The first meeting of the year is in conjunction with the American Seed Trade Association’s Flower and Vegetable Seed Conference, held each January. Please visit www.betterseed.org for details on upcoming ASTA meetings.
The second meeting of the year is held in conjunction with the Summer Summit.
October 2-5, 2018
All-America Selections and National Garden Bureau host a joint summer meeting for the home garden industry each year. AAS judges, AAS Display Gardens, NGB members, other AAS Ambassadors, breeders, brokers, growers, retailers, media, garden writers and anyone who would like to attend to learn more about our organizations and our activities are welcome to attend. In 2018, this events takes us to the hospitable south where we will visit New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana!
Location: This year’s event will be held in two cities: New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Please reserve rooms in both cities if you are staying for the entire event.
Hotel on Tuesday and Wednesday in New Orleans: Drury Inn and Suites New Orleans (close to the action but not TOO close to interrupt business) Rooms are $119/night for a standard guest room and include breakfast.
Hotel on Thursday in Baton Rouge: Hampton Inn and Suites Baton Rouge Downtown (excellent downtown location near the Mississippi River) Rooms are $134/night for a standard guest room and include breakfast.
Note: for anyone arriving Monday or early enough on Tuesday, the AAS Ornamental Trials at South Mississippi Branch Experiment Station are only 1.5 hours from New Orleans. You can easily rent a car and make the drive to see one additional AAS trial site this week. Contact Judge Eugene Blythe to make an appointment.
Tuesday, October 2: Registration is open from 4-6 p.m. and the Welcome Reception is from 6-8 p.m. at the Drury Inn and Suites New Orleans hotel.
Wednesday, October 3: Today is an immersion into the New Orleans culture with a walking tour of the Garden District, followed by visits to Perino’s Garden Center then our Display Garden, the New Orleans City Park Botanical Garden. After lunch we will hear from a consumer panel and tour the gardens that were flooded in Hurrican Katrina. After a scenic bus ride back to the hotel (to view key Hurrican Katrina sites) we conclude our evening with a “Dinner with Peers” at favored restaurants in the Warehouse District.
Thursday, October 4: Today we’ll travel to Baton Rouge but first, a stop at the Hammond Research Station for their Fall Industry Field Day. Then a quick stop at one of the NGB garden grant applicants, Options garden center. Then on to Baton Rouge for a hearty welcome from our AAS Trial judges at Louisiana State University Agricultural Center including a tour of the very realistic recreated plantation in the LSU Rural Life Museum. The annual Awards Banquet is this evening, held at the beautiful LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens, an AAS Display Garden.
Friday, October 5: An optional but short morning swamp tour will precede the trip back to the New Orleans airport in time for afternoon and evening flights home.
*Detailed itinerary times will be available closer to meeting date
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