AHS October 2021 Zoom Meeting
American Hydrangea Society Zoom Meeting Monday, October 25, 2021 7:00 PM EDT (USA and Canada)
Please join us for an evening with world renowned plantsman, Dan Hinkley – “Lessons from the field: 25 years seeking hydrangeas”
Dan Hinkley, born in the zone 4 highlands of North Central Michigan, has had a lifelong interest in all types of plants from trees to edibles, leading him to receive his B.S. in Ornamental Horticulture and Horticulture Education from Michigan State University in 1976, and his M.S. in Urban Horticulture from the University of Washington in 1985. Dan has collected Hydrangea species on numerous visits to Japan, Korea, Sikkim, Bhutan, Mynamar, Arunachal Pradesh, throughout China including Taiwan, Vietnam, Central America and Chile. (Shown here: Ozzie Johnson, Dan Hinkley, and Scott McMahan on a plant expedition in China.)
In 1987, while teaching horticulture at Edmonds Community College north of Seattle, he and his partner, Robert L. Jones, began Heronswood Nursery, near Kingston, WA. Devoted to introducing rare and unusual plants to gardeners of North America, this endeavor has led Hinkley into the wilds of China, South and Central America, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Nepal, Vietnam, Taiwan, Sikkim, Bhutan, NE India, and Myanmar numerous times a year for the past 22 years. Heronswood Nursery previously listed nearly 3000 plant species, and has shipped to 48 states as well as England, Europe and Asia. Since 2012, Dan has been privileged to serve as Garden Director for Heronswood under the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe. His status as Director Emeritus commenced in the autumn of 2020.
Hinkley has written for a number of periodicals, including Pacific Horticulture, The American Gardener, Garden Design, The Gardener, Horticulture Magazine, American Nurseryman, Gardens Illustrated, Martha Stewart Living, Fine Gardening and The English Garden, as well as having regular columns in Horticulture Magazine, and an occasional horticulture feature for the Seattle Times. He has appeared many times on Martha Stewart Living television as a gardening correspondent. On April 17, 2007 Dan appeared in a PBS NOVA program, The First Flower, exploring the flora of remote mountains of China.
His first book, Winter Ornamentals, was published in 1993 and his second, The Explorers Garden: Rare and Unusual Perennials, received the 1999 Book of the Year Award from the American Horticultural Society. His third book, The Explorers Garden: Shrubs and Vines from the Four Corners of the World received the 2010 Book of the Year Award from the American Horticultural Society. Windcliff; a story of people plants and gardens was released in early September 2020.
In 2003, Hinkley was honored with the Scott Arboretum Gold Medal from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania for his lifetime achievements in horticulture. He has been awarded the Marcel Le Piniac Award from the American Rock Garden Society, The Medal of Honor from the Garden Club of America, The Garden Communicator of the Year award from the American Nurserymen and Landscape Association, the White Gold Medal from the Greater Cleveland Horticultural Society, and in 2006, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Award from the American Horticultural Society for a lifetime of achievement in education, writing and plant exploration. He received on June 21, 2007 and July 2, 2007 respectively, the George Robert White Medal of Honor from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for the advancement of interest in horticulture in the broadest sense; and from the Royal Horticulture Society of Great Britain, the Veitch Memorial Medal for his outstanding contribution to the advancement of the science and practice of horticulture.
Dan Hinkley currently resides in Indianola, WA with his husband of 37 years and their two golden doodles. Here he is in the process of realizing the gardens of Windcliff. Among many and varied garden spaces the project includes an arboretum based entirely on his collection work of three decades, a large greenhouse, a generous potager and an experimental meadow, all on 6.5 acres of south-facing bluff overlooking the Salish Sea. While not working in the gardens, Hinkley works as a horticultural consultant with both architects and landscape architects on a broad assortment of projects across the globe. Recent work included the Amazon Spheres in Seattle and the Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. He is an avid hiker, bicyclist and birder. He feels his greatest life achievement is recently helping to preserve 5,000 acres of local forestland from development while creating the largest county park in North America in over 50 years.
In order to attend the October Zoom meeting, you will need to pre-register. Once you have pre-registered, you will receive an e-mail confirmation of your registration with the Zoom meeting number and password. During the meeting, those attending will be muted and not seen, however, you will be able to type in your questions in the chat room.