ETHAN KAUFFMAN BIO
Ethan Kauffman developed his love of the natural world exploring the hills in southeastern Pennsylvania. He cultivated his horticultural perspective over two decades of gardening in the deep south, including working at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden and then as director of Moore Farms Botanical Garden, where he led the transition from a private pleasure garden to a public botanical garden. Drawing on influences from both regions, he currently serves as the first director of Stoneleigh: a natural garden, a 42-acre former estate located in Villanova, PA, which opened to the public in 2018. At Stoneleigh, he enjoys creating a garden experience that inspires others to garden for beauty, biodiversity, and the health of our planet.
SHOW NOTES
Ethan’s introduction to plants, gardening, and the natural world at a young age from his parents
His collector gene starting at a young age with snakes
Early jobs including DEKALB summer work and nursery seed propagation
Graduating from Clemson and pursuing a career as a zoo keeper at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden
Ethan’s shift to Moore Farms Botanical Garden with Jenks Farmer and being bitten by the plant bug
Impacts on low versus high public garden density in the surrounding area
Lessons learned at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden and the value of making mistakes
Ethan becoming director of Stoneleigh
Issues with a local school and opening Stoneleigh to the public
Stoneleigh’s focus on native plants with Natural Lands and Ethan’s oversight
Elevating the design of a native plant garden through cultivar selection and design
The role of collections to better understand the diversity of a genus and the approach to mixing plant collections together for a polyculture
Highlights at Stoneleigh including the 200 foot long wildlife hedge, Catalpa court with the state champion southern catalpa, and the pool house and circular bog gardens
Working with staff and volunteers at Stoneleigh, the joys of getting to know everyone, and supporting the team the best he can
Moving projects forward through making good observations with tape recorders and phone cameras
Cultivating his skills by going to conferences and visiting gardens
A segue into Jared’s visit to see Nigel Dunnett’s superbloom
Superbloom music composer Erland Cooper’s Music for Growing Flowers
Ethan’s approach to editing the landscape at Stoneleigh
Inspiration from homeowners who aren’t bound by rules and from the wild places where plants grow where the books say they won’t
Breaking the colonial link to gardening from rethinking common names to acknowledging the diversity in people in horticulture
Ethan’s thoughts on seeing the Monarch butterfly migration in Mexico and the International Union for Conservation of Nature adding the Monarch to the Red List of Threatened Species
Early experiences with Monarch larvae on Asclepias syriaca with his dad
Busting the myth of the focus on crape murder
Propagating horticulturists by engaging kids with plants
An invite to visit Stoneleigh