For Debra Knapke of Columbus, one of five featured speakers at the annual Ohio State University Perennial Symposium, gardening is a third career.

IF YOU GO

What: Ohio State University Perennial Symposium.     When: 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Jan. 19.     Where: Sharonville Convention Center, 11355 Chester Road.     Cost: $75 (includes lunch).     Information/registration: (614) 846-7932.

        She worked in the field of speech and language for 11 years and reared three children who are now teen-agers. When her youngest child was in kindergarten, Ms. Knapke went back to school to earn a horticulture degree.

        One of the most pleasant reasons to attend the annual symposium Jan. 19 at the Sharonville Convention Center — this year's theme is “Creative Perennial Gardening: Combining Art with Nature” — is the chance to meet some of the Tristate's finest gardeners. This event attracts professional horticulturists and hobbyists, who are a great resource for anyone interested in gardening.

        “As gardeners, we're always looking forward to the next season, hoping it will be better than last year,” says Julia Murphy, a Cincinnati horticulturist.„“This event is a ray of sunshine, when everything outside is cold and gray.”

        When Ms. Knapke is not teaching about landscape principles, herbaceous plants and specialty gardensat Columbus State Community College, she writes for state and national publications.

        She has volunteered at Inniswood Metro Gardens in Columbus for 11 years, serving as president of the Inniswood Garden Society and two years ago initiating the Sisters' Garden, a children's garden at Inniswood.

        Ms. Knapke has been curator of the Central Ohio Unit of the Herb Society of America herb garden. A love of herbs inspired the name of her garden design business, the Garden Sage.

        Besides all that, she finds time for her 2/3-acre garden, where something is blooming or budding almost all year.

        During her talk, Ms. Knapke will encourage the creative spirit in all gardeners.

        “Our desire to make things more beautiful or meaningful can find its statement through garden art,” she says. “Gardens themselves are pieces of art. But the art we place in them, from the mundane to the sophisticated, is a personal statement that tells a lot about a gardener.”

       Contact Peg St. Clair by phone: 541-4680; Web site: www.gardenersnetwork.org.
       

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