Gardening Symposium

C. Colston (Cole) Burrell

Award-winning landscape designer, author, and photographer

“Beauty, Integrity, and Resilience: Can A Garden Have Everything?”

By changing the way we approach design, plant choices, planting techniques, and maintenance regimes, our gardening practices can have a positive impact on the environment. LEARN HOW to meet your aesthetic goals with a mixture of native and favorite non-native plants, at the same time providing the structure and resources necessary to create healthy habitats that maintain the insects, birds, and wildlife you love. The resultant melding of cultural expectations with ecosystem form and function supports the sustainability we as gardeners are all striving to achieve.

ABOUT COLE: A lifelong plantsman, gardener, and naturalist with advanced degrees in botany, horticulture and landscape architecture, Cole is the author of 12 gardening books, including American Horticultural Society (AHS) award recipients. He is principal of Native Landscape Design & Restoration, Free Union, VA, which specializes in blending nature and culture through artistic design. His award-winning design work is included in the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Gardens. Cole has shared his knowledge of plants and his respect for regional landscapes with audiences for over 40 years. When not lecturing and consulting, he leads garden and natural history tours throughout the US and beyond.

Kim Eierman 

Ecological landscape designer and environmental horticulturist, specializing in native plants

“EcoBeneficial Landscape Strategies for the Climate Crisis” 

Climate change is here, and it is impacting our landscapes – increased flooding, more frequent droughts, more extreme weather events, longer growing seasons, and increasing temperatures. Ecological mismatches, record losses of native species, and an increase of invasive species are now the norm. Want to help fight climate change in any landscape? LEARN HOW the plants you choose and the landscape practices you use can help reduce the impacts of climate change and improve the environment around you.

ABOUT KIM: Among other accomplishments, Kim is the founder of EcoBeneficial, LLC, Westchester County, New York, a consulting firm dedicated to showing gardeners how simple changes in our landscapes can make huge environmental improvements. The author of The Pollinator Victory Garden: Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening, she is an active speaker nationwide on many ecological landscape topics and teaches at New York Botanical Garden, Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and The Native Plant Center. Kim will be signing her book at the Symposium.

Duncan Himmelman, PhD 

Ornamental horticulturist, landscape designer, and professional educator 

“Native Groundcovers for Northeast Gardens” 

Kick traditional mulch to the curb! LEARN HOW you can replace it with a beautiful tapestry of foliage and flowers that are more visually appealing and ecologically valuable. Discover a selection of tough, versatile native groundcovers to use as “living mulch” in a variety of growing conditions. We’ll do a deep dive on each featured plant’s growth habit, preferred conditions, pest resistance, and advantages/disadvantages … as well as aesthetically pleasing plant combinations. P.S. Regarding that curb we mentioned above … also eschew using traditional mulch on hell strips between curb and sidewalk. Despite challenges, groundcovers can work there, too.

ABOUT DUNCAN: After earning his doctorate in ornamental horticulture at Cornell University, Duncan went on to teach horticultural science at the college level for over 20 years. He has designed landscapes for private clients and is an advisor to historic Blau House & Gardens, Westport, CT. He also sits on the board of the New York Tri-State region's Metro Hort Group. Recently retired as the education manager at Mt. Cuba Center, a public garden in Delaware devoted to native plant advocacy, Duncan continues to teach for a number of botanical institutions and is in demand as a speaker on ecologically focused gardening practices.

Holly Shimizu 

Award-winning horticulturist, plant conservationist, and herb gardening guru

“Herbs: Heroes of the Garden”

Experienced herb gardener? Can’t tell parsley from peppermint? Somewhere in between? LEARN HOW herbs are chemical factories, filled with incredible components that make them plants with countless uses as flavorings, fragrances, medicines, and more. Whether they are native plants used by Indigenous Peoples, those brought by settlers from around the world, or newer species and selections, herbs’ benefits are endless and impressive. Learn, too, how so many herbs blend gracefully into our existing ornamental and edible landscapes … or can be consolidated in a fragrant and functional herb garden!

ABOUT HOLLY: A nationally recognized horticulturist, Holly was the first curator of the National Herb Garden at the US National Arboretum, Washington, DC, and is a former executive director of the US Botanic Garden on the National Mall. Her work as an environmental horticulturist, educator, and public garden leader has earned numerous awards, including a medal from the Massachusetts Historical Society. Having consulted on the White House gardens, she also worked with former First Lady Laura Bush on Camp David plant and botanical projects. Earlier in her career, Holly co-hosted the popular PBS television show, The Victory Garden, covering great gardens in the US and other countries.