Guest Speaker – Panayoti Kelaidis:  "Sage Advice"

A Hybrid (In-Person & Virtual) Event

Salvia is the largest genus in the Mint Family (Lamiaceae) and is one of the few genera that is distributed widely on Northern and Southern, Eastern and Western hemispheres. It’s a small wonder that members of this genus have adapted to a wide range of habitats in nature – and in our gardens. There are salvias for woodland gardens, for perennial borders, and a wide array are annuals that thrive in containers or the open garden. Many salvias grow in hot, near desert conditions – they are the backbone of the Western Xeriscape providing bright color through the growing season. There are even tiny Salvias for the rock garden and troughs! If you have not yet been enchanted by this amazing genus, Panayoti hopes he can help change that!

About our Guest Speaker:

Panayoti Kelaidis is a plant explorer, gardener and public garden administrator associated with Denver Botanic Gardens where he is now Director of Outreach. He began his career at DBG in 1980 as curator of the Rock Alpine Garden, where he designed and oversaw the initial plantings of this extensive garden. Garden Design Magazine has rated this garden as the best public rock garden in North America. He has designed plantings for many of the gardens at DBG, as well as being part of the design team at Centennial Garden and has designed the Watersmart knot gardens at Denver’s Civic Center as part of Denver Mayor Hickenlooper’s Water Conservation initiative. 

He has introduced hundreds of native ornamentals from throughout the Western United States to general horticulture. He has taken five collecting trips to South Africa researching the high mountain and steppe flora there. He has traveled to the Andes, the Himalaya (from both Pakistan and China), and throughout much of Europe, the Caucasus, and Turkey. Perhaps the best known of Panayoti’s introductions are the many showy hardy ice plants; several dozen of these are now available at garden centers across America and in other parts of the world. He has also been party to the discovery of a number of species of plants new to science.

In addition to introducing a host of exotic plants to general horticulture, Panayoti has been a champion of Western native plants. He was the second secretary of the Colorado Native Plant Society, and past president of the American Penstemon Society. He has explored the Western mountains from Alaska to southern Mexico, collecting seeds of more than a thousand kinds of Western American wild plants for Denver Botanic Gardens’ collections and for research and study. 

Panayoti takes particular pride in sharing the plants and information he accrues through many channels: he has lectured in nearly 150 cities in nine countries, and has been featured in dozens of television, newspaper and magazine pieces. And not surprisingly, he has been the recipient of numerous awards. Among them, he received the Arthur Hoyt Scott Medal from the Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College in 2000. And he has received three of the North American Rock Garden Society’s awards over the last two decades. 

Panayoti believes that gardening is humanity’s best way to gain an appreciation of nature and natural processes. In an increasingly urbanized and polluted world, horticulture is, perhaps, the last best way to create a sustainable future for mankind and our planet.

Per our HPS/MAG Bylaws, we will have a brief 30-minute business meeting that includes State of the Organization, Finances, Vote for 2024 Board Candidates, and Recognition Awards. Our speaker will follow. The meeting will conclude no later than 3:00 pm.

This is a Free Members-Only Event. Carpooling is highly recommended, due to limited parking.

In-Person Attendance Details & Registration

• Location - Jenkins Arboretum, Devon, PA
• Maximum attendees = 80 (As a reminder, there are only 40 parking spots in the parking lot, so it would be helpful for members to carpool.)
  • Refreshments will be provided. 

 In-Person Attendance registration has reached its limit.  There is still room on the Virtual Platform. Registration ends at midnight on November 30.

Seed Exchange-Members wishing to submit seeds for the Seed Exchange can bring them to the Annual Meeting and they will be taken to the drop off site'

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Virtual Attendance Details and Registration

• Location: the comfort of your own home
• Maximum attendees = 500
• The Zoom Meeting link will be sent to registrants by Saturday, December 2nd.

Click here to register for Virtual Attendance. Registration ends at midnight on November 30.