The 2013 Northeast Region Perennial Plant Symposium will take place Wednesday, September 11, from 8 – 5 at the Elm Bank Horticulture Center in Wellesley, presented by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and The Perennial Plant Association.
Following registration at 8 am, David Culp of Sunny Border Nurseries will speak on The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year Round Beauty. Brandywine Cottage is David Culp’s two-acre garden where he has mastered the design technique of layering – interplanting many different species in the same area. David will illustrate a basic lesson in layering: how to choose the correct plants, how to design a layered garden, and how to keep it maintained.
Following a break and visit to the Elm Bank Gardens, Stephanie Cohen, the Perennial Diva, will share The Path to an Exciting Mixed Border: Perennials and Shrubs. Creating a garden for four seasons is always Stephanie’s goal. In recent years, adding flowering shrubs that play nicely with perennial plants has added a new dimension. Interesting flowers, lovely bark, fall color, berries, and interesting shapes make shrubs and perennials perfect buddies in the border. The Perennial Diva is not only opinionated about perennials, but she has added shrubs to her love ’em or leave ’em list. Her book is illustrated below.
Before lunch, Dr. Denise Adams will lecture on American Home Landscapes. American landscape design certainly has evolved over the years–from Colonial subsistence gardens to Victorian gardens of excess to 1980’s backyard barbecues. This lecture will provide a survey of American residential landscape history. Learn about the major landscape design trends and most popular plants since our country’s establishment to the present with special emphasis on the New England landscape.
After lunch, Lloyd Traven of Peace Tree Farm will speak on Bringing the Awesome Every Day. When you go shopping before a fancy party, do you say to yourself “I hope I can find the same dress everyone is buying?” Do you want your living room decorated just like your neighbor’s? Of course not. Your garden should be no different. All want their garden to stand out, to shine, to stop traffic (in a good way.) We all need fresh ideas, new choices, different methods and a whole new design concept. Water-friendly, edibles, foliage, container combinations – the rules have changed and a new world awaits.
Jennifer Brennan of Chalet Nursery and Garden Shop will speak on Perennials for Problem Areas. Whether it is for our own gardens or for clients and customers, there are always those problem areas that need recommendations of perennials that do not just survive but thrive. Heavy clay soil and deep shade are also included. Whatever the conditions, there are perennials that will work. Expand your problem solving palette with these selections.
Finally, John Friel of Emerald Coast Growers will present Tell Me What’s New! Tell Me What Works! The growing zones of Massachusetts and region encompass great diversity. John will present a roundup of perennials and ornamental grasses, new and known, that will provide great punch to the landscape.
Registration fee is $99 per person before August 25, and $109 per person after August 25. This price includes lunch. The program will be held at 900 Washington Street in Wellesley, and you may register online at www.perennialplant.org or by calling 614-771-8431. You may also mail the registration form found on the website to 3383 Schirtzinger Road, Hilliard, OH. Checks may be made payable to the Perennial Plant Association.
Adrian Bloom starts things off by talking about the practical and inspirational factors for success in a garden. His thesis is that we all know that perennials and grasses have a changing role to play through the seasons but how often do we consider their placing and potential impact in combination with other plants? Elm Bank’s Bressingham Garden is a study in how to make the a garden’s impact greater than the sum total of its plants.
Award-willing author and garden designer Stephanie Cohen will focus on the autumn garden. The lushness of summer need not be followed by a whimper in the fall. Ms. Cohen will show examples of perennials and grasses that peak in autumn, berries and fruits, bark, and glorious color adorning trees and shrubs. You’ll walk away with an understanding that ‘Fallscaping’ ought to be a part of every garden’s design.
In the afternoon, horticulturalist Roger Swain will address the subject of garden tools. His view is that hand tools – the trowels, spades and other implements that extend our reach and power – may have evolved for evolution’s sake rather than for the benefit of the user. His presentation will be a tour through the evolution of familiar garden tools emphasizing the importance of matching not only the tool to the task, but fitting it to the user’s hand and body.
The day’s final speaker will be veteran nurseryman and MassHort executive director Joe Kunkel, who will speak on plant evaluations at Elm Bank. Commercial plant breeders from around the world send Elm Bank hundreds of cultivars for evaluation. Kunkel will highlight the plants that have stood out among their peers in the New England Trial Garden and the Bressingham Garden. He’ll talk about how homeowners can use regional trial gardens to narrow the list of attractive cultivars to a group that not only looks good in a pot at a garden center, but that will thrive in a back yard.