Conifers, like these at the UT Gardens, Knoxville, offer some of the best year-round interest, color and form for the landscape and are an integral plant to a well-rounded garden design. A Conifer Symposium for Gardeners will be held at the UT Gardens, Knoxville, on January 28. A public plant sale will be held as well. Photo courtesy UTIA.

January is an ideal time to plant conifers in your landscape and the University of Tennessee Gardens, Knoxville, is hosting a half-day symposium on how to grow and use these plants in the landscape followed by a choice sale with more than 100 different conifer selections for shoppers. The symposium will be held on Saturday, January 28, 2017, from 8:30 a.m.-noon. The conifer sale, which is a separate event and open to the public, will be held from 12:30-2:00 p.m.

Conifers offer some of the best year-round interest, color and form for the landscape and are an integral plant to a well-rounded garden design. Participants in the symposium will learn about some of the most beautiful and low-maintenance plants available for East Tennessee gardens.

The half-day symposium includes three educational lectures led by University of Tennessee horticulturists Sue Hamilton and Andy Pulte about conifers suitable for our region, how to grow and care for these plants as well as how to use them in garden design. Symposium attendees will also be treated to advanced entrance to the conifer sale. The cost for the symposium is $30 per Garden member and $35 per nonmember. To register visit https://tiny.utk.edu/conifer by 5 p.m., Thursday, January 26.

Hamilton is past president of the Southeastern Region of the American Conifer Society and both she and Pulte are active members of the society. Together they have built the outstanding collection of conifers in the UT Gardens, Knoxville, which is now recognized as an American Conifer Society Reference Garden. The UT Gardens located in Knoxville, Jackson and Crossville together form the State Botanical Garden of Tennessee. The UT Gardens, Knoxville, is located on the campus of the UT Institute of Agriculture on Neyland Drive. For directions or for more details visit the UT Gardens website at ag.tennessee.edu/utg.

Through its mission of research, teaching and extension, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. ag.tennessee.edu