7/1/2021
PPA’s Virtual Speakers
Ellen C. Wells
The Perennial Plant Association’s Hybrid National Symposium will have some top-notch speakers participating in the Virtual version of the event, taking place July 27-29. Because of the “virtual” aspect of the Virtual Symposium, speakers can present whatever from wherever. In this round of recently announced speakers, we have:
• Panayoti Kelaidis is a plant explorer, gardener and public garden administrator associated with the Denver Botanic Gardens. Panayoti’s address will be a discussion titled “Reinventing a Western Landscape Aesthetic.”
• Jason Reeves is a horticulturist, landscape designer, lecturer and writer who will give a tour of his private home garden in Western Tennessee. In 2002, he became a research horticulturist and curator of the University of Tennessee Gardens located at the West Tennessee Research and Education Center in Jackson. Jason’s colorful plant combinations and unique garden art, made by recycling everyday objects, draws several thousand people each year to the Center’s annual lawn and garden show, Summer Celebration.
• cott McMahan, Atlanta Botanical Garden’s Manager of International Plant Exploration, will offer final remarks as the closing speaker at the Virtual National Symposium with the session titled “Plant Exploration with a Purpose.” Scott’s lecture will focus on photos and stories from 20 years of plant exploration in Southeast Asia and how that’s prepared him in his current role at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
The PPA Virtual National Symposium will take place online July 27-29 from 1:00–5:00 p.m. Eastern with additional happy hour events on July 27 and 28. For a schedule of events and to register, visit perennialplant.org.
As for the in-person element of the Symposium, outdoor PPA Pop-Up events will be held in several spots around the U.S. in August and September. Visit the website to find out more about those, too. GP