Native Plant Trust, the nation’s first plant conservation organization and the only one solely focused on New England’s native plants, announced today that Uli Lorimer, Director of Horticulture, will become the next “Ask the Gardener” columnist for The Boston Globe. Following his predecessors, long-time columnist Carol Stocker and more recently, R. Wayne Mezitt, Lorimer will explore garden-related topics and answer questions submitted by Globe readers in a bi-weekly column, while remaining full time at Native Plant Trust.
“Anyone who knows Uli knows that he was made for this role,” notes Tim Johnson, CEO of Native Plant Trust. “He has been teaching and inspiring gardeners for decades as a speaker, sage, and author of The Northeast Native Plant Primer and other works. His garden scholarship, personal insights, and poetic language constantly straddle science, art, and philosophy, encouraging us all to live a little more in tune with the natural world and to lighten our footprint on this earth through ecological horticulture.”
“I am deeply honored and thrilled with the opportunity to share my passion and decades of gardening experience with the Globe readership,” notes Lorimer. “Gardens have a unique power to build connections between humans and the natural world. The pursuit of a livable future must include respect for and access to the rich benefits of New England’s biodiversity. I am looking forward to exploring the ways in which gardens can help us grow together towards a brighter, greener future.”
Lorimer is the author of the best-selling book The Northeast Native Plant Primer: 235 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden (Timber Press), which has been #1 on Amazon in its category since publication in 2022. He oversees Garden in the Woods, Native Plant Trust’s famed botanic garden in Framingham, MA, and Nasami Farm in western Massachusetts, a nursery focused on the propagation of and research about New England native plants.
The Delaware native grew up with an interest in all things green and holds degrees from the University of Delaware in Landscape Horticulture and Foreign Languages and Literature. Prior to his role at Native Plant Trust, Lorimer served as curator of the Native Flora Garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. During his tenure at BBG, Lorimer not only tended the original 108-year old Native Flora Garden but was also instrumental in the creation of a new extension of the garden, which features a native coastal plain meadow and pine barrens. He also worked closely with botanists throughout the region to collect seed from the wild, propagated new plants for the collection, and documented and studied the region’s biodiversity. Lorimer was a contributing author and photographer for several BBG publications, including Community Gardening, Healthy Soils for Sustainable Gardens, Tough Natives for Tough Places, A Native Plant Reader, Easy Compost, and Edible Gardens. He continues to be a popular teacher and public speaker at Native Plant Trust.
Native Plant Trust is the nation’s first plant conservation organization and the only one solely focused on New England’s native plants. We save native plants in the wild, grow them for gardens and restorations, and educate others on their value and use. From our base in Massachusetts, staff and trained volunteers work throughout New England each year to monitor and protect rare and endangered plants, collect and preserve seeds to ensure biological diversity, detect and control invasive species, conduct research, and offer a range of educational programs. We welcome visitors from all over the world to Garden in the Woods, our renowned native plant botanic garden in Framingham. We also operate a nursery at Nasami Farm in western Massachusetts and manage six sanctuaries in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont that are open to the public. Native Plant Trust is among the first organizations worldwide to receive Advanced Conservation Practitioner accreditation by London-based Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), which included an endorsement by an International Advisory Council representing six continents