2008 Texas Master
Gardener Conference
Speakers
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KEY NOTE SPEAKERS:
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Dr. William E. BarrickDr. Neil G. OdenwaldNeil SperryGreg Grant(To Read a Speaker's Bio "Click" on Speaker's Name)
Dr. William E Barrick received BS and MS degrees from Auburn University and a PhD in Landscape Horticulture from Michigan State University. After graduation, he served as an Assistant Professor in Ornamental Horticulture at the University of Florida. He was Executive Vice President and Director of Gardens at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia for almost twenty years before becoming Executive Director of Bellingrath Gardens and Home in November 1999. Dr Barrick is Past President of the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta, Past Chairman of the American Horticultural Society and a recipient of the Arthur Hoyt Scott Medal.
Neil G Odenwald is Professor Emeritus and former Director, School of Landscape Architecture, Louisiana State University. Neil earned his BS and PhD degrees in Horticulture from Mississippi State University and MS in Landscape Architecture from LSU. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects and a past president, Louisiana Chapter of ASLA. He has received numerous awards for his landscape projects and his books, including The Garden Club of America’s 2002 Medal of Honor, and the prestigious 2001 James A. Foret Award. He has also been recognized as the outstanding teacher in both the School of Landscape Architecture and the College of Design at LSU.
Neil Sperry's name has been synonymous with Texas gardening since 1970. He has broadcast over KRLD (1080 AM) in the Dallas/Fort Worth area since May, 1980. "Neil Sperry's Texas Gardening" is heard Saturday and Sunday mornings 8 until 11. Additionally his daily and weekend radio programs are heard on more than 60 stations statewide via the Texas State Network. Neil owns and publishes Neil Sperry's GARDENS Magazine. He publishes an annual Texas Gardening Calendar which features another of his loves, garden photography. He is the author of Neil Sperry's Complete Guide to Texas Gardening, the 4th best-selling gardening hardback in American history. Neil also is featured weekly in 20 Texas newspapers, including the Fort Worth Star Telegram and the San Antonio Express News. Neil has been recognized by his peers. He was selected as American Garden Communicator of the Year by the American Association of Nurserymen. The Texas Cooperative Extension of Texas A&M identified him as Man of the Year in Texas Agriculture. The Garden Writers Association of America has given his book, magazine, radio and television programs their top national awards.
A horticulturist, naturalist, garden writer, and plant developer, Greg Grant is currently a Research Associate at the Stephen F. Austin State University Pineywoods Native Plant Center and a regular contributor to Texas Gardener, Ornamental Outlook, and Neil Sperry’s Gardens magazines. Greg Grant has degrees in floriculture and horticulture, from Texas A&M University and has attended post graduate classes at Louisiana State University, North Carolina State University, and Stephen F. Austin State University. In addition, he is a graduate of the Benz School of Floral Design. A number of successful new plants have been introduced to the Texas nursery industry by Mr. Grant including: Blue Princess and Pinwheel Princess verbenas, Gold Star esperanza, Laura Bush petunia, John Fanick phlox, Stars and Stripes pentas, Pam’s Pink honeysuckle, LeCompte and Salinas pink vitex, Henry and Augusta Deulberg sages, Pam Puryear pink Turk’s Cap, and the Marie Daly rose.
Concurrent Sessions Speakers: (To Read a Speaker's Bio "Click" on Speaker's Name)Walker County Master Gardeners
William D. (Bill) Adams is the author of numerous articles and his photos have been published in a number of magazines, calendars and books. He is the co-author and photographer of Commonsense Vegetable Gardening for the South with Tom LeRoy and the The Lone Star Gardener’s Book of Lists with Lois Trigg Chaplin. Bill and Tom have again teamed for the book THE SOUTHERN KITCHEN GARDEN, which is fresh off the press.
Susan Wittig Albert is the author of 16 China Bayles herbal mysteries, the China Bayles Herbal Book of Days, two historical mystery series set in England, and a number of magazine and journal articles. She is a frequent speaker on the history and lore of herbs. A former English professor and university administrator, Ms. Albert has been writing full-time since 1985. She lives (and gardens) in Burnet County.
Dr. William E Barrick received BS and MS degrees from Auburn University and a PhD in Landscape Horticulture from Michigan State University. After graduation, he served as an Assistant Professor in Ornamental Horticulture at the University of Florida. He was Executive Vice President and Director of Gardens at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia for almost twenty years before becoming Executive Director of Bellingrath Gardens and Home in November 1999. Dr Barrick is Past President of the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta, Past Chairman of the American Horticultural Society and a recipient of the Arthur Hoyt Scott Medal.
Mark Bowen is the staff horticulturist for Urban Harvest, a greater Houston area non-profit community gardening organization. He is the author of Habitat Gardening for Houston and Southeast Texas, Naturalistic Landscaping for the Gulf Coast, the Bayou Planting Guide and a contributing designer to Landscaping Homes in Texas. He is a contributing writer for the Houston Chronicle gardening column titled "In the Garden with Urban Harvest." Mark is the co-organizer of the Habitat Highways Project Training Series, a partnership between Extension's WaterSmart Program and Urban Harvest. He is a native Houstonian who now resides in The Woodlands, TX.
Professor of Horticulture, Stephen F. Austin State University, Director of the SFA Mast Arboretum, Director of SFA Ruby Mize Azalea Garden, Co-director of SFA Pineywoods Native Plant Center, contributing writer to numerous scholarly and trade publications, international consultant. Dr. Dave Creech’s teaching responsibilities include courses in fruit and vegetable production, greenhouse management, landscape plant materials, plant propagation, and nursery management. His effort has focused on blueberry germplasm and production studies, alternative crop/alternative technology work, crop nutrition studies, new plant introductions for the ornamental horticulture industry, endangered plant rescue, research and reintroduction, and finding sustainable solutions to environmental concerns. Having enjoyed numerous international consultancies since 1981, Dave Creech has traveled to Pakistan, Guatemala, Mexico, Nepal, Israel and China. His latest work in China collaborates with colleagues at the Nanjing Botanical Garden and has a focus on Taxodium improvement and research, nursery production and blueberry potential. He is currently the Director of the SFA Mast Arboretum, an on-campus resource that has enjoyed steady growth, development, utilization and visitation since its inception in 1985. Dr. Creech’s also directs the 8-acre SFA Ruby Mize Azalea Garden which opened in 2000. The garden features over a mile of trails, 6000+ azaleas, over 200 varieties of Japanese maples and 400 varieties of camellias plus a wide assortment of companion trees and shrubs. He is also co-Director of a new 40-acre forest resource on the SFA campus, the SFA Pineywoods Native Plant Center, only the third garden affiliated with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. Dr. Creech was President, 1991-1992, of the Native Plant Society of Texas, an 1800 member, 31 chapter organization dedicated to the conservation, selection and use of the native plants of Texas. He signs all of his letters, “Keep planting.”
Linda Gay has been the Director of Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Gardens in Houston since 1999. She received her degree in Horticultural Technology in 1979, and has been employed by Mercer since 1985, first as managing horticulturist and assistant director. But she is first and foremost a gardener – who has many dead plants under her belt. She feels that killing plants is a learning experience and should not be considered failure. It is through this experience that you understand how to grow them. Linda is also a teacher and popular speaker who freely shares the tricks and shortcuts to having a successful garden.
After graduating from Texas A&M in 1993 with a degree in Horticulture, Eddie Holik was employed by the Cockrell Butterfly Center at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and has served as Director for the last three years. He also operates a small landscape company named Florascapes and is an avid gardener who enjoys all types of plants. His hobbies include plant collecting, fishing and spending time with his son in the garden.
Mike Howlett is the National Head Grower for the North American Sarracenia Conservancy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of North American Pitcher Plants through stewardship, cultivation and reintroduction. He is also a member of the International Carnivorous Plant Society, and was a speaker at the ICPS biannual conference in 2006. Mike owns Houston Herpetological Supply, a small company that specializes in reptile supplies and carnivorous plants. He is a naturalist at Jesse H. Jones Park & Nature Center in Humble, TX, where he has worked for the past 13 years, and volunteers for the Texas Master Naturalists, the East Texas Herpetological Society, and many other organizations.
Tom LeRoy graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelors He has just completed another book with Bill Adams that is newly published, entitled The Southern Kitchen Garden. Tom LeRoy presents educational programs all across the state to gardening organizations and Master Gardener groups with topics that include vegetable gardening, fruit and nut culture, and plant propagation.
Paula has been a chronic gardener since she planted her first Sweet Peas seeds when she was a toddler. She was raised in coastal Southern California where gardens grew easily, but water shortages were always an issue. Her professional career was in the legal field, but her love of gardens found her barefoot in a business suit pulling weeds and watering every afternoon after she came home from work. Upon moving to Houston from Dallas, Paula made a career and life change and was hired as nursery manager by The Backyard Gardener. As their chief bog and water plant enthusiast, Paula has vigorously promoted the use of water loving plants as a solution to drainage and water pollution problems. Not forgetting the big picture, Paula always stops to smell the roses and connect with others who share her enthusiasm for all things that grow. Paula is a member of Water Gardens International and is a dedicated supporter of organic and water smart landscaping and gardening. She has recently moved with her husband to northern Arizona where she is already working on her bog oasis in the high desert.
Neil G Odenwald is Professor Emeritus and former Director, School of Landscape Architecture, Louisiana State University. Neil earned his BS and PhD degrees in Horticulture from Mississippi State University and MS in Landscape Architecture from LSU. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects and a past president, Louisiana Chapter of ASLA. He has received numerous awards for his landscape projects and his books, including The Garden Club of America’s 2002 Medal of Honor, and the prestigious 2001 James A. Foret Award. He has also been recognized as the outstanding teacher in both the School of Landscape Architecture and the College of Design at LSU.
Gudrun has been a gardener most of her life and a Harris County Master Gardener for fifteen of those years. She is a serious plant collector but also has fun "decorating" her garden with her own creations and those of friends who share their own treasures with her. As an avid recycler and dumpster diver, she has re-used many materials in a unique way. She has done all this without repercussions from her local community association. On a more serious side, Gudrun shares her knowledge of plants through many speaking engagements and programs at the local community college. Her formal education includes a degree in microbiology.
Gardening has been a part of Skip’s life for over 40 years since his first garden as a 4-H project. He received his Master’s degree in Horticulture from Texas A&M and served 19 years as County Extension Horticulturist in Montgomery and Travis counties where he coordinated Master Gardener programs. He serves on the State Education Committee for the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association and as a regional horticulturist for the National Gardening Association. He currently serves as County Extension Director in Travis County.
Professor and Extension Horticulturist, Texas Cooperative Extension The Texas A&M University System; garden broadcaster and author
BOOKS
Professor and Extension Landscape Horticulturist, Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University
Until June 2007, Ann Wheeler and her husband, A.J. Morris, owned the Log House Herb Farm near Magnolia, where they grew herbs for the retail nursery trade for 12 years, specializing in varieties that can be successfully grown in the Gulf Coast region of Texas.
Dave comes from a long line of gardeners and farmers, and is passionate about using technology to improve our lives through gardening. Following a successful career in technology, he founded DavesGarden.com in the summer of 2000, and since then has been working closely with gardeners from around the world to serve every facet of gardening. An energetic speaker and all around friendly guy, he is known internationally as an expert in technology and the web, and has a passion for bringing people together into friendly and helpful communities online.
Chris Wiesinger is the owner of the Southern Bulb Company, a flowerbulb farm in East Texas that offers perennial flowerbulbs for warm climates. Most SBC bulbs are time tested heirlooms once forgotten in the trade and now rescued from old homesites destined for commercial developments and highway expansion projects. Since the New York Times story of his life as a bulb collector and farmer, he is now known nationally as "The Bulb Hunter". Chris is a 2004 Horticulture graduate from Texas A&M University. When not giving lectures or collecting bulbs, Chris officially resides in "the cabin" not far from the Southern Bulb farm.
SOW MUCH KNOWLEDGE...SO LITTLE THYME |
April 24-26, 2008 |
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Montgomery County Extension Office
9020 FM 1484, Conroe, TX 77303, Phone: 936-539-7824