If so, thank you. In the day and age when people feel increasingly out of touch with the natural world, you do important work. In these times when people truly need to be fed, healed, and cheered by plants, you are doing important work. And in the age where a great deal of misinformation and bad advice is spread via the internet in the blink of an eye (Seeds for rainbow roses?) your work is critically important. 

If you speak, blog, write about or photograph gardens, be these paid gigs or as a passion, you’re a garden communicator and belong at the GWA meeting in Chicago in August. And lucky for you, there are places left!

Here are the top 10 reasons you should come to the GWA Annual Meeting:

10. You’ll learn more about GWA, and how you can take better advantage of all its programs.

9. You’ll be in on the ground floor, our trade show floor that is, to learn about new plants and products.

8. You’ll attend educational sessions and have a chance to learn about podcasting, editing, blogging and building a profitable speaking business. (To name just a few of this year’s topics.)

7. You’ll attend the IGC Show which will also be at the Navy Pier. This trade show for independent garden centers will expose you to thousands of products and plants you weren’t aware of.

6. You’ll tour a rooftop farm and many other lovely city gardens, coming away with photos and stories that you’ll use for years to come.

5. You’ll see the stunning plantings that fill Michigan Avenue’s Magnificent Mile as you walk to dinner or on an early AM stroll.

4. You’ll get advice from experienced garden communicators about building your brand.

3. You’ll see beautiful private gardens, and might use the photos that you take there for future talks, books or sales.

2. You’ll network with others in the business of horticulture and make connections that will serve you in many ways for years to come.

1.  You’ll make friends for a lifetime. 

You’ll meet all the most colorful & best dressed people at a GWA annual meeting.

Ellen and I, now friends and  co-hosts of the Plantrama podcast, met at GWA. Here we are, having fun in the Dramm Booth at last year’s trade show, clowning around (who, me?) with some of our favorite garden products. 

OK….it might be a slight exaggeration to say that the world’s most famous couples met on a GWA bus…but these rides are well known as one of the places you can make great connections. 

If you are passionate about horticulture, people and growth, you belong in GWA.

Click here to find the full schedule for the meeting in Chicago. 

Read the newsletter, see the blog, find regional meetings and more on the GWA Website.