Mid Atlantic Gardening in Focus

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Jeff Downing is Executive Director of Mt. Cuba Center, a botanic garden in Hockessin, Delaware that inspires an appreciation for the beauty and value of native plants, and advocates for their wider adoption in gardens and landscapes.  Mt. Cuba conducts research on the horticultural and ecological impact of native plants and offers hundreds of classes as well as a certificate program in ecological gardening.  Previously, Jeff fell in love with the botanical garden world working at The New York Botanical Garden, helping to administer and later leading its renowned education programs. 

Karl's resume includes professional, hands-on skills from world class organizations such as Longwood Gardens where he is the East Conservatory Manager, The Filoli Estate [Woodside, CA], and Walt Disney World [Orlando, FL]. His years of horticultural tenure include innovative design-work combined with time-honored approaches for serious gardening! His notoriety for using a pallet of colored foliage trees, shrubs, and perennials continues to funnel the exciting content of his professional lectures given nationwide and his horticultural classes offered at Longwood Gardens.

Dr. Richard T. Olsen serves as the seventh Director of the United States National Arboretum. But he was not always an administrator. In 2006, he joined the arboretum plant breeding team, whose combined efforts have transformed American landscapes with disease-tolerant and improved woody ornamentals, either directly or through enabling industry and academic partners. Projects of note involved ash, boxwood, catalpa, elm, fringe trees, hemlock, and winterhazel, among other endeavors. Since 2015, he lives vicariously through gardeners and scientists, while working to enhance and strengthen partnerships enabling the National Arboretum to thrive in the 21 st century.

Brian Trader is the President and CEO of Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, VA. Prior to joining

the Garden in 2021, he worked previously at Delaware Botanic Gardens as Deputy Executive Director

and spent a decade at Longwood Gardens as the Director of Domestic and International Studies. He also

served as the Interim-Director of the Longwood Graduate Program at the University of Delaware for four

years. Brian earned a Ph.D., M.S. and B.S. from Virginia Tech and has taught at Virginia Tech, Mississippi

State University, and the University of Delaware. Brian currently serves on the Executive Committee for

the Board of ChamberRVA and as the Horticultural Landmarks Committee Chair for the American Society

for Horticultural Science.

Jamie’s background in science and land-use planning offers him a unique skill set

within the field of landscape architecture and design. He is able to provide strong

design skills along with the ability to comprehend the ecology and history of a

property. The identification of existing plants and the study of existing landforms,

soils, and hydrological patterns enables Jamie to read the land, and develop

sound design solutions. He also studies a site’s larger context from an ecological

and cultural point of view to help guide the planning and design process.

Jamie has a love for native plants and plant communities, ecology in general, and a

passion for conveying rainwater through a landscape in an ecological and artful

fashion.