Paul Westervelt / Saunders Nursery – New Introductions: Are They Better or Just New?

With so many new perennials released every year, it can be difficult to distinguish legitimately better cultivars from those that are simply marketable. Through production trials, garden visits, vendor visits, and conversations with other growers, Paul works to select the true winners for our region (and throws some of the losers squarely in front of oncoming traffic).

BIO: Paul Westervelt is a professional plant geek who has run the annual and perennial program for Saunders Brothers Nursery in Piney River, Virginia since 2004, where he grows over 800 varieties across 13 programs. As Director of New Plant Research and Development, he oversees production and ground trials of new varieties for the nursery. His work is plants, his hobbies are plants, his vacations are plants, his dreams are plants – he’s living the plant geek dream.

Paul lives and gardens with his wife and two children (propagules) on their farm in central VA. Free time not spent gardening or parenting is spent visiting gardens and landscapes around the country and abroad.