As interest in native landscaping and the ecological function of native plants has grown, so has speculation about the ecological value of cultivars of native plants—also known as "nativars."
Alan J. Branhagen is Director of Operations at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum where he supervises capital improvements, horticulture and natural resources, plant curation, facilities, and information technology. For over 20 years he was Director of Horticulture at Powell Gardens, Kansas City’s Botanical Garden and prior to that he had a nearly decade-long duty as Deputy Director of Resource Development for the Winnebago County Forest Preserve District in Rockford, Illinois. Alan Branhagen received his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Iowa State University and a Master of Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University with emphasis on planning, plants and design with nature. He wrote The Gardener’s Butterfly Book in 2001 published by the National Home Gardening Club and has written articles for Fine Gardening, Missouri Gardener, Missouri Prairie Journal, Landscape Maintenance and Restoration and Management Notes. In November 2016, Timber Press published his book Native Plants of the Midwest. The Midwest Native Plant Primer: 225 Plants for an Earth-friendly Garden was just released in July 2020. Beyond public garden management, Mr. Branhagen is an all-around plantsman and naturalist (specializing in botany, birds, and butterflies) and travels throughout the Midwest and the country visiting gardens and natural areas. He grew over 1,500 taxa of plants at his Missouri garden “Luna Ridge” nestled on 6 acres of woodland and meadow (and recorded 180 species of birds and 72 species of butterflies). He is in the process of creating a new natural garden on 2.5 acres overlooking the Minnesota River Valley in Chaska, Minnesota (I’ve already recorded 127 species of birds and steward. over 800 taxa of plants).
Carol Davit is the Executive Director of the Missouri Prairie Foundation, overseeing all operations of this conservation organization and land trust, including its Grow Native! program. Davit has worked for 20 years in the conservation and environmental fields in communications, development, administration, and leadership capacities. She has worked for private, nonprofit conservation groups and at the municipal and state government levels.
Learn more at GrowNative.org
This webinar was recorded live on December 1, 2021.
