Dr. Noel Kingsbury received his doctorate degree from the University of Sheffield in the UK where he is currently an Associate in the Department of Landscape.  He is internationally known as a writer about plants, gardens and the environment, and is best known for his promotion of what is broadly called an ecological or naturalistic approach to planting design. Dr. Kingsbury has written over twenty books and published articles in many journals, including Gardens Illustrated and Hortus.  He has been actively involved in the promotion of quality public plantings for many years and consults in the fields of garden development and maintenance, green roofs, and other aspects of green architecture.  He is considered a horticultural renaissance man.

Garden Designers at Home; The Private Spaces of the World's Leading Designers 

The gardens that designers have created for their clients may be familiar to garden enthusiasts, but what happens in the designers' own backyards? Private gardens are often sites for experimentation, either with untried plants, novel construction techniques, or innovative ways of handling space. Some designers use their gardens as "gallery spaces"—perfect representations of the heart and soul of their work, while others may be radically different from a designer's commissioned projects. The fact that private gardens are the site for experimentation suggests that a peek through the garden gate will be a privileged look into the future and Noel Kingsbury has the key to the gate.

New Ideas; The Vertical Garden

Vertical Gardens are all the rage in the horticultural world.  Noel Kingsbury will show us what works and what doesn’t. He casts a skeptical eye over some developments and suggests that the best way of covering walls is the natural one of using climbing plants, which with new technology can create some truly dramatic results. Walls covered in

climbing plants can do much to support biodiversity and improve the local environment, especially in urban areas. 

Julie Moir Messervy is a leader of an innovative movement in which landscape design is as much a personal journey as it is about leaving a unique imprint upon the earth. She has lectured widely using an interactive format to help her audience understand the elements of garden design that speak to the soul.  Ms. Messervy has authored four award-winning books, the latest, written with architect Sarah Susanka, is Outside The Not So Big House; Creating the Landscape of Home. She writes the column “Inspired Design” for Fine Gardening magazine and her articles and design work have been featured in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post, among others. She received her Master of Architecture and City Planning degrees from MIT. 

Creating Contemplative Gardens

In difficult times we often need the soothing presence of a contemplative retreat to provide sanctuary from the stresses of the world. We seek a place that encourages quiet reflection in an environment of peace and harmony. Award-winning landscape designer and author Julie Moir Messervy has been creating those special places for decades.  In this interactive presentation, she gives us the key to creating a "Home Outside" that encourages thoughtful introspection and spiritual awakening, releasing us to find the joy that is hidden beyond the garden gate. 

Tovah Martin admits to being a perennial, heirloom, vegetable, and cottage gardener of fanatical proportions and has recently earned her accreditation from NOFA as an Organic Land Care professional.  Her first love was houseplants and her decades of experience with tropical plants for windowsills and greenhouses led her to write The New Terrarium and her new book The Unexpected Houseplant.  She has authored more than a dozen titles, including Tasha Tudor’s Garden, has contributed articles to gardening publications, has appeared on many TV broadcasts including the PBS TV series “Cultivating Life” and has been active on many internet sites. Her brand spanking new blog is www.plantswise.com.

The Unexpected Houseplant

Get ready for the Houseplant Revolution.  What the world needs now is more green close by – and houseplants are the answer.  These aren’t your grandmother’s dowdy versions; these are houseplants with panache.  Tovah Martin will show you how to grow these colorful and exciting plants successfully and how to create a lush indoor landscape in your home.

Terrariums and You

The “small world” of a terrarium brings beauty, botany, whimsy, sophistication and sparkle into any décor and is the ideal venue to introduce nature into children’s lives.

Terrariums can be surprisingly inexpensive: recycled vases, cake stands, etc. can be  given new life as the container for a miniature world of plants. Tovah Martin will show you how to create and maintain these small green worlds. 

Dr. Holly L. Scoggins is an Associate Professor in the Department of Horticulture and Director of the Hahn Horticulture Garden at Virginia Tech.  She studied with Michael Dirr and Allan Armitage during her undergraduate and Master’s program at the University of Georgia and received her Doctorate of Horticultural Science at NC State.  She teaches courses in Herbaceous Landscape Plants and Ornamental Plant Production, among others, and focuses her research efforts on perennial propagation and plant nutrition.  As  Director of the Hahn Garden, she has extended its size from two to six acres and, in her spare time, farms 19 acres of blueberries, asparagus, Christmas trees, honeybees, chickens and perennial borders “out the wazoo.”
 

Plants with Personality

No wallflowers here! Holly Scoggins presents a lively lineup of perennials, annuals and woodies for the adventurous gardener, as well as her experience growing them.  From the outgoing to the borderline obnoxious, these are plants that simply will not be ignored. 

Nan K. Chase, author of Eat Your Yard! has written about topics as diverse as religion and road trips for national and international publications, most recently The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.  She is an investigative journalist and writes about architecture and landscape design from her home in western North Carolina, co-authoring Bark House Style and writing Asheville: A History.  She was an adjunct faculty member at Appalachian State University for 14 years before retiring to her garden to write and to blog for Mother Earth News.

The Beautiful Edible Landscape

There is no reason why we can’t have it all: a perennial border that produces all the veggies needed for a salad or a shrub border that features the beauty of nutritional and easy to care for roses.  Nan Chase will show us how to integrate southern flowers, fruit and vegetables into a whole that is pleasing to the eye as well as tasty to the palate.

 
Garden and art are always provided for inspiration.  This year we are excited to have a metal sculptor, Grace Cathey, to display her work in the gardens provided by Dearness Gardens in Huntersville, North Carolina.  Please investigate her website: www.gracecathey.com .