Plant-O-Rama Celebrates 25th Anniversary Online with Star-Studded Garden Experts: Learn New Ways & Natural Solutions for a More Resilient Future

If there is any silver lining to this pandemic, it is that you, you, You, lucky plant lover, can attend one of the premier horticulture events of the year.
From the warm comfort of your screen.

While those of us in the profession rally to attend the annual symposium at this time on the calendar because it’s kinda’ ~ supposed to be a slower time of the year for us garden designers and horticulture pros.

We so look forward to Plant-O-Rama because we get to learn from some of the most outstanding experts, thought-leaders, and visionaries.

There is also the not-so-subtle joy that comes from being a part of this incredible plant community. The rarified bonhomie is like a breath of fresh air as in a normal world, we’d be gathering from all points, walking into Brooklyn Botanic Garden ~ delighted to witness the Japanese Hill and Pond Garden sporting its seasonal winter wardrobe glamour;

Farther along the path, we pause at the top of the steps to take in the majesty of the Magnolia garden - glistening with their winter jackets…


Then it would be up the grand staircase to register. Hugs, kisses. Coffee and tea and breakfast treats.
Lots of hearty hellos and getting down to business.

“Are you going to the morning lectures or the afternoon?”
Can’t wait to hear …
“I’ll meet you for lunch.”
See, one would choose to attend a morning or afternoon series of talks and the rest of the time to visit the vendors in the former glasshouse, now the Palm House and in the visitor’s center area where there are/were break-out sessions too.


While you will miss the walks in the gardens and all that one-on-one, look on the bright side. Bob Hyland, Plant O Rama’s founding father, will still preside.

PLANT-O-RAMA 2021
SPONSORED BY: METRO HORT GROUP
(From the information supplied by Metro Hort:) 

PLANT-O-RAMA is Metro Hort’s annual, 1-day Symposium, Trade Show & Jobs Fair for Horticulture Professionals, Enthusiasts, and...

VIRTUAL PLANT-O-RAMA - due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 25th ANNIVERSARY event is online; anyone can attend from outside the NYC-tri-state region. Event times are Eastern Standard.

It is the largest program of the year attracting gardeners, designers, arborists, and educators working in public parks, botanical gardens, and private Edens in the New York City Tri-State region.

SAVE THE DATE: Tuesday, January 26, 2021, for the first VIRTUAL PLANT-O-RAMA

$30 for EVERYONE: Metro Hort Group Members, NYC public gardens, NYC Parks & Recreation, Nonprofit horticultural groups and conservancies, etc.

NOTE: FREE ADMISSION for Full-Time Students in academic degree programs in horticulture, design, and environmental sciences.

Have a schedule conflict with Virtual Plant-O-Rama next Tuesday? You can still see most of it! Paid ticket holders can view recordings of all 6 speakers AND visit the 36 Trade Show booths after the event. (You won't get live interaction with the Exhibitors after Tuesday, but you can visit their informative booths for a long time after the event.)

CLICK HERE FOR DAY PASSES:

VIRTUAL PLANT-O-RAMA 2021 Tickets, Tue, Jan 26, 2021 at 7:30 AM



Plant-O-Rama Schedule

Charles Yurgelevich, president, Metro Hort welcomes all and outlines the day’s events and speakers.

Adrian Benepe, 9:00am - 9:45am; Gardens and Parks in the Age of Climate Change & Pandemic: Challenges, Refuges, and Natural Solutions

Newly appointed President and CEO of Brooklyn Botanic Garden and former Commissioner of NYC Parks and Recreation (2002-2012), Adrian Benepe welcomes the 25th anniversary PLANT-O-RAMA. Brooklyn Botanic Garden has been our on-site host and Plant-O-Rama partner all these years (even now virtually). The pandemic has underscored the intrinsic human value of and need for public gardens, parks, and lands, but also laid bare many social and cultural injustices. The challenges are many as we search for solutions and move forward.

Signe Nielsen, 9:45am -10:30am; Little Island: A Refuge in the Storm

Signe Nielsen offers a sneak peek at the emerging landscape at Little Island (formerly called Pier 55), a new public pier park arising in the Hudson River. The pier’s unusual form, topography, and landscape are deeply influenced by climate-positive initiatives including raising the pier well above future sea level and storm surge, minimizing shade on marine life/aquatic species, using locally sourced materials, fabricators and labor, planting appropriately for climate change and high value to pollinators and birds. The new public park will be a refuge for New Yorkers to get exercise, be mentally restorative, and accommodate physical distancing while socializing outdoors.

Jennifer Jewell, 10:30am -11:15am; The Earth in Her Hands: Growing a More Resilient Future

Jennifer Jewell is creator and host of the award-winning public radio gardening program and podcast CULTIVATING PLACE: Conversations on Natural History and the Human Impulse to Garden. Based on her recent book The Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants, Jennifer talks to us about the profoundly positive impact women and their work have on the future of our world - aesthetically, environmentally, culturally, and economically - making them joyful, encouraging, and powerful role models, leaders, and inspirations for us all. Three of the women profiled in Jennifer’s book speak to us this year at Plant-O-Rama.

Leah Penniman, 1:00pm -1:45pm; Black Land Matters: Ending Racism & Injustice in our Food System & Gardens

Some of our most cherished sustainable farming practices - from organic agriculture to the farm cooperative and the CSA - have roots in African wisdom. Yet, discrimination and violence against African-American farmers has led to our decline from 14 percent of all growers in 1920 to less than 2 percent today, with a corresponding loss of over 14 million acres of land. Black communities suffer disproportionately from illnesses related to lack of access to fresh food and healthy natural ecosystems. Soul Fire Farm, cofounded by author, activist, and farmer Leah Penniman, is committed to ending racism and injustice in our food system.

Midori Shintani, 1:45pm - 2:15pm; Tokachi Millennium Forest: Gardening with Wild Nature

Tokachi Millennium Forest was originally established to offset carbon footprints by Tokachi News Paper Co. in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. Later on, the idea developed to share and preserve the remarkable natural environment for future generations. Midori Shintani introduces the story of this unique modern garden movement in Japan and shares how she and her garden team take care of the native forests and the cultivated garden areas. She discusses how her gardening methods root in the accumulated wisdom of ancient Japanese belief.

Margaret Roach, 2:15pm - 3:00pm; New Ways to Garden: Changing Practices for Professionals & Home Gardeners

Trends in plants and planting design have changed. Margaret Roach, creator of awaytogarden.com, former editor-in-chief of Martha Stewart Living, and 2020 New York Times garden columnist, discusses the most dramatic and important shifts in “best practices” for managing landscapes, residential gardens, and urban spaces. How do we better educate and sell services to clients? Here are 10 lessons Margaret has gleaned from interviewing experts in the field, from timing our garden cleanups to taking another look at patented cultivars. 

(As a side note, I have to add, I love this woman!  She's been so good to the plant community; so generous in terms of providing plant counsel and experiences. Thank you...) 

PLANT-O-RAMA TRADE SHOW

Outstanding Exhibitors, each with a Virtual booth; 9am-3pm


Atlantic Nurseries, Inc. - distinctive plants & products for 50 years


Bartlett Tree Experts - comprehensive tree care & planting


Barton Nursery Enterprises Inc. - quality landscape plants and products


Bayard Cutting Arboretum - Long Island, NY, public garden


Beds & Borders, Inc. - out-of the-ordinary annuals & perennials


Blondie’s Treehouse Inc. - design/build, green walls, interior plants


BIPOC Hort - professional support, educational advocacy group


Cape Lily - floral Design & garden travel


Capital Garden Products Ltd. - fiberglass garden pots & water features


Cavano’s Perennials, Inc. - fine container-grown perennials, grasses, ferns


Colorblends Wholesale Flowerbulbs - quality tulips, daffodils & specialty bulbs


Elevations Urban Landscape Design - artful fusion of horticulture & architecture


Garden and Structures Solutions, LLC - consulting for the green industry


Glover Perennials - specialty groundcovers & perennials


Hardscrabble Farms Inc. - trees & quality plants for landscapes


Issima - specialty nursery, under-cultivated, garden worthy plants


JC Ralston Arboretum - acclaimed landscape plant collections at NCSU


Janet Mavec Jewelry - exquisite jewelry inspired by nature


Kind Earth Growers - native perennials for ecological restoration


Madison Square Park Conservancy - urban park in NYC’s Flatiron and NoMad districts


Metro Hort Group – association of hort professionals in NYC tri-state region


New York Botanical Garden - premier 250-acre public garden in Bronx


New Growth Designs - exquisite lifelike flowers & greenery


New Moon Nursery - plugs & liners of North American native perennials/grasses


North Creek Nurseries - quality plugs & liners with focus on eastern U.S. natives


Organic Mechanics Soil Company - quality organic potting soil & amendments


PlantShed - premium flowers, indoor plants, botanical products


Pennoyer Newman - distinctive lightweight garden pots cast from estate originals


Rebecca Cole GROWS - garden, landscape, interior & floral design


Rooftop Drops - premier irrigation & landscape lighting for rooftops & balconies


Seibert & Rice - fine Italian terra cotta pots from Impruneta, Italy


The Trust for Governors Island - park, historic buildings, climate initiatives


Tintori Castings - custom structural & architectural planters


Town & Gardens Ltd - comprehensive garden design, build & maintenance


Wave Hill - Bronx public garden and cultural center on the Hudson River


Womanswork - garden and work gloves designed for women

“Zee” you at the Plant-O-Rama 2021 ~ the 25th Anniversary of this hallowed event celebrating all things botanical …

There's no Place Like Home. Explore the Promise of a Better 2021: How to Live the Good Life with Exterior Design, Gardens, Cocktail Culture

 

I am willing to bet that most of us wouldn’t argue that making those 2020 predictions at the start of last year never, ever imagined what was about to careen into our worlds… 

So you might find it a wee bit bold or a fool’s errand that I’m even considering sharing a Trend Predictor or Forecast for 2021.

And yet. 

My belief is that rather than all the recent mea culpas by the professional prognosticators who claim that heretofore we’ve all taken things like health, family, and home for granted, (and then go on to promote their products or services…)  I am convinced we all know that is emphatically not true. I double-dare anyone to prove that that was the case. 

We’ve long cherished our family and friends.

I suggest that instead, what we crave is the normalcy that comes with scheduled regimes.  When that’s upended, we’re at a collective loss.  

We need our routines. Our disciplines.  

Therefore, my first forecast for 2021 is we will relinquish the sense of self pity. Let’s stop whining about the life we had before coronavirus. Moreover, there are far, far too many of us who have lost family and friends to this covid. Let's honor them. And recognize there have been pandemics previously - throughout history. Isolating and staying at home this time is way more connected than any previous catastrophe. 

I say buck up. Learn from those who suffered in true isolation. 

No less than Nelson Mandela who endured the most egregious form of isolation, noted that there was “no end and no beginning; there is only one’s own mind which can begin to play tricks.”  I read that he established routines. His integrity demanded courtesy and manners. Plus, he found peace in his garden on Robben Island. 

Gandhi (who was also jailed in South Africa...) found solace in cooking. He organized to gain permission (for his fellow Indians) to cook their own food. Gandhi helped in that food preparation and cooking; and twice a day distributed the food. 

In addition, these moral icons read like there was no tomorrow.

There are countless others who have much to teach us. 

In this spirit of learning from the past rather than a fake nostalgia for a life that was “before pandemic,” I share what a pragmatic future can look like for those who still pursue an artful piece of the world that embraces my favorite genres: Gardens, Homegrown Food, Tablescapes, and Garden-to-Glass Cocktails. 

I've always appreciated the determination and optimism of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz and refer often to her quote, “If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with… There’s no place like home.”

Come Explore the Promise of a Better 2021 

When you first read about “pods” did you think it was relatable to you? 

As a horticulturist, I just thought it was a fruit or seed case… Ha, ha (smile).

In this new world order, it refers to those in your immediate, “small, self-contained networks of people who limit their non-distanced social interaction to one another—in other words, they're the small group of people with whom you share air without using breath-control precautions such as masks” (!) 

Trends For 2021

• The Glory of Gardens as Home Entertainment Spaces

In the new Pandemic Portal of Hope, Entertaining in the socially distanced world we now inhabit with our global friends and family, I forecast that even more homeowners and renters, will create home-based Entertainment spaces outdoors.  

I’ve already designed a drive-in styled Garden Theater space.  

And GrillScape Gardens 

Why not home concert venues?  

You might enlist private bands or musicians -- or dancers - to host and entertain you and your guests: socially-distanced, of course. 

I can design garden rooms to amplify and embrace music. 

 

Think fairy lights.  Blankets, Pillows. Plants. Magic.

Outdoor Entertainment is doable most of the year, in most every temperate zone. 

As a garden designer, I’ve always created garden spaces for my clients that reflect their lifestyle, including outdoor kitchens, edible gardens, and fragrance gardens.  

I see even more of a desire for that in 2021. 

You don’t need an estate or even a suburban yard.  Rooftop gardens or terrace gardens with container or raised bed gardens work their magic too.

I saw that Pennoyer & Newman added a Parterre Planter Collection. Readers know I adore Virginia and her custom planters. I recommend them to my clients. 

The planters are recreated and cast from originals that accessorized the great gardens of the world.  There are many lightweight, beautiful planters in their collections that will add drama and enduring good looks to your terrade or rooftop or patio or pool area.  

I also recommend Brooklyn-based Opiary. I’ve reviewed and written about them previously. 

At the same time, there are many other sources. I see some good looking pots on Etsy. You can also make Hypertufa or cedar containers or ones using reclaimed wood. 

You can also support your local artists: look for a link in your online community. There are many folks who will create a container design in the medium of your choice: wood, ceramic, concrete (you can paint these pots as I have for clients), or re-purpose cans, jars, shoes, or wagons!

Last year, I wanted to add something special to the three raised beds for Gina & Ted, a special garden design client, in time for their wedding.  

I was inspired by the two golden tractor tires, at the Paris Opera, titled Les Saturnales, that were used to create such an astonishing illusion. When describing the work, Claude Lévêque said, “They galvanise, for me, the organic and mechanic aspect of the symmetrical, ornamentally-charged architecture of the Palais Garnier, which is a call for performances.”

 

Moi aussi!  Garden Art has long been referred to as the “slowest of the performing arts.” 

Knowing Gina and Ted are committed recycle advocates, I figured they were game. 

I selected the tires, spray-painted them gold, and voila!  Three “rings” for the wedding. One topped with a “jewel” of an heirloom vase that is Ted’s Mother’s.  Creativity is liberating.  

Now, the tires are all-season planters. We all love what Gina and Ted have added to the look this past year.  Did I say cosmos, marigolds and more sunflowers? 

• Home is now the undisputed place where we dine and entertain.  

I’ll be looking to design more diverse outdoor garden rooms that feature cozy and relaxed entertainment centers; more seating.  

2021 will be the year you will want to add more quality outdoor seating to the various garden rooms, in addition to adding modular seating furniture that will allow you to distance and get cozy, depending on the Pod.  Munder-Skiles offers ravishingly beautiful garden furniture. 

 

Frontgate, Ballard Designs, and Wayfair, to name a few resources, will provide you with lots of options.  And ask your garden designer!  

You can also make pallet furniture    

And modularize as needed. 

When you create your outdoor Entertaining Garden Rooms, consider how these spaces can not only readily accommodate social distancing but how much you had been dreaming you wanted these looks and experiences. It’s not that you have to but that you want to create these home spaces.  Now, there’s no reason to put off the design. 

• Outdoor Dining. Upgrade from the picnic table. Unless it looks like this! (DIY Network)

(picky stitch)

Some other outdoor dining tables to consider with social distancing options: 

I’m thinking the best outdoor dining tables are those that are most adaptable. Ones that accommodate your Pod.  These squares, for example, can be socially-distanced and later ~ when the corona risk is diminished (we need that vaccine!) - you can put the fours together to make a big table for all your beloved guests. 

I so love dining tables with the water or garden feature in the center. I saw one at the Architectural Digest Show - remember when we could attend design shows? Gosh, all those people crowding the aisles. The shows surely fed into my innate curiosity and sense of adventure, discovering artisans and craftspeople dedicated to enhancing our lifestyle. But hey, they are still there! You can read my previous posts (and linked here) for more inspiration. Those designers need us more than ever. 

• The Outdoor Cocktail Lounge is the ultimate fantasy. This will trend. 

You can create your own Tiki Bar.  Or an English Pub. Or an Amalfi Coast inspired cocktail area

 

Or a French Bistro Look: 

(uptown acorn)

(houseandgarden.co.uk)

You can design a space that gives you a sense of getting away. A fantasy corner. 

Position your Outdoor cocktail lounge furniture in the garden if you have the space. If you’re short on the real estate, pot up some evergreens, topiaries, and/or some fragrant herbs to drive the illusion and fuel the imagination. 

• A trend that will continue to surge for 2021: for both outdoor and indoor mixology, is the snazzy, effervescenti Bar Cart. It serves as both the bar and the Happy Hour’s stylish focal point, adding glamour to the space. Keep it simple and elegant: stock your favorite spirits, mixing tools, glassware, ice bucket, and cocktail napkins. For a full how-to, visit my Garden Glamour post on How to Curate & Style a Home Bar Cart: The Essentials and the Glamorous Accessories.

   

 

• We can also look forward to increasingly sophisticated Outdoor Kitchen rooms that include such built-in modular features as a pizza oven, refrigerators, sinks, trash compactor, lighting, countertops, rotisseries, herb planters, and more.  The Outdoor Kitchens can include seating, a bar, big-screen TV, a spectacular sound system for concerts, a fire pit and outdoor heaters, to really expand your living space.  If you have to shelter-in-place, might as well make your home the resort you once traveled to, to get away from it all.  Now, you're getting it all, but no traveling. Just open the door and walk to paradise!  Again, if real estate is at a premium, you can make it work with fewer modular components; a table-top grill, a few potted herbs for grilling, and a few candles. Make the Magic... 

            (See my Architectural Digest and Grillscape Gardens links above for more details.) 

• I see more outdoor Zen gardens for yoga, pilates, meditation

• Likewise there will be more Home and Garden Gyms and Exercise rooms 

• Another stay-at-home trend I forecast is more garden rooms dedicated to Pod-friendly sports, including Boules or Pétanque. We have this pretty silver set: 

It’s a fun sport for all ages and easy to stay socially-distanced while playing the game. 

 

Likewise, Horseshoes. There wasn’t a family summer party where the horseshoes weren’t set up and enjoyed over many rounds of beer and cigars. It was mainly the Dads who threw the horseshoes back then.  Smile… 

(Own the Yard)

No room for tossing the horseshoes? Go with a table top. (Highlights) 

• All these expanded home entertaining areas will inevitably lead to the need for more Garden accessories; statues, tuteurs, sundials, bird baths. And for Entertaining or serving outdoors: more sophisticated glassware, plates, and cutlery. Higher-end washable or compostable. Not one-time use products.  

• There will be more Community Gardens. In every locale. Folks who gather to nurture their shared gardens - at a social distance - also share recipes, conversations, support, and more.  

• Bird Watching  This is an ever-fascinating pastime. Last year during the pandemic, bird-watching increased ten-fold in some areas.  The number of bird species in a person’s surroundings correlates to happiness, according to a study reported in “Birdwatching.” Birds increase happiness! We’ve seen some exotic birds in our yards, including owls and eagles this past year. We love watching the blue jays and cardinals on our bird feeder and all the diverse avians who bathe in our bird bath. With its solar-powered fountain, it’s like having a spa shower for the birds. Ha. I signed up for the National Audubon Society’s mobile App. It’s a great resource.  Get yourself a good pair of binoculars and enjoy the show! You’ll be delighted watching the hi-jinks of the native and the migratory birds.  Which brings me to the next trend:

• Native Plants and Healing Plants. With more and expanded gardens ~ from terrace to backyards, you can enable a more sustainable environment. The National Audubon Society has a page that will link you to a Native Plant database to help feed the birds (and other pollinators) in your zip code.   Healing Plants are not only beautiful, but their medicinal powers will increase our physical and emotional health and well-being. If you sign up for the Garden Glamour blog, I’ll send you a free top-ten list of Healing Plants - for indoors or for in the garden. (The email subscription is right below my bio) 

• Plant Decor. More of us will use indoor and outdoor plants as part of decorating our homes and gardens.  Hot spicy colors will excite our senses while the cool blues and pinks will soothe us.  You can match your plants’ color palette to the room’s wall paint and furniture.  Likewise, outdoors in your newly expanded exterior design. While Pantone has named Ultimate Grey as one of their Colors of the year for 2021, I’m over most grey at this stage.  I’m more for the vibrancy and comfort of their Illuminating as “a bright and cheerful yellow sparkling with a warming yellow shade imbued with solar power.”  That sounds like a happy addition and one that will mix with soothing greens.

• Growing Edibles  Last year we saw a dramatic increase in folks wanting to grow their own food, especially lettuces, herbs, all kinds of vegetables, potatoes, and fruit. We grow a lot of garlic, arugula, peppers, and asparagus. That trend will continue unabated.  If you haven’t already ordered your seeds, hop to it. There will be shortages again this year.  

• I see an increase in DIY Home Products because they are safer and less irritating. We can readily make products such as laundry detergent, dishwashing, and body soaps; using vinegar to clean; and even Spray starch with scents. It’s utterly hilarious that I never owned an iron, yet the last few years I’ve taken to ironing our bedsheets, linen cocktail napkins and placemats because I crave that crisp look and scented experience. 

• It’s an easy recipe:   2-3 tablespoons cornstarch to six ounces of water. I add drops of lavender to mine for a restful, meditative scent. But you can mix in any of your favorite herbal scents.  Which leads me to another 2021 Forecast: 

• Aromatherapy. There’s an incredible benefit to using essential oils, including managing pain, improving sleep quality, and reducing stress and anxiety. I have different kinds of diffusers for use in a number of our rooms: bedroom, bathroom, office. The oils can also help fight bacteria and virus. That’s a good thing. 

• Homemade Bitters and Simple Syrups. Along with the spike (!) in at-home craft cocktails due to covid, there will follow an increase in making our own simple syrups and bitters. You can customizel the taste you want in your drinks and - if you’re growing all those herbs and spices - why not mix up your own essential elements that make a great cocktail. It’s an artful project that makes your Happy Hour all the more delightful. Cheers to that. 

• Tablescapes Even if we are not entertaining the way we used to and prefer ~ with family and friends, I recommend dressing up your table decor for a holiday, for the season, or when your mood wants a change. Initially, when the stay-at-home started, I wasn’t feeling it…. Then, after some time, I couldn’t resist making our diminished world more glamorous. I think we need to create pretty, inviting tablescapes more than ever.  Make every meal an event. It’s theater!  Inspired by nature or things you have in your jewelry box or on your bookshelves, approach your tablescape like you are telling a story. Layer in items that bring you joy: candles, flowers, souvenirs from past trips, photos. Re-purpose items. It’s fun! Then set the table. And revel in your personal dining experience. 

• Volunteering.  I have to believe that volunteering for local organizations will increase. Not only do some folks have more time, but clearly they see the need to help those who’ve had a bad go of this epidemic... Whether it’s helping seniors, donating food, running errands, teaching, look up what you can do within your community. It will make you feel good and strengthen the fabric of our society.  

Now, get out there and live.   Enjoy this new world and its obstacles and challenges. 

Let’s see how many of these 2021 forecasts come to be in this year filled with hope.  

And thank you for reading my blog. I am most grateful.  If you don’t already subscribe, please enter your email and it will be sent to you. And/or share with a friend. 

There's no place like home...

Cheers to you and a bit of glamour for 2021.