Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, N.C. spoke twice: Landscaping in Drifts of One--Residential Design for Plant Collectors and Perennials--What's New and Exciting, Overlooked. His presentations were informative and humorous. He deplores rows of "meatball" bushes in our American landscapes.
Tony Avent claims native plants are not always necessary (as Doug Tallamy professes!). New plants are created every day and we should try them because they give such pleasure. His nursery catalog is available through his nursery's web site. The web site is great because helpful lists of plants with beautiful photos and information on each are listed on the left hand side of the home page. Look on the right side to sign up for his monthly newsletter.
Nan Sinton spoke on Romancing the Site. She leads travel tours to gardens all over the world. Through her photographs of gardens in Ireland, Italy and Morocco; Michigan, Delaware, and South Carolina, she encouraged everyone to use light and shadow to create magic in the garden. She always uses a "river" of color or texture or shape in her designs to transport the viewer of the garden to a dreamlike state. Think of the garden as an oasis, another dimension. Include in your garden whatever you love, even if it's an old shoe! Make a story using these beloved items and always include a sitting area. Use the spaces between the plantings to add mystery. Keep in mind that all garden design is problem solving because of the site or the exposure or the budget. Keep an eye out along the road for great ideas you could use in your own garden. To visit a garden with Nan check out her web site.
The last speaker was Kerry Ann Mendez, author of books of lists for gardeners: The Ultimate Flower Gardeners' Top Ten Lists and Top Ten Lists for Beautiful Shade Gardens. Kerry is a self taught gardener and focuses on time-saving and work-saving gardening techniques and choosing plants that work for you (not the other way around!). Her talk on Perennials for Shade: Cool, Outrageous Foliage--No Prima Donnas! was informative and humorous. She claims it is easier to garden in the shade because you use less water, you have fewer weeds, you do less deadheading (fewer flowers), and you have less growth in the shade. You are also cooler while you're working! Kerry has a web site at Perennially Yours. Check out her books and the photos of her garden in Ballston Spa, NY.
As a Landscape Designer / consultant of 25 years in Virginia, and a certified Horticulturist (also with a Horticulture degree from Auburn University) I was interested to note Tony Avent's posturing in regards to Doug Tallamy's (Bringing Nature Home) studies. The Garden Club of Virginia had a Horticulture Symposium for 2 horticulture chairmen of all 47 clubs in Virginia to attend. As an entomologist, Doug Tallamy has been working with studies and grants for the University of Delaware, recording the number of different species of insects, birds, etc, that benefit from from trees, shrubs and perennials (native and non-native). To look at his documented research (the recorded charts can be found on his website bringingnaturehome.net ), and compare the benefits of the different plants to living species , there is just no comparison of what categories offer the most benefit. That is not to say that all flowering plants a great for bees, but insects and birds rely on many different food sources (leaves, flowers etc) of plants and are often plant specific. As much as I admire Tony Avent, I feel his general disregard for Tallamy's findings and research to be weak and a bit of a copout.
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