Larry Weaner, FAPLD

Even on the smallest residential property, sharing garden decisions with nature changes everything. In this eye opening presentation, Larry will illustrate how an ecology-based, brains-over-brawn approach to home landscaping can reduce management needs, increase desirable wildlife habitat, and enhance the visual and intellectual experience of being in your yard.

FREE SESSION

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Larry Weaner, FAPLD and Sara Weaner Cooper

No chemicals, no smothering, no scraping and hauling, no early-stage ugly phase. 

Sounds too good to be true. 

Yet by gradually applying a series of light-touch actions, you can achieve this transition organically without breaking your back, sparking ecological angst, or infuriating your neighbors. These actions can include strategic plant selection, timed mowing, selective height cutting, pH manipulation, organic herbicide application, and a phased planting approach. In our first session, Larry will illustrate case studies that exemplify the technical underpinnings behind this approach from a landscape designer's perspective. Next, Sara will discuss her lawn to meadow conversion from a homeowner’s perspective. Her meadow, now in its third growing season, has been featured in the The New York Times (2024) and the BBC (2025). Together, they will illustrate how the experience of meadow making can be transformed from daunting to uplifting. 

Category: Home Gardener & Professional

Fee: $35

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Category: Home Gardener

Free

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Larry Weaner, FAPLD

Designing with site-adapted native plants is a good thing, but designing with the ecological processes that govern those plants in the wild is even better. Our opening session will examine a series of garden-relevant concepts from the ecological sciences including plant community, plant proliferation, competition, and ecological succession. Each concept will be defined and followed by a concrete example of its incorporation into a residential design. While rarely considered in traditional garden design, these ecological characteristics are actually key to achieving the environmental, aesthetic, and maintenance promise of ecology-based garden design.

6:00 - 7:15 PM ET

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Larry Weaner, FAPLD

In our opening session we will illustrate how to select the meadow plants that are most likely to thrive on your property as well as fit your aesthetic and practical preferences. This will include guidance for site analysis, seed mix formulation, and the potential to hasten meadow development through the supplemental addition of live plants.    

6:00 - 7:15 PM ET

Registration includes Sessions 1 - 4.

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Part Two: Landscapes Open House in Blue Bell & Erdenheim, PA

Participants will stop by Larry’s over 30-year-old woodland landscape and Sara’s 3-year-old organic lawn-turned-meadow.

Category: Home Gardener

Free

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Larry Weaner, FAPLD

In this session we will learn how “light touch” planting techniques can increase plant survival and reduce post-planting maintenance. The disturbance that results from deep digging, soil enhancement, and soil replacement always stimulates a flush of weeds. Applying fertilizer helps those weeds grow faster. In this session we will learn to match the plant to the soil, not the soil to the plant, an approach that avoids weed-enacting soil disturbance and places plants in soils that are familiar and conducive to their survival. We will also discuss how to select nursery plants that are most likely to thrive and proliferate in your landscape.

6:00 - 7:15 PM ET

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Larry Weaner, FAPLD and Sara Weaner Cooper

From rototilling to fertilizing, many garden planting techniques are actually counterproductive when it comes to meadow making. In this session we will illustrate how to sow meadow seeds and plant live plants in a manner that puts them in a position to succeed without the intensive maintenance requirements of turf grass or traditional gardens. This session will also include a brief presentation by Sara Weaner Cooper who will describe her chemical-free/no kill lawn-to-meadow transition project, now in its highly successful second year. 

6:00 - 7:15 PM ET

Registration includes Sessions 1 - 4.

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Larry Weaner, FAPLD

“Relative ecological stability” is a term used by ecologists to describe a highly competitive vegetative composition that allows few new individuals to enter the system. In garden-speak, that translates to “low maintenance.” In our final session we will illustrate how piggybacking on this and other ecological processes can change garden management from a battle to a partnership. Using examples from his own property as well as diverse client projects, Larry will share how a brains-over-brawn approach can result in compelling, easily managed landscapes that liberate both plants and people. 

6:00 - 7:15 PM ET

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Larry Weaner, FAPLD

Meadow management, particularly in the first two years, is every bit as important as planning and planting. Here we will show how piggybacking on ecological processes can preserve the meadow’s long term integrity without the need to add supplements, cut incessantly, and  endlessly pull weeds. In scientific terms this vegetative condition is called “relative ecological stability.” In landscape terms it is called “low maintenance.”

6:00 - 7:15 PM ET

Registration includes Sessions 1 - 4.

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Lyla June Johnston

The notion that the Americas were "wilderness" prior to European arrival is false. The notion that Native Americans were sparsely populated and technologically stunted are also false. The Americas were inhabited for 25,000+ years according to recent archaeological finds, and within this time period humanity managed to transform vast regions into edible ecosystems that benefitted both humans and non-humans alike. Dr. Johnston's extensive research in the area draws lessons from paleo-archaeological stories of abundant and sustainable bioregional food systems and applies them to contemporary landscape design, with a focus on edibility ratings. How can we (and why should we) make our household, municipality and community landscapes more edible, moving away from the "ornamental" goals of Euro-centric landscape design?

Fee: $35

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Larry Weaner, FAPLD

After a three-week opportunity to digest the information provided in the previous three sessions, attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the course information. The freewheeling format will allow for exploration of the many variations inherent to an ecology-based approach.

6:00 - 7:15 PM ET

Register today for Landscaping with Nature

Photo by Steve Ford

Larry Weaner, FAPLD and Sara Weaner Cooper

After a three-week opportunity to digest the information provided in the previous three sessions, attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the course information. The freewheeling format will allow for exploration of the many “variations on the meadow theme” that can arise from the individual experiences and interests of course attendees. 

6:00 - 7:15 PM ET

Register today for Meadow Making

Photo by Steve Ford

Perla Sofía Curbelo-Santiago

More and more people are turning to nature to recharge. Whether you have a patio, a balcony, or a small corner by the window, you’ll discover how to create a space that supports relaxation and meaningful pauses. But simply adding plants to a room or intimate outdoor space doesn’t guarantee rest or well-being.

In this thoughtful and inspiring session, you’ll learn what truly makes a Garden Break Room effective. Through stories, research-backed insights, and real examples from both home and office settings, author and garden communicator Perla Sofía Curbelo-Santiago will guide you through the essential elements—both visible and invisible—that help people feel restored, not just impressed.

Fee: $32

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Doug Tallamy, PhD & Larry Weaner, FAPLD

To support native birds and pollinators you need native plants. For those plants to thrive, you need to know how to plant, arrange, and manage them. And to optimize the wildlife benefits, those plants must provide habitat throughout the year. In this presentation, entomologist & wildlife ecologist Doug Tallamy and landscape designer Larry Weaner will illustrate an all too rare, integrated approach to habitat creation on residential properties. In an alternating series of presentations, they will connect plants, wildlife, and their specific seasonal needs to illustrate the dynamic landscapes that this integrated approach can provide. They will conclude by comparing notes on their personal experience, interacting with plants and wildlife on their respective home landscapes. 

Fee: $38

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Photo by Ian Caton