Saturday, February 28, 2026 – 10:00 am – 3:45 pm
H.R. MacMillan Space Centre
1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver
Registration
Registration is $50.00 for members, by sending an e-transfer
to danaatvhpg@gmail.com by February 21, 2026.
Non-members and at-the-door tickets will cost $60.00.
Please note: it is VERY IMPORTANT to put the name(s) of the attendees in the notes
section of the e-transfer. We actually do read this section and need this information
ESPECIALLY if the legal name of the sender of the e-transfer is different from that of
the attendee.
If you prefer to pay by cheque, please ensure it’s made out to VANCOUVER HARDY
PLANT GROUP and mail it by by February 15th, 2026 to:
Dana Cromie, 1118 Lily Street, Vancouver, BC, V5L 4H6
Jennifer Jewell – Butte County, Califorina
Cultivating Place: The Power of Gardeners
The Earth in Our Hands
Jennifer Jewell is the creator and host of the national award-winning weekly public radio program and podcast Cultivating Place: Conversations on Natural History and the Human Impulse to Garden (a co-production of North State Public Radio, which began airing in 2016), and Executive Director of the non-profit Cultivating Place Foundation (founded in 2024), whose purpose is to expand and elevate the way we as a culture think and talk about gardening.
Jewell’s greatest passion is the empowerment of gardeners, and the possibility inherent in the intersection between places, environments, cultures, individuals, and the gardens that bring them together beautifully – for the better of all the lives on this generous planet.
Jewell and the Cultivating Place Foundation are currently at work on a documentary film synthesizing the lessons learned from nearly 10 years of Gardener supporting interviews: Cultivating Place: The Power of Gardeners, release date 2027.
Jewell cultivates her place with her partner, John Whittlesey, in Butte County, CA.
Linda Chalker-Scott – Puyallup Washington
Professor of the Dept. of Horticulture, WSU
Gardening Zombies! Myths That Will Not Die
Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and an Emerita Professor in the Department of Horticulture. She holds ISA credentials as a Certified Arborist and TRAQ; additionally, she is an ASCA consulting arborist. Linda conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles and university Extension fact sheets. She is also actively involved in enhancing the scientific literacy of her audiences by teaching them how to assess the credibility of information from print and online sources.
Linda also is the award-winning author of five books and was featured in a video series – The Science of
Gardening – produced by The Great Courses. She also is one of the Garden Professors – a group of academic colleagues who educate and entertain through their blog and Facebook pages. Linda’s educational contributions to science-based information have been recognized by such groups as Garden Communicators International, the National Association of County Agricultural Agents, and the International Society for Arboriculture.
Claire Wright, Vancouver, BC
Garden is a Verb: Creating our garden in the Cotswolds
Claire and Jamie Wright are avid gardeners in Vancouver and the Cotswolds.They hosted the speakers’ dinner for our Study Weekend in 2013 in their amazing home, then opened their beautiful garden for our attendees.
Claire and Jamie are Angliophiles and have a passion for scavenging reclamation yards for architectural discards: brick, stone, iron, and terracotta.
In her working life Claire taught English part time at UBC for over two decades. Part time because they have six kids and 15 grandkids; they were, and are, their number one priority.
Claire will speak about crafting their garden in Snowshill. It is a talk about the steps forging their garden, more than a talk about. Says Claire: “I garden as half of a couple and a great part of my gardening joy is gardening with my husband. We dream it — then we clear it, and dig it, and plant it and tend it together. By happenstance, we bought the property in England on our 40th wedding anniversary and just adore being there (mostly in October, February and May). The last two years we have opened Tower Close for the National Garden Scheme and a few other organizations.”