This Week's Podcast: Spring Comes Early to a Fernwood Symposium
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I participated in a symposium a little over a week ago at Fernwood Botanical Garden and Nature Preserve in Niles, Michigan.
I flew into Chicago’s O’Hare from Newark where I was met by Kelly Norris, who has been a guest on this show. (Kelly with Ken, below right) We connected with Tom Smarr, the third of four speakers, who had come in from New York City. Tom is the Director of the High Line, the 1.5-mile park built on an old elevated former spur of the New York Central Railroad.
That night we connected with our host, Ben Futa, who has also been a guest on this show. Ben is the director of Member and Donor Relations at Fernwood.
It was a remarkable symposium. I cannot remember ever having such stimulating, informative and entertaining speakers in one place!
I started the day off. Then came Amanda Thomsen whose blog and book are titled “Kiss my Aster.” Amanda has a unique approach to gardening – which basically is something like – do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t harm the environment – be bold, be wild – have fun. She showed examples of poor choices and horticultural mistakes within that freedom. She says to not add areas of lawn when you could plant more ecologically appropriate plantings – even in the front yard. “Home landscaping is just like a mullet – business in front and party in the back.” She promotes bringing the party to the front, as well.
“You don’t have to have the greatest garden in the world, it just has to be nicer than your worst neighbor’s.”
After lunch, Kelly Norris spoke. He is the unofficial futurist for horticulture, the garden business and a spokesman for Gen Y. He challenges nurseries and growers to spice things up.
Kelly is an absolutely brilliant speaker – engaging, funny, smart and without stammering or hesitation. How could this day get any better?
I was a little nervous for Tom Smarr. He had been working on his presentation the night before. He was to speak on the High Line where he has been the Director of Horticulture for only a year. (Tom signing the High Line book, below) He told the story of the High Line from its beginnings way back in 1847.
The City of New York authorized street-level railroad tracks down Manhattan’s West Side. Even though the trains went just 7 miles an hour, many people were killed crossing in front of the trains. For safety, the railroads hired men — the "West Side Cowboys" — to ride horses and wave flags in front of the trains.Yet so many accidents occurred that 10th Avenue became known as "Death Avenue".
In 1929 the City and the State of New York along with the New York Central Railroad agreed to build a two-locomotive wide elevated railroad. 
It was designed to go through the center of blocks, rather than over the avenue, to avoid darkening the streets below, and it ran through buildings where the trains would pick up and drop off provisions: meat, eggs, milk from factories and warehouses.
There were plans to tear down the High Line and develop the area claiming development without the rail line would be most successful. “No one will walk up a flight of stairs to a park.” As it turns out, the High Line (like urban green-spaces everywhere) has boosted the economy much more than the projections of the original plans. Now, there are hotels, restaurants and a major museum. In 2013, five million people visited the High Line.
Tom’s talk was enthralling.
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