Fall 2024 Meeting Information
October 4th — October 6th
Hope, Arkansas
University of Arkansas Hope-Texarkana | Hempstead Hall (Washington/Fulton Suite)
2500 S Main Street, Hope, AR 71801
Meeting Details
Everybody is welcome to attend! Meeting registration is only $10 with no pre-registration required. Registration will begin at 5:00 PM on Friday, October 4th. Meeting events wrap up after the end of field trips on October 6th around noon.
Meeting Location: University of Arkansas Hope-Texarkana | Hempstead Hall (Washington/Fulton Suite)
2500 S Main Street, Hope, AR 71801
Map of Meeting Area & Parking
Lodging: There are two lodging options for meeting attendees:
Holiday Inn Express
Address: 2600 North Hervey St. Hope, Arkansas 71801
Phone: 1-870-722-6262
A discounted rate of $119 + taxes are available for ANPS members. Rooms must be reserved over the phone to receive the discount (be sure to mention that you are with the Arkansas Native Plant Society when making your reservation in order to get the discounted room rate). There is no “block” of rooms reserved – it’s a first come first serve situation through the event’s date. Breakfast is included. Cancelations must be made 24 hours prior to arrival.
Hampton Inn & Suites
Address: 2700 N. Hervey Street Hope, Arkansas, 71801
Phone: 1-870-777-4567
20 rooms with various bed sizes have been reserved at $125 a room before taxes. Rooms must be reserved over the phone to receive the discount (be sure to mention that you are with the Arkansas Native Plant Society when making your reservation). Our block of rooms will be held for ANPS only through September 20th. Breakfast is included. Cancelations must be made 24 hours prior to arrival.
Dining Options: We will have a potluck meal Friday and Saturday evenings, starting around 6:00 PM. Bring a dish or just come, eat, socialize, and learn! There are also some dining options (fast food and others) in the area near the hotel.
Live Auction: The live auction begins at 7:00 PM on Friday and is exclusively for native plants. All proceeds from the silent auction support ANPS scholarships, research grants, and small grants programs. Please be sure any plants donated are native to Arkansas, are properly labeled, and are free of any pests. Printed species descriptions are also very welcome and helpful to the auctioneer!!!
Silent Auction: The silent auction begins at 6:00 PM on Friday and closes at 8:00 PM on Saturday. Please bring books, homemade jelly, jewelry, botanical art, or anything native-plant related! All proceeds from the silent auction support ANPS scholarships, research grants, and small grants programs. Please be sure any items donated are appropriate for a native-plant group.
Field Trips: Field trips to local natural areas of botanical interest will be scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. Saturday field trips will be broken into two sessions, with morning trips starting around 8:30 am and afternoon trips ending around 5:00 pm. Sunday field trips will be a single trip starting around 8:30 am, usually ending around noon. For field trip details and itinerary, click link below.
Sign-up sheets will be placed in the meeting area, showing field trip details, group leaders, and prospective attendees. Parking at many locations is often limited, so please consider carpooling with some friends! We will offer something for everybody, whether you want to take it slow and easy or are up for something more vigorous. To allow for adequate logistical planning, please sign up for field trips by Friday evening.
Field Trip Details & Itinerary (click link for PDF)
Meeting Schedule
Below is the schedule for the Fall 2024 meeting
Friday, October 4th
5:00 PM – Doors to Hempstead Hall open and registration begins; auction setup.
6:00 PM – Potluck Begins & Silent Auction opens. Bring your native plants for the live auction and your books, homemade jelly, jewelry, or plant art for the silent auction. Proceeds from the auction support ANPS scholarships, research grants and small grants programs.
6:45 PM – Discussion of Field Trips
7:00 PM – Live Auction
8:15 PM – Venue Closes
Saturday, October 5th
8:30 AM – Field Trips (view hike sheets for meetup locations)
2:00 PM – Field Trips (view hike sheets for meetup locations)
5:00 PM – Doors to Hempstead hall open, registration continues. Potluck supper.
6:00 PM – ANPS Business Meeting
7:00 PM – Keynote Speaker: J. Richard Abbott, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biology, Curator of UAM Herbarium, presents “What’s in a Name”
Silent Auction closes
8:15 PM – Meeting adjourns
Sunday, October 6th
8:30 AM – Field Trips (meet at your chosen field trip site)
12:00 PM – Field Trips Finish
About Our Speaker:
Richard Abbott
Even as a child, Richard was fascinated by plants, spending hours on his hands and knees in the yard, nose pressed to the clovers, sorrel, violet, grasses, dandelion, mosses, etc. As soon as he was old enough, he disappeared into the woods to explore a whole new world of plants: oaks, maples, hickories, mulberries, sedges, wild ginger, etc. Even though he could tell that they were different from each other, he didn’t actually know what most of them were called, as he had never heard of botany, knew nothing of scientific names, and had only the barest grasp of common names, with no one to teach him until he joined the scouts, at which point he learned a few common names like poison ivy and Virginia creeper. Once he realized that some plants had names, he also realized that that must mean that all plants have names, if only he could find someone to teach them to him (ignorantly unaware of the existence of botanical field guides).
Before he took his first botany course, he got a job in an herbarium, a museum of dried plant specimens. Imagine his euphoria when all the plants he had seen as a child were lying there in front of him as specimens with names on them! His desire to see and study new plants has led him to botanize in 49 states coast to coast and 20 countries outside the US, including a term abroad in Europe and a year living in South America.
Richard was driven to eventually complete a master’s degree and doctorate in botany at the University of Florida because he wanted to keep learning about plants. This desire to keep learning about plants also led him to St. Louis for several years, home of the Missouri Botanical Garden, and also to New York where he spent two years at the New York Botanical Garden. He now teaches botany at the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
For complete and up-to-date details, go to www.anps.org or contact Sarah Geurtz at sgeurtz.anps@gmail.com
