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Date & Time

March 13, 2025
8:50 am - 5:00 pm

Sustainable Urban Landscapes Symposium

Celebrate the Zoo’s 150th anniversary with the Sustainable Urban Landscapes Symposium!

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden’s Sustainable Urban Landscapes symposium is a full day of talks on anything having to do with urban landscapes and gardens. This long-standing and very highly rated symposium features the very best horticultural and sustainability experts who will give informational and inspirational talks on how our landscapes can create vibrant ecosystems and comfortable, safe, and friendly places to live and work that raise our well-being.

CEUs approved: ASLA 5; APLD 5.25; PGMS 1.5; ONLA 6; ISA 2.50 CA, BCMA, MS

Speakers

Speaker Bios

Rebecca McMackin: Adventures in Ecological Horticulture
Scott Beuerlein: The Middle Ground; A Feasible Approach
Steve Foltz: The S-List – The Most Sustainable Plants for Urban Landscapes
Rebecca McMackin & Brian Heinz: Lessons Learned from Curating the Venerable Urban Forests of Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum and the historic Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx
Steve Foltz, Joe Boggs, and Cincinnati Urban Forestry: What Spring Grove, The Zoo, and Cincy Urban Forestry Can Teach Us About Urban Trees
All Speakers: Panel Discussion on Successfully Growing Trees in Urban and Suburban Sites
Rockdale Urban Learning Garden

This will be an informative and inspirational day of truly great talks. Registration ends midnight, March 8.

Speakers List

Speaker List & Bios

Linda Chalker-Scott is a world-renowned Horticultural author and partner in the illustrious blogsite The Garden Professors. She will give two myth-busting talks, one on practices and the other on products.

Sara Dykman rode her bike alongside the monarch butterfly migration, over 10,000 miles of learning, experiences, stories, and information we all need to know to help protect, preserve, and enhance the pollinators needed for survival.

Neil Hendrickson, as an employee of Bartlett Tree Experts, worked to plant and maintain the 400 plus Memorial oaks in the landscape cemetery that is the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. He will tell some of the story of the efforts, and challenges required to carry out the vision.

Paul Cappiello, is the Director of Yew Dells Gardens and the co-author of Dogwoods: The Genus Cornus. He will give much insight into the mired topic of sustainable plant choices.

Kurt Dreisilker, is the head of Natural Resources and Collections Horticulture at the Morton Arboretum. He will bring us up to date on how North America’s public gardens are contributing to invasive plant research/

Steve Foltz, Director of Horticulture at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, will give an update on sustainable efforts at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.

Paul Cappiello, executive director and chief plant dweeb at Yew Dell Botanical Gardens and before that was horticulture director at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest (Claremont, Ky.) and professor of horticulture at the University of Maine

Thank You to Our Sponsors

Keynote Speaker

Marsha Lindner


Event Sponsor


Platinum

gold emblem
arbor doctor logo
kendrick & o'dell sponsor
stride studio logo

ammon
boone county arboretum
green city resources
Madison Tree Care & Landscaping
natorps logo
white oak gardens sponsor