6. Thomas Rainer on Planting in a Post-wild World

Thomas Rainer’s Biography

Thomas Rainer is a registered landscape architect, teacher, and author that lives in Arlington, Virginia. He is a leading voice in ecological landscape design and has designed landscapes for the U.S. Capitol grounds, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and The New York Botanical Garden, as well as over 100 gardens from Maine to Florida. He is a celebrated public speaker who has garnered acclaim for his passionate presentations to audiences across the U.S. and in Europe. Thomas serves as a Principal for the landscape architectural and consulting firm Phyto Studio in Washington, D.C.

Thomas received his Masters Degree from the University of Georgia. Thomas has worked for the firms Oehme, van Sweden and Associates, and was most recently a Principal at the landscape architectural and planning firm, Rhodeside & Harwell. He has a broad range of experience in project types ranging from intimate residential gardens to expansive estates, rooftop gardens, botanical gardens, large-scale green infrastructure design & implementation, and national memorials. His work has been featured in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Landscape Architecture Magazine, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and Architectural Digest.

While passionate about design and focusing on details, Thomas is a specialist in applying innovative planting concepts to create ecologically-functional designed landscapes. His recent work focuses on the artful interpretation of wild plant communities into designed plantings that thrive in the context of towns and cities.  He also continues to love working on residential gardens, enjoying the intimate collaboration with clients and creating spaces. 

Thomas teaches planting design for the George Washington University Landscape Design program. His recently published book co-authored with Claudia West, Planting in a Post-Wild World, was released in fall 2015 from Timber Press and was selected by the American Horticultural Society as one of the 2016 books of the year.

You can learn more about Thomas on his website thomasrainer.com, his firm Phyto at phytostudio.com, and on Instagram where his handle is @thomasrainerdc.

SHOW NOTES

• Thomas’s childhood experiences with plants and wilderness

• Our recent trip to see Amsonia in Arkansas (Searching for Amsonia in Arkansas Part 1 and Searching for Amsonia in Arkansas Part 2)

• The shift from being a lawyer to becoming a landscape architect and advice for students interested in switching careers

• Traveling with Darrel Morrison on graduate school student trips studying the landscapes of the south

• Creating a language around plant communities to communicate with others

• How gardeners can learn to read plant body language (aka plant form) to layer diversity

• How to cover the ground with plants to reduce work and searching for plants that will grow well as ground covers

• Warm-season versus cool-season plants

• Planting in a Post-wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West

• The five principles of designed plant communities and how they distilled the principles down

• Richard Hansen and Friedrich Stahl and their book Perennials and Their Garden Habitats

• The Knowledge Project podcast

• Embracing stress in plantings

• James Golden’s garden Federal Twist

• Flickr as a resource to see plant growth in the wild

• Limiting factors for naturalistic planting in home gardens including plant height similarity, scale, and tidiness

• Native plants need to be approached with artistry like the creativity of how plants are used at Chanticleer or Great Dixter

• Failures in green infrastructure and pollinator plantings and why

• Jim Collins Good to Great doom loop

• Roy Diblik’s The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden

• The importance of doing one outstanding naturalistic planting example that becomes a model (and Jim Collins Good to Great bullets before cannonballs)

• How Thomas hones his skills with the challenges of site design and finding inspiration from plant people

• Thomas technique of using his mental library during the design process of thinking back to photos or places he’s seen before

• Thomas’s recent attention to style and how to give plantings an edge with attention to color

• The myth that soil fertility is always good

• Sowing Beauty by James Hitchmough, the book Thomas returns to frequently

• What Thomas would have changed about Planting in a Post-wild World including more diverse habitats, more examples of the principles he and Claudia developed, and land management strategies

• How we can propagate horticulturists by sharing passion

5. Angela Palmer on Introducing New Plants for Gardens

Angela Palmer’s Biography

Angela Palmer co-owns Plants Nouveau, a trendy new plant marketing company where she manages the annuals, perennials, and grasses as well as the website, marketing, photography, and social media aspect of the business. 

Angela has a Bachelors of Science in Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Design from the University of Delaware. She has a storied career in horticulture.  She worked for many years as the Director of New Products for one of the largest wholesale nurseries on the East Coast, The Conard-Pyle Company, where she was instrumental in introducing Knock Out rose.  She also previously managed the Plant Introduction Program for Chicagoland Grows as well as the staff and development of 1/2 of the collections at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, DC as well as the arboretum’s Elite Plant Introduction Program.  She also served as the Conference Director for the annual Native Plants in the Landscape Conference held at Millersville University for 12 years.

She currently lives in New England where she has fun gardening in her home garden and pursuing another passion of hers, coaching girl’s lacrosse teams. You can learn more about Angela on her company’s website plantsnouveau.com, and on Instagram her handle is @plantweenie. 

Show Notes

• Angela’s pet moss as a four year old

• Her transition from engineering into horticulture at University of Delaware

• Gary Smith’s approach to teaching landscape design and teaching students to see everything

• First jobs in horticulture including vegetable packing, a Christmas tree farm, and integrated pest management at Star roses and move up into overseeing new plants

• How Angela’s curiosity was a plus in helping her level up in her career

• The origin of the Knock Out® rose from breeder William Radler

• Plant breeders rights

• Angela’s thoughts on patents, trademarks, and nomenclature

• Angela reflects on Knock Out® rose’s success

• Her experience at Chicagoland Grows and the US National Arboretum

• Angela striking out on her own by starting Plants Nouveau with Linda Guy

• A step-by-step of how new plants are introduced to market and complications with the process

• Trends Angela is seeing including smaller plants, edible ornamentals, and compact selling perennials that will actually grow in the ground (or, sleep, creep, and leap!)

• The shift from double back to single Echinacea and the importance of plants for pollinators

• How it takes time for consumers to get to know a plant by name

• Angela’s interest in marketing and exploring brands and trends outside the industry

• Staying fresh with plants by planting container gardens, visiting the gardens of friends, and traveling for conferences or trade shows

• What Angela is reading including English gardening magazines; Fine Gardening; marketing, social media, and engagement; and marketing gurus like Seth Godin

• “It’s all about the why“ and how Angela has integrated that into her life

• The Akimbo workshops started by Seth Godin

• Daily rituals including scrolling Instagram and visiting her greenhouse

• The myth that hydrangeas always need shade

• Angela’s work to increase the availability of Itoh peonies to the market

• Angela’s advice on women who are cultivating careers in horticulture

• How to propagate more gardeners through technology including better plant tags, personalized information, and geotagged information

• Find more about Angela on her company’s website plantsnouveau.com, and on Instagram @plantweenie

4. Riz Reyes on GROW and Growing as a Plantsman

Riz Reyes’s Biography

An early curiosity about fruits and flowers turned a young boy from the Philippines into an award-winning garden designer, floral designer, avid plantsman, and book author in the Pacific Northwest. Riz Reyes immigrated to the United States with his family in 1989 and settled in Shoreline, Washington. He grew up watching television to help learn English and discovered public television in his early years; on top of Sesame Street and Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, he discovered the art of Bob Ross, the culinary prowess of Julia Child, and most influential was the gardening series, The Victory Garden.

He collected plant catalogs and familiarized himself with the gardening section of his local public library and grew fond of different types of plants. He set his sights on pursuing horticulture as a future profession. Riz earned a BS in Environmental Horticulture & Urban Forestry from the University of Washington (UW) and worked as a horticulturist for the UW Botanic Garden’s Center for Urban Horticulture from 2007–2015. 

In 2013 he designed his first full show garden at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle, WA. Riz came away with a gold medal, the Golden Palette Award for the Best Use of Color and Plant materials, the American Horticultural Society Environmental Award, and the prestigious Founder’s Cup as the Best Show Garden. Riz was also a featured panel speaker for the first annual Slow Flowers Summit where he contributed to a discussion on the lack of diversity and people of color in the horticulture and floral industries. 

He is currently the gardens manager for the brew pub and hospitality company McMenamin’s Anderson School in Bothell, WA and maintains RHR Horticulture, his own horticultural enterprise where he designs gardens and cut flowers and also teaches and lectures for professional organizations. Riz also authored GROW: A Family Guide to Plants and How to Grow Them, which was illustrated by Sara Boccaccini Meadows. Riz volunteers with the UW Farm spearheading their cut flower program. Other hobbies include caring for a personal collection of rare and unusual plants in his apartment, dancing, figure skating, music, food, and spending time with family and friends.

You can find him online at his website rhrhorticulture.com and on Instagram @rhrhorticulture.

SHOW NOTES

• Early experiences with plants in the Philippines

• The influence of PBS shows from Sesame Street to The Victory Garden on Riz’s childhood (and mine!)

• How plants were an early solace in life

• Developing plant skills in the US and becoming a horticulture expert at a young age

• Riz’s ability to connect horticulture to his class assignments for better learning

• Pursuing a horticulture program at University of Washington

• Studying abroad and growing as a horticulturist in Sichuan, China

• Sichuan, the mother of all gardens in the world and a funny story about Epimedium

• Teaching classes at Edmonds Community College

• Work rituals including the use of a whiteboard to organize task priorities and stretching regimens in the morning

• Riz’s skills and passion in floral design

• My post on the IOC’s decision to eliminate flowers at the Olympics

• Slow flowers movement

• Inspiration from Hitomi Gilliam and how gardeners make the best floral designers

• Where Riz gets design inspiration and beauty in floral “compost”

• Floating flowers at Chanticleer (third image down)

• The garden at McMenamins Anderson School

• How to edit a planting

• How GROW: A Family Guide to Plants and How to Grow Them, written by Riz Reyes and illustrated by Sara Boccaccini Meadows, came to be

• Dealing with the western drought with mulch, irrigation, and plant selection

• Why NOT to use ice cubes to water orchids

• How to propagate gardeners by engaging with children, being patient with them, and making gardening simple for them

3. Kim Shearer on Breeding Woodies for the 21st Century

Kim Shearer’s Biography

Kim Shearer is a tree and shrub breeder at the Morton Arboretum where she manages their New Plant Development Program and serves as the Chicagoland Grows® woody plant liaison. Kim advances the arboretum’s mission to make the world a greener, healthier, and more beautiful place by introducing plant selections with broad adaptability, disease resistance, and pest resistance. Kim acquired her bachelor’s of science from NC State University working under the mentorship of Dr. Tom Ranney, and from there she continued her studies at Oregon State University. She is very active in the horticulture industry with the American Society of Horticultural Science and the eastern region of the International Plant Propagators society. In this episode we talk about a wide range of topics from the plants she’s worked on over the years, her passion for quilting, and her love of Maybelle Jones, her beautiful dog. You can find out more about Kim online through her profile page on The Morton Arboretum’s website and her Instagram handle @kimintransit.

Show Notes

• Kim’s introduction to plants (and watering and weeding skills) with her mom

• Kim’s early practice of forest bathing

• NC State CALS news article featuring Kim Shearer

• Bryce Lane’s inspirational class

• Dr. Denny Werner’s Cercis canadensis breeding program

• The lack of awareness of careers in horticulture

• Seed Your Future

• Google’s Ngram viewer

• The role plants and green spaces play for human health

• The importance of internships for Kim in helping her find her career

• Diane Mays and the Marye Anne Fox Science Teaching Laboratory Conservatory

• The internship at the Mountain Crop Improvement Lab with Dr. Tom Ranney

• Kim’s (and my) expedition to Gregory Bald

• Dr. Ryan Contreras’s plant breeding lab

• Kim Shearer’s thesis

• Ethyl methanesulfonate’s mode of action for inducing mutations

• Staying current through memberships in the American Society for Horticultural Science and International Plant Propagator’s Society eastern region

• Attending the Iowa State University Shade Tree Short Course, Minnesota Shade Tree Short Course, and Farwest Show as the woody plant liaison for Chicagoland Grows

• Reading Arnoldia, Digger, and HortScience

• Daily practices including refilling the humidifier for plants and early morning walks with Maybelle Jones

• The importance of weekly meetings, reading books to discuss trees, and talking about a plant group together

• Kim and her passion for quilting with her grandmother

• Legacy Ulmus (elm) breeding program following Dr. George Ware’s work

• The possibilities with lingering ashes (Fraxinus) in areas hit with emerald ash borer in the US

• Black walnut and the effects of juglone on plants

• Helping to propagate gardeners by helping and being kind to gardeners of all backgrounds and contact with people who can change policy

2. Caleb Melchior on Being a Landscape Architect

Caleb Melchior’s Biography

Caleb Melchior is a landscape architect and planting designer with Coastal Vista Design, and he teaches Professional Practice, Theory of Landscape Architecture, and Ecological Planting Design at Florida International University. His practice centers on planting design and materiality, with a focus on wild plant communities of the Gulf Coast and Caribbean. He has experience designing fine gardens, estates, and public spaces throughout the southeast United States including P. Allen Smith and Associates in Little Rock, Arkansas and ASA Engineering in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He collaborates with other designers, horticulture experts, and landscape management teams to make sure that design ideas are realized throughout installation and the ongoing life of projects. Caleb is heavily involved with design communication. He presents frequently at landscape and horticulture-related conferences. His work is regularly published in national and international publications such as The American Gardener, Horticulture, and Land8.

You can find him at his website www.calebmelchior.com and on Instagram at @the_curious_gardener.

SHOW NOTES

• How Caleb got interested in plants

• Lessons learned at Sugar Creek Gardens in Kirkwood, MO 

• The pursuit of landscape architecture at Kansas State University

• Embracing Bauhaus principles in design

• The impact of Konza Prairie

• Caleb’ research on experiential learning and legibility in plant communities in public gardens with his thesis, “Knowledge gardens: designing public gardens for transformative experience of dynamic vegetation”

• Caleb’s research sites at Champan Botanical Garden and The Meadow at Kansas State University

• The importance of working at different places and lessons Caleb learned at Confluence, RS Walsh, P. Allen Smith and Associates, ASA Engineering, and Coastal Vista Design

• The importance of practice in learning, reading, and watching videos like Garden Masterclass and Caleb’s curated list on Land8

• What a typical day looks like for Caleb and the design process at a site

• Designing and planting with regulations

• Growing In Mind, a podcast by Caleb Melchior and Preston Montague

• Oculus Rift technology in the landscape design process

• How the green industry and smaller studios can adopt models and strategies for solving problems

• The importance of communicating with clients and how to improve communication with clients

• Recognizing patterns of thinking in the design process

• How to Make Art at the End of the World by Natalie Loveless

• Understanding what clients want and blending their priorities with the principles of design

• The importance of spaces to sit in the landscape

• Excitement for umbellifers (Apiaceae)

• Cutting herbaceous plants back to improve growth

• The effort to connect horticulture with others by being present in the public

1. Welcome to the Plantastic Podcast!

Listen along to learn why I’m creating The Plantastic Podcast!