Irvin Etienne
Museum Display coordinator, indianapolis, Indiana
Irvin is the Horticultural Display Coordinator for the Garden at Newfields (Indianapolis Museum of Art) where he has worked over 25 years. In that position he helps the Horticulturists with their plant selection and garden design as well as designing and maintaining his own areas. While working in the 152 acres of the Garden and grounds requires knowledge and skill with all manner of woody and herbaceous plants, Irvin lusts for and loves the tropical species most of all. He is the recipient of Gold and Silver awards in Electronic Media Writing from the Garden Writers Association for his blogging at the IMA. In his own garden everything from cannas to eggplants to Magnolias coexist in a lush jungle fed by manure from his own rabbits and chickens. Obviously a product of the midwest, Irvin could be considered, well, a simple farm boy that likes shiny sparkly things. And is easily distracted.
lecture:
Carmen Miranda in the Midwest
A garden requires many elements to be successful but one of the most important is eye-popping attention-getting color and texture. And the only plants that can give you that in the extravagance that makes gardening worthwhile are tropicals and annuals. Now, everyone does containers and that is fabulous. But when you go Carmen Miranda those plants jump right out of the containers and into your garden beds. They may combine with hardy plants or they may create beds of pure tropicalissmo. Either way the result is true garden ecstasy.