at Cornell.

More information on the series is available by calling 255-2407 or visiting the Cornell Plantations web site: http://www.plantations.cornell.edu/.

·Sept. 6 at 5:30 p.m. in B-45 Warren Hall: "Nature and Memory: What I Believe," the 4th Annual William H. and Jane Torrence Harder Lecture by James McConkey, Cornell Goldwin Smith Professor of English Literature Emeritus.

·Sept. 13: "The Role of Herbs in Modern Health Care," the 12th Annual Audrey Harkness O'Connor Lecture by Rob McCaleb, founding president of the Herb Research Foundation in Boulder, Colo. The co-author of The Encyclopedia of Popular Herbs has traveled extensively in the United States, Asia and Africa to lecture on medicinal plants and the development of herbs as cash crops. The Herb Research Foundation conducts studies of natural products, their efficacy, safety and correct labeling.

·Sept. 20: "The Greatest 19th Century Nursery in the World: Rochester's Mount Hope Nursery," by Paul Grebinger, professor of anthropology at Rochester Institute of Technology.

·Sept. 27: "Plants From the Dark Side: New Shade Loving Perennials," the 18th Annual William J. Hamilton Jr. Lecture by Troy Avent, owner of Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, N.C., as well as Juniper Level Botanical Gardens. The award-winning garden writer also is known as a hosta breeder and international plant explorer. The lecture series honors another international plant enthusiast, the late William J. Hamilton Jr., who was a professor of zoology at Cornell. The stated goal of Avent's nursery is "to offer the best, newest and strangest in non-invasive perennials to gardeners around the world."

·Oct. 4: "Hardscape Harmony: Working with Plants and People" by James M. Chadwick, landscape architect from San Jose, Calif.

·Oct. 11: "Agroforestry: Farming Under the Forest Shade" by Louise Buck, senior extension associate, Department of Natural Resources at Cornell.

· Oct. 18: "Million Dollar Landscapes: 36 Years as a Long Island Nurseryman," the Class of 1938 Lecture by David E. Seeler, owner of Bayberry Nursery, Amagansett, N.Y.

·Oct. 25: "Whimsy in the Garden: The Good, the Bad and the Unbelievable" by Felder Rushing, author and Mississippi Extension horticulturist. The lecture is co-sponsored with Ithaca Children's Garden and the Cornell Department of Horticulture.

·Nov. 1: "Beautiful Bulbs: Past, Present and Future of an Industry" by William B. Miller, professor of horticulture at Cornell. Miller is the director of the Dutch Bulb Program in the United States, which moved to Cornell from North Carolina State University in 1998.

·Nov. 8: "Invasive Plants: Protecting Our Gardens and Natural Areas" by Bernd Blossey, assistant professor of natural resources at Cornell. Blossey's research seeks biological controls for invasive plants such as purple loosestrife.