Coming Soon
This Event is SOLD OUT and the Waitlist is FULL.
Sanctuary in the Garden
October 14, 2026
Blue Ridge Community College
Flat Rock, North Carolina
We are pleased to announce the 2026 WNC Gardening Symposium!
The Extension Master GardenerSM volunteers of Buncombe, Catawba, Haywood, Henderson, McDowell, and Polk counties are excited to bring you an inspiring program! Our WNC Gardening Symposium will be held on October 14, at the beginning of leaf season in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.
The theme of this year’s symposium program is Sanctuary in the Garden. Our five speakers will present on a wide range of topics, sure to be interesting! Click here for the Program Agenda.
Coming October 14, 2026!
In October, the symposium offers a fun-filled day of learning from inspiring national and local speakers to further our mission of educating the public. The day includes an amazing selection of gardening vendors, delicious catered luncheon, unique raffle prizes, beautiful door prizes plus time to see some old friends and meet some new ones. The program is organized, planned and managed by Extension Master GardenerSM volunteers from Buncombe, Catawba, Haywood, Henderson, McDowell, and Polk counties.
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Thank You, Sponsors
Speakers
Claire Sawyers
Claire retired in 2025 after 35 years of serving as the director of the Scott Arboretum & Gardens in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, overseeing the collections and programs of the 400-acre campus. Prior to that she worked at Mt. Cuba Center located in Delaware for 7 years, helping to develop a private estate to become a public garden dedicated to native plants. She holds Masters of Science degrees in ornamental horticulture from both Purdue University and the University of Delaware where she was a Longwood Graduate Fellow. In addition to her overseas experience in Japan, she has worked as a gardener at Kalmthout Arboretum in Belgium, Les Jardins de Kerdalo and Le Vasterival in Brittany and Normandy France. Her book, The Authentic Garden: Five Principles for Cultivating a Sense of Place was published by Timber Press in 2007. She was recognized by the American Horticultural Society with the 2023 Liberty Hyde Bailey Award for her lifetime contributions to horticultural teaching, communications, administration and leadership.
Julie Zickefoose
Julie Zickefoose lives and works quietly on an 80-acre wildlife sanctuary in the back country of Whipple, Ohio. She is a prolific writer and painter who was an All Things Considered commentator for five years. Her illustrated work, The Bluebird Effect, was an Oprah’s Book Club pick in 2012. After 37 years of contributing art and writing to Bird Watcher’s Digest, Julie recently became Advising Editor to the new and improved BWD Magazine. Her heavily illustrated books include Natural Gardening for Birds, Letters from Eden, The Bluebird Effect, and Baby Birds: An Artist Looks Into the Nest. Saving Jemima: Life and Love with a Hard-Luck Jay and Birdwatching for Dummies are her two most recent titles.
Kim Bailey
An avid wildlife habitat gardener and environmental educator for over 25 years, Kim Bailey has a true passion for pollinators. In 2014, she moved to family property in Fruitland, NC, and founded Milkweed Meadows Farm. Generations ago, the property was a working dairy farm. Today, instead of producing milk, the farm grows milkweed as well as native wildflower seeds, open-pollinated heirloom vegetable seeds, pollinator-friendly potted plants, cut flowers, and specialty fruits. Kim not only enjoys gardening for bees, and other wildlife at the farm, but loves sharing knowledge about creating pollinator habitats with others by regularly teaching classes and giving presentations. Kim’s past experiences include teaching middle school life science classes, leading wilderness adventure trips, directing outdoor environmental education programs, and training teachers and naturalists. She has also volunteered for Master Gardeners, Master Pomologists, Georgia Native Plant Society, Monarch Across Georgia, Bee City USA, and National Wildlife Federation’s Habitat Stewards.
Michael Gibson
Michael P. Gibson is a world-renowned, self-taught topiarist, Therapeutic Horticultural Practitioner, and founder of Gibson Works LLC, with over 30 years of experience transforming spaces through his signature Gibson Method “illusion topiary” style that blends geometry, symbolism, and storytelling. After leaving a successful corporate career in 2019 to pursue topiary full-time, he has created over 700 living sculptures across the country, been featured on HGTV’s Clipped with Martha Stewart, served as artist-in-residence at the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden, and received honors including the APGA Garden Scholar Award and the U.S. Botanic Garden’s Sowing Excellence Award. Based in Columbia, South Carolina, Gibson shares his craft through lectures, demonstrations, and Topiary Therapy workshops.
Leigh Ann Henion
Leigh Ann Henion is the New York Times bestselling author of Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark (2024) and Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World (2015). Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Smithsonian, Backpacker, Garden & Gun, National Geographic, Men’s Journal, and a variety of other publications. Her essays and articles have been cited as notable in The Best American Essays, The Best American Travel Writing, The Best American Sports Writing, and The Best American Science & Nature Writing. She is a former Alicia Patterson Fellow, and her work has been supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Night Magic was, in part, inspired by an article Henion wrote for The Washington Post Magazine about synchronous fireflies. After that piece ran, many readers reached out to let her know that they’d started turning off their porch lights more often, and she was amazed that her story had inspired real-world action that led to reduced light pollution. Henion subsequently spent several years in the company of owls, moths, salamanders, and other nocturnal creatures to explore the importance of natural darkness in an age of increasing artificial light.
About the Program
Make sure to arrive for the event around 7:45 a.m. for check-in and a light morning snack. Leave time to shop our vendors’ booths for garden-related products while supplies last!
The program will begin at 8:45 a.m. and end around 4:15 p.m. Attendance for the full day is valid for 5 hours of continuing education for Extension Master GardenerSM volunteers. If you hold other horticulture certifications, please check with that organization to determine whether this program will qualify for credit.
Venue
We are pleased to announce the event will once again be held at Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock, just off I-26 at exit 53, Upward Road. Signs will be posted to direct you to the Technology Building. The facility offers a roomy conference center with excellent graphic displays and sound system, plus a central area where the vendors will be situated so you can easily see everything they have to offer. Like many large auditoriums, the temperature can be uncomfortably cold at times, so you may want to bring a sweater.
Overnight Accommodations
A small block of rooms, with a negotiated rate of $129, has been reserved at the Fairfield Inn & Suites, located at 836 Upward Road. Their phone is 828-513-5100. Click here to book your group rate for WNC Garden Symposium. In addition, other lodging options at the same exit includes the Mountain Inn and Suites, a Holiday Inn Express, and Quality Inn and Suites. Information about area restaurants and things to do can be found at VisitHendersonvilleNC.org.
Raffle for Amazing Creations
Fees and Registration
No Walk-Ins are available for this event
We will continue to require online registration, so you will receive instant confirmation of your reservation. The symposium fee is $85. This event is sold out and the waitlist is full.
The symposium fee includes a light morning snack and lunch with dessert. Water and coffee will be available throughout the day. As always, there will be wonderful door prizes, great vendors, delicious food, and plenty of free parking.
Questions about this event should be emailed to WNCGdnSymposium@gmail.com.
Funds management activities for the NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteers of Buncombe County operate under the auspices of the Extension Master GardenerSM Association of Buncombe County (EMGVABC), a non-profit, charitable and educational corporation as defined by Internal Revenue Service code 501(c)3. The Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer Association of Buncombe County was incorporated on October 9, 2017, in Asheville, NC. The Extension Master Gardener Association of Buncombe County Tax ID number is 56-2152952.