Registration Open!

Join us on January 18, 2025 for Garden Visions 2025.  

Agenda

7:30am - 8:30am  Doors Open / Registration

8:30am - 10:00am "Creating a Pollinator Paradise", Melinda Myers

Whether planting a garden, enjoying the beauty of your landscape or sitting down to a delicious meal, you have bees, butterflies, and other pollinators to thank. These essential members of our ecosystem are responsible for much of the food and beauty we enjoy each day. Create the right habitat and you can fill your landscape with bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators. We’ll discuss plant selection, design strategies and plant care to help attract and support pollinators. Soon you’ll be enjoying their beauty and increased productivity in your garden!

10:00am - 10:20am Book Signing with Melinda Myers / Vendor Time

10:20am - 11:35am "Integrated Pest Management", Allen Pyle

Learn to reduce pest damage in home gardens and landscapes with Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques. IPM is a science-based approach focused on understanding pest life cycles and using a combination of targeted control measures to reduce damage from pests including insects, mites, diseases, weeds, and critters. The presentation includes information on some of Wisconsin’s most common garden pests as well as invasive exotic pest threatening the state. Attendees will learn useful control techniques regardless of their gardening experience.

11:35am - 12:45pm  Vendors / Lunch

12:45pm - 2:00pm "Garden Renovations for Any Size Landscape", Melinda Myers

Small changes can make a big difference in the health and beauty of your landscape. Melinda will cover common landscape mistakes and challenges and provide affordable and attractive solutions you can put to work in your garden. She will cover everything from plant maintenance, garden accents, planting strategies and of course a few structures and hardscape options.

2:00pm - 2:15pm  Break 

2:15pm - 3:30pm "Presley Pointers for Busy Gardeners", Leigh and Erin Presley

For sisters Leigh and Erin Presley, many hours laboring in their parents’ gardens as children sparked appreciation for the dedication and hard work gardening requires… and shortcuts and time-savers too! Leigh (also the mother of two small boys) owns Clearview Garden Center in Weston, Wisconsin, and Erin has worked as a horticulturist at Olbrich Gardens and beyond for more than 20 years. Their practical tips for spring and fall cleanup, weeding and watering, at home propagation, upcycling, container planting and more will have you spending, working, and stressing less and playing more in your gardens this summer!

Meet Our Presenters

Melinda Myers

Nationally known gardening expert, TV/radio host, author & columnist Melinda Myers has 35+ years of horticulture experience and has written 20+ gardening books, including Midwest Gardener's Handbook. She hosts the “Melinda’s Garden Moment” radio program and “How to Grow Anything” instant video/DVD series. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms and hosted “The Plant Doctor” radio show on WTMJ for 20+ years and 7 seasons of PBS’s “Great Lakes Gardener.” www.MelindaMyers.com 

Allen Pyle

Allen R. Pyle is a statewide Extension Horticulture Outreach Specialist for UW-Madison, housed in Green Bay. Allen has degrees in horticulture and entomology. His expertise includes vegetables, herbaceous ornamentals, plant propagation, native plants, and Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

Erin & Leigh Presley 

Erin Presley earned her bachelor’s degree in Horticulture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked in private garden care for nearly a decade before joining the staff at Olbrich Botanical Gardens, a 16-acre free admission public garden in Madison, where she cares for the Herb, Woodland, Gravel and Pond Gardens. She loves to share the joy of gardening, with appearances on the nationally syndicated podcast Cultivating Place and The Plantastic Podcast with Dr. Jared Barnes, Wisconsin Public Radio’s Garden Talk and contributions to print and online horticulture publications.  Follow Erin on Instagram @presleyspreferredplants.

Leigh Presley is entering her 5th year of ownership of Clearview Garden Center in Weston, Wisconsin, having learned a whole lot and hoping to not repeat the mistakes of past seasons. Leigh has a landscape architecture degree from UW-Madison, an agriculture master's from Colorado State University and most recently served as the UW-Extension agriculture educator in Racine and Kenosha Counties. Her time in Extension and growing up in the garden has informed much of what she does at Clearview, which is known for quality plants and friendly faces, where all customers are encouraged to share their successes and failures in the garden.

Attend Your Way

Attend in person all day OR attend virtually via Zoom. All sessions will be livestreamed for virtual attendees. 

Registration Fees

Regular Registration - $69

62+ Registration - $59

Virtual Registration (full day) - $40

Walk-In Day of Registration - $79

Book Sales

In Person attendees will be able to pre-order Melinda Myer's books for the book signing. Books will also be available for purchase the day of the conference.  Book sales will not be available for virtual attendees but can be purchased from Amazon. Book prices include sales tax.

• Midwest Gardener's Handbook, 2nd Edition - $28.47
• MN & WI Getting Started Garden Guides - $26.36
• MN & WI Month-by-Month Gardening - $26.36

Onsite Vendors! 

Please note, an ATM is NOT available on campus. If interested in vending opportunities, please email ce@ntc.edu 

This conference is presented in partnership with 

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

How To Register - Please read carefully

NTC has a new online registration system that requires you to create an account. By creating an account you will have access to your registration to make changes or cancellations and view your receipts through the online portal.  We know this system is new and are here to help you through every step.  

When you get to the Registration Login page, you will be presented with options to log in with an existing email or create a new account. If you have attended any training with NTC in the last two years, you likely already have an account. In this case, use the "Forgot My Username/Password" functions to get your login information.  If you have not attended in the past, use the Create New Login function to set up your account. 

If you have any questions, require assistance, or would like to register over the phone, please call 715.803.1243 or email ce@ntc.edu.