I wear many hats, all of which revolve around plants and gardens. I am a certified chlorophyll addict, an avid and lifelong plantsman, gardener and naturalist. I work as a lecturer and garden designer, and am an award winning author and photographer. I lecture internationally on topics of design , plants and ecology, and have shared my love of plants and my abiding respect for regional landscapes with professional and amateur audiences for 35 years.In addition to my books, I am a contributing editor for Horticulture, and write regularly for Landscape Architecture, American Gardener and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. My writing reflects a love of plants, and he champions their use in artistically designed, environmentally friendly gardens.I worked as curator at the U.S. National Arboretum and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, and have devoted a lifetime to studying native plants in the wild and in gardens which lead to undergraduate degrees in Botany and Horticulture. I earned my M.S. in Horticulture and a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Minnesota. I am a lecturer in the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia, where he teaches about plants and their ecological connections to natural systems and cultural landscapes.After tending a city lot alive with birds and butterflies in Minneapolis, MN, I now garden on 10 wild acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville, Virginia, where he grows natives and the best plants of the global garden. The garden at Bird Hill was featured in The New York Times and frequently appears in national and regional publications. The garden is a popular destination for national tours. Visitors discover a collector's paradise set among a pastiche of woodland, meadow, and gardens inspired by the beauty of the regional landscape.