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DR. ALLAN ARMITAGE'S BIO

Dr. Allan M. Armitage is an Emeritus Professor of Horticulture at the University of Georgia, where he served as a faculty member until his retirement in 2014. Internationally recognized as a writer, speaker, educator, and researcher, he is one of the most influential voices in modern horticulture.

Dr. Armitage has authored more than 70 academic research papers, over 500 industry articles, and 17 books that serve as foundational texts, professional references, and trusted companions for gardeners worldwide. His landmark reference Herbaceous Perennial Plants was named one of the best horticulture books of the past 75 years by the American Horticultural Society and is now in its fourth edition.

His research focused on new crop introduction and evaluation and environmental physiology.He founded and led the highly respected University of Georgia Trial Gardens, a premier testing ground for heat- and humidity-tolerant plants where he released more than 20 plants to the gardening industry, including the iconic Verbena ‘Homestead Purple’ and ‘Margarita’ ornamental sweet potato.

Dr. Armitage has received nearly every major honor in American horticulture, including the Liberty Hyde Bailey Award (American Horticultural Society) – highest lifetime honor and the Scott Medal and Award, another of the most prestigious honors in ornamental horticulture.

Dr. Armitage remains an in-demand lecturer throughout North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and South America, and continues to write, teach, and advocate for practical, joyful gardening.

THE PLANTASTIC PODCAST

The Plantastic Podcast is a monthly podcast created by Dr. Jared Barnes. He's been gardening since he was five years old and now is an award-winning professor of horticulture at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX. To say hi and find the show notes, visit theplantasticpodcast.com.

You can learn more about how Dr. Jared cultivates plants, minds, and life at meristemhorticulture.com. He also shares thoughts and cutting-edge plant research each week in his newsletter plant•ed, and you can sign up at meristemhorticulture.com/subscribe. Until next time, #keepgrowing!

Subscribe to my newsletter plant•ed: meristemhorticulture.com/subscribe.

RACHEL LINDSAY BIO

As Head of Site Design at Regenerative Design Group, Rachel works principally with organizations and homeowners to create productive, resilient landscapes. She draws from her experiences in organic farming, Latin-American sustainable development, and art to approach design with cultural sensitivity and environmental integrity. Rachel approaches projects of all scales through a soil, carbon, and water conservation lens, looking for opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of design installation while meeting the client’s goals and aesthetic preferences. Her projects encourage people to engage deeply with their local ecosystems and apply holistic and low-stress approaches toward gardening and landscaping. A worker-owner at RDG, Rachel was a member of the steering committee that led the ownership transition process and has been the Treasurer of the Board of Directors since its establishment in 2022.

She holds an MS in Ecological Design from The Conway School and a BA in Anthropology from Wesleyan University. When she isn’t working, she may be found messing around in her garden, cooking with the latest harvest, or hiking with her husband and young daughter.

Learn more about Rachel at Regenerative Design Group.

THE PLANTASTIC PODCAST

The Plantastic Podcast is a monthly podcast created by Dr. Jared Barnes. He's been gardening since he was five years old and now is an award-winning professor of horticulture at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX. To say hi and find the show notes, visit theplantasticpodcast.com.

You can learn more about how Dr. Jared cultivates plants, minds, and life at meristemhorticulture.com. He also shares thoughts and cutting-edge plant research each week in his newsletter plant•ed, and you can sign up at meristemhorticulture.com/subscribe. Until next time, #keepgrowing!

Learn more about botanicbootcamp.com.

JOHN LITTLE BIO

John Little has been reimagining what urban nature can be since founding the Grass Roof Company in 1998. Over the past 25+ years, John has designed and built more than 400 small green-roof structures and various other species-rich planting with walls engineered for nesting, hibernation, and year-round habitat.

His nonprofit Care Not Capital pushes for a fundamental shift to redirect funds from one-off capital projects toward ongoing, human-powered stewardship that benefits both biodiversity and communities.

Here are the core ideas John argues for—putting the best gardeners in the poorest places, moving money from capital into care, understanding that gardened places are best for biodiversity and people, moving novel landscapes higher up the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) metric, understanding that a modern public space gardener is much more than a horticulturist, keeping waste on site and using it to make places beautiful and biodiverse, and putting soil and plants on roofs.

You can connect with John on Instagram at @grassroofco and @carenotcapital.