The Ninth Annual Virginia Beeland Spencer Lecture Series is pleased to announce the 2008 event is set for Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. The Lecture will be held in the Lecture Hall at Birmingham Botanical Gardens and will feature a Book Signing and Reception preceding the lecture.

Speaker: Mr. James R. Cothran, FASLA (Fellow of American Society of Landscape Architects). Mr. Cothran has more than thirty years of private practice as a landscape architect and urban planner and is also educator and author. Since 1981, Jim Cothran has served as the VP of the Planning and Lanscape Architecture Division of Robert and Company, an Atlanta firm that has upheld the tradition of providing excellence in the fields of engineering, planning, architecture, and landscape architecture since 1917. He has taught at Univ. of GA and GA State Univ. and author of 2 books, Gardens of Historic Charleston (1995) and Gardens and Historic Plants of the Antebellum South (2003), with a new one to be published in early 2008.
    
Cothran has served as a pioneer in the field of landscape and garden preservation on the local, state, and national levels and championed the cause of the study of garden history.

Reserve your FREE tickets by calling 205.414.3965 or email sbusby@bbgardens.org.

charleston Gardens tour

Offered by Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens

April 7 – 11, 2008

In conjunction with the 2008 Virginia Beeland Spencer Lecture, Friends' is pleased to invite you and your garden-loving friends to participate in a tour of the fabulous gardens of Charleston, South Carolina. The trip will take place during Charleston’s annual Festival of Houses and Gardens, April 7 – 11, 2008. Separate from the festival, we will visit private homes, gardens and an historic plantation as well as partake in a personal tour and lunch with Charleston garden author, Louisa Cameron.

We invite Oak, Ambassador and President’s Circle members of Birmingham Botanical Gardens to join us on this trip. Those who are not members, or not members at these levels, are invited to join or upgrade their memberships by calling Andrew Krebbs at (205) 414-3953. 

This exclusive trip is being planned as a follow-up to the 2008 Virginia Beeland Spencer Lecture presentation by James R. Cothran, FASLA on March 13, 2008. Mr. Cothran has more than 30 years’ experience in private practice as a landscape architect and as an educator at the University of Georgia and Georgia State University. His books include Gardens of Historic Charleston (1995) and Gardens and Historic Plants of Antebellum South (2003). We know that after this lecture, people will want to see the magic of this wonderful city and its lush gardens first-hand!

We hope you are able to join us on this Brownell Travel-planned visit to Old Charleston where stunning private gardens add their unique flavor to this historic setting. Space is limited to twenty-four people, so please call soon and reserve places for you and your gardening buddies!

Garden Tour Info Sheet

Reservation Form Charleston Gardens