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Experts from the Brooklyn Botanical Garden to judge the competition
Saturday, February 16, 2008
SPRING LAKE, NJ—Each year, the Garden Club of New Jersey presents a standard flower competition at the New Jersey Flower and Garden Show, which will be in full bloom from February 14-17th at the NJ Expo and Convention Center in Edison. In concert with this year’s theme “The Entertaining Garden…Party Among the Petals”, the Club has challenged entrants in their competition to design vignettes and floral arrangements that portray the joys of outdoor living.
For the first time, five members of Brooklyn Botanic Garden staff will judge the garden displays entered in the show’s entertainment and educational competition.
Hailed as “the premier horticultural attraction in the region” by the New York Times, Brooklyn Botanic Garden is the world’s leading urban horticultural resource and home to a dozen signature gardens, including the first Japanese garden created in an American public garden, the nation’s first garden created for the visually impaired, and the world’s oldest children’s garden in a botanic garden. Over 12,000 kinds of plants from around the globe are displayed outdoors on the grounds and in the acclaimed Steinhardt Conservatory. Each year more than 700,000 people visit BBG’s 52 acres of formal and informal gardens, to experience the Garden’s romance and beauty, and to make the passage of the seasons and life. No matter what the season, something is always in bloom at BBG.
As a botanic garden devoted to education and research, BBG curators follow mission-driven guidelines outlined in the Garden's Plant Collections Policy to acquire plants that have horticultural, educational, and scientific value. To increase plant diversity, BBG Curators participate in a seed exchange with botanic gardens all over the world, which allows BBG to propagate rare and international plants.
Talented curators and gardeners form the Garden’s Horticulture department who will judge this year’s garden display competition include Mark Fisher, Director of Horticulture, who has served BBG in a variety of roles over the last 23 years. Most recently he was the Foreman of the conservatory/tropical plants, with six curators reporting to him. Fisher has also judged the prestigious Philadelphia flower show; the oldest flower show in the country. Fisher earned a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture from Colorado State University.
At BBG for nine years, Karla Chandler is the Curator of the Warm Temperature House, where she designs and maintains the display containers as well as the outdoor summer displays on the Terrace. She earned an Associate of Science degree form SUNY Morrisville, with a major in Horticulture. Chandler has been a judge for the Greenest Block in Brooklyn contest, the annual community
horticulture program featuring a competition among commercial business and between scores of Brooklyn resident committed to block beautification and making Brooklyn “green.”
All of the plants introduced to BBG are integrated into the Living Plant Collection database and tracked – which helps distinguish a botanic garden from a display garden. Each plant is labeled with both the common name and the botanical or Latin name, enriching the visitor’s learning experience in addition to the sensory enjoyment of the plants. Conservation and biodiversity are the twin pillars that underscore the Garden’s efforts to highlight the fact that plants are essential to life.
Mike Mauro is the curator of the Plant Family Collection for specific areas, including the rose, willow, hydrangea, and ranunculus family collections. In his nine years at BBG, Mauro also earned
a certificate in Horticulture from BBG and captured a coveted spot in the Garden’s horticulture intern program. Mauro received an Associate of Science Degree, with a major in architecture from the College of State Island.
Nance Nieland is the Curator of Ground Care, responsible for working with BBG’s gardener’s for the maintenance and care of the plant collections in BBG’s 52 acres. Nieland has been with the Garden for four years. She received a Certificate in Horticulture from BBG, studied Interior Landscaping and Horticultural Therapy at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) in the Bronx, and earned a rooftop and terrace gardening certificate form the Horticultural Society of New York. In addition, Nieland has extensive, hands-on experience working on the garden design and maintenance of urban terraces and rooftop gardens.
Leeann Lavin is the Director of Communications at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. She is also a member o the Garden Writers Association (GWA) and writes monthly book reviews for New Jersey’s Two River Times, and has written about garden books for the Wall Street Journal’s Weekend Book review. She is an award-winning landscape designer, earning top honors in the first “Broadway in Bloom” contest. Lavin’s design work with her landscape design firm, Duchess Designs, is featured in the recently published book, Cottages and Mansions of the Jersey Shore, by Caroline Seebohm and will be highlighted in three issues of NJ Design magazine this year. She earned a Certificate of Landscape Design from NYBG and for three years has served as judge for the Greenest Block in Brooklyn contest.
The Garden Club of New Jersey, founded in 1925, is a federation of individual local garden clubs throughout the state with over 5,000 members, age 6-adult. Their mission is to promote the love of gardening, floral design, and civic and environmental responsibility.” We are pleased that the Garden Club of New Jersey will once again hold their standard flower show as part of our show”, said James J. McLaughlin, President of MAC Events, the producer of the New Jersey Flower and Garden Show . “With competitive classes such as Festive Gathering, Dining on the Deck, Join Me on the Porch and The Splendor of the Summer Garden, we know visitors will come away with creative ideas for their next outdoor celebrations,” he added.
Garden lovers will catch their first scents of spring as they stroll through the verdant full-scale display gardens with colorful flowers, bubbling fountains, creative lighting and garden pavilions. Shoppers will get a full dose of retail therapy in the Great Green Marketplace where they can scoop up antique urns and planters, wall vases, fresh flowers and plants and the latest in gardening gloves and tools. The pros will be on hand to offer tips on green gardening and how to make the prefect planter for your patio or front porch and children will get their hands dirty at the interactive area
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