2013 Lawn & Garden Expo Speakers

Speaker presentations will be in the Crape Myrtle Room

at the Waxahachie Civic Center

10:00 a.m. Rosa Finsley, Landscaping With Native Plants

Principal of Kings Creek Gardens in Cedar Hill, Texas, Rosa is a nationally recognized expert in creating naturalistic and specialized landscape designs that preserve the ecology of the land. A licensed landscape architect, her work has been published in Architectural Digest, Southern Living, Dallas Fort Worth Home and Gardens, The Dallas Morning News, and House and Garden Magazine. Rosa’s designs have also been featured on PBS and HGTV.

2:30 p.m. Randy Johnson, The Hidden World Beneath Our Feet:  A Primer on Soil Biology

Former Director of Horticulture at Texas Discovery Gardens in Fair Park, currently operating Randy Johnson Organics, as an environmental/organic horticultural consultant, will speak on the topic of Soil Biology.  Randy graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, while at A&M he was also a proud member of The Corps of Cadets.  He has propagated numerous species of native Texas plants, specializing in those species found on the Blackland prairie.  Collecting seeds of native prairie species from prairie remnants, he will soon offer these for sale through his venture Blackland Seed Company.

Foods & Flavors of the Mediterranean

Presented by Master Gardeners Arlene Hamilton & Susan Clark

12:00 p.m. In the Crape Myrtle Room

Arlene Hamilton is a Class of 2000 Texas Master Gardener and was named Outstanding Individual Master Gardener in Texas for 2003. Her area of interest has always been the use of herbs. Prior to retiring from her career as a church business administrator and moving to Texas she was active in the Webster Groves Herb Society in St. Louis, Missouri where she studied, grew and taught the use and delight of herbs throughout the area.Arlene is presently a member of the Herb Society of America and the Greater Fort Worth Herb Society. She is past president of the North Texas Unit of HSA, past vice president of the GFWHS, past president of the Ellis County Master Gardeners and past president of the WGHS. She is a Texas Rainwater Harvesting Specialist and currently has over 1400 gallons of rainwater storage tanks for her gardens and wildlife habitat area.

Susan has been an Ellis County Master Gardener (ECMGA) since 2010. She has been interested in gardening for many years, a love she picked up from her mother. Currently, her main interests are vegetable and herb gardening, perennials, landscape design, composting, vermicomposting and organic gardening principles. Susan has taught classes on herbs and vermicomposting. She is editor of the ECMGA E-Garden Newsletter and serves on the Master Gardener board as the Vice President of Programs.