Bruce Crawford - Exotic Plants for the Temperate Garden

MHG Meetings

Sponsored By: Metro Hort Group

There are a number of great plants that provide texture of foliage or beauty from flowers that simply appear to be brazenly too ‘exotic’ to thrive in metropolitan NY Gardens. Yet, thrive they do. Bruce will discuss a number of fun ‘finds’ throughout his gardening career that lend a unique touch to a Garden and inspire a ‘What in the world is that?’ response from gardeners and non-gardeners alike!

A longtime proponent of unusual and fun plants, Bruce had his own design/build garden design business for nearly 25 years that specialized in plantings for year-round interest. Today, Bruce is the Director of Rutgers Gardens, the botanical garden for Rutgers University, and is an adjunct professor in Landscape Architecture at Rutgers University. His position as Director of Rutgers Gardens involves the management of the 180 acre facility, which includes designed gardens, woodlands and open fields. Open 365 days a year and with over 30,000 visitors a year, the emphasis is now focused on redeveloping the Gardens such that it tells the story of plants over the past 400 million years and allowing the visitors to see these plants feature in seasonally attractive designs. Bruce also lectures frequently to various groups and for continuing education programs.