Symposium - Speakers

Speakers

Opening Keynote and Session Speaker Carol Reese

Feeling that formal credentials can be boring (or even discrediting!), Carol admits to being a retired Extension Horticulture Specialist with the University of Tennessee for nearly 30 years. She has degrees in Horticulture from Mississippi State (MSU), and could have even added a Ph.D. if she "had ever written that dissertation"! She will say that her most valuable insights can be attributed to being raised on a farm by generations of plant nuts, including a grandfather who dynamited his garden spot each spring to "break up his hard pan".

Carol has been a newspaper garden columnist, a former Q&A columnist for Horticulture magazine, horticulture editor for Tennessee Gardening, and co-authored the UT Extension Master Gardener Handbook while freelancing for other magazines and lecturing around the nation.

Opening Keynote: Native Plants — Facts, Fabrications and Foibles

Are native plants really more likely to succeed? Are they always the better choice for supporting insects? Carol separates fact from fiction, and champions all well-behaved plants, including some neglected natives that provide exceptional sustenance for insects and other wildlife. She suggests that dismissing a plant on the basis of its origin rather than its ecological merits has potential to result in more harm than good to our stressed planet.

Session Topic: Sex in the Garden — Your Outdoor Walks Will Never Be the Same

This talk will remind the gardener that flowers are tempting sex organs and illuminates some astonishing specifics, such as flowers that choose to be male or female depending on the circumstances. It informs the gardener when gender discrimination is not only possible, but advisable, while choosing landscape plants. Beyond illustrating the sometimes salacious trysts in the plant world, Carol goes on to the stirring and sometimes preposterous details of the sex lives of frogs, dragonflies, and other garden critters. This fun talk is a moving celebration of the intimate interactions just outside the window.

Closing Keynote and Session Speaker Joseph Tychonievich

Joseph is a lifelong lover of plants and gardening. With a degree in Horticulture from Ohio State University, he went on to work for specialty rare plant nurseries in Japan and Michigan. Joseph is the author of several books including Rock Gardening: Reimagining a Classic Style (Timber Press, 2016) and The Comic Book Guide to Growing Food: Step-by-Step Vegetable Gardening for Everyone (Ten Speed Graphic, 2021). His writing has been published in Fine Gardening, Horticulture, and The New York Times. Editor of the North American Rock Garden Society’s quarterly journal, he currently lives and gardens in South Bend, IN, with his husband, three cats, and a truly excessive number of plants.

Closing Keynote: The World of Rock Gardening

Inspired by the tiny plants and dramatic, rocky landscapes found on mountain tops, rock gardening uses a range of unusual, small plants in combination with beautiful stones to create miniaturized landscapes. This approach to gardening is perfect for containers and small gardens, and for gardeners interested in exploring a whole new group of beautiful plants. Joseph will share beautiful images of rock gardens to get you inspired, the basic principles of creating rock gardens, and an introduction to some of the most beautiful and easy to grow rock garden plants to get you started.

Session Topic: Gardening through the Deerpocalpyse

Deer populations are through the roof, in our backyards eating our gardens. This talk explores the ecological causes and results of deer overpopulation and deer behaviors, and seasonal rhythms; and how to, despite the deer, create gardens that are beautiful and safe havens for native plants threatened by deer overpopulation.

Session Speaker Josh Davis

Known online as Josh Gardens (@theplanttechie), Josh is a Master Gardener, gardening educator, content creator, and speaker with a passion for helping others grow their own food. With nearly a decade of hands-on experience and more than 200 fruiting plants on his South Carolina property, Josh specializes in fruit trees, edible landscaping, and practical growing techniques for home gardeners.

Josh's mission is to inspire gardeners of all experience levels to discover the rewards of growing their own fruit, regardless of the space they have available.

Session Topic: The 5 C's of Growing Fruit Trees in Containers

Think you need a large yard or orchard to grow your own fruit? Think again! Growing fruit trees in containers opens up a world of possibilities for gardeners with limited space, challenging soil conditions, or a desire for more flexibility.

Join Josh as he shares his **5 C's of Growing Fruit Trees in Containers**. He will cover tree selection, containers, growing media, temperature management, and ongoing care. Learn practical techniques for watering, fertilizing, pruning, and maintaining healthy, productive fruit trees in pots.

Session Speaker Carrie DeJaco

Carrie earned her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. A professor for 20 years, she began her professional career at Queens University of Charlotte, teaching courses ranging from animal behavior and botany to marine biology and scientific writing. She directed the Environmental Science and Sustainability program at Pfeiffer University for several years. Carol is currently the Regenerative Landscape Program Manager at Catawba College in Salisbury, NC, teaches ecology-related classes for the Certificate in Native Plant Studies program at University of North Carolina-Charlotte, and is very engaged with the Southern Piedmont Chapter of the North Carolina Native Plant Society. She has been an ecological consultant through her business For the Birds and the Bees since 2016 and co-founded the non-profit Constructive Plant Rescue with Jennifer Lee in 2025. When she is not talking with people about nature, she enjoys spending time with her musician husband and their elderly cats, and creating artwork with stained glass.

Session Topic: Extending the Pollinator Season in Your Landscape

Everyone loves butterflies and bees; wouldn't it be wonderful to have pollinators visit your garden over more months of the year? Carrie will share plants and ideas you can incorporate into your gardens to extend the pollinator season from early spring to late fall. You will learn about specific plants to make your garden more wildlife friendly and discover how to support early and late pollinators. She will discuss garden management techniques that will help pollinators over-winter in your landscape, most of which require you to do less work, not more!

Session Speaker Abigail McKinney

Abigail got her degree in horticulture from Clemson University in 2025. During her senior year she served as the Clemson Horticulture Club President, facilitating horticulture education with her peers. She also pursued a minor in sustainability and enjoys learning new sustainable horticultural practices.

Session Topic: Rethinking the Southern Landscape —Trees and Shrubs Beyond Crepe Myrtles

Crepe myrtles are a familiar feature of Southern landscapes, but they aren't the only option for adding seasonal color, beautiful blooms, and year-round interest to your garden. Explore a variety of trees and shrubs that thrive in South Carolina, from native flowering trees to pollinator-friendly shrubs and unique ornamental selections. Learn how to choose the right plant for your landscape based on mature size, bloom time, maintenance needs, and wildlife value.

Session Speaker Bob Solberg

For 45 years, 'hosta guru' Bob Solberg has been selling, hybridizing, introducing, and educating on exciting, new hostas. He has long loved being a nurseryman and working outside with plants. As a young boy in Miami, FL, Bob had a small nursery that he ran out of his parents' backyard where he grew palm trees in recycled oil and powdered egg cans. His love of nature and plants carried him to Davidson College in NC followed by a graduate program in Botany at UNC Chapel Hill. It was after college as a young father that Bob began yet another backyard nursery that would grow to become Green Hill Farm, a wholesale nursery offering hosta liners and bare root plants. There, he got in on the ground floor of hostas and learned all he could about hosta cultivars, genetics, breeding, growing, and the hosta business. He became an active member in the American Hosta Society, soon holding leadership roles and earning several awards. He cofounded the American Hosta Growers Association, the Hosta of the Year folks, and has introduced well over 100 named hostas.

Session Topic: Growing Hostas in South Carolina. In Container Gardens?

Growing hostas in the South presents a different set of problems than growing them in colder climates. Our long growing season, hot summer days, and aggressive trees can be problematic. Growing hostas in pots and creating container gardens is an easy and fun way to have large, great looking hostas. Bob will touch on the best pots to use, potting soil, pot placement in the garden, and winter protection. He will also talk about the best hostas for SC and show some of the newest hostas, including those with 'red' flower colors.