By Maria Lindsay
WEST AKRON — The Master Gardeners of Summit County will present its Design Beyond 2013 symposium Jan. 19 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at St. Sebastian’s Church’s Zwisler Hall, 348 Elmdale Ave.
The symposium will include the following three gardening experts as presenters, with background information provided by Master Gardeners:
• Stephanie Cohen is a Collegeville, Pa., resident who has taught about herbaceous plants and perennial design at Temple University for more than 20 years. She was the founder and director of the Landscape Arboretum at Temple University. She is a contributing editor for “Fine Gardening”; serves on the advisory boards for “Green Profit” and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s “Green Scene”; and is a regional writer for the Blooms of Bressingham Plant Program.
She has received three awards for design and the Service and Academic Award from the Perennial Plant Association, awards from Temple University and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, as well as The American Nursery and Landscape Association’s Garden Communicator of the Year Award in 2000. She was also the first woman to receive the honor award from The Perennial Plant Association in 2005. She wrote “The Perennial Gardener’s Design Primer,” which was chosen by The Garden Writers of America as the winner in the best overall book category in 2005. She also has authored “Fallscaping” and “The Non-Stop Garden.” In 2008, she was named in “Greenhouse Grower” magazine as one of the top 25 people in a “Who’s Who” in the perennial industry. She also presents lectures and designs garden spaces.
She specializes in giving unique garden lectures, writing attention-getting informative articles and designing award-winning garden spaces and has mentored many past students and newcomers in the industry. Living in Collegeville, her elaborate home gardens are named Shortwood Gardens — a homage to nearby Longwood Gardens, and also to her 5-foot stature. There is even a Blooms of Bressingham phlox introduction, Phlox paniculata ‘Shortwood’ that was named after her private garden.
Her presentations will include:
√ “Natives with Bling,” which will feature native plants that have jumped from being fillers in meadows and prairies, to stars of a perennial border. These plants help a garden shine with its own special “bling” and are admired by birds, butterflies, children and gardeners as showstoppers; and
√ “Shrubaganza,” which will be on shrubs that fit into foundation plantings, mixed borders, containers and as mass plantings. Many possess interesting foliage, fragrant or colorful flowers, interesting bark, ornamental berries or fall color. Most are deciduous and a few are evergreen. The emphasis will be on native shrubs, but non-natives will be included.
• Judy Semroc is a conservation specialist who works for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in the Natural Areas Division. She is the founder of Operation Botanic Rescue (a volunteer plant-rescue group), Quail Hollow Land Conservancy and Chrysalis in Time — the first Ohio chapter of the North American Butterfly Association.
Semroc co-wrote “The Dragonflies Damselflies of Northeast Ohio” with Larry Rosche and Linda Gilbert. In 2010, she received the Portage County Environmental Hero Award. A former petroleum geologist and science teacher, she shares her passion for the natural world through hikes, interpretive programs and photography.
Her presentation, “The Many Faces of Conservation,” will be a photographic journey into the connection between the importance of land conservation and human use, what it means to species and habitat diversity, non-native and invasive species, and the future of how all of this makes a difference.
• Lorree Cummings is the owner of Stone Cottage Farm Garden in Cuyahoga Falls. She has been an educator for more 30 years and is a gardener, farmer and nutritionist.
She will take participants on a journey about restoring the small family homestead where she grew up and demonstrate practical and enjoyable methods of urban farming. Raised-bed organic gardening, backyard chickens, beekeeping and food preservation will be among the topics covered in her presentation on “Urban Homesteading.”
The Master Gardeners of Summit County is a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Ohio State University Extension, Summit County.
The cost for the symposium, which is open to all and includes a continental breakfast, lunch and materials, is $40. Registration must be postmarked by Jan. 4, and late registrations will be accepted until Jan. 12 for a cost of $45. Registrations are transferable, and no refunds will be available after Dec. 31.
To register, visit www.sum mitmastergardeners.org and click “Design Beyond,” or mail a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Sherry Beam, 2633 Hudson-Aurora Road, Hudson, OH 44236-2325.
For more information, contact Beam at 330-342-0969.
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