The program is presented by the Perennial Plant Association and The Morton Arboretum.
February 6, 2016
9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
The Program will be held at:
Thornhill Education Center at The Morton Arboretum
4100 Illinois 53
Lisle, IL 60532
Questions?
Contact Steven Still
Perennial Plant Association
614-771-8431
ppa@perennialplant.org
Join us Saturday, February 6, 2016, as the Perennial Plant Association and The Morton Arboretum team to deliver a day-long symposium entitled, ‘Inspired by Nature.'
Some of the best writers and creative plantsmen in the business will be there, and you’re invited to listen, learn and ask questions.
Registration is $95 for members of PPA and/or The Morton Arboretum. Non-members are welcome to attend. Non-member registration is $112. Lunch, beverage breaks, and admission to the 1700-acre arboretum are included in the registration fee. 8:00 am - 8:45 am - Registration
9:00 am - 10:00 am: Prairie Plants For Pollinator Gardens
Neil Diboll, Prairie Nursery, Westfield, Wisconsin
The importance of pollinators to human well-being is increasing, as the population of these critical components decreases in our ecosystems and food production systems. Gardeners can plant a multitude of native flowers that attract and sustain the amazing diversity of pollinators, including bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, beneficial wasps, and even pollinating flies. Neil highlights the best prairie plants for attracting these marvelous creatures to help maintain the balance and productivity of our natural world.
10:00 am - 10:30 am - Break
10:30 am - 11:30 am: Pocket PrairiesSM In Six Easy Steps
Edie Rowell, Wilmette, Illinois
The decline of bees, Monarch butterflies, pollinating insects and native birds is directly related to reduced open spaces due to housing development, agriculture, and industry. Gardeners can replace crucial habitats that provide food and homes by planting attractive native plants in their yards. It can be done in six easy steps with the Little Garden Club of Wilmette’s combinations: Sunnyside Up, Half & Half, Shady Ladys, or the Sun Loving Prairie Container. Help the native wildlife a yard at a time. Every little bit helps.
11:30 am - 12:30 pm: Moving Beyond Pretty- Plants With Bonus Points
Susan Martin, Gardener Sue’s News, Holland, Michigan
When the plant catalogs begin to arrive, our eyes are filled with botanical eye candy of every color, shape, and size.The challenge is to look beyond the pretty flowers and seek plants that deliver more - more color in shade, food for pollinators, greater durability, and visual interest through all the seasons. Gardeners and retailers should see plants from a new perspective according to all the benefits they offer. We’re moving beyond pretty and into the realm of more.
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm: Enjoy lunchtime networking.
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm: Are They Better or Just New??
Paul Westervelt, Saunders Brothers, Inc, Piney River, Virginia
With so many new perennials released every year, it can be difficult to distinguish legitimately better cultivars from those that are simply marketable. Through production trials, garden visits, vendor visits, and conversations with other growers, Paul works to select the true winners for our region.
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm - Break
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm: Perennial Mathematics - Division and Multiplication: When to Divide What (and How)
Beth Botts, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois
Find how to know if each of 25 perennials needs dividing and when and how to divide each. Ornamental grasses – dig and divide when the clump gets hollow in the middle. Irises – dig rhizomes in July, cut them apart, replant. Daffodils – when clump stops flowering, dig it, divide, and replant bulbs. Hostas – whenever you need more hostas, dig up clump, slice in pieces, replant). A few oddball plants – yes, you can divide bloodroot, hepatica and Virginia bluebells). Beth offers a brief refresher on dividing techniques.
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm: “New German Style” of Planting at Hermannshof Gardens
Prof. Cassian Schmidt, Hermannshof Gardens, Weinheim, Germany
This dynamic German speaker relates his strategy for creating a gardening plan to translate to midwestern gardens. German gardens have attracted great attention during the last few years due to their innovative nature-inspired design that highlights perennials and grasses. Contemporary German plantings are ecologically-based and aim to match habitat with plants.
Beth Botts
Beth Botts is a longtime garden writer and speaker. She is a senior writer at The Morton Arboretum. Beth is the author of Illinois, Indiana & Ohio Month-by-Month Gardening: What to Do Each Month to Have a Beautiful Garden All Year. Beth includes a refresher on techniques of dividing plants to save effort and tie in managing the garden during the busy season.
Neil Diboll
Neil joined Prairie Nursery in 1982. He devotes his efforts to championing the use of prairie plants, as well as native trees, shrubs and wetland plants, in contemporary American landscapes. Besides his work with Prairie Nursery, he has worked for the U.S. Park Service in Virginia, the U.S. Forest Service in Colorado and the University of Wisconsin. Recognized internationally as an expert in ecological and natural landscape design, Neil is the author of numerous articles on designing and landscaping with native plants. He is published in Birds and Blooms, Fine Gardening Magazine, Landschafts Architektur Magazine,” and Wild Ones Journal. Diboll is famous for his presentations all across the map, including Kew Gardens, London; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden; U.S. National Arboretum, Washington, DC; Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University; and Chicago Botanic Garden, Chicago, Illinois.
Susan Martin
Susan’s compamy, Gardener Sue’s News, conveys the depth and breadth of her career in horticulture. This GenX garden communicator draws on her 11 years of experience as marketing director at Walters Gardens, Inc., as a sales representative and merchandiser for Hines Nurseries, as a self-employed garden designer, and as a garden center retailer. Her early nurturing by her parents during her Michigan upbringing has led to a rounded presentation for all of us.
Edie Rowell
Edie is a member of G.C.I. Little Garden Club of Wilmette Ilinois and is a co-creator of Pocket PrairiesSM. Her presentation is a reference organized into six easy steps using the Little Garden Club of Wilmette’s combinations: Sunnyside Up, Half & Half, Shady Ladys, or the Sun Loving Prairie Container. The goal is to help native wildlife one yard at a time. Every little bit helps.
Prof. Cassian Schmidt
Professor Schmidt is the Director of Hermannshof Display and Trials Garden and for planting design at the Department of Landscape Architecture at Geisenheim University. He served apprenticeships in landscaping before earning his Masters Degree from Ahlem Horticultural College, Hannover, Germany. He worked at the Countess von Zeppelin perennial nursery, Germany, and at Kurt Bluemel, Inc. nursery, Maryland. His research includes studying natural plant communities as aesthetic and ecological models for low maintenance plant communities and the use of North American prairie plants in planting designs for urban green spaces and gardens in Europe.
Paul Westervelt
Paul has been the manager of annual and perennial production for Saunders Brothers, Inc., Pineyville, Virginia since 2004 where he grows more than 800 varieties. He earned his bachelor and master degrees in horticulture at Virginia Tech. His excellence has been recognized by many including the 2009 “Young Professional of the Year” for the Perennial Plant Association and the 2013 class of 40 Under 40 for Greenhouse Product News. He is a regular contributor to Grower Talks Magazine. Paul, a native of Winchester, Virginia, now resides in Arrington with his family.