Perennial Plant Conference Schedule

7:30 am - 9:00 am

Registration and Coffee

7:45 am - 8:45 am

Explore the Scott Arboretum & Gardens on guided tours with horticulture staff.

9:00 am - 9:15 am

Jeff Jabco, Executive Director of Scott Arboretum & Gardens

9:00 am - 9:05 am

Live Stream opens for those joining us virtually.

9:15 am - 10:15 am

Deer can quickly turn a vibrant garden into a wasteland. Unfortunately, the most common suggestions for managing these pests include pungent chemicals and unattractive fencing. Designer and author Karen Chapman will share time-and taste-tested design strategies to help you create a beautiful, fence-free garden that will thrive despite the deer.

10:15 am - 10:45 am

In-person attendees can: Purchase raffle tickets to win items donated by sponsoring organizations. Visit the Perennials Showcase, featuring cut specimen plants of interest from sponsoring organizations.

10:45 am - 11:35 am

As a landscape designer and home gardener, Ian has often dreamed of creating rich, diverse gardens filled with trilliums, phlox, lady’s slippers, and other wild and uncommon plants. Those ambitions were quickly tested by reality: hard clay soil, extreme drought, hungry deer, and other challenges stood in the way. Yet even under these harsh conditions, certain plants thrived. Ian began to notice a pattern: these successful plants often shared similar habitats in the wild. By paying close attention to where plants naturally grow, he found he could better predict how they would perform in the garden. Over time, Ian also observed that plants often behave differently in cultivation than they do in nature, becoming either more aggressive or more restrained. By combining his understanding of natural habitats with plant competitiveness, he learned how to design landscapes that work with difficult soils, tough climates, and persistent pests rather than fighting against them. This lecture explores the principles behind Ian’s approach: how plants behave, where they come from, and how they can be used to create truly low‑maintenance landscapes. It will also highlight a selection of plants that have proven reliable in even the most challenging garden conditions.

11:35 am - 12:25 pm

Here in the United States, the landscaping industry often reigns supreme. In a maintenance-driven world of “mow, blow, and go,” the green spaces surrounding our daily lives are designed to satisfy convenience rather than curiosity. But gardens are not static. They are living creations, cultivated over time. So how should we approach gardens if we acknowledge them as evolving, dynamic systems rather than finished products? In this spirited talk, horticulturist and garden designer Molly Hendry explores a more thoughtful way. Drawing on lessons learned from gardeners around the world, she shares how these perspectives have shaped her work across the Southeastern United States. Molly will unpack her four-part design strategy, a practical framework that guides decision-making when curating a garden and balances ecology, aesthetics, and human experience. The goal is for you to leave inspired to approach your own garden as a process of cultivation, not completion—understanding that great gardens are born not only from the spirit of a place, but from the unique people who tend them.

12:25 pm - 1:25 pm

In-person participants can: Enjoy lunch al fresco in the picturesque Scott Outdoor Amphitheater. Browse and purchase books sold by the Hardy Plant Society/Mid-Atlantic Group. Final opportunity to purchase raffle tickets to win items donated by sponsoring organizations. Visit the Perennials Showcase, featuring cut specimen plants of interest from sponsoring organizations.

1:25 pm - 2:15 pm

Yarrow in the Mid-Atlantic: Lessons from a Resilient Perennial with Dee Hall Goodwin; Plant Community: Gardens as Social Infrastructure with Chris Fehlhaber

2:15 pm - 2:40 pm

In-person participants can: Visit the Perennials Showcase, featuring cut specimen plants of interest from sponsoring organizations.

2:35 pm - 2:40 pm

2:40 pm - 3:40 pm

James has spent his professional life as a University researcher road testing published ecological planting design theory with native and non-native plants in practice on prestige projects around the world. But there has always been a home private garden, too, which has been equally important to the science base, through the vehicle of his lived experience.  His new 2.5 acre garden in Southwest England has allowed him to extend this further and create a series of very different perennial plant communities to the British norm.  A response to intensifying climate change, the creation of exceptional visual drama, and support for native animals.  In this talk, James will particularly focus on how he has used layering of canopies and randomized planting based on spatial ratios to achieve these goals and explore how these approaches might  be used in other landscapes.

3:40 pm - 4:00 pm

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Join the reception with speakers for an additional $20 (in-person participants only).

7:30 am - 9:00 am

Registration and Coffee

7:45 am - 8:45 am

Explore the Scott Arboretum & Gardens on guided tours with horticulture staff.

9:00 am - 9:15 am

Jeff Jabco, Executive Director of Scott Arboretum & Gardens

9:00 am - 9:05 am

Live Stream opens for those joining us virtually.

9:15 am - 10:15 am

Deer can quickly turn a vibrant garden into a wasteland. Unfortunately, the most common suggestions for managing these pests include pungent chemicals and unattractive fencing. Designer and author Karen Chapman will share time-and taste-tested design strategies to help you create a beautiful, fence-free garden that will thrive despite the deer.

10:15 am - 10:45 am

In-person attendees can: Purchase raffle tickets to win items donated by sponsoring organizations. Visit the Perennials Showcase, featuring cut specimen plants of interest from sponsoring organizations.

2:15 pm - 2:40 pm

In-person participants can: Visit the Perennials Showcase, featuring cut specimen plants of interest from sponsoring organizations.

10:45 am - 11:35 am

As a landscape designer and home gardener, Ian has often dreamed of creating rich, diverse gardens filled with trilliums, phlox, lady’s slippers, and other wild and uncommon plants. Those ambitions were quickly tested by reality: hard clay soil, extreme drought, hungry deer, and other challenges stood in the way. Yet even under these harsh conditions, certain plants thrived. Ian began to notice a pattern: these successful plants often shared similar habitats in the wild. By paying close attention to where plants naturally grow, he found he could better predict how they would perform in the garden. Over time, Ian also observed that plants often behave differently in cultivation than they do in nature, becoming either more aggressive or more restrained. By combining his understanding of natural habitats with plant competitiveness, he learned how to design landscapes that work with difficult soils, tough climates, and persistent pests rather than fighting against them. This lecture explores the principles behind Ian’s approach: how plants behave, where they come from, and how they can be used to create truly low‑maintenance landscapes. It will also highlight a selection of plants that have proven reliable in even the most challenging garden conditions.

11:35 am - 12:25 pm

Here in the United States, the landscaping industry often reigns supreme. In a maintenance-driven world of “mow, blow, and go,” the green spaces surrounding our daily lives are designed to satisfy convenience rather than curiosity. But gardens are not static. They are living creations, cultivated over time. So how should we approach gardens if we acknowledge them as evolving, dynamic systems rather than finished products? In this spirited talk, horticulturist and garden designer Molly Hendry explores a more thoughtful way. Drawing on lessons learned from gardeners around the world, she shares how these perspectives have shaped her work across the Southeastern United States. Molly will unpack her four-part design strategy, a practical framework that guides decision-making when curating a garden and balances ecology, aesthetics, and human experience. The goal is for you to leave inspired to approach your own garden as a process of cultivation, not completion—understanding that great gardens are born not only from the spirit of a place, but from the unique people who tend them.

12:25 pm - 1:25 pm

In-person participants can: Enjoy lunch al fresco in the picturesque Scott Outdoor Amphitheater. Browse and purchase books sold by the Hardy Plant Society/Mid-Atlantic Group. Final opportunity to purchase raffle tickets to win items donated by sponsoring organizations. Visit the Perennials Showcase, featuring cut specimen plants of interest from sponsoring organizations.

1:25 pm - 2:15 pm

Yarrow in the Mid-Atlantic: Lessons from a Resilient Perennial with Dee Hall Goodwin; Plant Community: Gardens as Social Infrastructure with Chris Fehlhaber

2:35 pm - 2:40 pm

2:40 pm - 3:40 pm

James has spent his professional life as a University researcher road testing published ecological planting design theory with native and non-native plants in practice on prestige projects around the world. But there has always been a home private garden, too, which has been equally important to the science base, through the vehicle of his lived experience.  His new 2.5 acre garden in Southwest England has allowed him to extend this further and create a series of very different perennial plant communities to the British norm.  A response to intensifying climate change, the creation of exceptional visual drama, and support for native animals.  In this talk, James will particularly focus on how he has used layering of canopies and randomized planting based on spatial ratios to achieve these goals and explore how these approaches might  be used in other landscapes.

3:40 pm - 4:00 pm

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Join the reception with speakers for an additional $20 (in-person participants only).