Speaker Program

 The Collectors’ Plant Fair is delighted to have the opportunity to introduce one of the world’s greatest plants people to New South Wales. 

DANIEL J HINKLEY is being flown out specially from the United States to speak at the 2010 Fair.

Dan is an outstanding horticulturist, plant hunter and international speaker. He writes for many publications and is in high demand as a lecturer in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.  Dan’s fascination with plants began as a child in Michigan, where he studied horticulture before moving west to Washington to earn his Master’s degree. He is best known for the wonderful Heronswood garden in Kingston, Washington – home to an amazing collection of new varieties of plants that Dan collected, propagated and many of which he named. In 2001, the Heronswood Catalogue included over 2,400 plants and the gardens at Heronswood had 10,000 species.  The garden and business have been sold but Dan continues his work plant collecting, consulting, writing, teaching and developing his new estate, Windcliff in Indianola, Washington on 5 acres of high bluff overlooking Puget Sound. 

His awards include the Veitch Memorial Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society of Great Britain "for outstanding contribution to advancing the science and practice of horticulture". 

Dan’s publications include: 

The Explorers Garden, Shrubs and Vines from Four Corners of the World, 2009, Timber Press

The Explorers Garden, Rare and Unusual Perennials, 1999, Timber Press, fourth printing.

Winter Ornamentals, 1993, Sasquatch Press.

Heronswood Nursery annual catalogue, 25 to 250 pages, 1991 – 2005

Dan will give two different talks in the Woodgreen homestead: 

Exclamation, Punctuation, Accentuation, Saturday 17 April, 3.30 to 4.30 pm. (the 1.30 to 2.30pm session has booked out) Textural qualities of foliage and form, repetition of colour, serendipity and surprise are three concepts of good landscape design and plant selection that are often bypassed. Using digitally altered slides to make the point, Dan Hinkley will guide us through these principles using scenes from his and other gardens worldwide. 

Anointing Indispensibles, Dispensing Disappointments, Sunday 18 April, 1.30 to 2.30 pm  After gardening passionately for all of his adult life, Dan Hinkley will discuss those plants he would not be without in his new garden as well as those he would rather not enounter again.

 

The Collectors’ Plant Fair is also delighted that much admired Australian gardening identity TRISHA DIXON will be speaking at the 2010 Fair. 

Trisha is a researcher, photographer, lecturer and author.  She has travelled extensively in Australia and overseas photographing and documenting historic gardens and has consulted on a number of significant gardens. Trisha lectures on the art of photography in Australia and abroad and the National Library of Australia has acquired and exhibited a number of her wonderful images. 

 

  

Trisha's books include:

Little Book of Australian Gardens 

Vision of Edna Walling

Under the Spell of the Ages: Australian Country Gardens

Trisha will give two different talks in the Woodgreen Homestead: 

Slow Gardening, Saturday 17 April, 11.30 am to 12.30 pm We’ve all heard of the Slow Food Movement started in Italy in 1986.  Trisha proposes we start the Slow Garden Movement, which she envisages getting back to what gardening is really all about. Creating gardens that are wonderful places to be in – gardens that reflect their owner’s personality, their lifestyle and that nourish both soul and body. A garden that we don’t have to feel guilty about. A garden that can be lived in. Outdoor living areas, backyards full of organic produce to eat, a place where a hammock can be slug between two fruit trees – a garden that connects people with growing their own produce and not just a garden for show or ‘backyard blitz’ gardens.

Capturing Your Garden's Beauty, Sunday 18 April, 11.30 am to 12.30 pm If you love to photograph your own garden Trisha will show how to achieve that wonderful timeless quality in your images. This is not a technical talk – it is about a way of ‘seeing’ - being responsive to your environment, unafraid to experiment, embracing climatic changes and looking at changing light. Trisha will discuss how to refine and train ‘the eye’ – far more important than the type of camera you own. Her talk touches on an historical overview of photographers such as Harold Cazneaux, Max Dupain, Charles Kerry, Olive Cotton and Edna Walling.

 

Cost for each talk is $35.  Seating is limited so bookings are essential. 

Contact the Collectors' Plant Fair or use the Booking Form to secure your place.