The Mediterranean Gardening Association in Portugal extends a warm invitation to those readers who wish to attend the International Spring Conference weekend in Lagos on April 22nd to 25th.
The aim for this 5th annual conference is to reveal the practical and aesthetic benefits of making beautiful and sustainable gardens with plants of the Mediterranean and dry zone flora worldwide.
The Conference takes place in Lagos at the Four Star Hotel Vila Galé Lagos overlooking Meia Praia and will concentrate on modern trends towards use of native plants from Mediterranean zones for sustainable Mediterranean gardens including discussion on how to unlock their huge future potential.
Delegates will hear directly from Olivier Filippi all about creating dry gardens in the Mediterranean. This will be illustrated by visits to contemporary gardens in the Algarve and appreciation of examples throughout Portugal from our panel of speakers.
The second keynote speaker is Dr Ken Thompson, regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph on ecology and a leading gardening columnist. He will speak on 'Soil, the Final Frontier what goes on out of sight and what do we really know about it' with further talks by Marilyn Medina Ribeiro, Miguel Coelho de Sousa and Teresa Afonso de Paço from Lisbon, all this plus inspirational Wildflower guided Walks with Udo Schwarzer, Sue Parker and Pat O ́Reilly.
For more information, the full conference programme and the booking form, go to:
http://www.mediterraneangardeningportugal.org/Spring_Conf_2016.html
Spring Conference Bonus - this year there are opportunities to see some notable local private gardens. There also will be an opportunity to buy the newly published book of Olivier Filippi on 'Dry Gardening' and a full range of natural history books on the Algarve, including the new edition of ´Algarve Wildlife – The Natural Year´
For those arriving early on Friday 22 April or staying in the area on Monday 25 April additional garden visits will be offered as an optional extension to the Conference weekend.
