Des Moines, IA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 11/08/2007 -- The Great Gardens and Landscaping Symposium is rapidly becoming "the" hallmark event for gardeners in the northeast.

The 2007 symposium sold out two months before the event and attendance almost doubled from 2006. The exposure the symposium received was tremendous, and reservation requests are already coming in for 2008. All indicators point to another record attendance year.

The 2007 symposium, held April 20 & 21 at the Mirror Lake Inn and Resort in Lake Placid, NY., was sponsored by People, Places & Plants; Proven Winners; Safe Lawns; Gardener’s Supply Company; Dutch Gardens; Coast of Maine; Bradfield Organics and GARDENS of Keith Davitt. The symposium hosted 102 attendees and boasted a long waiting list.

Gardeners came from around the Northeast with most ranging in age between thirty and sixty-five. Participants were in the upper income bracket and represented beginner to expert gardeners, with most falling in the intermediate category.

Because the Mirror Lake Inn’s conference facility could not accommodate the high demand for this year’s reservations, the Fifth Annual Great Gardens and Landscaping Symposium will be held April 4 & 5, 2008 at The Equinox Resort (www.equinoxresort.com) in Manchester, VT.

This stunning, four-diamond resort can seat over 300 people; accommodate a greater number of vendor tables; and is more easily accessible from major metropolitan areas such as Albany, Hartford, Boston, and New York City.

The 2008 symposium will once again feature nationally known speakers, product displays, and conversation time with fellow gardeners, presenters, and vendors. It will be a platform for sharing the latest gardening information in a lively and visually stimulating format.

The event will include a welcome reception with book signings; vendor display tables; gourmet meals; and first-rate accommodations and, of course, these dynamic speakers

Tara Dillard from Atlanta, Georgia (national award winning speaker, designer and author of five garden and landscaping books; former TV host for CBS; and has worked extensively with NBC, PBS, and HGTV);

Shepherd Ogden (author of five books including Step by Step Organic Vegetable Gardening; and Step by Step Organic Flower Gardening, speaker, executive director for Safe Lawns Foundation, founder and former president of The Cooks Garden; and has appeared on numerous television shows including NBC Today, CNBC Good Morning, and in Martha Stewart Living

Mardell Steinkamp (associate for Sunny Border Nurseries in Connecticut, a premier wholesale nursery committed to introducing hundreds of ‘garden worthy’ plant material each year)

Kerry Mendez popular lecturer, writer, former host for a regional television garden segment; featured in People, Places & Plants, Fine Gardening, Better Homes and Gardens' Garden Ideas & Outdoor Living, Garden Gate, and How-To Gardening, as well as on HGTV.

The symposium will be promoted by the Equinox Resort to its broad, upscale market base through their Web site, newsletters and email blasts.

In addition, it will be promoted by Perennially Yours through its targeted mailing list to over 4,200 gardeners and on its Web site receiving almost 6,000 visits per month

And on the popular GreenManRadio.com Podcast, with a listener base of 200,000 and a Website receiving 14,000 per month.

Also, at hundreds of garden clubs and associations in New York and New England; by New York State Cornell Cooperative Extension offices; at the Capital District Garden and Flower Show as well as other prominent gardening events; through extensive media sources and gardening e-mail newsletters; in regional Capital District (NY) magazines totaling a circulation of over 60,000 readers, and more.

A select number of businesses and organizations will sponsor the Fifth Annual Great Gardens and Landscaping Symposium.

Proven Winners; People, Places & Plants; the Vermont Association of Professional Horticulturalists; Safe Lawns; Coast of Maine and TerraCycle are already confirmed 2008 sponsors.