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.