'A Garden Affair’
Botanic
and gardening experts
to highlight new event
Lanier
Mansion Foundation
sponsors gardening program
By
Helen E. McKinney
Contributing Writer
(March 2010) – Larry DeBuhr has a wealth of
knowledge to share about botanical gardens. To him, they are living,
breathing displays used to educate the public about plants and their
enivronment.
DeBuhr, 61, has a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in botany. He worked
for 19 years at two of the world’s great botanic gardens, the Chicago
Botanic Garden and the Missouri Botanical Garden.
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DeBuhr |
Originally from Northwest Iowa, DeBuhr was a student at
Iowa State University. He attended graduate school at Claremont Graduate
School and Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, Calif. He has
lived in various locations, giving him insight into some of the nation’s
finest botanical gardens.
DeBuhr lived in Kansas City for 10 years, St. Louis for 11 years and
Chicago for eight years. Before moving to Indiana, he held the position
of Director of Education at the Missouri Botanical Garden for 11 years,
and Vice President of Academic Affairs at the Chicago Botanic Garden
for eight years.
He is now the new Executive Director of the Rivers Institute at Hanover
College in Hanover, Ind. In the past, DeBuhr has lectured and written
about botanic gardens and related educational programs, and “recently
wrote a chapter on adult continuing and professional education for a
book on botanic garden management” to be published later this year,
he said.
DeBuhr will be one of two featured speakers on March 20 for the upcoming
event, A Garden Affair. This event is sponsored by the Lanier Mansion
State Historic Site Foundation, and will be held at the Old Masonic
Home at 217 E. Main St. in Madison.
Doors will open at 10 a.m., with the event actually beginning at 10:30
a.m. and running until 3 p.m. Lunch is included in the $25 registration
fee, which must be made by March 15.
“We hope to have garden related vendors, nursery people and gardening
supplies,” said Gerry Reilly, Site Manager of Lanier Mansion. Proceeds
will help cover the expense of the program, with anything extra going
to the Lanier Mansion Foundation to help run similar public programs.
“We had a garden related program last year with one speaker on
herbs, that was very popular,” said Reilly. The program was “1840s
Herbs and Kitchen Garden Essentials” by Betty Manning. Due to its
appeal, “We thought we would expand the program for this year,”
he said.
DeBuhr will give a presentation at 11 a.m. on “Great Botanic Gardens
of America.”
“I will describe what botanic gardens are, what makes some gardens
great, and describe some of the great botanic gardens in America,”
said DeBuhr.
The presentation will also include slides and participants can expect
to learn “what botanic gardens are,” said DeBuhr. “They
are museums that collect living plants, display them like any other
museum displays their collections, educates the public broadly and conducts
research.”
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Hill |
After lunch, gardening expert Bob Hill will speak around
1:15 p.m. on “Whit, Wonder and Whimsy in Your Garden.” He
will present a power point presentation on creating a year-round garden.
Hill and his wife, Janet, own Hidden Hill Nursery & Sculpture Garden
in Utica, Ind.
Hill describes Hidden Hill Nursery as “the most unusual garden-nursery
in Southern Indiana, an eight-acre mix of flowers, trees, shrubs, garden
art, an outdoor electric train, garden art, ponds, fountains, whimsy,
quiet places and unusual plants for sale.” The nursery is open
Friday through Sunday from April to mid-October.
In its 10th year, the nursery also offers bluegrass music, garden lectures
and kite flying. “Nobody else offers the mix of plants for sale
with an arboretum that shows many of the same plants fully grown,”
said Hill, 67.
Hill refers to himself as a “late-bloomer” in the garden world,
his interest beginning in his late 40s. “All my education is by
trial and error (killing innocent plants) and by later visiting great
gardens all across the U.S. and in England, Ireland, France, Belgium,
New Zealand, Peru, Canada and Hawaii.”
Retired as a former columnist at the Louisville Courier-Journal, Hill
gives half a dozen lectures a year and would like to give more. He has
a one-hour gardening show, “HomeGrown,” on WFPL.ORG 89.3 in
Louisville on Sundays at noon with co-host Jeneen Wiche.
• For more information on Hidden Hill Nursery & Sculpture Garden, visit: www.HiddenHillNursery.com. To pre-register for A Garden Affair, contact Gerry Reilly at (812) 273-0556.