photo credit: Bill Mauzy
Every February the Piedmont Landscape Association hosts an annual seminar. This event strives to bring gardening enthusiasts and landscape professionals together in an educational setting.
NEW: 6 CEU's have been approved for Landscape Architects through the LACES program.
LocationThe Paramount Theater
Charlottesville, Virginia RegistrationDue to the high volume of participants and the limited volunteer capacity of our organization, everyone will be directed to register through the Paramount Theater.
Registration may be taken over the phone at 434-979-1333 or online at www.theparamount.net. Items to Note
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Agenda-For Speaker Bios and Topic Descriptions see below.
Rates
Platinum sponsors
Gold sponsors
Silver sponsors
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Speakers
Hannah Lewis |
Harland Patch |
Paul Tukey |
Paul Westervelt |
Hannah Lewis
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Hannah Lewis is the author of Mini-Forest Revolution: Using the Miyawaki Method to Rapidly Rewild the World (Chelsea Green 2022), which was translated into French and Italian and is a winner of the 2023 Nautilus Book Award. Hannah has an MS in Sustainable Agriculture and Sociology from Iowa State University and a BA in Environmental Studies from Middlebury College. She lives in Minneapolis, where she works for the non-profit Renewing the Countryside to build sustainable local and regional food systems and plant mini-forests.
For more information, visit: https://www.hannahlewis.org/ |
Lecture:
Using Mini-Forests to Rewild our Communities for Climate Resilience What holds hundreds of species, sequesters 500 lbs. CO2/year, is several degrees cooler than its surroundings, soaks up lots of rainwater, and is co-created by children and their elders in spaces no bigger than a tennis court? A “mini-forest” planted using the Miyawaki Method, of course. After a couple of years of weeding and watering, these nascent forests form a canopy and - like any other healthy ecosystem - become self-sufficient and maintenance free. We'll discuss what a mini-forest is, how it can build climate resilience in your neighborhood, what goes into planting one, and why people all over the world are organizing their communities to plant mini-forests in the small spaces around where they live and work. LACES #PLA2025-01 |
Harland Patch
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Dr. Harland Patch focuses his research on many aspects of pollinator biology from genes to landscapes. His current research is on understanding the biological mechanisms associated with bee nutrition and how nutrition, in turn, affects bee health. Dr. Patch is working with collaborators to understand the underlying factors that contribute to pollinator host plant choice, including the role of annual and perennial cultivars to support pollinator populations. This includes developing an easy-to-use digital tool to determine which cultivars support pollinators and machine learning based insect monitoring systems. He is scientific advisor and Director of Pollinator Programming at Penn State’s Bird and Pollinator Garden, a recently built 4-acre garden based on scientific research. He is also involved in ongoing projects to determine the causes of pollinator declines in the US and in Africa. Dr. Patch has taught Molecular Ecology, Pollination Biology and an undergraduate course on honey bees, among other classes.
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Lecture: The Biodiverse Pollinator Garden: Lessons from Research and Practice This talk will explore the science behind pollinator and plant communities and how landscapes can be designed and managed to support biodiversity. The main principles of pollinator landscape design will be described and how these principles are used to create and manage Penn State's Bird and Pollinators' Garden. LACES #PLA2025-02 |
Paul Tukey
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Paul Tukey, who joined the Glenstone Museum team in 2010, is an award-winning journalist, author, filmmaker, HGTV host, consultant and motivational public speaker who is internationally recognized as a pioneering leader in sustainable landscaping. Now serving as the Director of Regional Partnerships at Glenstone, Paul has been helping to create a “living classroom” on the all-organic 300-acre site that includes native meadows, a five-acre organic lawn, restored streams and tributaries, forests and more than 12,000 recently planted native trees.
Tukey and Glenstone were the inspiration for the Montgomery County law LD 52-14 restricting the use of pesticides on lawns. He has also worked with the French government’s educational campaign focus on organic lawn care as a carbon reduction strategy. Winner of the prestigious Communicator of the Year Award from the American Horticultural Society, as well as the 2018 Green Medal Award from the Garden Writers of America, Paul has been featured in thousands of media outlets from Martha Stewart and Good Morning America as well as National Geographic, Readers Digest and the New York Times, which called him, “The godfather of the natural land care movement.” He has published four magazines, including People, Places & Plants (1995-2009), and produced and co-hosted an HGTV show of the same name. His books include the Organic Lawn Care Manual (Storey 2007). His 2010 feature-length documentary film titled, “A Chemical Reaction,” profiling the lawn pesticide bans sweeping across Canada and the U.S., earned three EMMY nominations. An avid gardener, photographer, and runner, Paul, 63, now resides near Glenstone with his wife, Katie, and daughters Aimee and Angie, who attend Winston Churchill High School in Potomac. |
Lecture:
The Sustainable Art of Lawns and Landscape “Going organic does not mean going ugly!” That’s the emphatic advice of America’ s natural lawn care expert Paul Tukey. The author (The Organic Lawn Care Manual) and award-winning communicator will join us for a robust explanation of how you can grow beautiful grass, trees and flowers without toxic synthetic chemical products. He’ll also provide hands-on examples from his work at the Glenstone Museum of Potomac, Md., where he has helped manage a 350-acre all-organic landscape since 2010. LACES #PLA2025-03 |
Paul Westervelt
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Paul Westervelt is a professional plant geek who has run the annual and perennial program for Saunders Brothers Nursery in Piney River, Virginia since 2004, where he grows over 800 varieties across 13 programs. As Director of New Plant Research and Development, he oversees production and ground trials of new varieties for the nursery.
Paul lives and gardens with his wife and two children (propagules) on their farm in central VA. |
Lecture:
The New Perennial Movement and Why it Matters While much of the industry is focused on the latest and greatest, compact, spring blooming whatever, there’s a counter movement afoot. A movement that embraces a more natural look and a different palette of plants all while creating beneficial habitat and food for pollinators. LACES #PLA2025-04 |