PHS Experts Guide
The staff members of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society have decades of education, experience and expertise in a vast array of topics related to gardening, greening, landscaping and, of course, the Philadelphia Flower Show. Members of the media are invited to contact PHS Public Relations Manager Alan Jaffe at 215-988-8833 or Senior Coordinator Laura Beitman at 215-988-8836 to arrange interviews with PHS experts.
Experts Guide Categories (click for link):
Gardening
Jane G. Pepper
President, PHS
Expertise: English gardens, garden travel, greenhouse gardening, dogs in the garden, native plants, organic gardening, perennials, preventing deer, seed starting, vegetable gardening (especially eggplants, beans and tomatoes), woody plants
Author of Jane Pepper's Garden: Getting the Most Pleasure and Growing Results from Your Garden Every Month of the Year, Camino Books Inc. (1997)
Joe Ziccardi
Gold Medal Plant Manager, PHS
Expertise: Attracting and feeding birds, attracting butterflies and hummingbirds,
deer resistant gardening, eco-friendly gardening (techniques focusing on natural and organic gardening and landscaping and choosing eco-friendly plants), garden pests and diseases - prevention and control, Gold Medal Plants, humane animal controls in the garden, lawn care, navigating the Philadelphia Flower Show, plant survival and rejuvenating techniques, planting trees, poison ivy, proper watering, pruning, fertilizing
Sally McCabe
Project Manager, PHS
Expertise: Artificial light gardening, basic gardening/seed starting, Christmas plantings, community gardening, container gardening, dried flowers/crafts/wreaths, environmentally friendly gardening, flower arranging, growing fruit, gardening with children, growing herbs, houseplants, mulch, organic gardening and composting, propagation, soil types/fertilizer, vegetable gardening, water conservation/drought, school gardens, urban gardening
Chela Kleiber
Education Programs Manager, PHS
Expertise: Annuals, azaleas, botany, bulbs, container gardening, gardening in the Delaware Valley, garden history, flower gardening, historic trees in the Delaware Valley, lawn alternatives, pests and diseases, plants for fall color, rhododendrons, shade gardening, transplanting plants to a new garden, tropical plants
Patricia Schrieber
Senior Program Manager, Community Education, PHS
Expertise: Community engagement, garden design, horticultural therapy/floral therapy, perennials, school gardens, woody plants, urban gardening
Author of chapter “Community Gardening: Design, Techniques, and Tools” in Horticulture as Therapy, The Hawthorne Press, Inc. (1997)
Marilyn Romenesko, ASLA
Public Landscapes Project Manager, Philadelphia Green, PHS
Expertise: Azaleas, container gardening, drought-tolerant plants, ferns, houseplants, lawn and street trees, mulch, urban horticulture
ISA Certified Arborist with 35 years of field experience in horticulture
Julie Snell, ASLA
Public Landscapes Project Manager, Philadelphia Green, PHS
Expertise: Container gardening, gardening with children, garden design, organic lawn care, street trees, sustainable gardening, water gardening
Flossie Narducci
Education Activities Manager, PHS
Expertise: Front-lawn vegetable gardens, Garden contests, gardening with children/children’s gardening expo, urban gardens
Pete Prown
Director of Publications, PHS
Expertise: Botanical Latin, general gardening and horticulture, magazine production, writing, garden photography
Professional member of Garden Writers of America
Philadelphia Flower Show
Sam Lemheney
Philadelphia Flower Show Designer
Expertise: Annuals, container gardening, gardens of the world, greenhouse/forcing plants, history of Philadelphia Flower Show, perennials, propagation, pruning, succulents and cacti, tropical plants, vegetable gardening, water conservation/drought
Judge of the Rose Bowl in 2007, IFEA board member, former area manager of Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival
Jane G. Pepper
President, PHS
Expertise: English gardens, garden travel, greenhouse gardening, dogs in the garden, native plants, organic gardening, perennials, preventing deer, seed starting, vegetable gardening (especially eggplants, beans and tomatoes), woody plants
Author of Jane Pepper's Garden: Getting the Most Pleasure and Growing Results from Your Garden Every Month of the Year, Camino Books Inc. (1997)
Urban Greening
J. Blaine Bonham Jr.
Executive Vice President, PHS
Expertise: Economic impact of greening, environmental leadership, gardening at the seashore, parks revitalization, public landscapes, community gardens, urban tree canopy restoration, vacant land management, storm water management projects, and open space planning.
Co-author of the chapter, Transformation Through Greening, Growing Greener Cities, Urban Sustainability in the Twenty-first Century, University of Pennsylvania Press (2008); Old Cities/Green Cities: Communities Transform Unmanaged Land, the American Planning Association (2002); Produced Urban Vacant Land: Issues and Recommendations (1995)
Joan Reilly
Senior Director, Philadelphia Green, PHS
Expertise: Organizational development and training, civic engagement and leadership development, parks revitalization, public landscapes, community gardens, urban tree canopy restoration, vacant land management, storm water management projects, and open space planning
Maitreyi Roy
Vice President, Programs, PHS
Expertise: Economic and environmental benefits of greening, parks revitalization, public landscapes, community gardens, urban tree canopy restoration, vacant land management, storm water management projects, and open space planning
2007 Eisenhower Fellow
Vacant Land
Bob Grossmann
Senior Director, Philadelphia Green, PHS
Expertise: Vacant land stabilization, benefits of greening, economic and environmental benefits of greening, parks revitalization, public landscapes, community gardens, urban tree canopy restoration, vacant land management, storm water management projects, and open space planning
Landscape Design
Nancy O’Donnell, ASLA
Director, Philadelphia Green, PHS
Expertise: Landscape design, green design, small-space gardening, native plants
Linda Walczak, RLA, ASLA
Program Manager, Philadelphia Green, PHS
Expertise: Registered Landscape Architect with over 15 years of experience in horticulture, historic landscapes, and the design of residential, institutional and civic spaces
Joy Lawrence
Manager, Environmental Initiatives, Philadelphia Green, PHS
Expertise: Green design, storm water solutions, environmental benefits of greening
Todd Baylson, AICP
Manager, Open Space Planning, Philadelphia Green, PHS
Expertise: Geographic Information Systems, open space planning
Professional member of Urban Land Institute
Trees
Michael Leff
Program Manager, TreeVitalize, Philadelphia Green, PHS
Expertise: Tree-care, urban forestry, ecological restoration
Board Secretary for Mid-Atlantic Chapter of Society for Ecological Restoration
Julie Snell, ASLA
Public Landscapes Project Manager, Philadelphia Green, PHS
Expertise: Container planting, street trees, organic lawn care, water gardens, sustainable gardening, gardening with children
Mindy Maslin
Project Manager, Tree Tenders, PHS
Expertise: Tree identification, trees in the Delaware Valley, proper watering in the garden, drought, planting trees, tree care, bare-root trees, community engagement, urban forestry
Parks
Tammy Leigh DeMent
Parks Project Manager, Philadelphia Green, PHS
Expertise: Community engagement, urban park revitalization
Member of Philadelphia Parks Alliance
PHS Library and Research
Janet Evans
Manager, McLean Library
Expertise: History of PHS and the Philadelphia Flower Show, gardening and urban greening information resources (databases, books, web sites, literature) rare gardening books, gardening book groups.
Urban Vegetable Gardens
Claire Baker
Program Manager, Parks and Gardens, Philadelphia Green
Expertise: Urban gardens and food production, environmental stewardship programming for youth
Eileen Gallagher
Citywide Project Manager, Philadelphia Green
Expertise: Community gardening, urban gardens, food production, sustainable agriculture
Professional Member: American Community Gardening Association, Longwood Gardens Professional Gardener Alumni Association, and Thresholds, a Delaware County, Inc.-based non-profit that teaches decision-making skills to inmates in Delaware County prisons
Gardening with Children
Flossie Narducci
Education Activities Manager, PHS
Expertise: Urban gardens, front-lawn vegetable gardens, garden contests, gardening with children/children’s gardening expo
Sally McCabe
Project Manager, PHS
Expertise: Artificial light gardening, basic gardening/seed starting, Christmas plantings, urban gardening, community gardening, container gardening, dried flowers/crafts/wreaths, environmentally friendly gardening, flower arranging, growing fruit, gardening with children, growing herbs, houseplants, mulch, organic gardening and composting, propagation, soil types/fertilizer, vegetable gardening, water conservation/drought, school gardens
Meadowbrook Farm
John Story
General Manager, Meadowbrook Farm
Expertise: History of Meadowbrook Farm, a Robert McGoodwin-designed estate; greenhouse/forcing plants for the Philadelphia Flower Show, succulents and cacti, tropical plants, annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs, propagation, pruning
Professional Member of Cactus and Succulent Society of America, Hardy Plant Society, Perennial Plant Association, International Plant Propagators Society, Tropical Fern and Exotic Plant Society
Jessica Story
Head Grower, Meadowbrook Farm
Expertise: Forcing plants for the Philadelphia Flower Show, tropicals, greenhouse production, annuals
Glenn Ashton
Gardener, Meadowbrook Farm
Expertise: Attracting butterflies and hummingbirds to the garden, drought tolerant plants, native plants, unusual annuals and perennials, organic gardening, flower gardening, composting, urban gardening, shade gardening, garden design, plants for wet places, fall color, outdoor container gardening
Sharon Kaszan
Foliage Grower, Meadowbrook Farm
Expertise: Ferns, begonias, planting and caring for terrariums, indoor container gardening, vegetable gardening, tropical plants
Bernard F. Pettit
Horticulture and Operations Manager, Meadowbrook Farm
Expertise: Alpine plant propagation and culture, rock gardening, making and planting troughs, dwarf conifers, bonsai, patio pots, annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs
Tom Reber
Estate Gardener, Meadowbrook Farm
Expertise: Theme gardens, garden design, incorporating tropicals into the garden, formal pruning/training plants, how plants work, basic botany, woody plants, integrated pest management, native plants
