THANK YOU TO OUR 2026 EDUCATION SPONSORS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCHEDULE

8:00 - 9:00 am - Trade Show Registration

8:00 - 10:30 am - VCH Exam

DION FAMILY STUDENT CENTER
ROY EVENT CENTER  - 3rd Floor - KEYNOTE ADDRESS

9:00 -10:30 am - "2026 Garden Trends: Lemonading – Turning Life’s Lemons into Growth" - Why follow garden trends? Because they predict where consumers—and profits—are headed next. Join Katie Dubow, global trendspotter and president of Garden Media Group, for an inspiring look at the 2026 Garden Trends Report: Lemonading.

In this fresh, fast-paced session, Katie will explore the powerful forces shaping the future of gardening—from precision planting and purpose-driven design to personal wellness, creativity, and joy. You’ll uncover how technology, sustainability, and self-expression are redefining the garden, and how you can translate these insights into strategy.

Whether you’re a breeder, grower, or retailer, staying ahead of trends helps you connect with today’s consumers and prepare for tomorrow’s opportunities. Don’t just watch the future bloom—help shape it.

10:30 - 11:00 am - Visit with Vendors/Trade Show - 3rd Floor Lobby/Lounge.

11:00 am - 12:00pm - VNLA Business Meeting, Awards Presentation, and Election of Officers.

12:00 - 1:00 pm - Lunch is LOCATED IN the Alliot Student Center just across from the Dion Family/Student Center on the first floor.  All refreshments, snacks and lunch are included in the registration fee.  Cafeteria style order what you want!

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm - VNLA Industry Award Winners Presentation of Projects. The winners of the Industry Awards Program will present their winning projects.  This session will be in the Dion Family Student Center - - the McGrath Meeting Room on the 3rd floor.

2:00 - 2:30 pm - Visit with Vendors/Trade Show - 3rd Floor Lobby/Lounge.

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

DION FAMILY STUDENT CENTER
ROY EVENT CENTER

2:30 pm - 3:30 pm - Garden Center | Retail Trends and Where the Future Lies?   w/ Ray De-Feo, Prides Corner Farms.  Prides Corner Farms “prides” itself, in its fifth decade, on reaching their goal of being the best resource for independent family run businesses.  They have worked hard to offer branded programs, plant diversity, and a logistics team that focuses on how to help independent garden centers become more successful.  Ray will share retail trends, discuss where the future lies, and talk about how to attract more customers to your business.

OR
ALLIOT STUDENT CENTER
THE VERMONT ROOM

2:30 pm - 3:30 pm - Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets and UVM-Ext: Survey, Inspection, and Forest Pest Updates.  This presentation will feature updates from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture’s Plant Health Section and UVM Extension’s Forest Pest Outreach Program. Ben Dillner, Ginger Nickerson, and Judy Rosovsky will share observations from the 2025 field season, including nursery inspection findings, pest survey data, and information on high priority introduced pests relevant to Vermont’s nursery and landscape sector. The presentation will also outline current monitoring priorities and Vermont’s role within regional and national efforts.  Earns 2 pesticide credits.

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

DION FAMILY STUDENT CENTER
ROY EVENT CENTER

3:45 - 4:45 pm - Restoring Abundance and Conserving Rarity: Helping Vermont’s Native Plants Thrive w/Grace Glynn, VT State Botanist.  Grace’s presentation will touch on how people involved in the plant native movement can select and source plants to have the biggest and most beneficial impact on native wildlife.  She will also speak about a vision for how we can work together to restore some of the former abundance of native keystone plant species to the landscape.   Grace will also share pieces of her work that involve inventorying and conserving rare plants across Vermont.

OR

ALLIOT STUDENT CENTER
THE VERMONT ROOM

3:45 pm - 4:45 pm - Twenty-Seven Years – Sharing our Business/Horticulture Journey w/ Becca and Tim Lindenmeyr.  Becca and Tim began their careers in Taos, NM running Bluebird Herb Farm.  Their journey eventually landed them in Vermont where they have worn many hats – running a landscape design company for 15 years, Becca working as the retail manager at Gardener’s Supply, opening FarmCraft VT in 2020 offering all-natural products manufactured from raw materials they grow and process on their 15 acres in Hinesburg, and their current venture opening the newly renovated Elmore Store, an almost 200 year old general store in the hometown where Tim grew up.   Becca was also on the VNLA board for four years and served as President from 2010-2012.  Becca and Tim will share the highs, the lows, the challenges, and the rewards of their horticulture journey and how it all came to be. 

SPEAKER PROFILES
In order of Appearance

Katie DuBow is president of Garden Media Group, a second-generation women-owned and run public relations firm specializing in the green industry. Author of the annual Garden Trends Report, Dubow presents the report worldwide – from Italy to Chicago.  Katie is also a guest host on QVC for Cottage Farms, judge at the Philadelphia Flower Show, the inaugural recipient of the Emergent Communicator Award from GardenComm, serving her third term on the board of the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association, and a member of the Forty Under 40 from Greenhouse Product News.

Follow along @KatieGMG and on Facebook at KatieGardenGirl

 

Ray DeFeo.  Since joining Prides Corner Farms in 2007 as a sales representative, Ray’s role has expanded alongside the company’s growth. In 2013, he took on the added responsibility of Sales Manager, which brought him back to Connecticut after spending over 30 years living and working in New Hampshire and Maine. His experience in the green industry spans retail garden centers, owning a landscape design/build firm, and over two decades as a nursery sales representative serving New England.

Returning to Connecticut meant reuniting with family, as he grew up in the southern part of the state. Now, living between his two grown daughters, he and his wife relish the chance to babysit—though we prefer to call it spoiling—our grandchildren. Outside of work, Ray enjoys gardening (naturally!), woodworking, and carving. He also love spending time outdoors, whether fishing, boating, swimming or golfing in the summer, or snowshoeing and skating on lakes and ponds in the winter.

Ray's Favorite Plant :  Viburnum Spice Island. A great compact shrub, full of flowers, fragrance and fall color for sun and shade.

 

Ben Dillner is the State Survey Coordinator for the VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets in charge of managing federal pest and nursery survey programs. He holds degrees from Cornell & Penn State and has worked in both the public and private sectors in plant sciences since graduating.

 

 

Ginger Nickerson is the Forest Pest Education Coordinator for UVM Extension and the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program. She coordinates education and outreach statewide on introduced invasive forest insects and pathogens.

 

 

Judy Rosovsky is the state entomologist and state plant regulatory official with the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. In this role Judy works closely with state partners and USDA Plant Protection and Quarantine staff to safeguard local, state and national agriculture from harmful introduced species.

 

 

Grace Glynn  joined the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department in 2023. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Botany from Connecticut College and a master’s degree from the Field Naturalist Program at the University of Vermont. Grace is responsible for planning and implementing management and conservation of rare, threatened and endangered plants throughout Vermont. She also reviews development project permits under Act 250 and Section 248 to determine potential impacts to threatened and endangered plant species. In her free time, Grace enjoys trail running, growing native plants, and exploring the swamps of Vermont.  You can contact Grace at:  802-505-3439, grace.glynn@vermont.gov.

 

Becca & Tim Lindenmeyr have been farming and crafting botanical products for 27 years, starting with Bluebird Herb Farm in Taos, NM in 1995, and then Linden Land Group in 2004. Becca is a VT certified horticulturist, an environmental scientist, ecological landscape designer and speaker, beekeeper and crafter. Tim is a talented Jack-of all-trades - farmer, builder, mason, plantsman. Together they combine science, art and horticulture to create beautiful products and spaces.

 

 

 

 

WALK-IN REGISTRATION ONLY. REGISTRATION ON-LINE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.