Our Speakers
I have been a lifelong gardener, but my first love was science. I graduated as a Registered Medical Technologist (Bacteriology) and worked in that field for 5 years. After getting married and having two children I returned to school and graduated...
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Natalie has always been passionate about plants, and ever since she was a young girl it had been her dream to study plants. Natalie has Bachelors degree majoring in Botanical Science from McGill University, and a Masters degree in Forest...
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Marion Jarvie is a renowned plantswoman who has been gardening in Thornhill for over 30 years. She is passionate about plants and gardening and has travelled extensively to see plants and where they grow. Marion has been involved with both the...
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Peter Keeping along with Sheila Cule run Peter and Sheila's Country Garden in Bowmanville, Ontario. Peter is a clematis enthusiast and member of the International Clematis Society. He travels to the UK annually to search out and bring back the...
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Liz Knowles has been gardening in the Hockley Valley for 36 years. During that time, she and husband George have developed several perennial beds and rock gardens, two ornamental ponds, a large grass garden, woodland gardens and assorted shrub...
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Fritz Kummert had his apprenticeship in horticulture at the municipality gardens of Vienna, studied at the Horticultural College at Schoenbrunn at Vienna, and got his degree in 1963 and his academic degree "Dipl.-Ing." (similar to M.Sc.) in 1968,...
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John Lonsdale, a native of Sheffield, England, hopped the pond in 1995 and developed his garden Edgewood on a little over 1.5 acres in Exton, Pennsylvania. Here he grows several thousand hardy woodland, prairie and bulbous plants, trees and... |
Most people consider gardening just a hobby, but Matt sees little difference between his obsession with plants, biology and with design.
Truly a life-long plantsman, Matt was raised (and still lives on) his ancestors’ family property in...
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Michael Pascoe is a plant 'nut' and has been one since childhood. Growing up in Cornwall, England he began his gardening career at age 6 with a home built greenhouse. Michael has travelled and worked throughout the world spending many years in South...
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Barrie Porteous was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and came to Canada when he was 23. He has an Honors degree in Applied Chemistry but spent most of his working career as the Canadian Marketing Manager for Sun Chemical, the world's largest supplier... |
Robert A. Raguso, Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University. Robert Raguso is an integrative and comparative biologist with an interest in the chemical senses. He believes that everything begins with...
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Born in Reno, Nevada, in 1941 but raised, after the Second World War, in the high Sierra Nevada of California, he entered Utah State University in 1959 and graduated in botany with a bachelor’s in 1963 and a master’s degree in 1965 before going to...
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Tony describes himself as an ‘avid gardener, with interests in native plants, rock gardening, Chinese and Japanese woodland plants, hardy succulents, and plants of evolutionary and botanical interest.’ His research focuses on the evolution of sedges...
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Nicola Ripley originates from the British Isles. She learned a love of alpine plants as a mountain climber in the Scottish and Welsh Mountains, first working for the UK Nature Conservancy studying the flora of limestone pavements in Yorkshire and...
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Kate Seaver, M.Sc. is a Horticulturist, Floral Designer and Garden Décor Expert. After almost twenty years as a corporate executive, Kate followed her passion for gardening and created Kate’s Garden; a Botanical Retail Studio which specializes in...
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Hortiholic and plant evangelist Russell Stafford is founder, owner, webmaster, nursery manager, propagator, shipping and telemarketing supervisor, data entry specialist, custodian, and all other positions at Odyssey Bulbs, an on-line micronursery...
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Bobby J. Ward lives in Raleigh, North Carolina . He is a native North Carolinian and received an undergraduate degree in biology from East Carolina University and masters and doctorate degrees in botany and plant physiology from North Carolina State...
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Over 25 years as head gardener at The Garden House in Devon, Keith evolved a style of gardening based on modifying natural landscapes from around the globe. The garden he created was described by national commentators as 'one of the most exciting...
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Harvey operates Wrightman Alpines Nursery. His passion for alpines is only surpassed by his skill in propagation and growing them. His talks and workshops are highly educational and he always brings plants for sale when he talks. |
Ian is an accomplished Artist, Photographer, Writer, Lecturer and Plantsman Extraordinaire. Along with his wife, Margaret, he has gardened for forty years in Aberdeen, Scotland. He has concentrated his attention on the study of bulb cultivation (but...
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