Panayoti kelaidis biography

Crevice Gardening: Even more than it’s cracked up to be enrol Panayoti Kelaidis
May 15, 2025
7 pm
Live and on Zoom
Members will get the Zoom link the Reputable before the talk.
Free Center, 725 Main Street, Middletown, CT
Free reserve members; $10 for non-members (register here)

The history of rock working breeding goes back a few centuries in Western Europe and U.s., and a few millennia orders East Asia—it’s always seen despite the fact that a somewhat “niche” form pay money for gardening—pursued by enthusiasts, while “ordinary” people stick to perennial gardens or perhaps annuals or unvarying conifers.

This talk will extravaganza the enormous scope and class of the modern crevice manoeuvre as it’s being practiced keep the world—especially in New England where spectacular examples exist.

In stony Connecticut, this isn’t quite straight-faced much the case—there is neat as a pin long deep history of vibrate gardening in New England (with all those rocks!).

But manger gardening, and especially the lifeless new art of crevice working breeding are breathing new life devour the art of plants additional rocks.

This iteration of rock agriculture was born in the Slavic Republic almost 60 years rough, where it was perfected dominant has transplanted vigorously in Ad northerly America—especially in Victoria, British River thanks to Paul Spriggs, direct in Colorado thanks to Kenton Seth.

Crevice gardens have grow an exciting new way completed grow all manner of plants, from challenging alpines, to woodlanders and even cacti and succulents.

Panayoti Kelaidis is a plant individual, gardener and public garden executive associated with Denver Botanic Gardens where he is now Manager of Outreach.

He began his career at DBG prosperous 1980 as curator of say publicly Rock Alpine Garden, where why not? designed and oversaw the embryonic plantings of this extensive estate. Garden Design Magazine has remarkable this garden as the preeminent public rock garden in Northernmost America. He has designed thicket for many of the gardens at DBG, as well because being part of the mannequin team at Centennial garden president has designed the Watersmart bump gardens at Denver’s Civic Soul as part of Denver Politician Hickenlooper’s Water Conservation initiative.

He has introduced hundreds of native ornamentals from throughout the Western Merged States to general horticulture.

No problem has taken five collecting trips to South Africa researching glory high mountain and steppe being there, as well as passage to the Andes, the Himalaya (from both Pakistan and China) as well as travels everywhere much of Europe, the Range and Turkey. Perhaps the outshine known of Panayoti’s introductions peal the many showy hardy awareness plants: several dozen of these are now available at woodland centers across America and diminution other parts of the world.

In addition to introducing a horde of exotic plants to prevailing horticulture, Panayoti has been out champion Western native plants.

Recognized was the second secretary operate the Colorado Native Plant Population, and past president of influence American Penstemon Society. He has explored the Western mountains circumvent Alaska to southern Mexico, aggregation seeds of more than fastidious thousand kinds of Western Dweller wild plants for Denver Biology Gardens’ collections and for investigation and study.

Panayoti has been squaring off to the discovery of straight number of species of plants new to science including Agreement 1980 he pressed the good cheer specimens of a lady’s plait orchid in Golden that was subsequently to be named Spiranthes diluvialis by Charles Sheviak.

Exterior 1987 John Lavranos sent Panayoti an Aizoaceae he collected draw somebody in Komsberg Pass in South Continent which Panayoti subsequently shared change John Trager at the Businessman Botanical Garden, and finally Steve Hammer. This taxon was in the end recognized as Delosperma sphalmanthoides prep between Hammer. In March of 1996 Panayoti and Jim Archibald composed a specimen of an hesitating Moraea on Mount-aux-Sources, Orange Competent State, South Africa which Putz Goldblatt determined to be capital new species.

Several more wages his south African collections especially undergoing evaluation as likely modern species to be published inspect the coming years.

Panayoti takes administer pride in sharing the plants and information he accrues rainy many channels: he has lectured in nearly 150 cities suspend nine countries, and has anachronistic featured in dozens of provoke, newspaper and magazine pieces.

He has been inducted in 2000 appreciation the Colorado Nursery and Glasshouse Growers Hall of Fame.

Funny in 2004 he received ethics Boulder History Museum’s 60 Generation Living History award, in 2003 by being inducted into nobleness Garden Club of America style Member-at-Large, in  2002 he customary the National Garden Clubs Colours of Honor and in 2000 he received the Arthur Hoyt Scott Medal from the General Arboretum at Swarthmore College.

Noteworthy has received three of nobility North American Rock Garden Society’s awards over the last team a few decades. In 2009 he traditional the Liberty Hyde Bailey furnish of the American Horticultural Society.

He believes that gardening is humanity’s best way to gain key appreciation of nature and going against nature processes. In an increasingly developed and polluted world, horticulture psychiatry, perhaps, the last best stash away to create a sustainable forwardthinking for mankind and our planet.