Certificate in Ecological Horticulture

Lee Armillei is the principal landscape designer at Athyrium Design. She designs carefully curated landscapes steeped in environmentally friendly practices for residential properties in Greater Philadelphia. Drawing on more than 15 years of design-build-maintenance experience, Lee is passionate about supporting regional ecology through the creation of thoughtful and immersive outdoor spaces. She remains active in the green industry both by attending regular continuing education sessions and teaching emerging professionals about ecological garden design and land management. 

Michelle Detwiler, owner of Wild About Native Plants, is an ecological planting designer passionate about using native plants to restore biodiversity. She promotes ecological gardening through consulting and design services for public and private spaces, collaboration on projects like the Lower Merion and Narberth Pollinator Pathway, community outreach, educational programs, and efforts as a Pennsylvania Master Naturalist. Her work focuses on the beauty of native plants with an eye towards land stewardship, local and regional ecosystems, holistically addressing environmental challenges, building habitat across property lines, and the joy of deeper connections between humans and nature. Michelle is Sustainable Landscape Certified through the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association. 

Rebecca Dragonetti is a Landscape Designer and Nursery Manager at Refugia Design. She has been fascinated by plants her whole life and came to the horticulture profession as a second (or third) career following years of studying cello and working in the performing arts industry in New York City. Once she began exploring the path of working with plants every day, she was hooked. Rebecca has studied horticulture at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Stonecrop Gardens, and finally at the New York Botanical Garden School of Professional Horticulture. Before working with Refugia, Rebecca worked at a private estate in the Hudson Valley as a freelance landscape designer. In her free time, she loves to spend time with her daughter and husband, in her vegetable garden, and playing cello. 

Eloise Gayer is an internationally trained horticulturist currently serving as Rosarian at the Morris Arboretum & Gardens. With a combination of gardening experience at Morris, Chanticleer Garden, Stoneleigh: a natural garden, and Great Dixter House & Gardens in the UK, she has developed a gardening style that combines formal horticulture with ecologically minded management practices. She is passionate about education and offers instruction in a variety of fields including traditional and ecological horticulture, plant identification, design and propagation. 

Allison Houghton is an ecological consultant, educator, and author specializing in organic gardening, ecological design and climate resiliency. With a background in Geology and Environmental Engineering from MIT, she has worked as the Education Director for NOFA/Mass, a Farmer and CSA Manager at The Food Project, and the Director of Horticulture at Green City Growers, where she helped create hundreds of food-producing gardens in the Greater Boston area. 
 
Allison is the author of several resources on soil building, food growing, and biodiversity including a booklet through NOFA/Mass called The Carbon Sequestering Garden and wrote curriculum for the Urban Ag Ambassador Program for the City of Somerville, MA. She now runs The Sparrow Underground, an online platform providing tools, courses and resources for gardeners and land managers on building ecological resilience in their own communities and backyards. Allison lives in Philadelphia with her family, where she continues to document soil-building, enjoys hiking and “bug-watching” with her two kids, and continues to support more ecologically resilient landscapes through art, growing, teaching and coaching.  

Christopher Roddick is an ISA Certified Arborist and a NOFA AOLCP.  After working as the Head Arborist and Foreman of Grounds at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, he moved to southern New England where he started Sweet Birch Land & Tree, an arboricultural consultancy and practice. By looking at trees as tree-based ecosystems, Chris follows a holistic approach to caring for trees and land called Conservation Arboriculture. This method uses a modern understanding of trees, soil biology, and ecology as a base for maintenance and cultivation decisions. He consults on veteran tree care, species selection, habit formation, and conducts specialized pruning. Chris also teaches, lectures, and gives staff training on conservation tree care and pruning. He is the author of the Tree Care Primer, a guide to care for young, mature, and veteran trees.  

Dr. Cynthia Skema is a Botanical Scientist at the Morris Arboretum & Gardens. Her research is focused on the systematics and evolution of plants. She enjoys studying plants at many levels, from ecosystems to species to organs to genes. She is particularly interested in the floras of Pennsylvania and Madagascar, the digitization and dissemination of herbarium/floristics data, and the evolution of separate sexes in flowering plants. 

Mallory Sustick is a Stewardship Manager at Refugia Design. Mallory is a horticulturist and educator with over 8 years' experience working in environmental education, horticulture, and green roof gardening. After working and teaching on rooftop farms and school gardens as part of Brooklyn Grange and City Growers in NYC, Mallory moved to Philly and fell hard for horticulture. She’s spent the last 5 years installing and caring for landscapes in the greater Philadelphia region, fully embracing horticulture’s invitation for continuous hands-on learning and experimentation. Mallory truly loves working for plants and stewarding spaces that are habitat rich and provide wonderment for people.