Kris Bachtell
Director of Collections at The Morton Arboretum.
Kris’ role at The Morton Arboretum includes directing the horticulture and grounds operations of one of the largest arboretums in the United States. Kris has participated in six germplasm collecting and evaluation expeditions to the northern and northeastern regions of the People’s Republic of China to continue to add new wild collected germplasm to the Morton collections.
His interests include evaluating plants suitable for the colder, harsher climate of the upper Midwest, and introducing these plants through the nursery trade. He serves as a Director for the Chicagoland Grows® Plant Introduction Program, a joint venture of The Morton Arboretum, Chicago Botanic Garden, and the Ornamental Growers Association of Northern Illinois (OGA). This program seeks to evaluate, introduce, and promote plants into the nursery trade that possess useful landscape features and can withstand the climate and soils of the upper Midwest. Kris has been directly involved with introducing many outstanding selections from the Morton’s collection into the nursery and landscape trade.
The Morton Arboretum Tree Collections
Laverne Bohlin
Laverne Bohlin is a landscape designer and artist as well as an instructor in the Botanical Art and Illustration Program at The Morton Arboretum.
Jonathan Boyer
Jonathan Boyer, a graduate of Yale University, is Principal and Director of Architecture at Farr Associates Sustainable Urbanism and Architecture in Chicago, Illlinois, where he supervises many of the residential projects produced by the company. Known for their sustainable design emphasis, Farr Associates were involved with the design of the Center for Green Technology and Rancho Verde which houses the Christy Webber Landscapes office complex.
Farr Associates Sustainable Urbanism and Architecture
Judy Burgholzer
Judy Burgholzer is a professor and coordinator of the Horticulture program at the College of DuPage.
College of DuPage Horticulture Program
Donna Danielson
Donna Danielson is a Plant Clinic Assistant at The Morton Arboretum
Pam Duthie
Pam Duthie operated her own landscape design business for 25 years and authored the books, Continuous Bloom and Continuous Color. She is the owner of the Gifted Gardener.
Jim Etheridge
Jim Etheridge is an instructor at Joliet Junior College.
Julia Fitzpatrick-Cooper
Julia Fitzpatrick-Cooper has been a full-time faculty member in the Horticulture Department at The College of DuPage since 1986.
College of DuPage Horticulture Program
Andrea Green
Andrea Green is a designer, educator and artist. Her business, Gardens By Design, offers landscape design and garden advice to homeowners in Oak Park, IL and surrounding communities. Her specialty is native plants and hardy perennials within the sustainable Illinois garden. Andrea teaches classes on horticulture and landscape design at The Morton Arboretum and the Chicago Botanic Garden. She serves on the board and volunteers as Education Chair for Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory and received the 2010 Community Award from Concordia University Chicago for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Education. In 2011 at the Oak Park Conservatory, Andrea will exhibit her paintings of Illinois native plants using sumi-e, the Japanese art of brush and ink on rice paper.
Rita Hassert
Rita Hassert is a Librarian in the Sterling Morton Library at The Morton Arboretum.
Gordon Hayward
Gordon Hayward holds degrees from Wesleyan University and began gardening in the 1970s. In 1984, he turned to the work of garden design, lecturing, and writing full time. He consults throughout the Northeast for residential clients, their architects, and builders.
He is the author of several books, including The Intimate Garden: Twenty Years and Four Seasons in Our Garden, Garden Paths: Inspiring Designs and Practical Projects, and Your House, Your Garden: A Foolproof Approach to Garden Design, as well as a variety of articles for Horticulture Magazine. Hayward is a certified member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers.
Gordon’s recent book, Art and the Gardener, is his tenth book on garden design and maintenance. He travels extensively across the country designing residential gardens and lecturing on garden design.
Kunso Kim
Kunso Kim, Assistant Director of Living Collections at The Morton Arboretum, hales from positions in Korea and Maryland, as well as having obtained an MS in the Longwood Graduate Program at the University of Delaware.
The Morton Arboretum Tree Collections
Katrina Lewin
Katrina Lewin has been a horticulturist at the Morton Arboretum for six years, where she maintains thirty acres of plant collections. She enjoys teaching horticulture education classes and has given many presentations for garden clubs and the Chicago Flower and Garden Show.
Karla Lynch
Karla Lynch is the Manager of Horticulture Education at The Morton Arboretum.
The Morton Arboretum Horticulture Education Programs
Tom Martin
Tom Martin, widely recognized as one of the best estate gardeners in the nation, has spent the better part of his professional life designing, managing, and interpreting the display gardens and seasonal decorations of the Illinois Executive Mansion in Springfield.
Merrill McNicholas
Merrill has been at the Arboretum for 20 years and received her associates degree in horticulture at Joliet Junior College. She maintains areas on the west side of the Arboretum.
Judy Nauseef
Judy Nauseef, APLD is a Certified Landscape Designer and garden writer in Iowa City, Iowa. Her company, Judy Nauseef Landscape Design, has been serving clients in Eastern Iowa for over 20 years. She specializes in residential landscape sign with interests in woody plants, perennials, prairie and native plantings, vegetable gardens, sustainable landscapes and deer resistant landscaping. Judy is also an Iowa Certified Nursery Professional.
Judy served as Certification Chair on the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) board for four years and as President in 2009.
Association of Professional Landscape Designers
Elizabeth A. Omura
Elizabeth Omura is enjoying her second career as a horticulturist and educator. After receiving her Associates Degree in Horticulture from Harper College she worked with various parks, and for the past thirteen years has been employed at Cantigny Gardens. Elizabeth has a special interest in creating colorful and whimsical plantings.
Marcy Stewart-Pyziak
March Stewart-Pyziak is a landscape designer and consultant at the Gardener’s Tutor, Manhattan, IL.
Abbie Rea
Abbie Rhea is the Horticulture Supervisor at The Morton Arboretum.
Suzanne Wegener
Suzanne Wegener is the Manager of Botanical Art and Illustration at The Morton Arboretum.
The Morton Arboretum Botanical Art and Illustration Program
Mike Yanny
Mike Yanny has been the plant propagator at Johnson’s Nursery in Menominee Falls, Wisconsin for over twenty years. And, to top it off, he writes philosophically about his experiences.
Mike’s poems:
