Plant Select Annual Conference 2025 | Thursday, June 26
March 17th, 2025
Every year, we host an annual conference—a fun, one-day event for plant enthusiasts.
Please join us on Thursday, June 26 at Denver Botanic Gardens for engaging presentations from regional experts and a short celebration of our annual award winners. Get inspired, build your knowledge, meet fellow plant lovers and explore the gardens at your own pace.
Get your ticket here >
2025 event highlights:
One-day event:
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Schedule: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm MT
Includes lunch outside at Denver Botanic Gardens
Location:
Denver Botanic Gardens
1007 York Street, Denver, CO 80206
This event is ideal for:
Landscape professionals, plant enthusiasts, master gardeners, home gardeners, municipalities, garden center teams, botanic garden teams and others from across the Intermountain West. All are welcome.
Get inspired with presentations like:
- The RAD West: Creating Urban Landscapes With an Inspiring Sense of Identity with Emmanuel Didier of Didier Design Studio
- Thriving Together: Pollinators of the American West and the Plants They Need with Sonya Anderson of Denver Botanic Gardens and Amy Yarger of Butterfly Pavilion
- Vivacious, Vibrant and Robust Plants for the Intermountain West with Robb Smith and Nich Boynton of Edwards Greenhouse (Boise, Idaho)
- The Beauty of Adaptation: Exploring the Water Conservation Garden at Red Butte Garden and Arboretums with Guy Banner of Red Butte Garden and Arboretum
Scroll down for presentation details…
Save with the early sign-up special:
Tickets are just $75 through April 18, 2025. Regular price: $90. Last year’s conference sold out, so don’t wait!
Get your ticket here >
Explore the presentations:
The RAD West: Creating Urban Landscapes With an Inspiring Sense of Identity
Urban landscapes in the West often lack an inspiring sense of identity, but what if you could change that?
Discover ways to create more meaningful landscapes in this uplifting presentation from Emmanuel Didier of Didier Design Studio. Emmanuel will take us on a journey as he explores how to: (1) Create spaces with an authentic sense of place, reflecting the unique beauty of the urban steppe, (2) Craft diverse environments that are engaging to all, and (3) Promote health and well-being through meaningful design.
You’ll hear about a unique approach to landscape architecture, which Emmanuel’s firm refers to as “RAD”: Resilient + Artful + Deliberate design. And you’ll leave this talk feeling inspired as Emmanuel shares examples of how to highlight the western landscape and integrate native plants to create inspiring places.
About the speaker:
Emmanuel Didier is a landscape architect, artist, and founding principal of Didier Design Studio. Emmanuel leads Didier Design Studio as a mission-based practice with a collaborative approach to Place + Making, bridging art and science, and revealing site and ecology through artful interventions that express an authentic sense of place and identity while inviting people to connect to nature.
Emmanuel holds a Master of Architecture and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia, as well as a Fine Arts degree from the École des Beaux Arts in his native country of France. He has been teaching at the University of Colorado Denver since 2010.
Thriving Together: Pollinators of the American West and the Plants They Need
Discover the vital connections between pollinators of the American West and the plants that sustain them. In this engaging presentation, Sonya Anderson of Denver Botanic Gardens and Amy Yarger of the Butterfly Pavilion will share their journey behind creating their book, “Pollinators of the West”, exploring the process and inspiration that shaped it.
Learn about the incredible variety of pollinators in the region, the plants that provide essential habitat year-round, and how to integrate these combinations into stunning, functional garden designs.
About the speakers:
Sonya Anderson (left) is an assistant curator in the Horticulture Department at Denver Botanic Gardens. She takes care of the educational Birds and Bees Walk, the Steppe Garden and the Plant Select Garden. Amy Yarger (right) leads the Butterfly Pavilion’s local pollinator habitat initiatives, such as Pollinator Districts and the Urban Prairies Project which restores habitat in urban and suburban natural areas.
Vivacious, Vibrant and Robust Plants for the Intermountain West
As western summers grow hotter, winters grow milder, and wildfires grow more frequent, we can take inspiration from gardeners in Boise, Idaho. In recent years, they’ve consistently experienced 20 or more days of 100+ degree temperatures per summer!
Join Horticulturists Robb Smith and Nich Boynton of Boise, Idaho as they explore plants for landscaping in these extreme conditions. You’ll get ideas for sustainable plants that consume less water, have greater fire resistance, and offer year-round beauty. Along the way, you’ll see how Robb and Nich layer plants to create visual depth and interest, build dynamic and attractive spaces, and encourage biodiversity. Nich also will introduce us to his plant breeding work and plants that have potential for the Plant Select program.
About the speakers:
Robb Smith (right) is a western garden designer and a manager at Edwards Greenhouse in Boise, Idaho. Nich Boynton (left) is a plant breeder at Edwards Greenhouse with a focus on western natives and climate-adapted plants for the Intermountain West. Both have keen design eyes and rich plant knowledge that have made them horticultural luminaries in our region.
The Beauty of Adaptation: Exploring the Water Conservation Garden at Red Butte Garden and Arboretum
Nestled in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains in northern Utah, Red Butte Garden and Arboretum offers a unique opportunity to explore the intersection of water conservation and garden design. The Salt Lake Valley’s dynamic climate is known for fluctuating temperatures, hot and dry summers with erratic monsoonal rain cycles, and increasingly mild winters. Plus, the region faces water pressure from a growing population and heavy water use in conventional landscapes.
Join Horticulturist Guy Banner of Red Butte as he shares how ornamental landscapes can flourish with minimal water, creating gardens that are both ecologically responsible and visually stunning. You’ll get a sense for the varied styles, practices and plant selections (including many native plants) that define the Water Conservation Garden at Red Butte and how water-efficient plants can be integrated into ornamental landscapes. Enjoy a fresh look at how waterwise landscapes can draw inspiration from the diverse plant communities of the western U.S. and climate analogs worldwide.
About the speaker:
Guy Banner is an experienced gardener, seed farmer, and horticulturist with a diverse background in botany, ecological restoration, horticulture and agriculture. As the lead horticulturist for the Water Conservation Garden at Red Butte Garden and Arboretum, Guy has played a central role in its development and ongoing management since its installation. In addition to his work at Red Butte, Guy co-owns Grand Prismatic Seed, a local seed company and farm, alongside his partner James Young. He draws inspiration from his past botanical survey work in the sagebrush steppes of Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah, and the varied ecotypes of western Oregon.
A passionate advocate for the flora of the western United States, Guy is committed to expanding the use of native and underused drought-tolerant plants in horticulture and low-water gardening.
Many thanks to our conference sponsors!
Save with the early sign-up special:
Tickets are just $75 through April 18, 2025. Regular price: $90. Last year’s conference sold out, so don’t wait!
