Zube Lecture - Claudia West

Date/Time: 
Thursday, January 25, 2018 -
16:00 to 17:00
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Location: 
Design Building Atrium
Event Subhead: 
Wild and Neat: Bridging the Gap between Great Planting Design and Ecology
Event Description: 

Wild and Neat: Bridging the Gap between Great Planting Design and Ecology 
Claudia West Principle, Phyto Studio, LLC.   

Claudia West is a leading voice in the emerging field of ecological planting design. Known for her passionate advocacy of plant-driven design, Claudia is a widely sought out speaker and consultant who applies the technologies of plant systems to bring essential natural functions back into our cities and towns. She has worked on all sides of the green industry—as a designer, a grower, installer, and land manager—grounding her innovative work in pragmatic solutions that address the realities of our urbanizing world. She is the co-author of the critically acclaimed book, Planting in a Post-Wild World

Having grown up on a family-owned nursery, florist business, and design/build firm in eastern Germany, Claudia was propagating plants before she could walk. Her love of American native plants brought her to the U.S. where she worked at Blue Mount Nurseries in Maryland and immersed herself in the study of American flora and mid-Atlantic ecosystems. Claudia holds a Master’s Degree of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning from the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Her intense studies of plant habitats and the science of plant community-based design strategies at the renowned school for horticulture in Weihenstephan, Germany built a solid foundation for her current work. Before co-founding Phyto Studio, Claudia was ecological sales manager at North Creek Nurseries, a wholesale perennial grower in Landenberg, PA. Her work was focused on bridging the gap between growers, designers, and land managers as well as introducing more functional and beautiful ecological plants into the nursery trade. 

The meadow at the NYBG Native Plant Garden. Thomas Rainer was project manager of this project from proposal through construction documentation during his time at Oehme, van Sweden & Associates. Design by OvS. Image by Ivo Vermulean.