LARRY WEANER, NDAL’s founder, is principal of Larry Weaner Landscape Associates. His firm’s design and restoration work spans more than twenty U.S. states and the U.K., and has been profiled in national publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Landscape Architecture Magazine, Garden Design, American Gardener, Wildflower Magazine, North American Native Plant Society’s The Blazing Star, and ASLA’s “The Dirt” blog. Larry has received numerous awards, including the Landscape Design Award from the New England Wildflower Society for use of native plants in “exceptional and distinctive landscape compositions” and the Lady Bird Johnson Environmental Award from The Native Plant Center. The Garden Club of America awarded him an honorary membership in 2015, and the American Horticultural Society recognized him with the 2021 Landscape Design Award. This award is presented to an individual whose work has demonstrated and promoted the value of sound horticultural practices in the field of landscape architecture. In 2021 the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) presented him with its Award of Distinction, and Wild Ones - Native Plants, Natural Landscapes named him an Honorary Director for the 2021 - 2025 term.

Larry’s approach to landscape design appeals to audiences nationwide. He has presented at American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) national and state meetings, Cultural Landscape Foundation tours, and the Garden Writers Association National Conference. He has spoken at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, the New York Botanical Garden, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the Mad Gardeners Conference, the Millersville Native Plant Conference, the National Arboretum in Washington, DC, the Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College, the New England Grows conference, and the U.S. Botanic Garden, among many other venues. He is an APLD founding member, a former member of APLD’s Environmental Committee, and an Affiliate member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). He received his Associates degree in Ornamental Horticulture from Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Larry authored Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change with Tom Christopher (Timber Press, 2016). Their book received a 2017 Book Award from the American Horticultural Society.

 JENNA WEBSTER, curator, conceives and develops NDAL programming with Larry Weaner and Sara Weaner Cooper. She joined Larry Weaner Landscape Associates (LWLA) in 2009. Jenna holds a M.A. from the Conway School (a graduate program in sustainable landscape planning and design) and a B.A. and M.Ed. from Harvard University. She has worked on master plans for a range of private and public projects at LWLA. She is also an instructor in the Mt. Cuba Center Certificate Program, a member of the Professional Advisory Committee for the University of Delaware’s Dept. of Landscape Architecture, and a trustee of the Conway School in Northhampton, MA and the Crow’s Nest Research Center in Stafford, VA. In a prior career iteration, Jenna worked in art museums and community non-profits and co-authored Ben Shahn’s New York: The Photography of Modern Times (2001).

 SARA WEANER COOPER, executive director, began her role with NDAL in 2018 as educational program coordinator, and since 2019 has directed its geographic and curricular expansion as executive director. In addition to NDAL programs for landscape professionals, Sara has added programming for home gardeners, students, and educators. She has increased the number of NDAL programs held per year from one Symposium to now between 25 and 30 programs per year, both virtual and in-person. Sara integrates the areas of culture, art, social & environmental justice, and ecoliteracy into NDAL’s ongoing ecological landscape focus. In her efforts to deepen community engagement between NDAL and its peer organizations, Sara developed a new partnerships structure in 2023. One of her passions and long-term goals is to work with schools and other youth organizations on ecology- and culture-based land stewardship curricula. 

In September of 2024, her and her husband Evan Cooper’s home landscape was featured in The New York Times column In the Garden, which illustrates an experimental yet highly successful organic transition from lawn to native meadow. Sara presents on this project to share their learning experience and help encourage other home gardeners to more deeply engage with ecological processes.

Sara holds a M.A. in anthropology and education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a B.A. in anthropology and education from Bryn Mawr College. From 2011-2012 she worked for NDAL as a research assistant, and after receiving her graduate degree she returned in 2017 as project management administrator for Larry Weaner Landscape Associates. During this time she also worked for the educational nonprofit Transcend as a research associate, where she researched learner outcomes & development and helped produce resources for school communities. This collection of resources has received award recognition from HundrED, an organization specializing in K-12 education innovation. 

In 2024 NDAL received the American Horticultural Society (AHS) Award for Horticultural Innovation. This award, part of the AHS annual Great American Gardeners Awards series, recognizes an individual/organization “whose innovations have made the field of horticulture more sustainable and accessible to all.”

 KATE BUTLER, documentarian, records and archives NDAL events. Since 2010 she has managed Accounts at Larry Weaner Landscape Associates. She graduated from Harvard University in 1982 with an B.A. in Fine Arts. She also holds a Certificate in Cinematography from the American Film Institute, and has spent 25 years working on feature films.

SOLOMON, buddy, joined Sara in 2014 and supports NDAL’s remote work capabilities through: networking with coworkers and peers by jumping on Sara’s lap during video calls and virtual sessions, reminding her to take a break by staring at her when it’s mealtime, and keeping her on her toes while working on the computer by occasionally getting feisty and transforming into a spider monkey on her arm.