The New Perennial Movement & Why It Matters Paul Westervelt

Annual & Perennial Production Manager, Saunders Brothers Nursery

Thursday, November 21, at 7 pm

Kingsport Higher Education Center, 300 West Market Street, Kingsport TN

While much of the nursery industry is focused on
the latest and greatest, compact, spring blooming what-
ever, there’s a counter movement afoot. Paul will dis-
cuss this new perennial movement that embraces a more
natural look, a different pallet of plants (and scads of them on tight centers) all while creating beneficial habitat and food for pollinators.

Paul Westervelt is a professional plant geek who has run the annual and perennial program for Saunders Brothers Nursery in Piney River, Virginia since 2004, where he grows over 800 varieties across 13 different programs. His work is plants, his hobbies are plants, his vacations are plants, his dreams are plants – he’s living the plant geek dream.

Paul grew up in Winchester, VA across from a multi-acre Oehme van Sweden garden. He earned his B.S. and M.S. in Horticulture from Virginia Tech (2001 and 2003 respectively). In 2009 he was awarded the “Young Professional of the Year” by the Perennial Plant Association. He was recog- nized in the 2013 Class of 40 Under 40 for Greenhouse Product News, which each year recognizes 40 young industry professionals who are help- ing to determine the future of the horticulture industry. Paul has written for various industry magazines and is a popular speaker at national and regional events for gardeners as well as nursery professionals.

Paul lives and gardens with his wife and two children (propagules) on their farm in central VA. Free time not spent gardening is spent visiting gardens and landscapes around the country and abroad.