15. Mary Phillips on Gardening for Wildlife

MARY PHILLIPS BIO

For eight years, Mary has led Garden for Wildlife™ and Certified Wildlife Habitat® as an ambassador for native plants with the National Wildlife Federation. Her work ensures all habitat programs and resources are rooted in sustainable practices and the latest science. 

Mary’s love for wildflowers comes naturally. As a child, she discovered trillium, dogtooth violets, spring beauties, bluebells and the wildlife around them near her family’s Ohio home. Years later, she introduced her children to these same native plants along the Sligo Creek trail in Maryland. Recently, she has seen many of these essential early spring ephemerals squeezed out by invasive, non-native plants. This personal experience fuels the passion for her work.

Mary’s strategic leadership aligns the Garden for Wildlife mission across National Wildlife Federation’s (NWF) internal teams, habitat initiatives, partner networks and external messaging. She collaborates with leading entomologists, pollinator conservationists, federal agencies, NWF’s naturalists and trend researchers to provide substantive content, such as, keystone native plant lists for NWF’s Native Plant Finder™, Garden for Wildlife content, and Spanish language resources. This cross functional strategy has fostered public participation among millions of wildlife gardeners, more than doubled certifications, increased science and civic partnerships and created a Garden for Wildlife state network.

Under her leadership, in coordination with the White House Office of Science and Policy, NWF coordinated the National Pollinator Garden Network in 2015 to launch the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge which created over a million pollinator gardens in three years. This partnership involved over fifty national organizations with a third from the commercial garden trade, such as growers and independent garden centers.

In 2021, inspired by the work native plants do to restore habitat, and based on research conducted with the National Gardening Research survey and five hundred native plant growers nationwide, Mary helped create the Garden for Wildlife Native Plants Collection™. The goal of this social enterprise is to increase the native plant supply, reduce carbon impacts, and secure survival of iconic species, such as the monarch butterfly, native bees and songbirds. Mary works to ensure Garden for Wildlife, Inc. maintains its sustainability commitments: to engage everyday people in solutions for critical wildlife loss and climate impact and, connect local native plant growers to consumers through ecommerce. The pilot launch in spring of 2021, resulted in over 4,000 native plant collections sold in five months, for a total of 237,000 sq ft. of new garden habitat.

Prior to joining NWF, Mary was principal at The Abundant Backyard, a sustainable native plant landscaping service and one of the first Certified Green Businesses in Montgomery County, MD.  As a Maryland Master Naturalist, Mary maintains her Certified Wildlife Habitat® with her family and enjoys hiking and exploring the Chesapeake Bay natural history and heritage. 

You can find more about Mary Phillips on LinkedIn.

SHOW NOTES

  • Mary’s early start with plants and gardening with her grandparents and wildflowers

  • Her focus on communications in college at Arizona State University

  • Core aspects she would teach others for understanding the audience and their motivations

  • The importance of sharing plant stories and benefits

  • Mary’s role at The Abundant Backyard and creating community gardens and curriculum

  • Lessons learned as part of the Maryland Master Naturalist program about the Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly

  • Advice for installing and managing community gardens

  • Developing curriculum for kids to engage with the gardens

  • Mary’s work with the National Wildlife Federation multiplying the effect of small gardens

  • 50 years of Garden for Wildlife

  • Certified Wildlife Habitats

  • The Million Pollinator Garden Challenge

  • Doug Tallamy and Jarrod Fowler and the creation of keystone plant lists

  • Dealing with challenges of growing natives in production

  • Favorite collections with the Garden for Wildlife Native Plants Collection™

  • The impact of wildlife gardens

  • Description of a keystone plant species

  • Helping connect people to plants through animals

  • Misconceptions about native plants

  • Plants that provide food, water, cover, and places to live for animals

  • Incentives and supporting laws that support native plant landscapes

  • Study about a portion of lawn converting to native plants doubling

  • Increasing woody plant options

  • The Mayors’ Monarch Pledge

  • Efforts shifting policy and legislation

  • Small things everyone can do to plant for wildlife

  • Having wilder landscapes in urban areas and HOA’s

  • Finding inspiration from Doug Tallamy’s books and Beatrix Potter’s books

  • Practices that help Mary be more productive including gardening with others in the community and sitting quietly and watching the wildlife

  • Staying current with online groups and industry groups like AmericanHort, Perennial Plant Association, and partner organizations

  • The myth that native gardens are messy, attract rodents, and that finding them is hard

  • Encouraging gardeners to enjoy time in the garden more and reducing chemical use

  • Favorite animals including Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Northern Cardinals, Northern Flicker, and Chipmunks

  • The board game Wingspan

  • Propagting horticulturists by working with communities and helping people understand native plants and career opportunities. Diversifying story and shift way we tell stories

  • Learn more about Mary by visiting nwf.org/garden and by visiting her on LinkedIn

14. James Golden on the View from Federal Twist

JAMES GOLDEN BIO

James Golden’s garden design has been featured in national and international magazines, in The New York Times, and in several books on garden design. He has collected many of his inspiring thoughts in the recently published book The View from Federal Twist.  It is a wonderful, well-written glimpse into the inception, creation, and management of a naturalistic garden.  James has been the recipient of national awards and is widely known in the gardening world through his garden blog View from Federal Twist. Federal Twist regularly appears on tours of the Garden Conservancy, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Hardy Plant Society, and on numerous private tours. Recently retired, he has started a garden design practice.  You can learn more about James on his website and blog, by following him on Instagram @imfederaltwist, and by reading James’s book The View from Federal Twist.

SHOW NOTES

  • A post on Federal Twist discussing the name of Lindera angustifolia (narrow-leaf spice bush)

  • James’s early exposure to plants like Cercis, Baccharis, and Magnolia in Mississippi

  • His educational background in English and fine arts

  • The influence of Piet Oudolf, Noel Kingsbury, and Henk Gerritsen’s books on James

  • James’s profession working for engineering and architectural firms

  • How Federal Twist came to be in 2005 and how it got it’s name

  • Learning from Noel Kingsbury’s books about planting design; competitors, stress tolerators, and ruderals; and sociability

  • The concepts of prospect-refuge and the clearing in the woods and their impact on his initial garden design

  • The use of the borrowed landscape and inspiration from Rousham Gardens

  • What it means to be a landscape garden and his choice of the German word stimmung

  • His thoughts on a garden being utilitarian

  • How James hates the labor of gardening and techniques to reduce the labor

  • His bravery of using competitors in his landscape

  • How Federal Twist changes during the seasons

  • The core concepts James would teach about naturalistic planting design

  • How people can learn to read their sites to design better gardens and inspiration from James Hitchmough

  • Practices that James has to center himself as a horticulturist

  • The importance of his blog and developing relationships with people

  • Ideas that came from the world of architects and writing proposals that James uses in his garden

  • The myths associated with native and non-native plants

  • What James wishes gardeners did more

  • How we can connect horticulture with more people by sharing gardens with youth and having internships

  • Learn more about James Golden and Federal Twist on his website and blog, by following him on Instagram @imfederaltwist, and by reading his book The View from Federal Twist

13. Carol Reese on a Life in Horticulture Extension

Carol Reese Bio

Carol grew up as a farm girl in Mississippi where she learned much about the land from her family.  In her 30’s she pursued her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Mississippi State University in horticulture.  Carol worked as a regional horticulture extension specialist for the University of Tennessee’s West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Jackson, Tennessee for 27 years where she inspired countless gardeners within the state with her humor and scientific approach to learning.  She is beloved in the horticulture community for giving sensational presentations across the country where she pushes the envelope of people’s understanding of the natural world.  Additionally, she wrote Q&A articles for Horticulture magazine and contributed a weekly column to the Jackson Sun newspaper in Jackson, Tennessee for many years.  Carol recently retired from her position and has even more time to roam the 117 acres of her mostly wild property with her dogs. 

You can connect with Carol Reese by finding her on Facebook.

SHOW NOTES

  • Carol’s interest in plants starting with her family, delectable edibles, and exploring the natural world

  • Her return to college in pursuit of a horticulture education for healing

  • Lessons from graduate school at Mississippi State University

  • Breaking the fear barrier with audiences in classes and presentations

  • Carol Reese interview in Horticulture magazine

  • Carol’s passion for reading and her freedom of speech

  • Working for UT extension as regional horticulturist at the West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Jackson, Tennessee and developing curricula for teaching

  • The American Gardener

  • Changes in extension over the years

  • Carol’s advice to not top trees

  • Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac

  • Carol’s thoughts on the current education system and changes she would make like encouraging stewardship

  • Anthropomorphizing plants and animals to connect them with her audience

  • How to teach people to be less gullible about plant purchasing

  • Her favorite aspects of extension

  • Core aspects of extension that she would share with a class including knowing plants, their taxonomic relationships, their natural lore, and their history

  • Carol’s fascination with the Lewis and Clark expedition

  • Carol’s teaching practices of how she delivers information including humbling herself, walking around the room, and challenging people

  • Finding the answers to her curiosity through reliable social media groups, looking for multiple reliable sources, and going down “rabbit holes”

  • Essential practices and habits like unlearning, being suspicious about garden products, and avoiding impulse buys

  • Carol’s thoughts on amending the soil and using natural materials on top of the ground and avoiding product marketing

  • Carol’s focus on specific groups like Osmanthus and heirlooms

  • The need for companies to sell unpatented plants that have stood the test of time

  • Carol’s thoughts on native plants, planting species that have the most benefit for a garden, and regreening cities

  • A deeper dive into natives versus non-natives and the relevance of time

  • The Eastern Asia-Eastern North America disjunction

  • Monarchs and their preference for different milkweeds

  • Changes Carol would make if she were made queen for a day

  • Teaching children about the importance of the natural world

  • Carol’s heart and passion for rescuing dogs

  • Her favorite books including Michael Dirr’s Woody Manual of Landscape Plants, Dan Hinkley’s books, Margaret Roach, and Pilgrim at Tinker’s Creek by Annie Dillard

  • Her pursuit of new knowledge including scientific articles (and her suspicions), experts, and close friends

  • How Illicium parviflorum is native and yet insects won’t touch it

  • The myth of the importance of fertilizer that leads to overuse and being sure to evaluate plant needs

  • An epiphany she had about how some species have doomed themselves to extinction

  • Learning experiences including meeting great plant people at conferences

  • How she wishes more gardeners would plant species that offer more in the landscape, resist impulse planting, and overplant and be a fearless editor

  • Impatiens capensis treating poison ivy (note, a scientific article I found showed the plant mashed up is more effective than extracts)

  • The right press and support we need is missing from horticulture

  • Propagating horticulturists by getting them more exposure, getting people active in it, and being open to the power of plants on human health

  • You can connect with Carol Reese by finding her on Facebook.

12. Jared Hughes on Groovy Plants Ranch

JARED HUGHES BIO

Groovy Plants Ranch traces its roots back to humble beginnings where determination, ingenuity, and passion helped grow into something unexpected.

In 2007 at 19 years old, Jared Hughes started to realize the spark of a dream. While taking classes at Columbus State Community College and working at Foertmeyer and Sons Greenhouse, he fell more and more in love with plants. The desire to grow as many plants as possible, paired with a natural entrepreneurial spirit led Jared to begin propagating succulents in his limited free time. Their low care and ease of propagation made them a perfect starter crop.

From there, the business naturally grew and he started building a small facility at his parents farm in Cardington, Ohio. As the business grew, so did Jared’s collection of different unusual plants from around the world.

In 2015 Jared and his now wife Liz were married, and together they worked diligently on growing the business. Unexpectedly, they found themselves with the opportunity to purchase an amazing greenhouse property in Fargo, Ohio, previously known as Fargo Herbs.

Jared and Liz went full force into their new venture, Groovy Plants Ranch, where they now work with their two young girls, and an amazing staff of plant professionals allows them to grow far more unique and interesting plants than they ever dreamed. In addition to the diversity of plants, Jared and Liz enjoy making the ranch a family friendly, whimsical oasis of escape for customers from all over the country.

Groovy Plants Ranch has been featured in a number of magazines like Better Homes and Gardens, and Midwest Living named them the best garden shop of 2022.

You can learn more by visiting groovyplantsranch.com and by following them on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok.

SHOW NOTES

  • Jared’s germinating interest in plants from his grandfather and mother and a love of nature

  • Experiences in learning at Columbus State Community College and having Debra Knapke as a teacher

  • His changing perception of working at a nursery

  • Learning about the horticulture industry from working at Foertmeyer and Sons Greenhouse

  • Mark Foertmeyer and Sid Raisch teaching Jared to build value around plants

  • Jared’s involvement in AmericanHort and networking opportunities

  • The use of biological organisms for pest control in the greenhouse and the learning curve of their use

  • AmericanHort’s shift initiative

  • Stump house plant store

  • Lessons learned from the SHIFT initiative like breaking the ice with plants and engaging people with plants

  • How Groovy Plants Ranch started with the succulent boom and grew from there

  • Buying property with a schoolhouse and some infrastructure

  • Incredible customer experiences at Groovy Plants Ranch

  • Jared’s innate creative spirit and making a playground out of an airplane

  • How Jared builds worlds at his garden center so that there is something for everyone

  • Jared’s formula for Groovy Plants Ranch — drip with creativity for the joy of the visit and use incredible plants in unique ways

  • Keeping his creative spirit alive because he genuinely loves his work

  • How Jared forces himself to finish projects by keeping the return in mind

  • Why Groovy Plants Ranch is unique in its approach to creativity

  • The importance of idea generation and a supportive network

  • Jared’s other hobbies like cars

  • Gardening books that inspire Jared like Bizarre Botanicals and Cacti and Succulents for Cold Climates

  • The interest in tropicals like Musa basjoo (Japanese hardy banana)

  • Exciting projects including building new greenhouses, propagating cool stock plants, and new approaches to marketing

  • Jared’s recent interest in perennials and peonies

  • How all gardeners could benefit from drip irrigation and using water to control pests on houseplants

  • Jared’s advice for social media including do good content that isn’t false and take good photos

  • The myth of a hot pepper crossing with a sweet pepper makes the sweet pepper hot and the misunderstanding about GMO’s

  • Jared’s quote in Greenhouse Management

  • Propagating more horticulturists by 1. us getting more excited about plants and letting it show and 2. remembering that what we do is an inherently good thing and that plants enrich life

  • Learn more about Groovy Plants Ranch on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok.

11. Abra Lee on Conquer the Soil

ABRA LEE BIO

Abra Lee is a storyteller, horticulturist, and author of the forthcoming book Conquer The Soil: Black America and the Untold Stories of Our Country’s Gardeners, Farmers, and Growers. She has spent a whole lotta time in the dirt as a municipal arborist and airport landscape manager. Her work has been featured in publications including The New York Times, Fine Gardening, and Veranda Magazine. Lee is a graduate of Auburn University College of Agriculture and an alumna of the Longwood Gardens Society of Fellows, a global network of public horticulture professionals. You can learn more about Abra at her website Conquer the Soil, on Instagram @conquerthesoil, and on Twitter @conquerthesoil.

SHOW NOTES

10. Andrew Bunting on Life in Public Horticulture

Andrew Bunting is Vice President of Horticulture at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) and leads the utilization of planting and design to promote environmentally sound gardening practices at PHS. Andrew has elevated each of the departments he oversees and has increased the brand and visibility of PHS through their respective work.

Andrew received his B.S. in Plant and Soil Science from Southern Illinois University. Prior to arriving at PHS, Andrew worked at Chicago Botanic Garden, Chanticleer Garden, and the Scott Arboretum for a tenure of 27 years. He has received the American Public Gardens Association’s Professional Citation, Chanticleer Scholarship in Professional Development, and the Certificate of Merit from PHS. He also serves on the Board of Magnolia Society International. Andrew published his first book in 2015 The Plant Lover’s Guide to Magnolias. Andrew enjoys bird watching, travel and, of course, gardening. You can learn more about Andrew by visiting PHS’s website and his Instagram page @abunting64.

ANDREW BUNTING BIO

9. Peggy Anne Montgomery on Stories and Stinzen Gardens

Peggy Anne Montgomery Bio

Peggy Anne Montgomery is a people-oriented horticultural professional with more than 35 years of U.S. and international experience in trade- and consumer-focused garden marketing and communications, public relations and outreach, landscape design, and public horticulture. She studied horticulture and apprenticed in the Netherlands where she raised a family and owned a landscape design firm for 15 years. Her business specialized in sustainable, eco-friendly landscapes continuing her life-long interest in nature and the importance of balanced ecosystems. She has an extensive background in public relations and was part of the creative team that launched the Endless Summer® Hydrangea brand. Peggy Anne went on to study native plants at Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware and Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. She is currently an account executive for the Garden Media Group, the premier horticulture marketing firm where she represents Royal Anthos, a consortium of Dutch bulbs growers and exporters. She is a long-standing member and Fellow of GardenComm and has written for numerous trade and popular publications. Her home garden has been featured in magazines, books, and television. Today she lives and gardens with her husband and fellow horticulturist Dan Benarcik in northern Delaware.

You can learn more about Peggy Anne on Garden Media Group, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Show Notes

8. Ethan Kauffman on the Magic of Stoneleigh

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

7. Dr. Holly Scoggins on Never Stop Learning

HOLLY SCOGGINS BIO

Holly Scoggins, Ph.D., is an associate professor Emeritus from Virginia Tech. She retired in January 2020 after 20 years in the Department of Horticulture with teaching, research, cooperative extension, and administrative responsibilities.

Holly received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Georgia and her Ph.D. in Horticultural Science from North Carolina State University. In her career at Virginia Tech, Holly taught Greenhouse Management, Herbaceous Landscape Plants, Ornamental Plant Production and Marketing, and Plant Propagation, and advised countless undergrads. Her research and graduate students focused on propagation and production of perennials and annuals, and later field production of hops. Amongst other professional appointments, Holly served as Director of the Hahn Horticulture Garden from 2002–2014 overseeing its expansion from 1.5 to 7 acres of teaching and outreach gardens and the construction of the Peggy Lee Hahn Garden Pavilion.

Her passion for teaching and research has been recognized with honors and awards, including Professional of the Year from Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association, the Academic Award from the National Perennial Plant Association, a teaching award from the Virginia Tech chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta Honor Society of Agriculture, a Certificate of Teaching Excellence from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the G. Burke Johnston Teaching Award from Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society.

After “retirement,” she joined the educational staff at AmericanHort, the horticulture industry’s trade association.  Her current role is as Program Manager for NewGen Boxwood, the national brand of Saunders Brothers Inc., a large nursery grower of quality ornamentals in central Virginia.

Holly currently serves as President of the Perennial Plant Association and enjoys sharing her love of plants and the green industry at professional conferences and symposia. She’s outdoors at every opportunity gardening, hiking, fishing, and beekeeping. Because she does not have quite enough horticulture in her life, Holly and her husband Joel Shuman run Bee Berry Farm, a you-pick blueberry farm and apiary in southwest Virginia. You can find Holly on LinkedIn and Instagram (@hollyhort) and the farm @beeberryfarm.

SHOW NOTES

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

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

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

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.

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