Carol Reese – Facts and Fallacies about Native Plants

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“Facts and Fallacies about Native Plants has its humorous moments, but it is mostly to combat the idea that a garden must be native or you are irresponsibly failing the wildlife. Using a mixture of science and personal experience, I refute much of Doug Tallamy’s tenets in his book Bringing Nature Home. I expose the ridiculous idea that we can somehow stop the globe from evolving and adapting, and that in fact, we should consider the benefits of change when we examine the big picture factoring Father Time into the equation. I leave people comforted on many levels that they are not sinners when they plant gardenias. Maybe I should retitle this one Sinful Camellias?”

Bio: Carol Reese is an Extension Horticulture Specialist housed at the University of Tennessee’s West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Jackson. She is a nationally-known speaker, blending equal parts gardening knowledge, natural lore, and quirky humor. Carol is the gardening and nature columnist for several newspapers, as well as a contributor to several gardening magazines. She was the Q&A columnist for Horticulture Magazine for several years. Her B.S. and M.S. in Horticulture are from Mississippi State University, and she could also add her Ph.D. if she “had ever written that damn dissertation!” While there, she taught classes in Plant Materials, and co-taught Landscape Design for non-LA majors alongside a “real” landscape architect. She attributes her love of horticulture to being raised on a farm by generations of plant nuts, including a grandfather who dynamited his garden spot each spring to “break up his hard pan”. Carol’s very personal appreciation of natural lore is at least partially a result of her near daily rambles through the wild areas near her home with her motley collection of mutts, also known as the strong-willed breed of “Amalgamations.”