Hills and Dales Estate Seminars and Meet & Greet Event Friday, October 1 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Jo Phillips (Signature Plants & Garden Tours)
Jo Phillips is the Horticulture Manager at Hills & Dales Estate, the historic home of the Fuller E. Callaway Family. She has been employed at the estate since 1994 when she was hired as a horticulturist by Mrs. Alice Callaway, and was promoted to her current position in 2007. She had the privilege of working with Mrs. Callaway for four years until Alice’s death in 1998, after which work began on the project of opening the home and garden to the public– which became official in October 2004. Jo earned a BSA degree in Horticulture from the University of Georgia in 1980. Her work experience prior to Hills & Dales includes Callaway Gardens as well as retail garden center management, which is where she met Alice. She attributes her love of plants and gardening to growing up on a small farm inhabited with generations of “green thumbs.”

Helen Phillips (Herb Gardening)
Helen has a degree in elementary Education and a Masters of Agriculture, Auburn University. Helen is an Instructor in Horticulture at Columbus Technical College and National Herb Society of America and is a certified professional in Georgia Soil and Erosion Control. She is a member of the Southeast Horticulture Society and Herb Society of America. specializes in landscape design, plant selection, and garden art at the Garden Solutions Nursery in LaGrange, Georgia.

Kenny Manis (Hybridizing and Growing Daylilies)
Kenny began gardening at an early age, helping his mother with her flower and vegetable gardens on their Tennessee valley family farm. He later graduated from Tennessee Tech University with a degree in Chemical Engineering, moving to Georgia to work as an engineer for Milliken & Company 14 years ago.  Manis completed his Georgia Master Gardener education and certification in 2005. He is a masterful practitioner whose in-depth study of plants is evident. An expert in growing and hybridizing registered daylilies, Kenny Manis’ daylilies have won a myriad of American Hemerocallis Society best in show awards. He currently has 512 registered daylilies, as well as many Iris, Camellias, Orchids, and African Violets. He is a member of the American Hemerocallis Society, past president of the Troup Master Gardener Association, and the Chattahoochee Valley Daylily Society. He has become a sought after teacher of Master Gardener

Dr. Allan Armitage
Dr. Allan Armitage is well known as a writer, speaker and researcher throughout the world. He has evaluated garden plants in Montreal, Canada; East Lansing, Michigan and Athens, Georgia, gaining an appreciation of plant development in the North and South. He holds his B. Sc from MacDonald College, Quebec, M.Sc. from University of Guelph, Ontario and his Ph.D. from Michigan State University. At the University of Georgia, he runs the research gardens where new plant material from most of the flower breeders in the world is evaluated. The Gardens at UGA are among the finest trial gardens in the nation. They are open to the public throughout the year. Armitage’s work with heat- and humidity-tolerant crops resulted in the national marketing program called “Athens Select.” Approximately 30 plants have been introduced under the “Athens Select” label, including Pennisetum ‘Princess’, Lochroma ‘Purple Queen’, Ruellia ‘Ragin Cajun’ and Begonia ‘Bonita Shea.’

Felder Rushing
Felder Rushing is a 10th-generation American gardener whose pioneer ancestors settled across the Southeast, bringing many plants with them. Rushing’s overstuffed, quirky cottage garden has been featured in many TV programs and magazines (including a cover of Southern Living), and includes a huge variety of weather-hardy plants along with a collection of folk art. There is no turf grass, just plants, yard art, and “people places.” The author and co-author of 15 gardening books (including several national award winners) and former Extension Service urban horticulture specialist has written thousands of gardening columns in syndicated newspapers, and has had hundreds of articles and photographs published in regional and national garden magazines, including Garden Design, Horticulture, Landscape Architecture, Better Homes and Gardens, Fine Gardening, Organic Gardening, and the National Geographic. Felder has been featured three times in full-length articles in the New York Times. He has hosted a television program that was shown across the South, and appeared many times on other TV garden programs. Felder currently co-hosts a call-in garden program called “The Gestalt Gardener.”

Hank Bruno
Hank Bruno was raised on a farm and worked in the landscape nursery business of his parents. After earning undergraduate degrees in Botany and Anthropology from Duke University in 1976 he entered the Peace Corps, serving in Guatemala. With two years of archeological fieldwork in the southeast he entered graduate school at Texas A&M University. Working full-time as a landscape maintenance supervisor and conducting research in archeobotany he received his M.A. in 1988. He arrived at Callaway Gardens in October 1991 where he served as the Director of Horticulture. Mr. Bruno is currently Director of Horticulture at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens, in Belmont, N.C. In addition to horticulture, he has worked in plant conservation with the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance and serves on the steering committee of the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference. His interests include plant ecology, ethno botany, collections management and landscaping with native plants.

Mike Sikes
Mike Sikes is the horticulturist for the Gardener’s Confidence Collection. He has spent more than 25 years in the horticulture industry. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia’s School of Horticulture, is a certified Master Gardener, and has served as president of the Georgia Nursery Association and Friends of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia. Sikes also has been recognized as the Georgia Green Industry Association’s Distinguished Professional of the Year. His expertise is readily shared with other gardeners who strive to have the utmost confidence in their own garden whether that includes acres of plants or patio containers because he knows each and every garden is special to its owner. Mike is a Horticulturist & Marketing Coordinator for McCorkle Nurseries, Inc. He is frequently on the road in search of new plants to bring to the market. With over 25 years in the horticulture business, he has a keen eye for new and unusual varieties. He is an admitted “plantaholic” whose passion for plants is contagious.