25 Fall Forum
The 2025 Fall Hosta Forum registration is OPEN
Fall Hosta Forum is a symposium co-sponsored by the WNY Hosta Society and The Daffodil and Hosta Society of Western Pennsylvania (Pittsburg area). It takes place at the half-way point; Edinboro, PA (near Erie). The formula is that we have four speakers…. two hosta speakers and two on other topics. We have a lunch. We have a live auction and a silent auction. We have vendors (and if you register for Friday night, you are able to preview the vendors and PLUS you receive a $5 voucher to spend – good only on Friday). We generally have 100 to 120 registrants. Some people come on Friday afternoon and visit a local nursery (Scotland Yard – voucher in your packet) or another interesting place (Brown Stone Studio) and have a lunch on one of the local restaurants. It is a casual, but very fun day and I hope you’ll join us!
DATE: September 20, 2025 – with a “Preview Night” on Friday, September 19th
WHERE: Frank G. Pogue Student Center, PennWest (Edinboro) University
WHAT: The theme this year is PIRATES (yo-ho-ho, shiver me timbers…etc.)
I am attaching all registration materials. Please register as soon as you can so that we can plan. If you are coming on Friday, you should book your hotel room INSTANTLY (so that YOU don’t get shut out). We will have “hostatality” in the hotel breakfast room after vending preview, sandwich and salad dinner and a short garden tool talk by Stephen Piskor concludes. Refreshments provided, but some folks like to BYO snacks and drinks.
Please look around your garden right now for donations to the HOSTA AUCTION and to the silent auction. All donated plants must be in soil-less potting medium like ProMix, BM6 or Lambert. We will also be triaging the plants as they arrive in an effort to keep the quality of the auction high and the number of plants reasonable.
We will have all of the other elements you love; four quality speakers, lunch (and a dinner Friday). We will have a live auction, a silent auction, a raffle and vendors.
Our HOSTA SPEAKERS this year are:
Doug Beilstein – “I’m Seeing Red – Are You?
Laura Robles – “Hosta Breeding, Production and New Hosta Varieties at Walter’s Gardens?”
COMPANION PLANTS
Kevin Kelly – “Fall Planted Spring Blooming Bulbs”
Kevin Kelly – “Growing Native Ferns”
And we will have BONUS SPEAKER, Stephen Piskor – “Garden Tool Talk” on Friday night.
The hotel is the COMFORT SUITES in Edinboro. You can call them at (814) 969-7000 – select #2 – and tell them you’re with the hosta folk – $114/night.
Any questions, please let me know. Karen Schmidt KarenSMG@aol.com
