Michael Dirr, Ph.D.
Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009 at 1 p.m.
Description: TBA
About the Speaker: Dr. Michael Dirr received Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in horticulture from Ohio State and a Ph.D. in plant physiology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1972. He has been published in more than 300 scientific and popular publications and has authored or coauthored seven books. His books have received the Choice Library Awards, Award for hotographic Excellence from the Garden Writers of America and the American Horticultural Society Award as one of the 75 great garden books of all time. In 1998, Dr. Dirr received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Massachusetts. His Georgia Plant Introduction Program as introduced more than 64 new cultivars into the nursery trade.
Peter Cummin, MLA
Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009 at 1 p.m.
Description: Peter Cummin, MLA, reveals one landscape architect’s approach to residential landscape-design to make a house sit well upon the land. Creation of landscape space by sharing the land and reinforcing it with the selection of appropriate plant material with consideration of maintenance and environmental concerns, resulting in a house and garden that look as though it has always been there.
About the Speaker:
Cummin is an English-born landscape architect and horticulturist, who is principal of Cummin Associates, Inc., a
design firm based in Stonington, Connecticut, which he founded in 1985.
Cummin has designed residential and estate gardens in more than
twenty-five states, Canada and the West Indies, working together with
today’s top architects and interior designers. Cummin’s lifetime
interest in horticulture and garden design, and his dedication to his
clients prompts him to visit his projects often, even after gardens are
completed. His current projects include gardens in Southampton, NY,
Shelter Island, NY, Calabasas, CA, East Aurora, NY and Greenwich, CT.
Cummin’s gardens have been featured in Architectural Digest and House and Garden. He is a frequent lecturer for the Garden Club of America. He has taught in the Radcliffe Landscape Seminar Program and with leading horticulturists Michael Dirr, Ph.D. and Allan Armitage in their workshops for master gardeners. Cummin has his Bachelor’s Degree in horticulture and Master’s Degree in landscape architecture.
Jason Griffin, Ph.D.
Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009 at 1 p.m.
Description: TBA
About the Speaker:
Jason earned a Ph.D. in Horticulture
Science/Plant Physiology from North Carolina State University. He also
has a M.S. in Horticulture Science from NCSU and a B.S. in Plant
Science from Cornell University.
Jason grew up in New York where his parents owned and operated a golf
course, Griffins’ Greens. He has a great interest in field trials and a
willingness and ability to assist the industry and home owners in the
Central Plains.
Alan Branhagen, MLA
Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009 at 1 p.m.
Description: The Color of Kansas City
With a long gardening season and hot tropical summers seasonal plants play an important role in local gardens and landscapes. Limitless plant combinations in containers to prepared beds can literally “wow” an audience of consumers. The frost free growing season usually holds the show but don’t forget spring and fall’s cold/frost tolerant plants that can really extend the season.
About the Speaker:
Alan has been Director of Horticulture at Powell Gardens since December, 1996. He supervises five horticulturists, six senior gardeners, other gardeners and interns to manage Powell Gardens’ 955 acres and the Kauffman Memorial Garden in Kansas City. He designed the Island Garden (a water and rock garden themed garden which opened in April 2001 and was awarded the Perennial Plant Association’s top design award in 2003) and did the planting plan for the Heartland Harvest Garden (scheduled for opening in 2009).
Previously he was as Deputy Director of Resource Development at the Winnebago County Forest Preserve District in Rockford, Ill. (from 1987 to 1996), where he designed, developed and managed almost 30 preserves, including all-natural areas and the Klehm Arboretum and Northern Illinois Botanic Garden.
Alan earned a Master of Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University, and a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Iowa State University. He also wrote the book, The Gardener’s Butterfly Book, by the National Home Gardening Club in 2001.
Alan was born and raised in Decorah, Iowa, a small, scenic college town with an abundance of parks and nature. He’s an all-around plantsman and naturalist, specializing in garden design -- using anything with chlorophyll appropriately! -- edible landscapes, native plants and restoration of native landscapes, and landscape design for wildlife, especially birds and butterflies. He has traveled nationally, visiting natural areas and botanical gardens from coast to coast, helping him accumulate more than 24,000 slides of plants and landscapes!