2013 Call for Sessions E
Garden E
Evolu
ution YOUR GARDEN
has been evolving since its inception, through both ideal and challenging conditions. It has managed to adapt, to grow, to stay alive and relevant. What selective forces, internal or external, are causing your gardens to evolve right now? Join us in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, one of the world’s most diverse ecosystems, teeming with plants that have been shaped by evolution and natural selection not only to survive, but also to thrive in a stressful environment. Come engage in the process by “naturally selecting” Garden Evolution, the American Public Gardens Association (APGA) Annual Conference, scheduled for May 20-24, 2013, in Phoenix, Arizona.
Things are
different in the
desert
The sky is bigger. The stars are brighter. The sunsets stop you in your tracks. That’s why people have called the Valley of the Sun home for more than two thousand years. From sheltering the ancient Hohokam people, who carved out the first irrigation canals, to serving as the vibrant setting for today’s modern residents, the Greater Phoenix area has been a place where people adapt and thrive.
With nearly three hundred days of sunshine annually, Greater Phoenix is an outdoor city. Home to the nation’s largest set of wild land preserves in a metropolitan region, legendary mountain ranges, and carefully managed lakes and rivers, the area offers few reasons to stay indoors. Even our shopping centers, award-winning restaurants, and architecture celebrate the open air! By day, our sunny skies and lush desert setting create an ideal backdrop for outdoor adventures. By night, acclaimed chefs, art walks, and dozens of wine bars, lounges, and performing arts venues await. And let’s not forget the Sonoran Desert, home to the Valley of the Sun and Greater Phoenix. Stretching from the Sea of Cortez in Mexico to the Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona, it is unique among the world’s deserts, supporting more than two thousand native species of plants, and myriad species of birds, mammals, reptiles, and fish. Ever present during your stay and on display at your host gardens, the diversity of desert life will surely amaze you. The Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Gainey Ranch is your APGA conference hotel. Set amidst flowering cactus and framed against the majestic McDowell Mountains, this remarkable Scottsdale hotel and spa resort is minutes from a host of activities and miles from the ordinary. Enjoy breathtaking vistas blended with intriguing Native American culture and pampering amenities including championship golf, a two-and-a-half-acre water playground, and tennis.
Host Gardens:
Desert Botanical Garden
Since 1939, the Desert Botanical Garden, nestled amid the buttes of Papago Park, has been home to one of the finest and most diverse collections of succulent plants, including rare, threatened, and endangered species from around the Southwest.
I
t is the only botanical garden in the world whose mission, from its early inception, is to focus solely on the conservation of desert plants and one of the few whose collections comprise a library, herbarium, living specimens, and rare and endangered plants. Mrs. Gertrude Divine Webster, an environmentalist ahead of her time, in conjunction with a small group of Valley citizens, gathered in Papago Park to create a botanical garden whose precepts would encourage an understanding, appreciation, and promotion of the uniqueness of the world’s deserts, particularly the Sonoran Desert. They foresaw the Valley’s potential and unique identity, envisioning the need to conserve their beautiful desert environment. The Desert Botanical Garden continues to be a testament to their vision.
The Desert Botanical Garden sits on 145 acres and has more than 50,000 plants on display. The Living Collection contains over 21,000 accessioned plants representing 3,931 taxa in 139 plant families. The Garden’s living collections in the cactus and agave families are designated as United States National Collections by the North American Plant Collections Consortium, part of APGA. The Desert Botanical Garden has five thematic trails that illustrate a variety of topics. The Garden’s Desert Discovery Trail showcases desert plants from around the world. The Plants and People of the Sonoran Desert Trail explores how desert plants are used for nourishment and tools. The Sonoran Desert Nature Trail illustrates the relationship between desert plants and animals. The Center for Desert Living Trail represents modern living in the desert. The Harriet K. Maxwell Desert Wildflower Trail showcases desert wildflowers.
Host Gardens:
Arizona - Sonora Desert Museum
Sixty years ago, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum opened its doors to visitors for the first time. Since 1952, it has evolved into a fusion experience, part botanical garden, zoo, natural history museum, art gallery, and research institute.
T
he museum’s mission is to inspire people to live in harmony with the natural world by fostering within them a love, appreciation, and understanding of the bi-national Sonoran Desert Region. Located in scenic Tucson Mountain Park, the Museum represents and interprets all of the Sonoran Desert habitats – from the creosote flats of the desert to the mountain “sky islands.” It is one of the nation’s leading living, outdoor museums, featuring more than 230 animal species and 1,200 varieties of desert plants, and encompasses twenty-one acres including two miles of walking trails. The Museum’s live animal programs, Running Wild Live and (sort of ) on the Loose, provide opportunities to get closer to many of the region’s animals while dispelling myths about many of them.
Raptor Free Flight, a seasonal program, demonstrates the aerial talents and acrobatics of many species of desert-dwelling birds of prey, with its narrators focusing on the natural history and roles raptors serve in the wild. While on the grounds, guests can also experience live animal and plant interpretations presented by the museum’s knowledgeable docents. In addition to presenting regional flora and fauna, the Museum also interprets the geology of the region in its Earth Sciences Center which goes underground in a realistic desert cave environment that includes stalactites, stalagmites, rocks, minerals, crystals, and, of course, bats. In late 2012, the Museum will open in the Warden Aquatics Gallery its newest exhibit–Rivers to the Sea–which will encompass over 1,100 square feet and include fourteen tanks displaying a variety of freshwater and saltwater sea life representative of the region’s rivers and the Sea of Cortez.
PARTNER GARDENS Boyce Thompson Arboretum different taxa in 122 plant families are represented, with major plant exhibits that mimic plant communities from Australia, North and South America, southern Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean, and other arid land regions of the world.
B
oyce Thompson Arboretum is located in the heart of the Arizona Upland Division of the Sonoran Desert, just one hour east of Phoenix. Three miles of trails wind through 392 acres of plant exhibits and natural areas that integrate seamlessly within the striking volcanic rock formations that form the bones and backdrop of the Arboretum’s topography. Over 2,600
Founded in 1924 as the first 501(c)(3) in Arizona and opened to the public in 1929, Boyce Thompson Arboretum is the oldest and largest botanical garden in the state. Its mission is to instill in people an appreciation of plants through the fostering of educational, recreational, research, and conservation opportunities associated with arid land plants. With its Desert Legume Program, the Arboretum is one of three US organizations to have its seed bank conserved at the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway.
The Arboretum has a well-stocked bookstore and gift shop, year-round plant sales, and a vibrant membership program. A wide range of educational workshops, tours, walks, and classes serve to bolster the admiration and understanding of desert plants and the natural world in which they grow. The unparalleled location at the foot of Picket Post Mountain attracts plant lovers, photographers, birders, and a wide range of nature enthusiasts who enjoy the Arboretum’s extensive arid land plant collections, without sacrificing a profound and ever-present feeling of wildness. Boyce Thompson Arboretum is a place where the frantic pace of the world can be forgotten. There are wonders for the senses to experience throughout the year: the new life, color, and fragrances of spring; saguaro cactus blooms and yellow puddles of wind-blown palo verde flowers in May; the warm stillness of summertime; and the spectacular leaves of autumn. The Arboretum changes by the minute, and every minute is worth experiencing.
Tohono Chul Park
E
mbrace the authentic beauty of the Sonoran Desert year-round at Tohono Chul Park, Tucson’s charming crossroads of nature, art, and culture. Deemed One of the World’s Ten Best Botanical Gardens by Travel + Leisure Magazine, Tohono Chul, with its gardens, galleries, and bistro, has been celebrated for over a quarter of a century by Tucson as one of its “best kept secrets.” Set on forty-nine acres of lush desert, the vibrant offerings at Tohono Chul will awaken your senses. Locals and visitors alike delight in the experience of having nature at their fingertips. Stroll along winding paths past soaring Saguaros and through flourishing gardens, and marvel at a chance encounter with a resident hummingbird. Enjoy quiet retreat in the artfully designed relaxation spots sprinkled throughout the lush grounds. Various exhibits reveal the unique qualities of the Sonoran region and renew a deep appreciation for the treasures of the desert.
Be inspired by the collection of artwork in the galleries and gift shops. From artisanal to avantgarde, the creations by local artists were influenced by the wonders of the region. Renowned for its spectacular view of the Santa Catalina Mountains and regionally inspired fare, the Garden Bistro—treasured among locals as a favorite dining spot for breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea—will help you indulge in fresh Southwestern flavors. The Tohono Chul experience goes beyond one of relaxation to deliver an engaging learning experience. Discover the secrets of the desert and gain knowledge of the region’s natural and cultural heritage year-round, through a variety of lectures, guided tours, workshops, concerts, and special events.
PARTNER GARDENS Tucson Botanical Gardens
A
five-and-a-half-acre urban garden, Tucson Botanical Gardens is a lush and tranquil oasis in the heart of the city.
Built from the historic nursery and home of the Porter Family, the shaded Historic Gardens and the Porter House Gallery offer visitors the opportunity to enjoy eleven rotating exhibits annually; these focus on emerging and established local and regional artists whose themes interpret the flora, fauna, and landscape of desert regions. Paths lead through a diverse selection of residentially scaled specialty gardens, including a Zen Garden, Prehistoric Garden, Barrio Garden, Butterfly Garden, and Children’s Garden.
The Stonewall Foundation Tropical Exhibit is home to orchids, bromeliads, and jungle vegetation. During the months of October to April, the Exhibit hosts Butterfly Magic, a display of live tropical butterflies with species representation from five continents. Low-water gardening is exemplified in the Xeriscape Garden, while nearby Aloe Alley fills the early winter months with flowers. The Cactus and Succulent Garden presents hundreds of cacti and arid plants, geographically arranged to represent desert regions. This garden is embellished with exotic stones and minerals collected by the Gardens’ founder, Harrison Yocum. Life in the desert is explored in the Native Crops Garden, which illustrates the prehistoric agricultural practices in Central and Southern Arizona. The Tohono O’odham Path winds among edible and utilitarian plants of the Sonoran Desert.
Tracks E
The definition of ev
To change, grow, progress, Change/ Grow/ Visitor Experience Horticulture How are you evolving your visitor experience in order to compete? Has your delivery method changed or adapted with technology? How are you ensuring that the visitor’s experience is consistent from inception to completion? What insights do visitors bring into different areas of your operation? If you rely greatly on volunteers, how do you ensure that this valuable segment of your workforce understands and implements your visitor experience best practices? How is visitor feedback on your visitor experience collected, evaluated, and put to use?
How are you evolving your plant displays? Are you integrating your plant collections and display areas? Tell us about your innovative plant displays. How are you innovating plant care? Are your rare and endangered plants on display? What’s your intersection between plants and people? Plant labels? Novel interpretive technology. Evolution to design.
Progress/ Conservation
How are you evolving toward conservation with plants, people, and practices? Does conservation equal sustainability? What are your sustainable practices? Do you have a recycling program? Are you using treated waste water? LEED certification—it’s a starting point, not an end point.
evolve:
, advance, develop, devise, or obtain. Advance/ Leadership
How has your leadership evolved? What’s leading your garden to a better stage? Has your board adapted to represent the community you serve? Are you using creative approaches to attracting, developing, and motivating professional staff? What forprofit business practices have you put in place to improve and augment your non-profit income?
Develop/ Education
How have you evolved your delivery of environmental education into the school system, in an era of budget cuts? How are you fertilizing the growth of environmental education in schools? How are you supporting growth and retention of membership by what you are offering? How are you surviving in challenging evolutionary times? How are you adapting programs for math and literacy tracks? From pen and paper to iPad—at the speed of light.
Devise/ Marketing and Public Relations/ Media Relations
Obtain/ Development
How do you attract and retain members who reflect your organization Have you evolved to work with both and have a life-long commitment, print and digital media? Is there so you don’t become extinct? Is diversity in the delivery of your your case for support continuing messages? Has your budget shrunk? to evolve with the changing needs Have you done a cost/benefit analy- of your donors? How can new sis on having a marketing departinstitutional partnerships attract new ment? Do you equate revenue with members? What are your growth marketing? With whom are you col- strategies in moving visitors to laborating outside of your Garden? members and members to donors? How do you nurture champions for your organization who support the work you do, far beyond their financial investment?
2013 GARDEN EVOLUTION SUBMISSION INFORMATION Call for Sessions and Proposals Opens: Monday, June 18, 2012, 10:00 a.m. ET http://apga2013.abstractcentral.com
Submission Deadline: Wednesday, October 17, 2012, 11:00 p.m. ET Instructions for Submitting Your Proposal The online submission process is easy and allows you to compose abstracts securely and collaboratively with colleagues throughout the world, thus simplifying the authoring and submission process. Moderator/Workshop Leader Information Moderators will be expected to: • Coordinate logistical details; • Organize the session including presenters, focus, format, and handouts; • For workshops, work with the APGA Meetings Manager on food, audiovisual, and other costs; • Notify speakers once the proposal has been accepted; • Specify room/site setup and audiovisual needs; • Ensure that they and all speakers register for the conference; • Develop session content; • Introduce session and provide an overview of the topic and the format; • Introduce presenters and the presentation’s major points;
Honoraria, Presentation Expenses, and Budget • APGA tries to keep conference fees as low as possible and has a limited speaker budget. On average, 100-120 speakers participate in the conference each year. Those from within public horticulture do not receive honoraria or travel reimbursements. For all others, support will be considered depending upon the number of requests. Cash support for presentations is awarded only in exceptional circumstances. If you request financial support, please submit a detailed budget with your proposal. Requests for support submitted after a proposal is accepted will not be considered. In the online submission process, a place exists for you to upload a budget for your session. • Indicate in advance what any extraordinary needs will be. We’d like to know if you need audio or Internet access, handouts, meals/breaks, buses for transportation or other more technical requirements. This will help us understand how much this presentation or workshop will cost to run, as each of these items has an associated cost. • Workshops are expected to cover all costs through registration fees. Typical workshop attendance is ten to twenty participants. Full-day workshop fees range from $100-$125. Contact APGA to obtain food and audiovisual cost estimates.
• Provide interim and summary remarks;
• Do not include conference registration costs in your budget.
• Ensure the electronic capture of session and workshop information;
• Requests for funding will be strengthened by demonstrated efforts
• Facilitate the question and answer period.
to help cover costs such as asking outside speakers to waive their fees or at least partially cover their own expenses, or encouraging your institution or a speaker to sponsor your session (or any session) in exchange for recognition as a Session Sponsor.
Presentation Formats
Posters/Displays
Fifteen- or Thirty-Minute Individual Presentations
Displayed throughout the conference, posters showcase a single
Structured discussions or presentations based on a single, focused
program or special project in a graphic format, using photographs,
topic. Only one author (on multi-author papers) will present at the meet-
diagrams, plans, sketches, or charts with limited text, on a bi-fold or
ing. Two to six individual presentations will be grouped per time slot.
tri-fold presentation board. Poster presenters have a specific time to
Sixty-Minute Multi-Speaker or Panel Discussion
way to present new ideas, concepts, and programs.
Three to five panelists provide brief introductions; a moderator poses prepared questions to the panelists followed by questions from the audience. The talk-show format allows for an in-depth focus on a single topic, offers multiple points of view, and allows panelists, moderator, and audience to interact. Ninety-Minute Multi-Speaker or Panel Session The moderator gives an overview of the session and introduces one to three consecutive speakers. Presentations are generally fifteen to twenty minutes long and include PowerPoint presentations and other audiovisuals. Multiple speakers can provide a diversity of perspectives or feature different aspects of a topic. Workshop (Full- or Half-day) The perfect venue for experienced workshop leaders to pass on their
discuss their projects and answer questions. Posters are an excellent Tips for Developing a Strong Proposal • APGA’s conferences are recognized for leading the field of public horticulture. We are looking for the best and most motivating, inspiring, and innovative educational content. • Please remember this is an online submission. We recommend that you prepare your submission ahead of time in an MS Word document and then cut and paste it into the required fields, paying attention ahead of time to the word/character count for each section. • APGA annual conference registrants have often said that they are not looking for “show-and-tell” sessions but rather for information explaining “how-tos” and “whys” that they can take back to their respective public gardens and implement. • APGA conference registrants are diverse. Your audience potentially
knowledge in a targeted learning opportunity. Typically these workshops
includes Institutional Members representing botanical gardens,
have an interactive, hands-on component. Please note that proposals
arboreta, cemeteries, zoos, and university campuses as well as
for workshops must include a complete budget.
Individual Members—volunteers, students, retirees, and corporate members from a variety of industries. Please be clear about your intended audience when developing your proposal.
• When recruiting speakers for your session, please keep in mind the
Evaluation and Notification
diversity of APGA members. Member gardens vary in terms of size
How are proposals evaluated?
of budget, staff, and acreage. If applicable, please ensure that your speakers are representative of the membership so that all gardens can take advantage of the valuable information you are presenting. • The 2013 theme for the APGA annual conference is Garden Evolution, and submissions should address the theme. Questions? Who should present at APGA? Anyone with an interest in public horticulture is welcome to participate in the program. Presenters from disciplines or organizations outside public horticulture are strongly encouraged to participate. Membership in APGA is not a prerequisite. Can I make changes to my abstract with the online submission? Full instructions for submitting abstracts online will be available in a stepby- step process within the online submission system. In addition to these instructions, you will be provided with online support pages and phone support through ScholarOne’s Abstract® Central customer support team. You will have the ability to update or make changes to your abstract until the abstract submission deadline.
During the peer-review process, members of the Program Selection Committee evaluate proposals using the following criteria: 1. Topic, intent, and learning outcomes (for workshops and organized sessions) that are focused, well presented, and thoughtfully articulated 2. A clear and convincing presentation of ideas, organization, and rationale for choosing speakers/presenters 3. Confirmed speakers/presenters 4. A diverse selection of speakers/presenters who represent a wide range of perspectives, regions, garden sizes/budgets/missions (Speakers from outside public horticulture are welcome) 5. An appropriate format that contributes to the exploration of the topic 6. Important or timely topic 7. Realistic and affordable budget (if any) with funding sources identified 8. Relevance to conference theme
Notification January 1, 2013, you will receive notification of the status of your proposal. If acceptance is contingent on changes, you will have two weeks to make those changes and get the amended proposal back to the Program Selection Committee. Punctuality and cooperation are appreciated. APGA will determine the specific timeslots for sessions. For More Information: Program Selection Committee Chair: Beverly Duzik, Director of Development Desert Botanical Garden bduzik@dbg.org or 480.481.8111 To contact APGA, please call 610.708.3010 or email info@publicgardens.org.
E American Public Gardens Association 351 Longwood Road, Kennett Square, PA 19348 Ph: 610.708.3010 Fax: 610.444.3594 www.publicgardens.org