This post is a little late, but I attend eFlower Summer School at Oak Spring Garden in Virginia last Fall! A 10 day phylogenetic comparative methods school for botanist all around the world.
The school was led by Hervé Sauquet, Susana Magallón, and Jürg Schönenberger. We covered a wide variety of topics, including floral-character coding using the Proteus database, ancestral state reconstruction, divergence time estimation, state-dependent diversification analysis and paleobotany! In addition we had afternoon lectures from fantastic botanist like, Else Marie Friis Stacey Smith , Peter Crane, and Specht lab alumni Laura Lagomarsino.
The setting of the school the beautiful Oak Spring Gardens. Originally owned by Bunny (Rachel) Mellon a world renowned horticulturalist. Check out the view from my room! Their horticulturalist had splendid taste, like this apple tree that oddly resembles a bifricating phylogeny!
While most of the day was spent coding floral characters and learning comparative methods we had plenty of opportunities to explore the estate. We found Paw-Paws and neat little monarch butterfly chrysalis hanging on old posts. But by far, the best part of the school was meeting amazing botanist from around the world. Participants represented seven nationalities, each with their own unique skill and enthusiasm for their own plant group. 10/10 highly recommend!
The school was supported by the Oak Spring Garden Foundation and the Society for Systematic Biology.