10th Annual Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants Conference 2025

Keynote Session (9am): Cultivating Place: How a Garden Culture of Care for Native Plants Strengthens Places & People - Jennifer Jewell, author and host of the national award-winning weekly public radio program and podcast Cultivating Place: Conversations on Natural History and the Human Impulse to Garden.

There will be concurrent sessions. During checkout you will be asked to indicate your session preferences for "New to Natives" versus "Knows the Natives." This will help us make appropriate room assignments, though you will not be held to these choices.

Session 1 Breakout:

• New to Natives: Creating a Culture of Native Plant Restoration - Jim Tolstrup, High Plains Environmental Center
• Knows the Natives: How Colorado State and Local Policies Can Boost Native Plant Landscaping - Suzanne O'Neill, Colorado Native Landscape Coalition

Session 2 Breakout:

• New to Natives: A Seasonal Perspective on Community Engagement and Native Plant Availability - Maggie Gaddis, Colorado Native Plant Society
• Knows the Natives: Breeding Native Cultivars: Is Artificial Selection Impacting Insect Visitation? - Tommy Roth, Colorado State University

Session 3 Breakout:

• New to Natives: Your Native Plant Garden, All Grown Up! - Dave Sutherland, City of Boulder OSMP (retired)
• Knows the Natives: Parks Pollinators and People: How landscape and local factors drive differences in pollinator biodiversity in Denver, Colorado parks - Nicki Bailey, Colorado State University

Closing Session: Celebration and Reflection: 10 years of the Landscaping With Colorado Native Plants Conference, a moderated panel with Jennifer Jewel and co-founders of the conference.

We will have vendor booths available during registration, lunch and breaks, so be sure to join us when doors open at 8 am. Lunch will be provided.

Please note: This event will be held regardless of winter weather conditions unless CSU and/or major highways and interstates are closed due to inclement weather.

Thank you to our partners:

Butterfly Pavilion

Colorado State University Extension

Colorado Native Plant Master Program

Colorado Native Plant Society

Denver Botanic Garden

High Plains Environmental Center

Wild Ones Front Range

Susan Tweit

The Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants Conference promotes the inclusion of native plants in our landscaping to benefit pollinators and songbirds, save water, and restore the beauty and health of nature in the places we live, work and play.

While we recommend the use of straight species and local ecotypes wherever possible, we support the use of varieties and cultivars of native species as long as their breeding doesn’t interfere with their ability to function in nature and maintain key relationships with pollinators and other lives.

*Please see the FAQs for important information about refunds.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Lory Student Center, 1101 Center Avenue Mall, Fort Collins, United States