Perennial Primer - Education For You and Your Plants
Monday, July 28, 2014 * Cincinnati Hilton Netherland Plaza Hotel
A one-day seminar, presented by the Perennial Plant Association, for the benefit of home gardeners, master gardeners, professional gardeners, green industry professionals, and landscape enthusiasts.
Where
Cincinnati Hilton Netherland Plaza Hotel35 West Fifth Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Driving Directions
Contact
Steven StillPerennial Plant Association
614-771-8431
ppa@perennialplant.org
You won't want to miss this outstanding day filled with fresh ideas and practical knowledge you can begin to implement this season. This one-day perennial seminar is presented by the Perennial Plant Association, for the benefit of home gardeners, master gardeners, professional gardeners, green industry professionals, and landscape enthusiasts. The one-day program kicks off a week-long perennial symposium.
The Ohio Certified Nursery Techinician Program offers one (1) unit of continuing education and certification credit for attendance for the full day.
Registration Fee: The Registration fee for the one-day program is $80 USD through July 26 and $90 USD after July 26. Full time students pay $40 USD.
Can't get enough in just one day? Check out an entire week of programming: tours, sessions and more open to all July 28 to August 1.
PROGRAM DETAILS:
Hilton Netherland Plaza: Hall of Mirrors
Moderator: Ron Wilson, Natorp’s, Inc., Mason, Ohio
8:20 am – Welcome
8:30 am - My Favorite 100 Perennials 
Presented by Tony Avent, Plant Delights, Raleigh, North Carolina: This is a completely un-objective glorification of our favorite garden perennials from 50 years of gardening and more than 45,000 different plants grown. How many of these cool, quirky, flashy, and sometimes esoteric plants are you growing?
9:30 am The Best of the Best: Edible Trees, Shrubs and Plants to Use in Your Landscape
Presented by Paul Cappiello, Yew Dell Botanic Garden, Louisville, Kentucky: Starting in 2002 with an impeccable plantsman’s pedigree and an overgrown patch of ground, Yew Dell has been rapidly transformed into a place that’s all about plants. From Helleborus to Hamamelis, Agave to Ziziphus, Yew Dell’s focus is entirely about finding better plants and getting them in the hands of those who can put them to use. Combining great plants with award-winning architecture and National Register status yields a must-see destination for plant dweebs from all walks of life.
10:30 am Break
11:00 am - A New Spin on Old Favorites
Presented by Susan Martin, Walters Gardens, Zeeland, Michigan: This is not a 
sales pitch! Here you’ll see new varieties of perennials compared side by side with their older counterparts and judge for yourself, which are truly new and improved. You’ll walk award with practical knowledge and inspiration you can put to use right away. This presentation is based on the personal experience of the speaker who researches new perennials for Walters Gardens.
12:00 pm – Lunch On Your Own
1:30 pm - Perennials for Problem Areas
Presented by Jennifer Brennan, Chalet Nursery and Garden Shop, Wilmette, Illinois: Whether in our own gardens or those of clients and customers, there are always those problem areas that need recommendations of perennials that not only survive but thrive. Heavy clay soil and deep shade are also included in this topical presentation. Whatever the conditions, there are perennials that will work. Expand your problem-solving palette with these selections.
2:30 pm Break
3:00 pm - Ten Months of Bloom in the Shade Garden
Presented by Gene Bush, Munchkin Nursery and Gardens, LLC, DePauw, 
Indiana: This extended period of bloom is neither an impossible, nor difficult, goal for the mid-western gardener. There is no shortage of plants for creating color in the garden almost year-round. Despite this there does seem to be a lack of awareness of the perennials that can be enjoyed over an extended period in a shade garden. Using a mix of native and non-native perennials for the shade or woodland garden, your garden can begin in early March, then watch the final blooms fade in early to mid-December depending upon your local climate.
4:00 pm - Get to "Know" Maintenance
Presented by Laura Deeter, Ohio State ATI, Wooster, Ohio: Perennials are our ‘babies.’ Yet as they grow up, they often behave in inappropriate ways, becoming bullies, thugs, or simply lazy. As gardeners, we break our backs, knees and bankbook for our babies and we want them to perform their best throughout their lives. But we (and our clients) are also busy and can’t spend every waking moment catering to every whim and desire. You’ll learn maintenance tips and tricks to make your perennials work for you!
Speaker Biographies:
Tony Avent: Tony Avent is the owner of Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, North
Carolina. Tony founded this nursery to help fund the activities of Juniper Level Botanic Gardens, a display and research garden with more than 11,000 plants. Tony is a well-known lecturer, garden writer and recipient of prestigious awards from the American Horticultural Society, the North American Rock Garden Society, the North Carolina Association of Nurserymen, and the Perennial Plant Association, to name a few.
Jennifer Brennan: Jennifer is Horticulture Information Specialist and Manager
of the Education Center at Chalet Nursery and Garden Shop. For 18 years, she has been horticulture correspondent with meteorologist Tracy Butler for the ABC7 Chicago Morning News. Jennifer spent 9 years at the Chicago Botanic Garden in the Plant Information office. She holds B.S. degrees from the University of Illinois in both Ornamental Horticulture and Botany. Jennifer has been a Perennial Plant Association member since 1995 and in 2009 she received the PPA’s Garden Media Award.
Gene Bush: Gene Bush, along with his wife, is owner/operator of Munchkin
Nursery & Gardens, LLC, in southern Indiana. The nursery and display gardens specialize in native and non-native perennial shade and woodland plants. Gene photographs, writes articles, and lectures from personal experience based upon growing the native, non-native mix of plants in his southern Indiana garden. Gene’s writing and photographs appear in Fine Gardening and The American Gardener.
Paul Cappiello: Paul Cappiello is the Executive Director of Yew Dell Botanical
Gardens, Crestwood, Kentucky. Dr. Cappiello received his PhD and MS of Horticulture from the University of Illinois after studying for his bachelor’s degree in Environmental Planning and Design at Rutgers University. Before his tenure at Yew Dell, Paul was the Horticulture Director of Bernheim Arboretum (Kentucky) and was professor of horticulture at University of Maine.
Laura Deeter: Laura is a professor at the Agricultural Technical Institute
(ATI),The Ohio State University. She teaches 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.
Susan Martin: A GenX gardener communicator, Susan has worked in the Green Industry for the majority of her professional career. She was reared near Detroit, Michigan by parents who instilled the value of flower and vegetable gardening in her from a very, young age. Through Susan’s work in wholesale and retail sales, garden design, and marketing communications, she has gained a well-rounded knowledge of the industry. She currently serves as the Director of Marketing for Walters Gardens, home of Proven WinnersŪ perennials.