Exploring Design and Perennial Selection for the Home Garden
On Thursday, September 15, Mass Hort and the Perennial Plant Association are teaming up to offer a day-long seminar titled, ‘Exploring Design and Perennial Selection for the Home Garden’. Some of the best writers and creative plantsmen in the business will be here, and you’re invited to listen, learn and ask questions.
8:00 am - 8:45 am - Registration
9:00 am - 10:00 am - The Arts and Crafts Garden
Dr. Denise Adams
Stony Point, New York
Beauty, efficiency, and simplicity are the hallmarks of gardens created in the early 20th century. Denise will trace the history of this garden style and discuss and illustrate ways to apply the principles to today's home landscapes.
10:00 am - 10:30 am Break and Visit to the Elm Bank Gardens
10:30 am - 11:30 am - Who Does Your Garden? Spanning the Globe With Perennials
Dr. Steven Still
Perennial Plant Association, Hilliard, Ohio
Gardens and nurseries in Europe have been a fertile ground for perennials that are used in Midwest US gardens. Dr. Still will provide a visual history of noted perennials and the individuals responsible for their introductions. Learn the origin of Karl Foerster feather reed grass, Magnus purple coneflower, Goldsturm gloriosa daisy, and many others that grace your perennial gardens. The Perennial Plant Association has selected many of these important perennials as Perennial Plants of the Year™.
11:30 am - 12:30 pm - When Pretty Isn't Enough: Comparative Perennial Trials at the Chicago Botanic Garden
Richard Hawke
Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, Illinois
Each year hundreds of new plants are introduced. Whether the plants bring excitement or disappointment depends in part on a rigorous evaluation process before the plants go to market. The Chicago Botanic Garden's Plant Evaluation Program has been evaluating perennials in comparative trials for 29 years. Richard will discuss the plant evaluation process that ultimately leads to recommendations of superior plants for gardens. He will present a variety of proven perennials, including new selections and old favorites.
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm - Lunch
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm - Goosebump Perennials for the Garden
Chris Hansen, Great Garden Plants
Holland, Michigan
Join Chris for a fast-paced look at the most exciting new perennials, shrubs, and groundcovers for 2011 and 2012. For more than 15 years, Chris has scoured the United States and Europe for the newest and best to introduce through various online mail-order plant companies. Chris guarantees goosebumps as you sneak-preview more than 100 tantalizing new plants.
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm Break and Visit to the Elm Bank Gardens
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm - Creating the Nonstop Garden
Jennifer Benner, Roxbury, Connecticut
A nonstop garden doesn't mean nonstop work. Lower maintenance is just one of many benefits of four-season gardening. In this lecture, horticulturist Jennifer Benner will outline the benefits of creating a nonstop garden. She will highlight plant choices from key plant groups-trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, edibles, bulbs, and vines-and explore other ornamental elements that help achieve year-round interest.
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm - Contained Joy
Irvin Etienne, Indianapolis Museum of Art
Indianapolis, Indiana
One of the simplest ways of enriching our lives with plants is through the use of containers. Containers let us experiment with new plants. They beautify our gardens. And they even provide food for the table. Regardless of whether a garden is in a traditional yard or on a tiny apartment balcony, both the container and the plants chosen help express your individuality. Want to grow vegetables but don't have land? Tomatoes and eggplants do fine in containers. You only like orange? Use plants with orange flowers or foliage in an orange container. The possibilities are limitless. This lecture will cover the basics (cultural conditions, soil, some ideal plants) and look at some finished designs that will lend inspiration. Emphasis will be on over-the-top tropicals.
The Speakers
Denise Adams
 Dr. Denise Adams is a horticulturist, garden historian, lecturer, photographer, and garden writer. Denise has been a Perennial Plant Association member since her graduate days at The Ohio State University. She serves as co-chair of the PPA Nomenclature Committee and has received the Perennial Plant Association Service Award. Denise is the author of Restoring American Gardens - An Encyclopedia of Heirloom Ornamental Plants.
Jennifer Benner
 A graduate of The Ohio State University horticulture program, Jennifer gained experience in nursery production, garden design, installation, and maintenance. She eventually worked as a horticulture manager, specializing in perennial and container gardens. Jennifer joined Fine Gardening magazine, where she spent seven years taking articles from conception to print and as an associate editor. Now the communications manager for the Connecticut Forest & Park Association, she also works as a freelance writer, photographer, and horticulture consultant. Her book, The Nonstop Garden, a collaborative project with perennial expert Stephanie Cohen, was published by Timber Press.
Chris Hansen
 Chris is the vice-president of Great Garden Plants of Holland, Michigan. Great Garden Plants, established in 2007, is an online source of new and exciting garden plants. Chris's career in horticulture includes time in internships at the Missouri Botanic Garden and Longwood Gardens, as Director of Horticulture for Wayside Gardens, and in a wholesale nursery for several years. During this time Chris has visited and photographed thousands of nurseries and home gardens. His experiences searching for new perennials will be highlighted in "Goosebump Perennials for the Garden".
Richard Hawke
 Richard is the Chicago Botanic Garden's Plant Evaluation Manager, and is responsible for the comparative evaluation of more than 9,000 plants representing 1,000 taxa of herbaceous perennials, vines, shrubs, and small trees. His work is frequently cited as unbiased, scientific analysis of plant performance. He is the author of Plant Evaluation Notes, writes for numerous horticulture publications, and teaches frequently at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Irvin Etienne
 Irvin began his career at the Indianapolis Museum of Art as a horticulturist/gardener in 1992 and was named Horticultural Display Coordinator in 2003. He helps others in their plant selection and design while maintaining several areas himself. Irvin's strength is his wide knowledge of plant material. His weakness is also his wide knowledge of plant material (the more you know, the more you want). He has a definite bias for and towards everything tropical and annual (and gaudy). A product of the Midwest, Irvin might be considered, well, really just a simple farm boy that likes shiny sparkly things. He has a degree in Public Horticulture from Purdue University.
Steven Still
 Steven is the Executive Director of the Perennial Plant Association and professor emeritus of The Ohio State University. He is the author of the widely used textbook Manual of Herbaceous Ornamental Plants. Dr. Still's teaching included courses in herbaceous and woody plant materials. During his 30 years of teaching he had opportunities to tour numerous private and public gardens and nurseries in Europe. He will use information from these travels in "Who Does Your Garden? Spanning the Globe With Perennials".
 You may register online or call 614-771-8431 if you have questions.
You may also download the program and mail-in registration form. |
Blooms & Boston Flower Show 
