The Connecticut Trust's Connecticut Preservation Awards recognize outstanding preservation projects and people who have made significant contributions to the preservation of Connecticut's historic resources. Nominations are due March 1. Nomination forms and further information: http://cttrust.org/11782

Success Begins With Who You Know! 14th Annual Design and Construction Industry Joint Dinner Meeting: Wednesday, March 3 at Race Brook Country Club in Orange. The Design and Construction Industry Joint Dinner Meeting offers an extraordinary evening of networking, collegiality and relationship building for the members of more than 30 design and construction industry organizations invited. Mark your calendars now and plan to attend this productive and enjoyable annual event. (CTASLA is a co-host of this event - WE ENCOURAGE OUR MEMBERS TO ATTEND THIS GREAT PROGRAM -  You can register with your credit card online at http://tinyurl.com/y9ll8su.

The Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington invites landscape architects to attend its upcoming “Garden Lecture” on Sunday, March 7, from 2–3:30 p.m. Gail Collmann Griffin, Director of Gardens and Grounds at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., will present “Lessons from the Master: Beatrix Farrand at Dumbarton Oaks.” Between 1920 and 1945, Farrand designed an extensive garden in Georgetown for Ambassador and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss at Dumbarton Oaks. The 25-year collaboration between Mildred Bliss and Beatrix Farrand resulted in one of the most famous gardens in the world. More info: http://hillstead.org/activities/lectures.html

The University of Connecticut is sponsoring the annual Perennial Plant Conference - A Conference for the Professional Horticulturist at the Lewis B. Rome Commons on the UConn Storrs campus on March 11. This all-day educational conference will address a wide range of topics focusing on herbaceous perennial production, sustainable landscape design and retail marketing. Two concurrent sessions will feature nationally recognized speakers from both industry and academia. More info and registration: Donna Ellis, 860-486-6448, donna.ellis@uconn.edu, or http://www.hort.uconn.edu/2010ppc/

The Native Plant Center announces its 7th Annual Spring Landscape Conference, “Turning Gray to Green: Developing Urban Natural Spaces and Native Plant Gardens,” featuring Carol Franklin, Amy Gavaris and Gretchen Schneider on March 15 from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. at Westchester Community College. More info and registration: http://www.nativeplantcenter.org/events.htm

Deadline for 2009 CTASLA Student Scholarship applications

New Directions in the American Landscape presents its 21st Annual Symposium: Environmental Landscape Design -- Learning From Experience, to be held March 16-17 at Connecticut College in New London. Lawn alternatives, reforestation, habitat creation and other responses to new environmental priorities have only recently become prominent. Consequently, design protocols are sparse, and not well tested by time. This conference features designers, growers and ecologists whose long experience with native plants can shed light on the real world challenges of environmental design. More info and registration: http://tinyurl.com/y8t2pwl

New Directions in the American Landscape presents its 21st Annual Symposium: “Environmental Landscape Design — Learning From Experience,” to be held March 16-17 at Connecticut College in New London. More info and registration: http://tinyurl.com/y8t2pwl

1000 Friends of Connecticut is proud to announce its 3rd annual statewide smart growth conference, "Old Challenges, New Opportunities,” on Thursday, March 18 from 2:00-8:00 p.m. at the refurbished G. Fox building in Hartford. Features include keynote dinner address by David Owen, author of Green Metropolis; plenary session with Rick Gustafson, founder of Portland Streetcar, Inc.;  and a choice of workshops on topics which vary from smart growth and climate change to smart zoning codes, transit oriented development and much more. Check http://1000friends-ct.org in the coming weeks for more details, or contact info@1000FRIENDS-ct.org for information on workshops, sponsorship opportunities and registration.

The CT Recreation and Parks Association will conduct Playground Safety Certification Training on April 6-8 in Wethersfield. This is the most comprehensive training program on playground hazard identification and risk management methods offered anywhere, featuring advanced reading and 15 hours of training from nationally known playground safety experts, who will prepare participants to sit for the Certified Playground Safety Inspector examination offered at the culmination of the certification course. Topics for the course include: Identifying hazards on playgrounds; developing risk management tools; importance of a comprehensive playground safety program from a legal perspective; test methods for entrapments, protrusions and entanglement. For more information, see http://www.crpa.com/edutrain/npsi.html

The Connecticut Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (CTASLA) is proud to host this full-day conference exploring the rich history, design and maintenance of the Merritt Parkway, as well as current construction projects and future considerations for this cherished roadway. Presenters will include leaders in historic roadway preservation and roadway design, as well as members of organizations which act as stewards of the Merritt Parkway. Details/Register

The Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College invites you to attend “Designing Your Garden with Northeastern Flora: A Personal View” with Carolyn Summers on April 16 from 10:00 a.m.-12 noon at WCC. More info and registration: http://www.nativeplantcenter.org/events.htm

Once again, CTASLA will have a display of landscape architectural works on nearly 150 feet of wall space in the state’s Legislative Office Building in Hartford, this year from April 19-30. This exhibit will feature our design award winners as well as other boards showcasing the contributions of landscape architects to the built environment and sustainable landscapes.

The Native Plant Center announces its 11th Annual Wildflower and Native Plant Sale on April 24 from 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m. at Westchester Community College. More info and registration: http://www.nativeplantcenter.org/events.htm

CTASLA will co-sponsor the 2010 Olmsted Day program, scheduled for Monday, April 26. This year’s program, to be held in Keney Park in Hartford, will be a presentation on the history and current state of the Hartford Park System, recently designated by the Cultural Landscape Foundation as a culturally significant at-risk landscape. The focus will be on Keney Park, a 600-acre park designed by Charles Eliot, who wanted to convey a sense of the local countryside. Look for more information to follow!

The Brick Industry Association has announced a call for entries for the 2010 Brick In Architecture Awards. Best In Class winners will receive national recognition through a special Brick In Architecture insert in the November issue of Architectural Record. All entrants will be featured on BIA’s Brick Photo Gallery. The competition will be conducted entirely online. Deadline for submissions is April 30. More info: http://www.gobrick.com/AwardsInfo

Gov. M. Jodi Rell recently announced the availability of funds (up to $5 million in grants) to assist cities and towns and land conservation organizations with the purchase and preservation of open space lands and urban gardens through the state of Connecticut’s Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition program. Deadline for applications is Monday, May 3. The January 2010 version of the application is available on DEP's website at http://www.ct.gov/dep/openspace . Grant awards are expected to be awarded in the fall of 2010. For more information contact: Dave Stygar, (860) 424-3081 or Allyson Clarke, (860) 424-3774.

The New Jersey Chapter of ASLA and the James Rose Center for Landscape Architectural Research and Design are pleased to announce “Built Works: A Guided Tour & Reception Benefitting the James Rose Center,” on June 5, noon to 4:00 p.m., with reception to follow. This event features a guided tour of local, undocumented residential gardens designed and constructed by Rose; a guided tour of James Rose’s Ridgewood, NJ home highlighting the restoration efforts at the Center; a catered reception and celebration, and an exhibition of from the juried competition “Suburbia Transformed, One Garden at a Time: Exploring the Aesthetics of Landscape Experience in the Age of Sustainability”; CEU credits. Cost: $150/person (proceeds to benefit the restoration efforts of the James Rose Center). More info and registration: http://www.jamesrosecenter.org/tour/index.html . Direct questions to director@jamesrosecenter.org