Perennial Production sessions offered at Northeast Greenhouse Conference & Expo on November 4, 2021.

Northeast Greenhouse Conference and Expo will feature educational sessions on Perennial Production on November 4, 2021. This session will feature:

• Best Perennial Performers at the Penn State Flower Trials, Sinclair Adams, Penn State
• Plant Growth Regulators in Herbaceous Perennial Production, Joyce Latimer, Virginia Tech
• Tune in to Green Infrastructure through the Power of Plants, Steve Castorani, North Creek Nurseries
• Improving Irrigation Applications, Amanda Bayer, University of Massachusetts
• Diseases of Perennials and their Management, Sinclair Adams, Penn State

Meet the Presenters:

• ​Sinclair Adams has received a BS from the Univ. of Wyoming in Plant and Soil Science 1983, and a MS from the Univ. of Vermont in Plant and Soil Science 1988. He is an Extension Educator in Floriculture with Penn State Extension, based in Lebanon County PA, and Flower Trial Director since 2013. Sinclair has over 30 years industry experience. Sinclair has been published in research on The Penn State Flower Trials, as well as on plant propagation, nitrogen nutrition of perennial plants, stock plant management, germplasm releases from 1990-2013 in ASHS proceedings, Journal of Environ Hort, HortScience, Perennial Plant Assn. Journal, Daylily journal, IPPS proceedings, and American Nurseryman. Holder of 15 plant patents, Sinclair has developed Tiarella, Chrysanthemum, and Phlox selections for industry, and is a member of ASHS, PPA, Pi Alpha Xi, & the Hardy Plant Society.
• Dr. Joyce Latimer is the Extension Specialist for Greenhouse Crops for Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE). She assists local VCE agents in solving grower problems, provides direct support to commercial greenhouse operators, and develops educational programming for VCE agents and greenhouse operators. She also serves as an educational advisor to the Virginia Greenhouse Growers Association. Joyce conducts research on plant growth and development with over 30 years of experience with growth regulation of herbaceous perennials.
• Steve Castorani is President, CFO and co-Founder of North Creek Nurseries of Landenberg, Pennsylvania, a progressive nursery specializing in perennial, fern, vine, and ornamental grass plug production with an emphasis on Eastern regional native plants. In 2004, Steve co-created the American Beauties Native Plant® brand, which distributes plants to independent garden centers throughout regions of the United States. Steve is past president of the International Plant Propagator’s Society and became a Society Fellow in 2005. In 2012 Mr. Castorani had the honor of receiving the society’s most prestigious Award of Merit. Steve is very involved in his state’s green industry and served two years as President of the Delaware Nursery and Landscape Association, and has served on the Delaware Invasive Species Council, developing guidelines for the implementation of an invasive species policy for the state. Most recently, Steve became the 2020 recipient of the Paul Ecke Jr. Commercial award given by The American Horticultural Society in recognition of his contributions to commercial horticulture.
• Dr. Mandy Bayer is an Extension Assistant Professor of Sustainable Landscape Horticulture at UMass Amherst. She has a BS in Landscape Contracting from Penn State, a MS in Crop Sciences from the University of Illinois, and a PhD in Horticulture from the University of Georgia. Her research and extension outreach focuses on increasing the sustainability of built landscapes through improved landscape establishment and maintenance and improving ornamental plant production practices. She is particularly interested in improving irrigation and fertilizer use.

The biennial Northeast Greenhouse Conference & Expo is co-sponsored by New England Floriculture, Inc. - a group of grower representatives from the Northeast, augmented by University and Cooperative Extension staff in each state who specialize in greenhouse crops and management.

The full program is on the NEGC website. Register online.