The Plantastic Podcast

POLLY NICHOLSON BIO Specialist flower grower and tulip expert, Polly Nicholson is the owner of Bayntun Flowers in Wiltshire – growers of organic flowers cultivated in walled gardens and a one-acre field at the foot of the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire. Nicholson holds the National Collection of Tulipa (Historic) with Plant Heritage, and has been featured on BBC Gardener’s World, Radio 4, in Garde...

PRESTON MONTAGUE BIO Preston Montague is a landscape architect and artist working to strengthen relationships between people and the natural world. His eponymous studio focuses on creating a flow between the arts, horticulture, and landscape architecture in the pursuit of building places that have meaning and ecological depth. When not in the studio, Preston enjoys teaching landscape architecture...

JAZMIN ALBARRAN BIO Jazmin Albarran, MBA, is the Seed Your Future Executive Director with over a decade of change and systems management experience. With a solid knowledge of associations and philanthropy, she will bring her skills and expertise in planning, leading, and managing development projects and programs to the movement. She has experience in a broad range of nonprofit organizations, incl...

JULIE WITMER BIO Julie Witmer works to create beautiful and ecologically sensitive gardens across the continental United States. She began in perennial production and garden nursery retail before earning a Certificate of Horticulture—Britain’s professional gardener qualification—from the Royal Horticultural Society in Wisley, UK. She is a popular local speaker, teaching classes for all ages, and i...

SCOTT BEUERLEIN BIOGRAPHY Scott Beuerlein is the Manager of Botanical Garden Outreach at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. He runs the Zoo’s Botanical Garden educational programs, including three symposiums. He is involved in most of the department’s other outreach and with the plant trialing.   Scott is a 1982 graduate of Xavier University, earning a B.A. in Communication Arts. He is an ON...

JANET DRAPER BIO Janet Draper has been the sole gardener for Smithsonian’s Mary Livingston Ripley Garden for 26 years.   This tiny 1/3 of an acre garden is located on the National Mall and is open 24 hours a day to visitors from around the globe.  Janet’s roles in the garden include everything from design and maintenance to cleaning the fountain and answering questions from visitors.  Janet’s appr...

DAVID HOFFMAN BIO David Hoffman is Chief Operating Officer at Hoffman Nursery, Inc. in Rougemont, N.C. Hoffman Nursery is a wholesale nursery specializing in ornamental and native grass liners for the horticultural trade. David grew up on the nursery, which was started in 1986 by his parents, John and Jill. In 2012, David earned his horticulture degree from NC State University. After a two-year in...

SUSAN POIZNER BIO Susan Poizner is an urban orchardist in Toronto, Canada and the author of Grow Fruit Trees Fast and Growing Urban Orchards . Susan trains new growers worldwide through her award-winning fruit tree care training program at Orchardpeople.com. Susan is also the host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast and an ISA Certified Arborist. THE PLANTASTIC PODCAST The Plantastic Podc...

BRYCE LANE BIO Bryce Lane discovered his passion for plants and telling others about them working at a small Massachusetts garden center through high school and college. After earning his BS in Plant Science at the University of Massachusetts and MS in Ornamental Horticulture at The Ohio State University, he came to the Department of Horticultural Science at NC State University as a lecturer in 19...

MOLLY HENDRY BIO Molly toggles the worlds of design and plants as both a trained horticulturist and landscape architect. Up through July 2023, she was the Associate Director of Gardens Support for the Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens for 5 and a half years. There she was actively involved in the horticultural and design development of the 26 unique gardens that make up Birmingham Botanical...

MATT BIGGS BIO Matt Biggs, a graduate of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is a well-known British gardener, broadcaster, and author of fifteen gardening and plant related books. He has presented numerous television programs, notably Channel 4’s Garden Club, stepped behind the camera to direct Meridian Television’s popular gardening series Grass Roots and worked as Horticultural Consultant for a gar...

LESLIE HALLECK BIO Leslie Halleck is a Certified Professional Horticulturist (ASHS) who has spent her 30-year career hybridizing horticulture science with home gardening consumer needs. Halleck earned a BS in Biology/Botany from the University of North Texas and an MS in Horticulture from Michigan State University. Halleck’s professional experience is well rounded, with time spent in botanical fie...

ANN AMATO BIO Ann Amato lives in Portland, Oregon and is a horticulturist and seed propagator at Cistus Nursery and a propagator at Secret Garden Growers in Canby, Oregon. At 18, she published the book Ancient Forests and Western Man: A Pictorial History of the West Coast . Later, she earned a bachelors of arts from Portland State University with a double major in English literature and art histor...

GREG PAIGE BIO Greg Paige discovered his career goal early—creating and working in beautiful public gardens and sharing and teaching this passion with others. Greg currently serves as the Director of Horticulture at the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, North Carolina. Greg has had a storied life in public horticulture. His 30-year career involved work at some of the finest gardens in the country...

MARY PHILLIPS BIO For eight years, Mary has led Garden for Wildlife ™ and Certified Wildlife Habitat ® as an ambassador for native plants with the National Wildlife Federation . Her work ensures all habitat programs and resources are rooted in sustainable practices and the latest science.  Under her leadership, in coordination with the White House Office of Science and Policy, NWF coordinated the...

JAMES GOLDEN BIO James Golden’s garden design has been featured in national and international magazines, in The New York Times, and in several books on garden design. He has collected many of his inspiring thoughts in the recently published book The View from Federal Twist.  It is a wonderful, well-written glimpse into the inception, creation, and management of a naturalistic garden.  James has be...

CAROL REESE BIO Carol grew up as a farm girl in Mississippi where she learned much about the land from her family.  In her 30’s she pursued her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Mississippi State University in horticulture.  Carol worked as a regional horticulture extension specialist for the University of Tennessee’s West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Jackson, Tennessee for 27 y...

JARED HUGHES BIO Jared Hughes and his wife Liz run Groovy Plants Ranch in Marengo, Ohio, a family friendly, whimsical oasis of escape for customers from all over the country.  Groovy Plants Ranch has been featured in a number of magazines like Better Homes and Gardens, and Midwest Living named them the best garden shop of 2022. THE PLANTASTIC PODCAST The Plantastic Podcast is a monthly podcast cre...

ABRA LEE BIO Abra Lee is a storyteller, horticulturist, and author of the forthcoming book Conquer The Soil: Black America and the Untold Stories of Our Country’s Gardeners, Farmers, and Growers . She has spent a whole lotta time in the dirt as a municipal arborist and airport landscape manager. Her work has been featured in publications including The New York Times, Fine Gardening, and Veranda Ma...

ANDREW BUNTING BIO Andrew Bunting is Vice President of Horticulture at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) and leads the utilization of planting and design to promote environmentally sound gardening practices at PHS. Andrew has elevated each of the departments he oversees and has increased the brand and visibility of PHS through their respective work. Andrew received his B.S. in Plant and...

PEGGY ANNE MONTGOMERY BIO Peggy Anne Montgomery is a people-oriented horticultural professional with more than 35 years of U.S. and international experience in trade- and consumer-focused garden marketing and communications, public relations and outreach, landscape design, and public horticulture. She studied horticulture and apprenticed in the Netherlands where she raised a family and owned a lan...

ETHAN KAUFFMAN BIO Ethan Kauffman developed his love of the natural world exploring the hills in southeastern Pennsylvania. He cultivated his horticultural perspective over two decades of gardening in the deep south, including working at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden and then as director of Moore Farms Botanical Garden , where he led the transition from a private pleasure garden to a public botanical...

HOLLY SCOGGINS BIO Holly Scoggins, Ph. D., is an associate professor Emeritus from Virginia Tech . She retired in January 2020 after 20 years in the Department of Horticulture with teaching, research, cooperative extension, and administrative responsibilities. Holly received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Georgia and her Ph. D. in Horticultural Science from North Caroli...

THOMAS RAINER BIO Thomas Rainer is a registered landscape architect, teacher, and author that lives in Arlington, Virginia. He is a leading voice in ecological landscape design and has designed landscapes for the U.S. Capitol grounds, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and The New York Botanical Garden, as well as over 100 gardens from Maine to Florida. He is a celebrated public speaker who has...

ANGELA PALMER Angela Palmer co-owns Plants Nouveau , a trendy new plant marketing company where she manages the annuals, perennials, and grasses as well as the website, marketing, photography, and social media aspect of the business.  Angela has a Bachelors of Science in Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Design from the University of Delaware . She was a storied career in horticulture.  She wo...