Landscaping Camp To Feature Butterfly Gardening With Carson Ellis

Spring fever is definitely contagious this time of year as one yearns to plant flowers and add color to their landscape. Even more comforting is watching butterflies dance around your flowers adding a sense of ease and comfort to a hectic day.

Carson Ellis, horticulturalist for the Memphis Botanic Garden, will be sharing her knowledge, tips and ideas on how to make your garden enjoyable for you and the butterflies at the upcoming Landscaping Camp to be held on May 26-28 at the Inn at Ole Miss, hosted by the Oxford-Lafayette County Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Foundation Retirement Attraction Program.
Ellis, who manages two gardens at the Memphis Botanic Garden, the Anne Heard Stokes Butterfly Garden and Delta Heritage Garden, is passionate about environmental sustainability and the conservation and promotion of native plant species and communities and practices these values in her gardens. She is currently excited to be serving on the steering committee for the newly-formed Tennessee Plant Conservation Alliance and is hoping to develop the Delta Heritage Garden into a demonstration site for small-scale sustainable agriculture while continuing the expansion and development of naturalized plantings for the Anne Heard Stokes Butterfly Garden.
Before moving to Memphis in 2015, she interned at both the Asheville Arboretum and Highlands Biological Research Station in North Carolina and has an associate’s degree in Horticulture Technology from Haywood Community College as well as a BA in Environmental Science from Mount Holyoke College. Born and raised in the mountains of North Carolina, exploring the bottomlands and cypress swamps surrounding Memphis, Tennessee has been an exciting change of scenery. She loves nothing more than a good hike through Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park on the weekends, especially in the spring!
“I enjoy working in the Butterfly Garden because I have a lot of creative freedom, independence to research and design the plantings and a strong sense of connection to the space,” Ellis said. “The work as a horticulturist is not always glamorous, but having the support to bring my ideas and vision to fruition has made it a rewarding venture. I am also excited to announce that in 2016, we were officially certified as a Monarch Waystation.”
For more information on the Landscaping Camp, visit https://oxfordms.com/retire-in-oxford/landscaping-camp/ or contact Rosie Vassallo at 662-234-4651.

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