Speaker Information
About the Speakers:
Kirk Brown is a graduate of Cornell University, and is a recipient of the Pennsylvania Nursery and Landscape Association ”Green Achiever” Award for advancing horticulture in Pennsylvania. He serves as business manager of award-winning Joanne Kostecky Garden Design, Inc., and is also an author, penning the book, Landscape Contractor, which is distributed to high school guidance programs throughout the US and Canada. Kirk is the secretary and executive committee member for Garden Writers Association. He has been chairman of the Penn State/PLNA winter education conference committee, served on the marketing committee for the American Nursery and Landscape Association, and was a judge of major exhibits for the Philadelphia Flower Show.
Ruth Rogers Clausen's Perennials for American Gardens received the 1990 Quill and Trowel Award from the Garden Writers Association. She has also written for the American Garden guide series: Perennial Gardening with the New York Botanical Garden, Annual Gardening with the Missouri Botanical Garden, and Trees with the Chicago Botanic Garden. Former horticulture editor for Country Living Gardener magazine, she has also contributed to Country Gardens, Horticulture, and Organic Gardening. Ruth was trained in horticulture at Studley College in England, and received her M.S. in botany from Kent State University. Since 1976, she has freelanced as a teacher, lecturer, and author in the U.S. and Canada.
Dan Hinkley’s fascination with plants goes back to his childhood in Michigan, where he studied horticulture before moving west to Washington to earn his master’s degree. He writes for numerous horticultural publications and is in high demand as a speaker throughout North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Dan has been awarded the Scott Medal, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Award, and the Veitch Memorial Medal, among others. Founder of the original Heronswood Nursery, he now brings his expertise to Monrovia Growers as well as to several design firms, including Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, Portico, and the Berger Partnership, where he serves as horticultural consultant.
Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Barbara Pleasant is a four-time winner of Garden Globe awards given by the Garden Writers Association. Barbara’s 2010 article on organic pest control recently won a FOLIO Eddie award. She has written numerous books on a wide range of subjects from vegetables to weeds. Her newest book, Starter Vegetable Gardens leaves no excuse not to grow a beautiful, productive garden filled with vegetables, and herbs. Barbara is a contributing editor for Mother Earth News magazine, where she has written the top-rated “Gardening Know-How” column for the past three years.
