GREG PAIGE BIO
Greg Paige discovered his career goal early—creating and working in beautiful public gardens and sharing and teaching this passion with others. Greg currently serves as the Director of Horticulture at the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, North Carolina. Greg has had a storied life in public horticulture. His 30-year career involved work at some of the finest gardens in the country including Bartlett Tree Research Laboratory as Director of Horticulture and Arboretum Curator, Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in Belmont, North Carolina, the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, the Holden Arboretum outside Cleveland, Ohio, and the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden in Cincinnati, Ohio.
You can learn more about Greg by visiting him at the JC Raulston Arboretum, watching videos from his work at the arboretum, and following him on Instagram.
SHOW NOTES
How his grandmother inspired him through books and his mother encouraged him to be outside
Pursuing a career in plants with a associates degree in forestry and working at an army munitions plant
Pursuing horticulture at Virginia Tech
Eye opening experiences doing an internship at Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden and working with Steve Foltz
Advice for non-traditional students returning to school
Holden Arboretum curatorial internship and lessons about database curation, plant conservation, and plant explorations
Developing skills at a cemetery in Wilmington, Delaware
Experiences at The Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College and lessons about integrated pest management and volunteers
Lessons at Biltmore estate and the walled garden with color plantings
Admiration for the Appalachian mountains
Returning south to Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden and working with Douglas Ruhren and lessons about succession of bloom
Becoming Director of Horticulture and Arboretum Curator at Bartlett Tree Research Laboratory
Experiments and the research component at the Bartlett lab
Lessons learned about tree planting
Exploring planting prairies at Bartlett lab to reduce management and increase biodiversity
A new opportunity at the JC Raulston Arboretum
Systems and processes like setting alarms, bringing intelligent people into projects and having conversations, self care and running
The clipboard system learned from Andrew Bunting and using colored manila folders
How Greg moves projects forward at botanic gardens
Staying current in horticulture by attending conferences and talking to colleagues
Underused plants like shrubs (Deutzia and Hydrangea quercifolia) and more diverse urban trees
Greg’s knowledge about tree planting, how people shouldn’t prune, and bagging grass clippings and leaves
Myth busting pruning and how you can prune trees when the blade is sharp (i.e. anytime) and that you shouldn’t bag leaves
Books that Greg Paige returns to including Michael Dirr Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, Harrison Flint’s Landscape Plants for Eastern North America, Kelly Norris’s New Naturalism, and Thomas Rainer and Claudia West’s Planting in a Post-wild World
Propagating horticulturists including engaging with students and engaging with audiences
You can learn more about Greg by visiting him at the JC Raulston Arboretum, watching videos from his work at the arboretum, and following him on Instagram.