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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.

2025 Conference Agenda

Keynote Session (9am): 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: How Colorado State and Local Policies Can Boost Native Plant Landscaping - Suzanne O'Neill, Colorado Native Landscape Coalition

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

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.

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.