Allan Armitage, horticulturist, author and UGA professor emeritus of horticulture, will deliver this year’s Neel Reid Lecture at the College of Environment and Design April 21 at 1:30 p.m. in lecture hall 123 of the Jackson Street Building.
In the lecture “Stories from the Garden,” Armitage will explore how familiar plants in the American garden came by their names, revealing a cultural genealogy for gardeners and landscape designers. Who was the Nellie Stevens of the ‘Nellie Stevens’ holly? Why do we call pinks, pinks? Who put the “dog” in dogwood?
The Neel Reid Lecture honors the Georgia architect and garden designer who practiced early in the 20th century. The Peachtree Garden Club of Atlanta enriches the CED program by funding this annual lecture and established the Neel Reid Memorial Scholarship Loan Fund at the CED in 1947. Hundreds of landscape architecture students at UGA have benefited during the past seven decades from tuition assistance, and thousands of people have enjoyed hearing leaders in the world of gardening share their knowledge.
Armitage, who retired from the UGA horticulture department in 2014 as a specialist in perennials, has authored more than 14 books that serve as classroom texts, reference books and gardeners’ companions. Originally from Canada, Armitage has won numerous awards, including the Liberty Hyde Bailey Award for lifelong achievements in horticulture.
Open free to the public, the lecture is part of the Alumni and Honor’s Day celebration at CED.
