Plantations' fall lecture series covers ecological landscape

Horticulturists, authors and landscape designers -- plus one ecologist, one mycologist and one literary critic -- are in the lineup for the Fall '99 Cornell Plantations Seminar Series with 10 Wednesday evening lectures, starting Sept. 8 at Cornell.

All lectures in the series are free to the public. The lectures also may be attended for one college credit as Horticulture 480. Book signings are scheduled after five of the lectures, and refreshments are served after each one. Nearby free parking is available at B-lot, off Route 366.

With the exception of the Sept. 8 lecture, all in the series are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in James Law Auditorium, Schurman Hall, College of Veterinary Medicine:

• Sept. 8 at 5:30 p.m. in Warren Hall Auditorium: "This Green World: The Vision of Nature in the Romantic Poets," M.H. Abrams, Class of 1916 Professor of English Emeritus, Cornell, delivers the third annual William H. and Jane Torrence Harder Lecture.
• Sept. 15: "Natural Landscaping for Birds -- and People, Too," Sally Roth, naturalist and author of Natural Landscaping.
• Sept. 22: "Designing with Ground Covers and Bulbs: The Finishing Touches," Mary Ann McGourty, co-owner of Hillside Gardens, Norfolk, Conn.
• Sept. 29: "Detective Work in Tompkins County Forests: 200 Years of Change," Peter Marks, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, Cornell.
• Oct. 6: "From the Earth to the Table: Creating Edible Landscapes," Rosalind Creasy, landscape designer and author of books on edible gardens, Los Altos, Calif., delivers the 17th annual William J. Hamilton Jr. Lecture.
• Oct. 13: "The Exotic Garden: Designing with Tropical Plants in Almost Any Climate," Richard Iversen, associate professor of ornamental horticulture, State University of New York at Farmingdale, and author of The Exotic Garden Designing with Tropical Plants in Almost Any Climate.
• Oct. 20: "Excavating the Villa Gardens of the Ancient Roman Poet Horace," Kathryn Gleason, associate professor of landscape architecture, Cornell, delivers the Class of 1938 Lecture.
• Oct. 27: "From Desert to Mountaintop: Conservation Planning with the Nature Conservancy," Karen Poiani, national landscape ecologist for the Nature Conservancy and visiting fellow, Department of Natural Resources, Cornell.
• Nov. 3: "Great Moments in History and How Fungi Got Us There," George Hudler, professor of plant pathology at Cornell and author of Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds.
• Nov. 10: "Art, Ecology and the Exuberant Garden," C. Colston Burrell, landscape designer and author of Garden Encyclopedia of Wildflowers and Perennial Combinations, delivering the 11th annual Audrey Harkness O'Connor Lecture.

Information on attending the seminar series for course credit as Horticulture 480 is available from Raylene Ludgate, Cornell Plantations, 255-2407, e-mail rgl3@cornell.edu.