Exploring Design, Plant Selection, and Maintenance of the Mixed Border

On Wednesday, September 22, MassHort and the Perennial Plant Association are teaming up to offer a day-long seminar titled, ‘Exploring Design, Plant Selection, and Maintenance of the Mixed Border’. Some of the best writers and creative plantsmen in the business will be here, and you’re invited to listen, learn and ask questions.

The speakers include Adrian Bloom (of Blooms of Bressingham); Kirk Brown, national director for the Garden Writers Association; Kerry Mendez, author of The Ultimate Gardener’s Top Ten Lists; Laura Deeter, professor at the Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI), The Ohio State University; Roy Diblik, co-owner of Northwind Perennial Farm located in Burlington, Wisconsin; and Brent Heath, co-owner with his wife, Becky, of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs.

The Program

8:00 am – 8:45 am – Registration

9:00 am – 10:00 am – Sustainability and the American Dream
Kirk Brown, Joanne Kostecky Garden Design
Allentown, Pennsylvania

The United States is currently the single largest user of energy on the planet. Since GIs returned from WWII, we have been a nation of extremely successful consumers. When the oil spigots run dry, the bright lights of retailing dim, and the bank account’s empty, will we be able to adapt our search for the biggest and best? Kirk Brownwill disucss how we can we prepare our children and grandchildren for a world that should leave us naturally richer and ecologically healthier.

10:00 am – 10:30 am Break and Visit to the Elm Bank Gardens

10:30 am – 11:30 am – Designing for Four Seasons of Color - Hit the Easy Button
Kerry Mendez, Perennially Yours
Ballston Spa, New York

Kerry Mendez will show you the tricks of the trade for having the WOW factor in your garden month after month with smart plant selection, design tips, and surefire maintenance shortcuts. And because it will be low maintenance, you will finally be able to ‘ease’ back in the ‘easy’ chair. Kerry is a “passionate perennialist” with more than 20 years of hands-on experience. As a garden consultant, designer, writer, teacher and lecturer, Kerry specializes in low-maintenance garden and landscape design that includes perennials, ornamental grasses, flowering shrubs, bulbs, and no-fuss annuals.

11:30 am – 12:30 pm – Bulbs as Companion Plants
Brent Heath, Brent & Becky’s Bulbs
Gloucester, Virginia

Brent Heath will illustrate the best of the best – the right bulbs for the right spots. He will show how to combine bulbs, perennials, annuals, ground covers and flowering shrubs to create just the feeling you want to generate four seasons of color in your garden.

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm – Lunch

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm – Bloom’s Best Perennials and Grasses: Expert Plant Choices and Dramatic Combinations for Year-round Gardens
Adrian Bloom, Bloom’s Nurseries Ltd
Norfolk, England

From his long experience on both sides of the Atlantic in using hardy perennials and grasses together and with other plants for year round effect, Adrian Bloom will highlight some plants of great value for gardeners. He particularly believes there is much in the phrase less is more which can apply to the early or beginner gardener, and will develop his theme through 12 specially selected perennials and grasses for year-round interest.

2:30 pm – 3:00 pm – Break and Visit to the Elm Bank Gardens

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Perennial Plant Communities: The Know Maintenance Approach™
Roy Diblik, Northwind Perennial Farm
Burlington, Wisconsin

Roy Diblik's thoughtful way to design perennial plantings welcomes fresh contemporary styles and plant diversity integrated with responsible maintenance concerns. Using a selection of regionally dependable perennials, endless natural plant patterns can be constructed, each relating to time and cost to maintain. Roy has been growing plants for more than 25 years. Recently, Roy was the plant purchasing coordinator for the Lurie Garden in Chicago’s Millenium Park, growing 11,000 of the plants at Northwind. He was also very involved in the installation of the garden. He also installed the Sullivan Arch Garden for the modern wing of the Art Institute in Chicago.

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Bringing Your Perennials Up Right
Dr. Laura Deeter, ATI Ohio State University
Wooster, Ohio

The day’s final speaker will be Dr. Laura Deeter whose lecture is entitled Bringing Your Perennials Up Right. Are you the parents of unruly toddlers, aggressive or lazy teenagers, or are your babies closer to middle age and just aren’t the same anymore? Perhaps they simply aren’t living up to their full potential. Learn how to make your perennial babies work for you! Laura will provide a fun and lively romp through perennial maintenance!

Registration

Registration Fee: $95/person before September 14. $110/person after September 14.
This price includes lunch.

You may register online or call 614-771-8431 if you have questions.

You may also download the program and mail-in registration form.

The Speakers

Adrian Bloom, Bloom’s Nurseries Ltd
Norfolk, England

Adrian Bloom is president of Blooms Nurseries Ltd, Norfolk, England. He has personally introduced many American gardeners to the unique varieties of perennials. Adrian has done this through frequent visits and lectures, as an international presenter for the PBS Victory Garden shows, and as an author or co-author of beautifully illustrated gardening books. His most recent publication is Bloom’s Best Perennials and Grasses: Expert Plant Choices and Dramatic Combinations for Year Round Gardens. He has also installed five demonstration gardens in public venues, including a one-acre Bressingham Garden at Elm Bank.

Kirk Brown
Joanne Kostecky Garden Design
Allentown, Pennsylvania

Kirk Brown is the business manager of the award winning Joanne Kostecky Garden Design, Inc., Allentown, Pennsylvania. Kirk has many activities including serving as a national director for the Garden Writers Association and as a judge of major exhibits for the Philadelphia Flower Show. He has provided keynote addresses on horticultural and business topics at many national and state association meetings

Dr. Laura Deeter
ATI Ohio State University
Wooster, Ohio

Laura Deeter is a professor at the Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI), The Ohio State University. She teach herbaceous and woody plant identification, plant health management, landscape design, garden maintenance, perennial production, and computer aided design. Laura has been awarded the ATI Distinguished Teaching Award and The Ohio State University Alumni Award for Distinguishing Teaching, the Perennial Plant Association Academic Award, and the American Horticultural Society Teaching Award

Roy Diblik
Northwind Perennial Farm
Burlington, Wisconsin

Roy Diblik is co-owner of Northwind Perennial Farm located in Burlington, Wisconsin. He has been growing traditional and native perennials since 1978. His garden designs emphasize plant relationships to maintenance strategies and costs. Roy’s recent works include plantings at The Art Institute of Chicago and the new lakeside area for Shedd Aquarium. He is the author of Small Perennial Gardens – The Know Maintenance Approach™.

Brent Heath
Brent & Becky’s Bulbs
Gloucester, Virginia

Brent Heath, a third generation bulb grower and co-owner with his wife, Becky, of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, a wholesale/retail mail-order flower bulb catalog and web site business, provides numerous types of bulbs to botanical gardens, cities, universities, and garden centers. Brent and Becky have co-authored Daffodils for American Gardens and Tulips for North American Gardens. They have received many honors for populariziang and promoting flower bulbs and for their commitment to high standards of excellence.

Kerry Mendez
Perennially Yours
Ballston Spa, New York

Kerry Mendez will show you the tricks of the trade for having the WOW factor in your garden month after month with smart plant selection, design tips, and surefire maintenance shortcuts. And because it will be low maintenance, you will finally be able to ‘ease’ back in the ‘easy’ chair. Kerry is a “passionate perennialist” with more than 20 years of hands-on experience. As a garden consultant, designer, writer, teacher and lecturer, Kerry specializes in low-maintenance garden and landscape design that includes perennials, ornamental grasses, flowering shrubs, bulbs, and no-fuss annuals.