University of Connecticut
2008 Conference for the Home Gardener

8:00 Registration opens; refreshments served

9:15 AM
Jennifer Bartley
Jennifer Bartley spent a blissful childhood picking wildflowers, black raspberries and building secret forts in the ravine near her home. She holds a bachelors degree and a masters degree in landscape architecture from The Ohio State University, where she has served as an adjunct professor. Jennifer is the author and illustrator of the book Designing the New Kitchen Garden: An American Potager Handbook published by Timber Press. She is a registered landscape architect and in 2007 formed her own design company, American Potager, LLC to help clients see their own landscapes turned into beautiful and productive gardens.

Designing the New Kitchen Garden
How do we create the beautiful kitchen garden the French call the potager? How can we integrate this into our residential landscapes so we can walk out our kitchen door to gather edible flowers, basil for the pasta and heirloom greens for our salad, yet want to linger because the garden is artfully designed? All successful design projects begin with the inspiration of great gardens. The most famous vegetable gardens in the world are in France. Jennifer will give an overview of some of these gardens to glean their design principles. American potager gardens, as well as chefs’ gardens will also be presented to show you how to grow your own heirloom vegetables and flowers for your kitchen garden.

10:15 AM
Kerry Mendez
Kerry, proprietor of Perennially Yours in Ballston Spa, NY, is dedicated to teaching people of all ages the art of low-maintenance perennial gardening. As a garden consultant, designer, writer, teacher, and lecturer, she focuses on timesaving gardening techniques and workhorse plant material as well as organic practices. Over 6,000 people have taken her classes and she conducts approximately 200 home garden consultations every year. Kerry has been in many gardening magazines including People, Places & Plants; Fine Gardening; and Better Homes and Gardens' Garden Ideas & Outdoor Living and has also been a featured guest on HGTV with Paul Tukey from People, Places & Plants. Kerry is a popular freelance writer and has recently accepted the position as garden columnist for a new, upscale magazine in the Capital District (NY). She is a self-taught gardener with over 20 years of experience and a ‘passionate perennialist’ that enjoys mixing humor with practical information for creating low-maintenance perennial gardens. For more about Kerry and Perennially Yours, please visit her web site at www.pyours.com.

Don't Be a Deadhead! Surefire Maintenance Shortcuts for Showcase Gardens
Garden maintenance does not have to be tedious and boring. Learn timesaving strategies for low-maintenance, high impact perennial gardens that will put time and money back into your pockets. Discover techniques from making quick work of routine tasks such as weeding and deadheading to how to put your gardens to bed in the fall. With the help of some nifty power tools and a bold ‘Just Do It’ attitude, you’ll have a whole new outlook on garden maintenance.

11:15 - 11:30 AM Break

11:30 AM
Ellen Zachos
Ellen Zachos is the proprietor of Acme Plant Stuff, a boutique garden design, installation, and maintenance company in New York City. She is also coordinator of the Gardening Program in Continuing Education at the New York Botanical Garden, where she teaches classes on tropicals, orchids, perennials, annuals, and rooftop gardening. Ellen is a former Broadway performer and recently recorded Green Up Time: A Botanical Look at Broadway, a CD that combines her two passions: music and plants. Ellen’s latest book, Down and Dirty: 43 Fun & Funky First-time Projects & Activities to Get You Gardening was published by Storey Publishing in January 2007. She is also the author of Tempting Tropicals: 175 Irresistible Indoor Plants (Timber Press) and Orchid Growing for Wimps (Sterling Publishing). Ellen gardens both in Manhattan and on two woodland acres in rural Pennsylvania, where she and her husband live on the weekends.

Gardening in Deer Country
In the on-going struggle between gardeners and deer, we humans need all the help we can get. This lecture focuses on un-appetizing plant material, and includes information on deer-repellents, barriers and physical deterrents, and psychological warfare techniques that give gardeners a fighting chance. A multi-pronged approach makes an effective offense in the battle against Bambi.

12:30 - 1:45 PM Lunch

1:45 PM
Featured Presentation
Rick Darke
Rick Darke heads a Pennsylvania-based consulting firm focused on landscape ethics, photography, and contextual design. His work blends art, ecology, and cultural geography in the creation and conservation of livable landscapes. His projects include scenic byways, transportation corridors, corporate and collegiate campuses, conservation developments, botanic gardens, and private residential landscapes. Rick’s work has been featured on National Public Radio and is reflected in his many books, including The American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest and his latest, The Encyclopedia of Grasses for Livable Landscapes. Further information is available at: www.rickdarke.com.

Livable Landscapes for a Changing Environment
Change is the signature of our age. Our landscape is in rapid transition through space and time, purpose and palette, meaning and motivation. Truly sustainable design embraces these dynamics, blending artistry with environmental awareness in the design and planning of interconnected, livable landscapes in sync with regional and global resources. Using global examples of designed spaces and regional habitats, Rick Darke will outline an ethic for ecological design and will illustrate strategies for creating landscapes that celebrate local cultural and biological diversity.

3:15 - 3:30 PM Break

3:30 PM

Scott Reil
Scott Reil came to the green trades by taking a job as a perennial grower while on leave from the shipyard where he was building nuclear submarines. Since then, Scott has been involved in nearly every aspect of the green industry, from running his own design company, serving as project manager at a design/build firm, managing a wholesale yard, and as a sales and marketing rep for a large wholesale grower. It was during this period that his interest in native plants began to blossom and as that interest grew, he began to discover organics as the logical extension of natural gardening.

Scott is a certified nurseryman who has lectured throughout the Northeast and taught Master Gardener courses in basic and Japanese garden design. He is a regular guest host on Garden Talk, Connecticut's largest radio gardening show. Scott was the key contributor and content editor for www.helpfulgardener.com. In his limited spare time, he either expands and tends his gardens, featuring native plants he loves so much (and all of which are organic) or paddles his kayak in an effort to get as close to nature as he can. Scott is currently developing his role as Corporate Trainer for SafeLawns and Landscapes LLC as part of his effort to save the world.

The Green Revolution Begins in the Backyard! Organic Lawn and Garden Care
Scott will review the basics of organic culture, outline the Soil Food Web and its denizens (including a live peek at the characters), and compare the important differences between organic and chemical culture. He will then translate all this into real working strategies for lawn and garden implementation, with a focus on that most chemically dependant part of the yard, the lawn. The Green Revolution begins in the backyard; come see how to care for your lawn and garden organically.

4:30 PM Adjournment