Speakers, Workshops & Potting Parties
2011 Bloom ‘n Garden Expo
Speakers / enter at Booth 179, Workshops / 300-304 & Potting Parties/313&314
Friday, April 8
9:30 Potting Party
10:00-10:30 Techniques of Raised Beds – Mike Smith
10:30-11:30 Container Planting – Barbara Wise
11:00-11:30 Preserving the Harvest – Joan Wherley
12:00-12:30 Selecting, Growing and Controlling Bamboo in Middle Tennessee – Joe Willis
12:00-1:00 Herbs in the Kitchen Garden – Cindy Shapton
1:30-2:00 Pruning Basics: Not so Basic – Justin Stelter
2:00-3:00 Wonderful World of Ferns – Eleanor Craig
2:30-3:00 Dividing Perennials – Al Brewer
3:00 Potting Party
3:30-4:00 Composting – Jeffrey Ezell
6:00 Potting Party
Saturday, April 9
10:00-10:30 Edible Landscape – Create your own Garden of Eatin’ – Peter Anderson
10:30-11:30 Native Plants in the Landscape – Mike Berkley
11:00-11:30 African Violets – Russell Kirchner
11:00 Potting Party
12:00-12:30 Leaf Castings with Cement – Ken & Dianne Hill
12:00-1:00 Insects You Should Know – David Cook
1:30-2:30 The Bad Crowd – Plants to Avoid (and winning substitutes) – Carol Reese
2:30-3:00 Simple Medicinals using Herbs – Cindy Shapton
3:00 Potting Party
3:30-4:00 Two Week Compost – Joanne Smyth
4:30-5:00 Construct a Mini-Greenhouse in ½ hour for $30.00 –Master Gardner
6:00 Potting Party
Sunday, April 10
12:00-12:30 Control Pests with Herbs – Cindy Shapton
1:00-2:00 Picking and Planting Trees – Douglas Airhart
2:00-2:30 Concrete Leaf Castings – Ken and Diane Hill
2:00 Potting Party
2011 Bloom ‘n’ Garden Expo Speakers
David Cook
David Cook is a University of Tennessee Extension Agent for Davidson County and is involved in educating homeowner and commercial clients about issues concerning horticulture and agriculture. He provides educational training on pesticide safety and training for pesticide applicators seeking commercial certification and licensing and teaches training classes for Master Gardener programs in Davidson and surrounding counties. He is a frequent guest speaker for garden clubs, horticultural associations, and commercial pesticide workshops.
Carol Reese
UT Ornamental Horticulture Specialist
Carol Reese has bachelors and masters degrees in horticulture from Mississippi State University, where she taught courses in landscape plants and design; however, she says her real credentials come from being the descendant of several generations of bona-fide plant nuts. Her speaking engagements have taken her all over the United States, where she has had the opportunity to photograph many intriguing landscapes and fabulous plants. She writes a gardening/nature column for the Jackson Sun and Tennessee Gardener magazine. Carol hosts ‘Earth Tones: Nature Friendly Gardening’, a regional television show. Her primary hobby, though, is wandering the wild areas near her home with her motley crew of mongrels. The University of Tennessee currently employs her as the Extension Ornamental Horticulture Specialist for the Western District.
Cindy Shapton
“Cracked Pot Gardener” Columnist and Herb Expert
Cindy Shapton is a master gardener, herbalist, consultant and garden designer, writer and speaker. She is past president of the Williamson County Master Gardeners Association, former owner of Coyote Herb Ranch and Hyssop Hill Herb Farm in Franklin, Tennessee. Cindy has a deep knowledge of gardening and years of experience growing and using herbs. Given her knowledge and friendly communication style, Cindy is a regular speaker on gardening topics. She has been a speaker for the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show, various County Master Gardener Training programs, Herb Societies, Perennial Plant Society as well as many other gardening organizations. Cindy has been a guest on local TV and radio programs including Volunteer Gardener, Talk of the Town, and the Fox 17 morning show. “Make Gardening Fun or it will become work” is Cindy’s motto and reminder each week as she shares her love of gardening in ‘The Cracked Pot Gardener’, her newspaper column for the Williamson Herald. In her first book, “The Cracked Pot Herb Book,” Cindy shares simple ways to incorporate herbs into everyday life with timely ideas and advice on how to grow and use herbs in the kitchen, garden, or for an easy remedy to soothe a tummy or ease a headache. Kitchen gardens are the perfect place to grow vegetables, flowers, small fruits and herbs. Learn how herbs play an important role in the health of the sustainable kitchen garden, your home, your dinner table, and you. Contact Cindy at www.crackedpotgardener.com
Barbara Wise
Barbara Peake Wise is the Floriculture Director for Southern Land Company, LLC in Franklin, Tennessee. Her responsibilities include overseeing the design, installation, and maintenance of the annual beds and containers in the Tennessee Southern Land Company developments. In the process of working in these community areas she has developed a thriving business with the homeowners providing educational classes, container and window box planting services, and gardening consultation. She is most commonly referred to by those she works with as “the Flower Lady”.
Mike Berkley
Mike Berkley, co-owner of Growild, Inc., began his nursery out of sheer frustration due to the lack of availability of North American native plants. Today he and his partner, Terri Barnes, have over 900 native species and cultivars with Middle Tennessee genotypes. Mike has spent the last 21 years in horticulture from greenhouse management to wholesale and retail sales. Specializing in Natural Designing with Native Plants, Mike continues his motto of ‘putting a native everywhere’ with projects such as green roofs, prairies, rain gardens in addition to commercial, park and residential design and installations.
Douglas Airhart
Dr. Douglas Airhart is a Professor of Horticulture in the School of Agriculture at Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville. He joined Tech in 1984, and teaches horticultural production and management courses. He is a Certified Arborist, Municipal Specialist with the International Society of Arboriculture and a Registered Master Horticultural Therapist with the American Horticultural Therapy Association. He served on the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council as Secretary from 1998 to 2009. He is on retainer as Urban Forester for the City of Crossville and assists with Cookeville and Livingston. He invites you to visit his website at www.tlcfortrees.info.
Jeffrey Ezell
Jeffrey has been working for Davidson County’s Metro Beautification & Environment Commission since August 2009. He has been teaching environmental education programs for the city and National Parks System for about three years. He attended the University of Georgia and has worked in a number of other places, but is glad to be back in Middle Tennessee. He loves working with all age groups, and enjoys any opportunity to get outside.
Eleanor Craig
Eleanor Craig, also known by many as” The Fern Lady “is owner of Fern Ridge Farms, a small specialty nursery located in Cedar Bluff, Alabama. A native of Tennessee with an educational background in Special Education, she has over 25 years experience in landscaping, lawn maintenance, and the nursery industry. Eleanor’s passion for perennial garden ferns has been shared through her award winning exhibits at the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta for the past 8 years. She is presently growing over 60 varieties of garden ferns suitable for the southeast. Many of these she grows from spores. She is very active with both Georgia And Alabama Master Gardener programs giving lectures and special events.
Joan Wherley
Joan Wherley has had a long career with the UT/ Williamson County Extension Office. Some of Joan’s interests include food preparation, preservation and brining fresh vegetables. Joan belongs to a local CSA and enjoys preserving the harvest. Joan will be presenting several food preservation seminars in the spring and early summer before she retires.
Mike Smith
Michael E. Smith is an Extension Agent in Williamson County, where he has worked for the past 25 years. Michael received his B.S. and M.S. from the University of Tennessee, and has worked for UT for 32 years. Currently, he coordinates the Master Gardener program in Williamson County in addition to extension work both in consumer and commercial horticulture.
Justin Stelter
Justin Stelter has always had his hands in the dirt. Justin has spent his entire working career, both sides of his university years, within a garden. He holds certifications with the State of Tennessee for Pesticide application, is an apprentice consulting rosarian with the Nashville Rose Society, and is a certified Master Gardener. In July of 2003 he became head gardener at Historic Carnton Plantation. This garden is reconstructed from the bones of the original 1847 kitchen/ornamental garden and its evolution from 1847 through 1869. While head gardener, Justin has installed one of the largest historic daffodil displays in the country, a species hosta collection, and is currently installing an heirloom peony collection consisting of varieties available prior to 1869.
He is a member of The American Horticultural Society, Southern Garden History Society, American Rose Society, Middle Tennessee Daffodil Society, Middle Tennessee Daylily Society, Middle Tennessee Hosta Society, Nashville Rose Society and the Tennessee Native Plant Society.
Ken Hill and Dianne Hill
Ken has been employed by AT&T for 37 years. He is a native of Franklin, TN and has been a Master Gardener for 3 years. He has been an artist since his teen years, and renders lovely pieces of art with oils, acrylics, and pastels. He has been experimenting with concrete art for the past 5 years, and has taught several classes on concrete art.
Dianne has been a RN for 29 years. She is a Mississippi native, and has been a Master Gardener for 3 years. She has been an artist and an avid craftsperson for as long as she can recall. Dianne prefers to work with stained glass. She became interested in concrete art about 5 years ago, and now works mostly with concrete and mosaics. Alongside her husband, Ken, she has taught several classes on concrete art.
Al Brewer
Al Brewer has been a member of The Middle Tennessee Daylily Society for thirteen years, having served on the board of that society for five years. He has been a Master Gardener for eleven years. Al has a daylily garden with 900 varieties of daylilies.
Russell Kirchner
I am a 30 year old Nashville transplant from Texas. I have been living and working here in Nashville at local Holtkamp Greenhouses for four years. I work with plants, I grow plants, I talk about plants, I talk to plants and I sell plants. I love plants! I garden at home year round and enjoy preserving and eating the food I grow. I have won many State Fair ribbons in the categories of vegetables, canning, pies, and photography. I am working this year towards the Master Garden Certification. I am member of East Nashville Crop Swap. I am also a member of Nashville Violet Club. Did I mention I like plants?
Joanne Smyth
Joanne is locally known as “The compost lady”. Her passion is converting excess food and kitchen waste into nutrient-rich, chemical free plant food. She attended an agricultural high school in South Africa and then moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2006. She is a keen home gardener and together with her husband is trying to promote a chemical free zone in their own garden. She is currently working with a local university and city agencies to introduce the Bokashi method of composting, to households, schools and colleges. She also collaborates with earth matters at the Dr George W Carver Food Park in South Nashville in their experimental composting program.
Peter Anderson
I have been blessed (or maybe cursed!) with a desire to create and to make. This inclination, in my own life, manifests itself through involvement in the physical landscape; specifically through gardening and growing of food. The impulsiveness of our human geography, how man and nature influences one another, is exceedingly interesting and at the same time perplexing. As a culture, we attempt to care for our world – while simultaneously and systematically damaging it.
When offered the Personal Farmer position with Gardens of Babylon I was provided a unique opportunity to help people improve local environments, and thus themselves through gardening and growing their own food. I have gardened everywhere I’ve lived; Seattle, Florida, Colorado – houses, apartments – containers, in-ground plots, raised beds, community gardens. Today I create gardens all over Davidson and Williamson counties. Gardening offers … better environments, backyard produce, family-specific foods, fewer grocery store runs, ethnically focused plant pallets, edible landscapes, heirloom plants, connectedness to the earth,
… the list is endless
… and it’s all good.
Joe Willis
Joe Willis is the owner Lone Oak Farms in Madison, Tennessee. He specializes in bamboo and other unique plants used for landscaping and gardening. A graduate of Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in Plant Science, Joe has spent the last 28 years both in the retail garden business and the operation of his independent farms. His farm boasts a huge variety of different types of bamboos that can be grown well in the Middle Tennessee area. Joe also, enjoys raising several different breeds of goats, sheep and other livestock. Customers are welcome to make and appointment to visit Lone Oak Farms. Please call 615-865-9933. Joe, his wife, two daughters, or his father will be very happy to help you.
