Garden Ecology Ohio-style: Design to Field | In-person, Kirtland, OH | August 29-30, 2024
12 Hrs | Collaborator and Host: The Holden Arboretum | 2-day classroom and field walks | Professional
Program Overview
Many decades ago, The Holden Arboretum, New Directions in the American Landscape (NDAL), and designer Larry Weaner began to combine ecological science, horticulture, and fine garden design - and few cared. Since then, their work has influenced countless projects from prairie, shrubland and woodland restorations, to fine gardens that incorporate the functions and feel of both – and now, many care. Through in-depth classroom sessions and interpretive field explorations, our presenters will connect theory with practice and share their insights on many years of landscape action, observation, analysis, and good old common sense.
Date & Time: Thursday, August 29th, 2024, 9 AM - 4:30 PM ET & Friday, August 30th, 2024, 9 AM - 4:30 PM ET*
Registration is for both days; single day registrations unavailable.
Location: The Holden Arboretum
9550 Sperry Rd, Kirtland, OH 44094
Fee: $585
Students please choose the Student Rate below to register and bring your student ID/verification of student status to the program.
Holden Arboretum members please email [email protected] with verification of member status (ie. Membership ID card) for discount code or look out for an email from NDAL/Holden with the code.
Wild Ones members please email [email protected] with verification of member status (ie. Membership ID card) for discount code or look out for an email from NDAL/Wild Ones with the code.
Event Category: Professional
CEUs: APLD, LA CES, ISA, NOFA, SER
Stay tuned for details & instructions
Register by: Tuesday, Aug. 27th, 2024, 9 AM ET (2 days prior)
*Times listed above include instructional time & breaks. There will be 6 instructional hours per day.
Light breakfast, lunch, and refreshments are included in the registration fee.
Check-in & breakfast begin at 8:30 AM ET.
This session will be held both indoors and outdoors.
Cancellations received by August 22, 2024, 9 AM ET will receive a full refund. We are unable to provide refunds after August 22nd.
Program Collaborator & Host:
Program Sponsor:
NDAL Institutional Ally:
Agenda
Day 1 | Thursday, August 29, 2024
Presentation: Foundational Ecological Principles (1 hr)
Larry Weaner, FAPLD
Presentation: Case Studies of Prairies at The Holden Arboretum (1 hr)
Ann Rzepka Budziak
Field Walk: Prairies (3 hrs)
Ann Rzepka Budziak, Dawn Gerlica, Larry Weaner FAPLD
Wrap up discussion (1 hr)
Day 2 | Friday, August 30, 2024
Presentation: Ohio’s Forests & Introduction to Holden’s Working Woods (1 hr)
Mike Watson
Field Walk: Working Woods (3 hrs)
Ann Rzepka Budziak, Jessica Miller Mecaskey, Larry Weaner, FAPLD
Presentation: The Artistic Overlay (1 hr)
Larry Weaner, FAPLD
Wrap up discussion (1 hr)
Instructors
Dawn Gerlica has worked at Holden Forests & Gardens in varying capacities since 1987. She has worked under various titles, including Seasonal, Field Botanist, Lantern Court Horticulturist, and now Senior Horticulturist. Dawn attended Hiram College where she minored in Environmental Studies while earning a degree in Biology.
Jessica Miller Mecaskey’s work as a Woodland Community Forester focuses on conservation-oriented land management that can meet people's goals while maintaining or increasing ecological integrity. She stewards the 70-acre Working Woods demonstration forests and coordinates many of its outreach and education activities with private woodland landowners. Her professional and educational background is in forest ecology, natural resource management, written communication, and education.
Ann Rzepka Budziak has been with the Horticulture Department at the Holden Arboretum since 2008. As a Horticulturist, she maintained the Myrtle S. Holden Wildflower Garden, collected, and propagated seed for use within the garden, assisted with heritage species monitoring, and helped maintain Holden’s commitment to the Center for Plant Conservation. In 2019, she was promoted to the position of Director of Arboretum Horticulture. Rzepka was previously employed by the Geauga Soil and Water Conservation District where she served as their Natural Resources Specialist. She earned a B.A. in Environmental Science from Hiram College.
Mike Watson has been the Conservation Biologist at Holden since 2007. His work focuses primarily on wildlife issues such as bird and bat surveys, conservation efforts to support species and/or communities, deer population management, and human-wildlife conflicts. Specific projects include coordinating Holden’s nest box program to support a variety of native cavity-nesting bird species, tracking changes in bat activity in response to forestry treatments, and tracking seasonal movements of the local breeding population of dark-eyed juncos. Mike also assists with non-wildlife projects, including beech leaf disease assessments, deer browse impacts to native vegetation, and hemlock woolly adelgid monitoring.
Larry Weaner, FAPLD, founded Larry Weaner Landscape Associates in 1982 and established NDAL in 1990. He is nationally recognized for combining expertise in horticulture, landscape design, and ecological restoration. His design and restoration work spans more than twenty U.S. states and the U.K., and has been profiled in numerous national publications. His book Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change (Timber Press, 2016) received an "American Horticultural Society (AHS) Book Award" in 2017, and in 2021 he received AHS’s "Landscape Design Award" and the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) "Award of Distinction."
Photo by Kim Sokoloff