With spring drawing closer and the return of that familiar itch that gardeners tend to get at this time of year, you know the Western Landscape Symposium is just around the corner.

This year, the symposium will be taking place on Saturday, March 29th at Pueblo Community College and will run from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. We on the planning committee are excited to share that our keynote speaker this year is well-known garden author and podcaster, Jennifer Jewell. She’ll be speaking on ‘What We Sow in Cultivating Our Places’. This talk pulls on themes from her third book, What We Sow, which explores the state of seed, both literally and metaphorically, in our world.

Jennifer delves into endless fascinating topics on her podcast, ‘Cultivating Place’, which boasts over 400 episodes for us fellow gardeners to enjoy. Drawing upon this extensive background and her own experiences, her talk this year will serve to energize and inspire gardeners and cultivators in their horticultural work and to remember why it is so critically important in our world right now to value this kind of work as highly as anything we do in our lives.

Irene Shonle, recently retired and much-lauded Horticulture Specialist from CSU Extension in El Paso County, will be hosting a session covering underused native plants for the landscape. This talk will focus on great plant choices that don’t find their way into our yards often enough. There will be an emphasis on plants from southern Colorado that are well-adapted to handle our current and future conditions as climate change effects shift with time.

Next up is Michelle Nelson who is a Soil Health Specialist for the Colorado Department of Agriculture. Soil plays an essential role in the success of our plantings and overall health of our ecosystems. She’s excited to share the 5 main principles of soil health and how to apply the most important 6th principle, context, to them all for application in our landscapes.

This year, during the lunch break which will run from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., audience members will have the chance to visit a variety of information, demonstration, and vendor tables. As a fun addition to this year’s offerings, a screening of the local documentary Mirasol will take place at 12:30. Please take note that lunch tickets are not being sold this year, but lunch options will be available on-site or participants can choose to bring their own lunches to the event. Tickets are selling fast, so go to 2025WLS.eventbrite.com now to secure your spot.

While the symposium has been a favorite of both Pueblo residents and visitors from across the state for years, we would not be able to put on this excellent educational event without our planning committee. The committee is made up of representatives from CSU Extension-Pueblo County, The Pueblo Zoo, Colorado Master Gardeners, Pueblo Food Project, and Keep Pueblo Beautiful.

We hope to see you on March 29th!