Paul Hickman is the founder of Urban Ashes a pioneering company the advocates for urban wood utilization. The company transforms fallen urban trees into valuable local resources. Urban Ashes designs, develops, and implements urban wood utilization for infrastructure in collaboration with municipalities, local organizations and businesses to support the local community.

In addition to salvaging urban wood, Paul’s organization provides meaningful employment and business opportunities to formerly incarcerated and justice-impacted youth. This commitment resonates throughout the community, promoting safer and healthier neighborhoods through the People and Trees connection.

Paul is also one of the founding members of the national organization the Urban Wood Network.

David Teuschler is the Chief Horticulturist for Devil Mountain Wholesale Nursery. He established the nursery’s propagation program and currently directs the propagation and inventory teams for the company’s sixteen locations across California. David has worked in the nursery industry for three decades, including many years at Valley Crest Tree Company. While there, he served as Plant Health Care Manager for the Specimen Tree Division, Account Manager in the Estate Gardens Division, and, most notably, Chief Arborist for the Apple contract grow, responsible for growing over 7,000 trees – half from seed – for installation at the Apple campus in Cupertino, CA. David is a Certified Arborist and a member of the Western Chapter of the I.S.A. and the I.P.P.S. He is a 3rd generation Californian and has a BS in Ornamental Horticulture from California State University, Fresno.

Matthew Aghai is a dedicated reforestation expert, applied scientist, and executive leader at Mast Reforestation. He currently serves as the VP of Research and Development at Mast Reforestation, General Manager of Cal Forest Nurseries, and advisor to Silvaseed Company.
His recent work focuses on scalable solutions for mitigating climate change through the development of new initiatives to modernize the reforestation supply chain and connect reforestation initiatives with natural capital markets. Matthew has been featured in several national publications for his work and real impacts, including a National Geographic article discussing national seed limitations, Mongabay articles discussing his team’s pioneering work in aerial seeding technology, and also many peer-reviewed publications.
Matthew is also a practiced and enthusiastic public speaker and actively seeks opportunities to engage with anyone and everyone about finding solutions to the challenges facing the world’s forests.

Kim Shearer is the Curator of Living Collections and Manager of the Haerther Charitable Trust New Plant Development Program at The Morton Arboretum. In her role as curator, Kim focuses on the development and maintenance of resilient living collections that provide a germplasm resource for researchers and plant breeders seeking to address the issues of climate change; while also working with the conservation community to identify priorities that can be addressed through collections curation and research. As Manager of New Plant Development Kim works with plant breeders and the nursery industry to select, evaluate, and develop new plants for the urban and suburban built landscapes. Kim completed her Bachelor of Science degrees in Horticulture Science and Plant Biology at North Carolina State University and her Master of Science degree in Horticulture Science with a focus in Plant Breeding and Genetics at Oregon State University.

Kristen Pullen completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at Rider University. After university, she took an internship position at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The internship focused on all research aspects of the public garden from tissue culture to new plant evaluation and selection. Kristen has been with the new product department at Star® Roses and Plants since 2011. She previously managed domestic and international trialing of woody plants before accepting her current role as Woody Ornamental Portfolio Manager where she coordinates the development, launch, and market evaluation of all new trees, shrubs, and edible plants. Kristen also manages the Bushel and Berry® Brand for Star® Roses and Plants, a premium branded program of plants that provide both edible and ornamental uses for the home garden.

Lars Peter Jensen is originally from Denmark and arrived in the U.S.A. in 2003 and settled in Brevard County Florida where he lives with his wife and three children. Lars is the head of sales, marketing, and business development and part owner of the Blackmore Company.

Blackmore has been instrumental in the horticulture industry for more than 50 years. His company holds a patent for the Air Tray® technologies system which is what drew Lars to the company.

As a systems person. Lars has a simplified but analytical approach to nursery production. His philosophy includes these two mottos "Don't automate a problem - remove it". And "To each action, there is a reaction".

Lars’ entry into the green industry was accidental – right out of a Denmark college, Lars went to Seattle, Washington to reorganize and run a small subsidiary of a Danish company. (His degree from university was International Sales). This was the first time Lars came to America and he liked it .. a lot.

After his taste of the U.S., and needing a work permit, Lars went back to Denmark and went on with his career in international sales and marketing. Lars settled down in Vejle, Denmark, and had a family. One day he received a call from Ellepot a company in Denmark asking him to go to America for them. At first, he said no, but then after talking it over with his wife, they agreed to go to the U.S. and settle in, Florida. This is where he met Skip Blackmore the owner of the Blackmore Company – the distributor of the Ellepot in the U.S.

Working with Skip Blackmore, Lars learned a great deal and eventually became a partner in the Blackmore Company. This was the start of a 20-year “road trip” as Lars calls it with a lot of bumps, hills, and unexpected curves but it all led to Air Tray® Technologies, which holds the Ellepot. This combination is a revolution in the horticulture industry and will lead to the next generation of growing efficiently and in half the time.

Kathy Jentz is editor and publisher of Washington Gardener Magazine and hosts the popular GardenDC Podcast. She is also the editor of the Water Garden Journal (IWGS), The Azalean (ASA), and Fanfare, for the local daylily society. She is the author of Groundcover Revolution (out February 2023) and co-author of The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City.

A life-long gardener, Kathy believes that growing plants should be stress-free and enjoyable. Her philosophy is inspiration over perspiration. She speaks on gardening and has been honored to have presented programs at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, the Philadelphia Flower Show, U.S. Botanic Garden, the Historic Society of Washington, DC, and many other prestigious venues. Audiences both large and small enjoy hearing her on topics as varied as Dealing with Deer to Small-Space Gardening. For audience reviews of her recent speaking engagements, see her listing at the Great Garden Speakers web site (http://greatgardenspeakers.com/listing/kathy-jentz.html). To book her for online (Zoom) or in-person talks, contact her at KathyJentz@gmail.com.

One of her other hats is as the Green Media columnist for the Mid-Atlantic Grower newspaper, where she does a great deal of hand-holding and coaxing to get independent garden centers, plant breeders, and other horticultural businesses to join the social media revolution and maximize their online brands.

Kathy’s work has been featured in numerous area publications including Pathways Magazine and Washington Women magazine. In addition, she has appeared on regular gardening guest spots on Channel 9, Channel 4, as well as WTOP, WAMU, and WOWD-LP radio stations in Washington, DC.
Currently, she is the President of the Silver Spring Garden Club and is on the board of several other garden clubs and organizations.
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About Washington Gardener Magazine:
Washington Gardener Magazine is the gardening publication published specifically for the local metro area — zones 6-7 — Washington DC and its suburbs. We sent out our premiere issue in March/April 2005 and we are now about to be celebrating our 17th anniversary.
The content of the magazine gives real examples that you can use immediately in your own garden. It will save you time and show you how to stretch your garden resources. It will inspire you with new ideas and new ways of looking at things. With all of that, we don’t forget to include a heavy dose of whimsy, a sense of humor, and a portion of wonder. We have some great stories in the works — from Unique Plant Combinations to Starting a Water Garden to Growing Vegetables in Tight Spaces — we can’t wait to share them with our readers!
If you are a DC-area gardener, you’ll love Washington Gardener magazine! Subscribe today at https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/.
The magazine is written entirely by local area gardeners. They have real-world experience with the same problems you experience in your own gardens. They’ll be sharing their thoughts on what to plant in deep shade, how to cover bare spots, which annuals work best throughout the humid DC summers, and much more.

Kristin Ohlson is a writer from Portland, Oregon. Her new book Sweet in Tooth and Claw: Stories of Generosity and Cooperation in the Natural World – which the Wall Street Journal calls “excellent and illuminating”--probes the mutually beneficial relationships among living things that undergird the natural world. Her last book was The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers and Foodies are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet, which the Los Angeles Times calls “a hopeful book and a necessary one…. a fast-paced and entertaining shot across the bow of mainstream thinking about land use.” She appeared in the award-winning documentary film, Kiss the Ground, to speak about the connection between soil health and climate health.
Ohlson’s articles have been published in the New York Times, Orion, Discover, Gourmet, Oprah, and many other print and online publications. Her magazine work has been anthologized in Best American Science Writing and Best American Food Writing.

Nykia Perez Kibler
Nykia Perez Kibler, co-founder of Philly Tree People (501c3), is an ISA Certified Arborist® with a Master in Environmental Studies degree with a focus on Environmental Biology from the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). She also has a Master in Liberal Arts from Penn, a Certificate in Landscape Plants from Temple University, a Master of Library & Information Science from The University at Buffalo, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fine Art Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology. Her two capstones from Penn were: “Philly Tree People: A Case Study on the Formation of a Non-profit Community-based Tree Planting and Tree Care Organization" where she outlined the Pruning Club program and "Management of the Urban Forest: A Zip Code Level Approach" where she outlined the plan for a Green Skills Youth program both of which were heavily modeled after programs after UC (University City) Green in West Philadelphia. She was an intern at Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve where she worked in their native plant nursery, participated in interpretation activities, led guided walks for families, assisted with grounds maintenance, marketing, and data collection. Nykia is generally interested in ecological restoration, urban ecology, urban wildlife, ornithology, wetlands, urban forestry, native plants, biological conservation, road ecology, environmental education, nonprofit leadership, urban orchards, food gardening, green walls, children’s play spaces/gardens, and citizen science. Professionally, she works as a library director and research librarian providing and developing research services for faculty and graduate students at Penn, supporting grants, and disseminating research results via websites and social media. She’s also a girl scout troop leader and engages youth in tree planting, pollinator gardening, camping, and citizen science.

Jacelyn Blank
Jacelyn Blank is an ISA Certified Arborist® with a bachelor’s in fine arts and a master’s in education with Pennsylvania teaching certifications in Elementary and Special Education. She is one of the three co-founders of the federally recognized not-for-profit Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Tree Tender organization, Philly Tree People. When Jacelyn isn’t volunteering her time with Philly Tree People she teaches preschool children part time at a not-for-profit play school in Fishtown called By My Side, where she focuses on child led play and interests, increasing students’ social emotional understandings through incidental teaching opportunities, as well as introducing students to a variety of environmental and art related educational experiences. She also co-founded the Friends of H.A. Brown, her local catchment public school where she completed her student teaching in 2011 and where her son currently attends.
Jacelyn launched her own small business; Blank Slate Trees and Gardens, in 2021 where she works with Philadelphia clients on landscape design, garden creation and maintenance, installation and care for trees and installation of plants for window boxes and planters with an integration of native plants. She is currently completing her Pollinator Steward Certificate through the worldwide organization, Pollinator Partnership. Her ultimate career goals are to combine her love of teaching, arboriculture, and horticulture by continuing Philly Tree People’s Green Corps, a youth employment, education and empowerment group hiring students living and attending school in the Kensington neighborhoods in order to encourage more urban youth to move into the Green Industry while caring for Kensington’s tree canopy and learning through hands-on experiences.