The Plant a Trillion Trees Podcast

Phil Forsyth currently serves as Co-Executive Director of the Philadelphia Orchard Project (POP), a non-profit that plants and supports community orchards in the City of Philadelphia.  Phil has led POP’s orchard design and development since its first plantings in 2007.  In his role, he works with POP’s board and staff to design and plant orchards, coordinate volunteers, and lead educatio...

Dwayne Sperber, founder, and owner of Wudeward Urban Forest Products has dedicated himself to building the urban wood industry. For nearly 20 years he has advised on the vast potential of this renewable resource. Dwayne is called on to provide urban wood utilization guidance and products for leaders across sectors including municipalities, academia, arborists, design professionals, manufacturers,...

Lara Roman is a Research Ecologist with the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Philadelphia Field Station. She studies the temporal dynamics of urban forests, including tree mortality and growth, canopy cover change, historical development of urban forests, species composition change, and citizen science monitoring. She has led or co-authored over 40 publications, including both acade...

Daan Bleichrodt is on a mission to re-connect urban kids with nature worldwide. He is Chief Tree Planting Officer at the IVN environmental education and leads the Tiny Forest movement in the Netherlands. He is also a consultant and teacher for Earthwatch in the UK, Goodplanet in Belgium, and Ecosystem Restoration Camps. He currently lives in the leafy town of Den Dolder with his wife Kiki and two...

Lori Hayes is the Director of Urban Forestry, and District Tree Crew, Districts 5, 6, 7, & 8, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and is a certified arborist through ISA (International Society of Arboriculture). She oversees many projects including the TreePhilly Program, street tree planting, and maintenance. Lori graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor of Science in horticulture, sh...

Diane Ehrich owns Collins Nursery, a small retail nursery in Glenside, Pennsylvania which specializes in container-grown native plants from the Mid-Atlantic region. The nursery was founded by John Collins, a Philadelphia landscape architect, and educator.  Diane has continued to fulfill and expand John’s mission of propagating and providing native plants to homeowners, non-profits, and local...

Richard McCoy has over 30-years of experience in the green industry. He is the visionary behind Richard A. McCoy Horticultural Services Inc., founded in 1995. Since transitioning from conventional to organic landscape methods in 2005, McCoy Horticultural has been offering environmentally and sustainably responsible, landscape design, installations, maintenance, green infrastructure, and organic la...

Abra Lee is a national speaker, writer, and owner of Conquer the Soil a platform that combines Black garden history and current events to raise awareness of horticulture. She has spent a whole lotta time in the dirt as a municipal arborist, extension agent, airport landscape manager, and more. Lee is a graduate of Auburn University and alumna of the Longwood Gardens Society of Fellows, a global ne...

Max Blaustein is an Environmental Scientist with the Philadelphia Department of Parks & Recreation's Natural Lands Management team. His work has focused on the restoration and operation of a historic nursery facility in West Fairmount Park, where he propagates native plants for conservation projects that support the ecosystem function and habitat value of the 5,600 acres of natural areas withi...

Robin Rick has been a Woodlands Grave Gardener since 2016 and The Woodlands' Facility and Landscape Manager since 2018. It is with great pleasure and purpose that Robin works to care for the locally and nationally significant treasure that is The Woodlands. She brings to the  position professional experience in architecture and horticulture. After a career in architecture, she worked as a res...

Jordan Foreman grew up in Central Jersey just a stone's throw from Six Mile Run.  He has always loved to hike in the woods, but it wasn't until he was a student at Rutgers University that Ecology became his passion. He was an intern at Rutgers Gardens at the University, and he interned at Central Park in New York City through college. Then, Jordan spent a year as an AmeriCorps Watershed Ambas...

Dale Hendricks has been growing and propagating plants professionally since 1975. In 1988 he co-founded North Creek Nurseries, Inc in order to propagate and grow perennials and grasses with an emphasis on natives and garden selections of natives. In 2009 he founded Green Light Plants, LLC to build carbon-friendly and regenerative landscapes; growing native, woodland, and permaculture plants, organ...

Hasan Malik's fascination with trees has been a constant for as long as he can remember.  With a hand pruners or saw, he readily gave attention to the tree problems he encountered growing up in Northeast Philadelphia.  Hasan is an ISA Certified Arborist and has a degree in Civil Engineering from Temple University. In 2008 Hasan founded Tree Northeast.  The nonprofit organization pla...

Michael Dunn is the founder and president of Preservation Tree and is the Consulting Municipal Arborist for West Chester Borough in Pennsylvania. He is also an Urban Forestry Consultant with LandStudies, a leading environmental firm in Lititz, Pennsylvania.  His main area of focus since 2016 has been the integration of the urban forest into urban and regional planning in Southeastern Pennsylv...

Steve Goin is the Director of Land and Facilities at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, the largest privately held greenspace in the city of Philadelphia. He graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor of science in wildlife and fisheries with a minor in forest science. He is an ISA Certified Arborist with 19 years of experience managing trees in a variety of settings. He...

Aaron Greenberg is the Arboretum Manager for Laurel Hill and West Laurel Cemeteries, where he oversees gardens, grounds, and a collection of over 4,000 trees. He is also the State Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Champion Tree Program which documents the largest trees of each species in the state. Aaron is a Board Certified Master Arborist with the ISA, and Tree Risk Assessment Qualified.

Robert Wells (Bob) is a consulting arborist with 49 years of experience in the arboricultural industry. He entered the tree world as a climber with Bartlett Tree Experts in 1971 in Piscataway NJ. In 1973 he started the firm of Wells Tree & Landscape in Princeton NJ which is now in its 47th year under the leadership of his son, David Wells. Bob completed his BS from Rutgers Cook College in Plan...

For over two decades, Charles King Sadler has immersed himself in the design and care of landscapes throughout North American, this has resulted in his being sought after to work on prestigious public and private properties across North America and being consulted by top landscape practices domestically and from abroad. Charles began his career as a visual storyteller, in the field of illustration...

Joan Maloof is a writer, an ecologist, and a conservationist with a unique voice in today’s times. She has studied and worked with plants her entire life; her formal education includes a Bachelor’s degree in Plant Science, a Master’s degree in Environmental Science, and a Doctorate in Ecology. She is a Professor Emeritus at Salisbury University, where she taught Biological Sciences and Environment...

Maria is a 4th generation nurseryman and proud of it! After graduating from Penn State with a BS in Horticulture, she ran the family’s 1000-acre wholesale nursery, destination attraction garden center, and new plant research and development division. She took a new path in 2009 partnering with her father to form UpShoot LLC, a boutique horticultural marketing firm focusing on sales, marketing, and...

Nancy Buley is Director of Communications for J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co., wholesale tree growers of Boring, Oregon, where she has been “talking trees” for 26 years. A former newspaper reporter and food editor, she graduated in Technical Journalism and Horticulture from Oregon State University.  A Lifetime Honorary member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Nancy has earned na...

Andy Schenck, a self-professed plant nerd, is the owner of Sam Brown’s Wholesale Nursery in Malvern, PA where he has worked for 22 years. Andy received a B.S. in Ornamental horticulture from the University of Delaware and is a member of the Plant Selection Committee for the Rare Plant Auction at Longwood Gardens (Delaware Center for Horticulture). Andy’s long-lived passion for the outdoors, nature...

John Berryhill is the Landscape Curator for the Botanic Garden of Smith College where he has worked for just over 23 years. In that time, he has served several roles, including wildflower gardener and arborist. He served as the Chief Arborist there for 15 years and has transformed the care of Smith’s arboretum from an external, contracted operation to an internal one with a team of three certified...

Patrick Joyce is the Nursery Manager at Longwood Gardens.  He oversees the woody plant production and procurement for the Gardens.  He earned a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture from West Virginia University and has been working in the Nursery Industry for over 11 years.  When he isn’t working with plants he enjoys traveling, the outdoors, and being with his family.

Christopher Uhland is the Head Arborist and Owner of Harmony Hill Nursery, LLC a field production woody plant nursery in Downingtown, Chester County, PA.  He enjoys the challenge of growing trees and shrubs as well as becoming an expert on all things tree-related from propagation, production, planting, to management in the landscape.  His other areas of expertise relate to Arboriculture...