On Wednesday, September 22, MassHort and the Perennial Plant Association are teaming up to offer a day-long seminar titled, Exploring Design, Plant Selection, and Maintenance of the Mixed Border. Some of the best writers and creative plantsmen in the business will be here, and you’re invited to listen, learn and ask questions.

The speakers include Adrian Bloom (of Blooms of Bressingham); Kirk Brown, national director for the Garden Writers Association; Kerry Mendez, author of The Ultimate Gardener’s Top Ten Lists; Laura Deeter, professor at the Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI), The Ohio State University; Roy Diblik, co-owner of Northwind Perennial Farm located in Burlington, Wisconsin; and Brent Heath, co-owner with his wife, Becky, of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs.

The Program Schedule:

8:00 am – 8:45 am – Registration

9:00 am – 10:00 am – Sustainability and the American Dream, Kirk Brown, Joanne Kostecky Garden Design of Allentown, Pennsylvania

The United States is currently the single largest user of energy on the planet. Since GIs returned from WWII, we have been a nation of extremely successful consumers. When the oil spigots run dry, the bright lights of retailing dim, and the bank account’s empty, will we be able to adapt our search for the biggest and best? Kirk Brownwill disucss how we can we prepare our children and grandchildren for a world that should leave us naturally richer and ecologically healthier.

10:00 am – 10:30 am -  Break and Visit to the Elm Bank Gardens

10:30 am – 11:30 am – Designing for Four Seasons of Color – Hit the Easy Button,  Kerry Mendez, Perennially Yours, Ballston Spa, New York

Kerry Mendez will show you the tricks of the trade for having the WOW factor in your garden month after month with smart plant selection, design tips, and surefire maintenance shortcuts. And because it will be low maintenance, you will finally be able to ‘ease’ back in the ‘easy’ chair. Kerry is a “passionate perennialist” with more than 20 years of hands-on experience. As a garden consultant, designer, writer, teacher and lecturer, Kerry specializes in low-maintenance garden and landscape design that includes perennials, ornamental grasses, flowering shrubs, bulbs, and no-fuss annuals.

11:30 am – 12:30 pm – Bulbs as Companion Plants,  Brent Heath, Brent & Becky’s Bulbs, Gloucester, Virginia

Brent Heath will illustrate the best of the best – the right bulbs for the right spots. He will show how to combine bulbs, perennials, annuals, ground covers and flowering shrubs to create just the feeling you want to generate four seasons of color in your garden.

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm – Lunch

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm – Bloom’s Best Perennials and Grasses: Expert Plant Choices and Dramatic Combinations for Year-Round Gardens
Adrian Bloom, Bloom’s Nurseries Ltd,  Norfolk, England

From his long experience on both sides of the Atlantic in using hardy perennials and grasses together and with other plants for year round effect, Adrian Bloom will highlight some plants of great value for gardeners. He particularly believes there is much in the phrase less is more which can apply to the early or beginner gardener, and will develop his theme through 12 specially selected perennials and grasses for year-round interest.

2:30 pm – 3:00 pm – Break and Visit to the Elm Bank Gardens

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Perennial Plant Communities: The Know Maintenance Approach™,  Roy Diblik, Northwind Perennial Farm, Burlington, Wisconsin

Roy Diblik’s thoughtful way to design perennial plantings welcomes fresh contemporary styles and plant diversity integrated with responsible maintenance concerns. Using a selection of regionally dependable perennials, endless natural plant patterns can be constructed, each relating to time and cost to maintain. Roy has been growing plants for more than 25 years. Recently, Roy was the plant purchasing coordinator for the Lurie Garden in Chicago’s Millenium Park, growing 11,000 of the plants at Northwind. He was also very involved in the installation of the garden. He also installed the Sullivan Arch Garden for the modern wing of the Art Institute in Chicago.

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Bringing Your Perennials Up Right,  Dr. Laura Deeter, ATI Ohio State University, Wooster, Ohio

The day’s final speaker will be Dr. Laura Deeter,  whose lecture is entitled Bringing Your Perennials Up Right. Are you the parents of unruly toddlers, aggressive or lazy teenagers, or are your babies closer to middle age and just aren’t the same anymore? Perhaps they simply aren’t living up to their full potential. Learn how to make your perennial babies work for you! Laura will provide a fun and lively romp through perennial maintenance!

Registration Fee: $95/person before September 14. $110/person after September 14.  This price includes lunch.  You may register on line at www.masshort.org, or call 614-771-8431.