2015 Speaker Schedule
2015 SPEAKER SCHEDULE
Janet Carson
Janet Carson’s official title is “University of Arkansas Extension Horticulture Specialist for consumer horticulture and the State Master Gardener Coordinator” for Arkansas, but anyone involved in gardening in Central Arkansas appreciates her as the articulate, interesting, knowledgeable “go-to garden guru” in our state. Her weekly column in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette is widely followed as are her frequent television and radio spots, and her recently published book, In the Garden, is introducing her to an even broader audience.
Janet has a BS in urban horticulture and a Master’s Degree in general agriculture/horticulture from the University of Arkansas and has worked for the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service since 1980.
Janet Carson will speak on Friday, February 20 at 10:30 am and Saturday, February 21 at 1:00 pm on Hot New Plants for Arkansas Gardens.
Linda Williams Palmer
Linda Williams Palmer, Arkansas fine artist, has focused primarily on interpreting and celebrating the varied facets of Arkansas landscapes for the last thirty years. She is a Signature Member of The Colored Pencil Society of America and her artwork has been consistently accepted in state and national juried exhibitions. Palmer currently maintains her studio and gallery at 800-B Central Avenue in Hot Springs, Arkansas. For more information see: http://www.lindawilliamspalmer.com
Linda Palmer will speak on Friday, February 20 at 11:45 am and Saturday, February 21 at 11:45 am on Champion Trees of Arkansas: An Artist’s Journey.
Dr. Tamara Walkingstick
Dr. Tamara Walkingstick has worked for the University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service as an Associate Professor of Extension Forestry since 1996. She also serves as the Associate Director for the Arkansas Forest Resources Center. Her state-wide responsibilities include general forest management education for adults and youth. She completed her Ph.D. in Forest Economics and Sociology of Natural Resources at the Auburn University, her MS at Oklahoma State University, and her BS at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. After receiving her BS, she served in Nepal as a Community Forestry Volunteer for US Peace Corps. Tamara serves on several boards including the Arkansas American Indian Center, Arkansas Women In Agriculture, the National Network of Forest Practitioners and is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She and her husband, Dr. Jack Gazin, live outside of Perryville with their three cats and are non-timber private forest landowners.
Dr. Tamara Walkingstick will speak on Friday, February 20 at 1:00 pm on Top 10 Best and Top 10 Worst Trees for Arkansas Landscapes.
Jane Gulley
Jane Gulley, Pulaski County Master Gardener, is a graduate of the second class of Pulaski County Master Gardeners in 1988. She has served as chairman of several different Pulaski County Master Gardener projects and now serves as co-chair of the Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center native gardens. Jane has spoken all over the state at Master Gardener events and her garden has been featured on local television affiliates. She started a program on the conservation of bald eagles that became a nationwide model and because of her advocacy for all things native, she was inducted into the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame.
Jane is currently President of Central Arkansas Audubon Society and a member of the National Audubon Society and Audubon Arkansas.
Jane Gulley will speak on Friday, February 20 at 10:30 am and Saturday, February 21 at 11:45 on Wild Thing, You Make My Garden Sing: Gardening with Native Plants.
Dr. Victor Ford
Dr. Victor Ford is a northeast Tennessee native and earned BSF and MS degrees from the University of Tennessee and a PhD from Virginia Tech. He has studied forest soils, productivity, and weed control for 35 years. He spent five years as an Extension Forester for the University of Arkansas at the Southwest Research and Extension and then worked the next 20 years in Kentucky, West Virginia, Alabama, and Texas as a Scientist and Project Leader.
In 2008, he became Director and Professor of the University of Arkansas Southwest Research and Extension Center. The center conducts research in forestry, beef cattle, horticulture, plant pathology, and row crops. Dr. Ford has over 80 publications and presentations.
Dr. Victor Ford will speak on Friday, February 20 at 11:45 am on What Goes on Underground Affects What Goes on Above Ground.
Bob Byers
Bob Byers is an Arkansas native, born in Heber Springs and raised in Greenbrier. He holds degrees in Music Education from the University of Central Arkansas and a Master of Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University. Bob maintained the grounds of the Conway Country Club before working professionally at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, WI, and in Jacksonville, FL., Birmingham, AL, and Fayetteville, AR. He served as a visiting instructor in Landscape Architecture and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Arkansas before coming to Hot Springs in 1994 as curator of Garvan Woodland Gardens, the University of Arkansas’ botanical garden, and currently serves as the garden’s director of operations. He works with a highly dedicated staff and 450 volunteers to upgrade the Gardens’ public services, including over $18 million in improvements and programs.
Bob Byers will speak on Friday, February 20 at 1:00 on Simply Southern Style.
Tina Marie Wilcox
Tina Marie Wilcox has been the head gardener and herbalist at the Ozark Folk Center’s Heritage Herb Garden in Mountain View, Arkansas since 1984. She tends the extensive gardens, plans, coordinates annual herbal events and workshops and facilitates the production of sale plants, seeds and herbal products for the park. She has presented countless educational and entertaining herb and gardening programs throughout the United States.
The Creative Herbal Home, coauthored with Susan Belsinger, was published in June 2007. Wilcox has written several articles for The Herb Companion, Herbs for Health and Grit published by Ogden Press, Topeka, KS. She and co-author, Susan Belsinger collaborated on two chapters in the book, Designing an Herb Garden, a Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Guide, 2004, Brooklyn Botanic Garden Inc., Brooklyn, NY.
Wilcox is a member of the International Herb Association, http://www.IHA.org, the Herb Society of America, and the Arkansas Native Plant Society.
Tina Wilcox will speak on Friday, February 20 at 2:15 pm on Fragrant Herbs for the Patio.
Mary Evans
Mary Evans is a lifelong, self- taught fifth generation Arkansas gardener. She learned to dig in the dirt on a chicken farm in Washington County. Mary has honed her craft as a nursery manager/buyer, a garden instructor for Arkansas Extended Learning Center. As a 34 year floral designer, she has also been a floral designer for the Tyler Rose Festival/Rose Parade in Tyler, Texas. Mary has her own “garden” business, Garden Makeovers. The business specializes in makeovers but does all kinds of projects– design, installation, and maintenance.
Mary, a Pulaski Master Gardener for 24 years, has volunteered for the Arkansas Flower & Garden Show since its beginning. She has been the “theme garden” designer for the 24 years of the Show and organizes the Gardening How-Tos presentations.
Mary Evans will speak on Saturday, February 21 at 10:30 am on Making a Garden Your Own.
Megan Thomas
Megan Thomas of Antique Brick Outdoors has been with the company for 10 years. She was involved in expanding the company’s product offerings to include patio design and landscape, outdoor fireplaces, furniture, and kitchens. Megan works in sales and design, and is a buyer for the company. This affords her the opportunity to frequent markets and trade shows across the U.S. and stay up-to-date with current trends.
Megan Thomas will speak on Saturday, February 21 at 2:15 pm on Get FIRED Up!
Ellen Chagnon
Ellen Chagnon is a botanist and wetland scientist with a B.S. and M.S. in botany from the University of New Hampshire, where she concentrated her studies on aquatic systems and plant identification. She has spent much of her professional career slogging around in the swamps of the Northeast, working as a self-employed wetland scientist. Ellen began vegetable gardening during graduate school as a respite from studying and because she was penniless and hungry. Over the years, her vegetable gardening has expanded to include small fruits, herbs, perennials, and trees and shrubs. Having retired to the calm of northern Arkansas, she spends her time outside the garden as a Master Naturalist with the North Central Arkansas chapter, leading and working on the bio-inventory of Bull Shoals-White River State Park.
Ellen Chagnon will speak two times on Saturday, February 21 at 10:30 am and at 1:00 pm on Vegetables In Spite of It All.
