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2025 Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants Conference

On March 8, 2025, the Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants Conference will offer a full day of educational programming promoting the cultivation and maintenance of native plants in the landscape.

The conference theme is Beyond the Box - Growing a culture of native plant landscaping and the event will be held at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

Registration is now closed.

Conference recordings will be available for purchase by April. Check back here for that opportunity.

2025 Conference Agenda

Welcome and Land Acknowledgement (9 am)

Keynote Session (9:25 am): Cultivating Place: How a Garden Culture of Care for Native Plants Strengthens Places & People - Jennifer Jewell, author and host of the national award-winning weekly public radio program and podcast Cultivating Place: Conversations on Natural History and the Human Impulse to Garden.

There will be concurrent sessions following threads of "New to Natives" versus "Knows the Natives."

Session 1 Breakout:

  • New to Natives: Creating a Culture of Native Plant Restoration - Jim Tolstrup, High Plains Environmental Center

  • Knows the Natives: Breeding Native Cultivars: Is Artificial Selection Impacting Insect Visitation? - Tommy Roth, Colorado State University

Session 2 Breakout:

  • New to Natives: A Seasonal Perspective on Community Engagement and Native Plant Availability - Maggie Gaddis, Colorado Native Plant Society

  • Knows the Natives: How Colorado State and Local Policies Can Boost Native Plant Landscaping

    • Suzanne O'Neill, Colorado Native Landscape Coalition

    • Deryn Davidson, Sustainable Landscape State Specialist, CSU Extension

    • Joyce Kennedy, Director of the People & Pollinators Action Network (PPAN)

    • Danna Liebert, Owner of Grounded Growth Landscapes, Board of Directors Wild Ones

Session 3 Breakout:

  • New to Natives: Your Native Plant Garden, All Grown Up! - Dave Sutherland, City of Boulder OSMP (retired)

  • Knows the Natives: Parks Pollinators and People: How landscape and local factors drive differences in pollinator biodiversity in Denver, Colorado parks - Nicki Bailey, Colorado State University

Closing Session: Celebration and Reflection: 10 years of the Landscaping With Colorado Native Plants Conference, a moderated panel with Jennifer Jewel and co-founders of the conference.

All are welcome for a 10th anniversary celebration with cake and coffee after the closing session.

We will have vendor booths and student poster sessions available during registration, lunch and breaks, so be sure to join us when doors open at 8 am. Lunch will be provided.

Please note: This event will be held regardless of winter weather conditions unless CSU and/or major highways and interstates are closed due to inclement weather.