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 …

How to Earn a Fast-Track Certificate at NY Botanical Garden This Summer Plus Save on Tuition!

Summer is the optimum time for gardens, there’s no doubt - especially in my northern hemisphere where garden or planting zones run from 3 to 7. The green bounty of trees and shrubs, along with the zing of color rendered by the seemingly limitless, leafy perennials and annuals is just so hearth-clutching. Ahhh - Mother Nature smiles...

But then. There is the reality. Like any good mother, she recognizes that her children need discipline. The “green kids” should know about the botanical and landscape design art, the nurturing garden management skills, the healing properties of forests and gardens and - of course - the plants.

But wait - doesn’t Mother Nature just take care of all that?

No.

Like any mother or Pacchamama goddess - she wants to teach you how to take care of her gifts. What’s that proverb? Give a man/woman a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man/woman to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Well in this case, The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) - the premiere museum of plants and the optimum place to learn about all things garden art - is offering five, fast-track, plant-based disciplines certificate programs where you can learn:

• Landscape Design
• Gardening
• Floral Design
• Botanical Art & Illustration
• Horticultural Therapy

Incentives for Intensives
If the green education wasn’t enough of its own motivation, the Garden has generously come up with a value-add gift or incentive swag to persuade you to sign up. Now. (You know you want to…)

NYBG is offering you, dear readers and social media Followers, $50 off of the Floral Design, Gardening, and Landscape Design Intensives by using Code GG50 at checkout when you purchase the course. The code is valid until June 15, 2019.
In addition to the $50 discount off of the Intensive Program(s) you’re eligible to win the All-Garden passes to those who enter in the Comments section here on the blog. The Garden will consider each Comment an entry and then select one winner based on all the entries.

So blab away, below!

You can also re-post on social media with a Comment and be eligible for the Passes.

You know you have a lot to get off your chest and share! Some Comment suggestions might be how you always wanted to learn about the transformative power of gardens. Or how you have a black thumb and want to change this. Many folks tell me they changed their health by growing organic fruits and vegetables. Others have given themselves - and their family and friends - the gift of arranging floral bouquets, table decor of seasonal flowers, and vases brimming with color, scent, and native beauties. And don’t leave out how gardening with your children or grandchildren changed your lives…

So what’s it gonna be this summer? All that beach sand won’t get you anywhere. (Except maybe to the shower to rid that grainy dust out of your swimsuit!)
Jump in here. Take this plunge!

Learn a coveted skill, express your inner garden artist, and maybe pursue a new career.
The Summer Intensives have launched or kick-started more than a few second or third “acts.” Or what the Garden refers to as an “encore career.” I like that.

You can earn a prestigious NYBG Certificate in the time it takes to grow your tomatoes. Or your Joe Pye Weed.
This summer is your time to take one of the accelerated Summer Intensive Programs.

Classes begin July 8th.

Individual Intensive classes are also available in Botanical Art & Illustration and Horticultural Therapy.
So, whether you aspire to change your career or simply luxuriate in a new passion, you’re sure to enhance your knowledge and skills at the gorgeous Botanical Garden with their exceptional, on-site instructors available at this world-class learning facility.

Fast-track your landscape design training.

The Landscape Design Certificate Program at NYBG is an engaging, career-oriented program that gives you a solid, plant-focused foundation along with the skills and confidence you need to start your own business. Or work as part of a design team. NYBG covers every aspect, from design principles and drafting, to site analysis and construction.

I’m a graduate of the Landscape Design program. I did it the long way over many years as I was working corporate - with its own intense hours and travel. I started off in the program just to up my design prowess and better understand garden history. I am fascinated by all history - but when I became smitten by the garden bug an entirely new world of “she-roes” and heroes opened up to me. And I thoroughly believe that one can’t truly be accomplished at their passion or art until you learn about the masters who went before us. Therefore, learning about the various garden cultures we celebrate and revere most today - think Persian, Italian, French, Chinese, Japanese, Peruvian, English - as well as the pioneers of garden design - was rather life altering. In fact, I became such an acolyte or garden history buff long before my studies concIuded, that I was networked to help contribute research on landscape design pioneer Nathan Barrett for the book, “Pioneers of American Landscape Design, The Cultural Landscape.” There was no turning back for me…

The study of Landscape and Garden Design quite literally, changed my life. I pivoted to not only work for NYBG and later for Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) - still utilizing my communications and writing skill set - while at the same time, designing gardens for clients. I can readily assure you - it’s a most rewarding profession. It’s artful, challenging and exciting. There’s never a dull moment. You can create your own business or work for a design and build firm. I’ve been blessed to have many of the same clients - who are now friends - since I started Duchess Designs. We do design and garden maintenance - for yards, cityscape rooftops, decks, containers, and more.

And if you like continuing education - this is the world for you. All winter, we designers and horticulturists gather and learn at a number of professional organizations, including Metrohort, where experts, authors, and thought leaders inform and lecture. Likewise, NYBG offers it’s notable Landscape Design Portfolios Lecture Series - and lectures following our Landscape Design Alumni Group’s winter, monthly meetings; Wave Hill and BBG, too, offer talks.
We love our garden design community, always seeking to help each other and better our knowledge base in order to provide the very best for our clients. You’ll make lasting friends at the talks or the many conferences held across the country - and the globe.

See, the world of plants and garden art and design, and garden history, are endlessly beguiling. 

Plus, learning how to design and grow edible gardens, sustainable gardens, organic gardens - and more - is critically important and becoming ever more so.

There’s just so much to learn.

But when you sign on for the Intensives, in just five short weeks, you’ll complete more than 25% of the courses required for the Certificate in Landscape Design. The Garden’s hands-on summer intensive program combines interactive coursework with plant walks led by NYBG Garden Curators, guest designer talks, and open studio time. You’ll develop a tight network of like-minded colleagues while coming up with solutions to real-world design challenges.

Classes:

• Landscape Design History
• Graphics Basic Plant ID
• Plants for Landscaping
• NYBG Curator Led Tours
• Off-Site Garden Visits
• Guest Designer Portfolio Presentations
• Open Studio Time

Dates: July 8–August 9

Tuition: $3,865 (Member) / $4,249 (Non-Member)
Special financing options are available.

Register Here


The Gardening Certificate Program provides you with the core knowledge, hands-on training, and credentials you need to succeed in any garden setting with complete confidence.

Where better to learn gardening than in the Garden?! What an extraordinary experience...
The Summer Intensive Program offers the New York City area’s most in-depth courses on sustainable gardening techniques, soil science, plant propagation, garden care and design, and more.

In just three short weeks you’ll finish over 45% of all the gardening classes required to complete the Certificate Program, giving you a solid base in the principles of environmentally sound gardening. Special electives and curator-led tours of various Garden collections combine the best of the classroom and real-world field exposure.

Classes:

• Fundamentals of Gardening
• Soil Science for Gardeners
• Insect Identification and Management
• Plans for Landscaping
• Container Gardening
• Fundamentals of Garden Design
• Gardening with Native Plants

Dates: July 8–26

Tuition: $1,925 (Member) / $2,125 (Non-Member)
Special financing options are available.

Register here.


The Floral Design Certificate Program at NYBG is considered the true “Ivy League” of instruction for budding floral designers. Whether you want to up your home style or launch a florist business - this program offers the most in-depth training in the region, covering every aspect of this creative art.

The Floral Design program helps you develop your own aesthetic, master the mechanics for any arrangement, and gain practical business skills, so you graduate client-ready.

In just five short weeks, you can complete all of the classroom credits required for the Floral Design Certificate Program, and be ready to get started on your internship requirement ASAP.

Working alongside floral design professionals, you’ll create dozens of arrangements in diverse styles for many different occasions. This concentrated summer intensive program focuses on real-world situations, and includes a trip to New York’s flower district.


Classes:

• Fundamentals of Form
• Fundamentals of Style
• Wedding Design I: Personals
• Wedding Design II: Ceremony & Reception
• Color Theory for Floral Design
• Flower ID from A to Z
• Interior Plantscapes
• Shopping the New York Flower Market
• Practical Planning for Designers
• Grand-Scale Arrangements
• Event Planning for the Floral Designer
• Four Specialty Electives

Dates: July 8–August 9

Tuition: $6,435 (Member) / $7,079 (Non-Member)
Special financing options are available.

Register here



Fast-Track your nascent Monet art skills.
If you’re like most of us, botanical art is always, consistently, irresistible. Why is that?

At one time, it was de rigueur for plant explorers to take an accomplished botanical artist with them on adventurous journeys to discover new, exotic plant cultures from around the globe. While this era clearly predates photography, the benefit to horticultural and science is that the botanical artist rendered the plant and the plant parts with formidable artistic skill so that scientists, pharmacists, and other professional trades could identify and understand these exciting new plants and pollinators. Do visit the NYBG Herbarium to see exciting samples of what Darwin and others brought back and see the work of these groundbreaking botanical artists.

It was later, that the illustrations became their own art - admired for their painstaking, astonishing detail.

Early artists still lusted after today include such masters as Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1766-1854). Think you have a tough boss - his job was working for Marie Antoinette - of the “Let them eat cake” style of management…




Then there’s Anne Pratt (1806-1893) - an English botanical illustrator from the Victorian age who popularized the burgeoning world of botany by writing and illustrating more than 20 books.

Today, I have a number of botanical friends, distinguished by their botanical art oeuvres.

I’ll tell you about a few of these amazing talents. Former NYBG Botanical Art & Illustration Coordinator Wendy Hollander is a favorite.

When I was the Director (and later, VP) at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, I asked Wendy to offer us a design to choose from for a milestone Sakura Matsuri / Cherry Blossom anniversary. Of course, Wendy provided us a breathtaking design.

Later, for me personally, I asked her to render native plants to highlight a window treatment design I wanted to create on a whisper light Spoonflower fabric that serves as a kind of scrim - allowing us to see out to the garden beyond but still offering privacy. Wendy and I worked together to select the botanical, natives - from viburnums to shore mallow to orchids - that would adorn the relaxed Roman shade, with other smaller botanicals to create the shade’s borders. Wendy worked her art magic while somehow getting the art onto the fabric…


The shade art continues to fascinate and thrill my husband Bill and I - along with our guests, friends, and family.

Then there is the extraordinary art of the botanical artist and garden designer Jean Galle - (this woman can’t be limited to just one art form! In fact, she was also an award-winning fashion designer!) Jean transcends garden categories with her artful expressions…

I adore her intimate botanical art. Follow Jean on Instagram  You can also purchase her art directly. "Suitable for framing," as they say.  And then some... 

Jean Galle Botanical Art

In fact, I rather cheekily asked if I could use one of her peony renderings (peony being my favorite bloom for its ridiculously lush and sexy blossom and fragrance). I was thrilled that Jean not only said yes, but modified the size so I could print out for table name cards or place settings for a recent “Ladies Who Lunch” party! I just cut and pasted onto the name cards for a pretty-in-pink experience.

Jean Galle Botanical Art

My point is that there is so much joy to come from these artful garden pursuits. Besides your own gratification you can pursue a business enterprise. There are more ways to use your art - from interior and exterior design to home-branded accessories, greeting cards, fashion and more…

The Botanical Art & Illustration Certificate Program provides a solid foundation in scientifically accurate drawings so you can recreate plants, plant parts, and pollinators in amazing detail, natural color, and convincing form. The Garden’s extraordinary instructors share their expertise in the nurturing yet rigorous botanical art classes.


With the summer intensive schedule, students can advance their artistic skills quickly. Newcomers to Botanical Art & Illustration can complete Botanical Drawing I & II in just four weeks—less than half the time it normally requires. Other required classes are also offered in a reduced time frame.

Plus, you’ll have the rarest of opportunity - to learn to draw and paint surrounded by all the inspiring plants who live at the Garden!
Do you want to paint a native black tupelo tree (Nyssa sylvatica ‘Wildfire’ to ahem, fire up an autumn harvest invitation? No worries.
Do you dream of rendering a white Chinese peony (Paeonia obovata var. alba) for a Mother’s Day or birthday gift?
Do you yearn to create a line of personalized place cards for your next pastry party featuring chocolate pods? No problem - you can head over to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and cozy up to a Theobroma cacao tree.
It’s all so exotic yet you have ready access...


Classes:

• Botanical Drawing I: Methods and Materials
• Botanical Drawing II: Developing Your Skills
• Pen and Ink
• Colored Pencil

Dates: Classes start July 8—August 9



The Horticultural Therapy Certificate Program at NYBG offers the most in-depth training in the New York City area.

Taught by practicing horticultural therapists, this program will train you to design, implement, and manage programs that use plants and the natural environment to heal a broad range of people in need.

With the Garden’s summer intensive schedule, you can immerse yourself in the Hort Therapy study in a limited amount of time. Take just one class or go all in for the nine required horticultural therapy courses in just three months.

My personal belief is that Horticultural Therapy is destined to become a burgeoning, much sought-after profession because there will be (ahem) such a “growing need.
Especially because of the aging baby-boomer cohort, and increasingly, as urban populations rise further removing them from nature - there is, at the same time, a parallel recognition that plants heal. Naturally.
It’s been called nature therapy or ecotherapy -where instructors teach how to leverage nature to boost immunity and mood. From “forest bathing” or Shinrin-yoku (I greatly enjoyed this class at NYBG last spring) to mindfulness, health and wellness, Hort Therapy practitioners will experience ever more interest and need for their services.

You’ll also have the opportunity to get a close-up look at the day-to-day practices of local horticultural therapy programs at NYU Langone Medical Center, the Horticultural Society of New York’s Greenhouse Program on Rikers Island, or Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.


Classes:

• Introduction to Horticultural Therapy
• Horticultural Therapy for Older Adults
• Horticultural Therapy for Physical Rehabilitation
• Horticultural Therapy for Exceptional Youth
• Activities Analysis for Horticultural Therapy
• Horticultural Therapy in Behavioral Health Settings
• Horticultural Therapy Methods & Materials
• Garden Design for Special Populations
• Horticultural Therapy Program Management

Dates: Classes start June 10—August 24

If you have any questions or want to talk it through, the wonderful, Adult Education staff is happy to help you. Call 718.817.8747 or e-mail adulted@nybg.org

* Remember to Comment and re-post to win. And use the code to save money on your next garden adventure.

See you at the Garden. 

All photos courtesy of The New York Botanical Garden