A Kansas City Gardening Original
The Kansas City Garden Symposium presented by Gardeners Connect is one of the premier gardening events in the region.
We bring to the stage the best in local, regional and national garden experts and talent to educate and inspire gardeners of all skill levels.
2025 Kansas City Garden Symposium
2025 Kansas City Garden Symposium
Saturday, March 22, 2025
9:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
(Doors Open 8:00 a.m.)
Three Speakers. Four Presentations. Lunch. Snacks. Gift Bag.
A Day of Gardening Delight You Won’t Want to Miss.
Create Your Garden Masterpiece.
2024 Kansas City
Garden Symposium
Vivid Gardens, Midwest Moxie exemplifies the spirit and drive of Midwest Gardeners to create beautiful and dynamic gardens that evoke the style, sense of place and challenging environment they have while never saying never.
Four speakers. Six presentations. Lunch. Gift bag.
A day of gardening delight you won’t want to miss.
2023 Kansas City
Garden Symposium
“Garden Obsession” is all about the gardens and plants that entice, beguile and make gardeners obsess.
Three speakers. Six presentations. Lunch. Gift bag.
A day of gardening delight you won’t want to miss.
2020 Kansas City
Garden Symposium
“Grow Your Own Way” spoke to the ideals of nearly every gardener. To glean ideas, inspiration and different viewpoints from the gardens we visit and the gardeners we have met and modify, adapt and integrate those gleanings to our own gardens and style. Truly gardening our own way.
2018 Kansas City
Garden Symposium
“Growing a Greener Garden” delved into ways to make our gardens more resilient to the extremes of gardening in the Midwest by selecting the correct plants, the right design and the best practices to not only make our gardens greener for ourselves but also that of our communities and the creatures that inhabit it.
Garden Symposium Chronicles
2024 Kansas City Garden Syposium
Vivid Gardens, Midwest Moxie
Rockhurst University, Arrupe Hall
Kansas City, Missouri
Speakers:
Irvine Etienne
Lisa Nunamaker
John Porter
Susie Van de Reit
Julie Copley
2023 Kansas City Garden Syposium
Garden Obsession
Rockhurst University, Arrupe Hall
Kansas City, Missouri
Speakers:
Joseph Tychonievich
Ed Lyon
Chris Fehlhaber
2020 Kansas City Garden Syposium
Grow Your Own Way
Rockhurst University, Arrupe Hall
Kansas City, Missouri
Speakers:
Brie Arthur
Alan Branhagen
Jeff Epping
Nick McCullogh
2018 Kansas City Garden Symposium
Growing a Greener Garden
Rockhurst University, Arrupe Hall
Kansas City, Missouri
Speakers:
Carol Davit, Executive Director, Missouri Prairie Foundation
Tammi Hartung, Owner, Desert Canyon Farm
Joe Lampl, Host, Growing a Greener World
Kelly Norris, Director of Horticulture, Greater Des Moines Botanical Center
2016 Kansas City Garden Symposium
Sow Your Garden Adventure
The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Atkins Auditorium
Kansas City, Missouri
Speakers:
Lucy Hardiman, Garden Writer and Designer
Dan Hinkley, Author, Plant Explorer, Co-Founder of Heronswood Nursery
Jan Johnsen, Author and Garden Designer
Troy Marden, Author and Host, The Volunteer Gardener
2014 Kansas City Garden Symposium
Color Outside the Lines
The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Atkins Auditorium
Kansas City, Missouri
Speakers:
Keri Ann Mendez, Owner, Perennially Yours
Julie Moir Messervy, Author and Garden Designer
Amanda Thomsen, Author and Commercial Landscaper
Joseph Tychonievich, Author and Nursery Manager, Arrowhead Alpines Nursery
2012 Kansas City Garden Symposium
Grow the Good Life
The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Atkins Auditorium
Kansas City, Missouri
Speakers:
Andrea Bellamy, Garden Writer
Roy Diblik, Garden Designer and Owner, Northwind Perennials
Dan Heims, Author and Owner, Terra Nova Nursery
Ellen Ecker Ogden, Author and Kitchen Garden Designer
2010 Kansas City Garden Symposium
Beauty Woven with Practicality
The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Atkins Auditorium
Kansas City, Missouri
Speakers:
Suzy Bales,
Stephani Cohen,
Rosalind Creasy,
Claire Sawyers,
2008 Kansas City Garden Symposium
Make Your Garden a Work of Art
The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Atkins Auditorium
Kansas City, Missouri
Speakers:
Rosemary Alexander, Founder, the English Garden School
Jennifer Bartley, Author and Landscape Designer
Dan Benarcik, Horticulturist, Chanticleer
Richard Reames, Owner Arborsmith Studios
2006 Kansas City Garden Symposium
Kansas City, Missouri
Speakers:
Karen Bussolini
Tres Fromme
Carol Reese
Steve VanderWoude
2004 Kansas City Garden Symposium
Make Your Garden a Work of Art
The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Atkins Auditorium
Kansas City, Missouri
Speakers:
Alan Armitage
Bill Luchsinger
Janet Macunovich
Karen Strohbeen
Roger Swain
2002 Kansas City Garden Symposium
Kansas City, Missouri
Speakers:
Cole Burrell
Richard Darke
Tracy DiSabato-Aust
Ryan Gainey
Pamela Harper
2000 Kansas City Garden Symposium
Kansas City, Missouri
Speakers:
Neil Diboll
Chris Hansen
Lauren Springer
Roger Swain
Chris Woods
1998 Kansas City Garden Symposium
Kansas City, Missouri
Speakers:
Joe Eck
Nancy Goodwin
Dan Hinkley
Roy Lancaster
Dr Richard Lighty
Lauren Springer
