Kevin Zuidervliet is owner and grower at Octoraro Native Plant Nursery, in Kirkwood, Pennsylvania. His diverse professional experience and passion for horticulture began while traveling and working on organic farms in Australia and New Zealand. He leveraged his skills in an AmeriCorps VISTA position managing a community garden. Kevin continued to hone his plant knowledge at Shaffer Landscapes, in Middleburg, Pennsylvania before earning a place in the Professional Horticulture Program at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. At Longwood, he gained in-depth experience in woody plant propagation and management, later transitioning to a full-time Nursery Horticulturist role.

Kevin has come full circle at Octoraro, where he is using his skill sets to create regional plant palettes for designers, ecologists, and others in the industry to maintain, enhance, and recreate lost habitats in the region.   

Tim Johnson is the Chief Executive Officer at the Native Plant Trust in Framingham, Massachusetts. He leads the organization’s 45-acre Garden in the Woods in Framingham, Massachusetts; the Nasami Farm, a native plant nursery in Whately, Massachusetts; and the expanded seed-processing and storage facilities to support the new Northeast Seed Network. The Network is a regional initiative led by the Native Plant Trust to create a sustainable source of seed to meet the increased demand for native plants.

Johnson has an extensive background in environmental horticulture and biological science from his long-standing career in conservation and botanic garden administration and leadership at Smith College. 

Johnson’s affection for native plants was born from a childhood spent exploring the great outdoors in Wisconsin. His appreciation for the importance of protecting the rarest of plants is from his graduate studies working with threatened orchids on the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.