Boston Flora

Tag: Perennial Plant Association

  • Monday, July 28 – Thursday, July 31 – Perennial Plant Association National Symposium

    Prepare to be captivated by the 2025 Perennial Plant Association National Symposium taking place from July 28 – 31, in Des Moines, Iowa, the heart of the Midwest. It’s the premier event for perennial plant industry professionals seeking unparalleled education, networking, and inspiration. Join us to connect with industry leaders and deepen your horticultural knowledge.

    At the heart of the symposium is an unrivaled educational experience. Learn from industry leaders through a curated lineup of insightful presentations and panels. Gain exclusive access to tours tailored specifically for horticulture professionals, featuring tours of private and public gardens, growers, retailers, and more. The Midwest’s rich agricultural heritage and thriving horticulture scene provide the perfect backdrop for this immersive learning experience.

    The 2025 National Symposium is more than just a conference – it’s a celebration of the perennial plant community. Join us for the trade show social, where you’ll mingle with like-minded individuals and forge valuable connections. Monday will kick off with tours all concluding at The Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden for refreshments. Cap off Wednesday’s tours with a dinner party at the renowned Reiman Gardens, at Iowa State University, showcasing one of the Midwest’s vibrant public gardens.

    Throughout the event, you’ll have the chance to engage with industry vendors during the trade show and explore the latest innovations and developments shaping the world of horticulture. Discover new plants during the New to the Market Forum and get a glimpse into award winning landscape design projects.

    Don’t miss your chance to be a part of this year’s PPA Family Reunion! The 2025 National Symposium promises exceptional education, unmatched networking, and unforgettable memories.

    Click here for event details including the schedule, speakers, and registration. Final registration deadline July 15.

  • Tuesday, February 16, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – A Piet Oudolf Story, Online

    The first half of Deborah Chud’s Piet Oudolf Story traces her discovery of Piet Oudolf’s work, her research on his plant combinations, and her use of that research to create a garden in his style. The second half covers the historical context in which he emerged as a landscape designer and his basic principles of landscape design. Visit her Instagram, @pietgarden, to get a glimpse into her work. 

    The Massachusetts Horticultural Society presents this virtual lecture on February 16 from 10 – 11:30 am. $10 for Mass Hort members, $17 for nonmembers. Register at www.masshort.org.

    Deborah Chud is a retired physician who took up gardening in June of 2016.  The database resulting from her 5 years of research on Piet Oudolf’s plant combinations  constitutes the most comprehensive record of his juxtapositions across all gardens documented in his books. She recently presented her research at an international symposium (“Piet Oudolf: How Does He Do It?”) organized by Noel Kingsbury, under the aegis of gardenmasterclass.org. She is a member of the Perennial Plant Association and currently works a landscape design consultant and educator in the Boston area.  

  • Wednesday, August 26, 3:00 pm – 5:45 pm – Perennial Plant Association Virtual Preview and Happy Hour

    “Meet” your new favorite plants and products at this educational Perennial Plant Association (PPA) preview from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Event will be followed by virtual Happy Hour from 5 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.

    Preview is Free for PPA members; $45 for non-members. Happy Hour tickets are $10 for PPA members and $20 for non-members.

    Registration and payments for Preview and Happy Hour via website, https://perennialplant.org/?.

  • Wednesday, August 19, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm – Great Garden Tours: Showstopper Perennials Across the US Webinar

    Public gardens from different regions across the US share the perennials that make them stop and go “WOWSA!”  Summer perennials will be shown in gorgeous combinations and unique landscapes while discussed by horticultural leaders from around the country.  You just might be surprised what plants they are loving right now.  Join us and prepare to be awestruck!

    Presenters include:

    Amanda Bennett, Atlanta Botanical Garden

    Richie Steffen, Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden

    Kelly Norris, Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden

    Andy Brand, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

    Mary Tipping, The Scott Arboretum

    This August 19 webinar is sponsored by the Perennial Plant Association , begins at 3 pm, and is $15 for PPA members, $45 for nonmembers. The event will be followed by a virtual happy hour from 5 – 5:45, $10 for PPA members, $20 for nonmembers. One must register for the webinar in order to register for the happy hour. Register at www.perennialplant.org.

  • Wednesday, November 16, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – Webinar: Soil Amendments: What Works, What Should Be Avoided

    Soils are the base of the landscape. Their complexity can be overwhelming without proper tools to analyze and make best practice recommendations for clients and job sites. This free Ecological Landscape Alliance webinar on Wednesday, November 16 at 1 pm will discuss how to assess soil conditions and make a plan of action to preserve, protect, and promote soil health. Native soils, soil amendments, and engineered soils will be discussed. Image from www.rodaleorganiclife.com.

    Presenter Mark Highland recalls that “It was on a beautiful piece of Illinois farmland that I pushed his first shovel into garden soil.” After he “grew up,” Mark focused his M.S. degree studies in the Longwood Graduate Program on compost and potting soil. After the Longwood Graduate Program, Mark started The Organic Mechanic Soil Company, LLC in 2006. Mark has served as a consultant for the EPA and Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and recently received the Young Professional Award from the Perennial Plant Association. Mark currently resides in Chester County PA, with his wife, Amy and their two children.
    – See more at: http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/webinar-soil-amendments-what-works-what-should-be-avoided/#sthash.ti2Km6da.dpuf

  • Wednesday, August 3, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – The Cocktail Hour Garden

    Join author C.L. Fornari for a short stroll through the gardens at Tower Hill on the evening of August 3rd, as she talks about the creation of a cocktail hour garden. Learn about great plants for your evening landscape, sip a beverage from the cash bar, and see or purchase C.L.’s new book, The Cocktail Hour Garden. Bring questions about your yard and garden to this celebration of “after hours” plants.

    C.L. Fornari is a creative plant geek who fell into garden communications in 1995. She is the author seven books including her latest, The Cocktail Hour Garden, published by St. Lynn’s Press. C.L. is the host of two radio programs on Saturdays, heard on WXTK and WRKO Boston. She speaks to audiences at horticultural trade shows, garden clubs, botanical gardens, master gardener symposiums, alumni/women’s groups and neighborhood associations. In addition to speaking, radio, and writing, C.L. blogs and runs a consultation service for Hyannis Country Garden, an independent garden center on Cape Cod.

    In 2012 C.L. was awarded the Garden Communicator award from the Perennial Plant Association and in 2013 won three awards from the Garden Writers Association. In 2015 C.L. launched the first annual Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival, a ten-day regional celebration of gardens that raised over $30,000.00 for local non-profits.

    Her not-so-secret mission is to cultivate the gardening revival in the USA…in the meantime she grows multitudes of plants on Poison Ivy Acres in Sandwich, MA. Free with admission to the Garden.

  • Wednesday, February 4, 11:00 am – 12:00 noon – Chic Plants for Modern Gardens: A Commentary on New Plants

    Plantsman Kelly Norris will share his views on the current state of ornamental horticulture and will provide an overview of new varieties in some of today’s hottest perennial categories…all while encouraging his audience’s feedback and sass—that’s right, some new plants just aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Jump into a rousing discussion on what makes a great garden plant and why we all need to demand more from the people who make them.

    Kelly Norris is a 20-something, award winning author and plantsman from Iowa and the horticulture manager at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden. He’s well known for his book, A Guide to Bearded Irises: Cultivating the Rainbow for Beginners and Enthusiasts, which won the 2013 American Horticultural Society Book Award. Kelly’s unique 10 years of industry experience began at age 15 when he talked his parents into buying a nursery (Rainbow Iris Farm), and in that time he has become one of the few gurus on marketing horticulture to emerging demographics. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Horticulture from Iowa State University. He was the youngest person to receive the Iowa State Horticultural Society’s Presidential Citation, Award of Merit and Honor Award. In 2011 he received the Perennial Plant Association’s Young Professional Award, and in 2013 he won the Iowa Author Award for Special Interest Writing. The lecture, part of New England Grows!, will take place Wednesday, February 4 from 11 – 12 in Ballroom West, Level 3. For information and fees, visit www.newenglandgrows.org.

  • Friday, September 12, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm – Northeast Region Perennial Plant Association Symposium

    On Friday, September 12, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and the Perennial Plant Association are teaming up to offer a day-long symposium entitled Exploring Design & Perennial Selection for the Landscape. Some of the best writers and creative plantsmen and women in the business will be here, and you’re invited to listen, learn and ask questions. The event will take place at Elm Bank, 900 Washington Street in Wellesley, and the cost is $109. To register, or for more information, email kfolts@masshort.org, or call 617-933-4973.

  • Wednesday, February 19, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Invasive Plants: What Follows Success Webinar

    Many projects designed to control and eliminate invasive species meet with success only to find that an unintended consequence of success results in new infestations and unexpected problems. Invasive Plants: What Follows Success reviews the concepts and strategies that are used to deal with the successful removal of invasive species and the prevention of the establishment and spread of new species that arise when necessary actions that follow success are not taken into consideration prior to control efforts.  This free webinar, on Wednesday, February 19 from 7 – 8, is sponsored by the Ecological Landscaping Association, and you may register on line at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/944497270.

    About the Presenter:
    John Peter Thompson is a contractor and consultant working with USDA ARS, APHIS, Forest Service and the National Park Service, as well as the Africa Trade Office of Maryland (Parker & Associates), and Invasive Plant Control, Inc..
    Mr. Thompson is a nationally recognized speaker on horticulture, invasives, bioeconomics and history. he was born in California but has lived in Maryland for the last 52 years. He owned and operated a small business for ten years before returning to the family nursery and garden center business in 1988 starting as a warehouse janitor and finishing as CEO and Chairman of the Board in 2008. During this time, while managing the perennial production and sales department, he was awarded the Perennial Plant Association Retailer of the Year award in 2000.
    Mr. Thompson has been reappointed to the National Invasive Species Council Advisory Committee (NISC ISAC) having previously served as Vice Chair and Secretary. He is the Maryland Nursery & Landscape Association liaison to the Maryland Invasive Species Council and expert subject matter member of the State of Maryland’s Invasive Plant Council. He also is an active user of social media ‘Tweeting” daily @InvasiveNotes with over 6925 followers as well as a writer of essays about social, scientific and philosophic issues on his blog, Invasive Notes (www.ipetrus.blogspot.com). John Peter works as a volunteer advocate to politicians and policy makers as President of the National Agricultural Research Alliance.

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  • Mondays, October 21 – December 9, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – The Winter Garden Plants

    Gardeners who strive for year-round interest do not ignore the months of dormancy, instead choosing plantings to seamlessly link the four landscape seasons. Discussions and projects in this Boston Architectural College course will heighten students’ awareness of the quiet beauty of the winter landscape. We will explore plants for the winter garden in depth, discussing evergreen and persistent foliage, winter buds, colorful winter twigs and bark, winter-flowering plants, grasses, and bamboo, as well as the use of weeping and contorted plants as sculptural elements and columnar plants as spatial accents. In addition, each class will explore architectural elements such as walls, fences, hedges, topiary, sculpture, and rocks, all of which enrich the experience of the winter garden. This course will meet Mondays, October 21 through December 9, from 6 – 8 at 100 Massachusetts Avenue, Room M512, and includes 4 Field Trips.  The instructor is Gary L. Koller, and the fee is $920.  Register on line at www.the-bac.edu.

    Gary Koller is president of Koller and Associates, specializing in residential garden design. His award-winning gardens have been featured on tours conducted by the Perennial Plant Association, the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Garden Conservancy. Gary served for 22 years as Director of Horticulture for the Arnold Arboretum and is currently an instructor for the Landscape Institute of the Arnold Arboretum. He is an international lecturer and has published numerous articles. Gary has received many awards and medals for his skills in communicating about environmental horticulture. He serves on the Medals Committee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the awards committee of the New England Wild Flower Society and the Buildings and Grounds Committee of Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum.  Photo from www.valbourne.co.uk.

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