Keynote Speakers

RICK DARKE, Sunday Banquet Keynote Speaker

Rick Darke heads a Landenberg, 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 is a popular and well-traveled speaker, having addressed audiences in North America, Canada, England, Ireland, Japan, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Chile. His 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, which includes over 1000 mostly digital photos of grasses in world landscapes.

To learn more about Rick, visit http://www.rickdarke.com.

On Sunday evening, Rick Darke will present a 90 minute program “Livable Landscapes for a Changing Environment”

Change is the signature of our age. World landscapes are in rapid transition through space and time, purpose and palette, meaning and motivation. Truly livable design embraces these dynamics, blending artistry with environmental science in the creation and conservation of interconnected landscapes in sync with global resources. Using worldwide examples of designed spaces and emergent ecologies, Rick will outline a “livable landscape” ethic and will illustrate strategies for creating private gardens and shared landscapes that celebrate both cultural and biological diversity.

 

ROGER SWAIN, Monday Banquet Keynote Speaker

Roger Swain, the man with the red suspenders, is recognized by millions as host of The Victory Garden, television’s longest-running gardening show. For fifteen years Roger planted and pruned, harvested and chatted with PBS viewers across the country. More recently, he co-hosted People, Places and Plants for HGTV, a show celebrating New England gardens and gardeners, and featuring Roger’s commentary, Food for Thought.

Since 1978, readers have enjoyed Roger’s essays and articles in Horticulture magazine, as well as his five books: Earthly Pleasures, Field Days, The Practical Gardener, Saving Graces, and Groundwork.

Roger recieved the American Horticultural Society Award for Writing in 1992, and in 1996 he was awarded the Massachusetts Horticultural Society Gold Medal for his ability to inspire others.

On Monday evening, Roger Swain will present “Planting Villages: How Gardens Make Good Neighbors”

Plants provide food, comfort and amusement, but their cultivation also shapes the communities in which we live. In fact, where we plant may be even more important than what we grow, as the best gardens are always those that provide an opportunity for shared enjoyment. Whether you want to know the people next door, or those in the next town, plants are where conversations start and were strangers meet to become friends. Roger will take us into front yards, back alleys, farmers markets and flower festivals, celebrating the places and practices that unite us all.