Speaker bios:

Mary Lahr Schier is a Minnesota gardener, writer and editor and author of The Northern Gardener, From Apples to Zinnias, 150 Years of Garden Wisdom (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2017), winner of the Silver Award of Merit from GardenComm in 2018. For more than 18 years, she edited Northern Gardener magazine, the publication of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society and the only magazine dedicated to gardening in USDA Zones 3, 4 and 5. After retiring from Northern Gardener in 2023, she continues to write, blog about and photograph gardens in the Midwest and beyond.

Barbara Ronningen is a former Master Gardener in Washington County and led that organizations’ Speakers’ Bureau. She coordinates a community garden in Afton. She was president of the Washington County Horticulture Society, Treasurer and President of the North Star Lily Society, and served on the North American Lily Society Board of Directors. Barbara is a retired demographer who managed the 2010 Census campaign for Minnesota. She gardens on a semi-rural lot that features pure sand soil and more and more shade. She is currently chairing the planning for the 2024 NALS Show in Bloomington, MN.

Gail Hudson is a multiple Emmy® award- winning journalist: a writer, photographer and video producer with a Master’s degree in Horticulture from the University of Minnesota. She writes and photographs gardens for Northern Gardener Magazine, several national publications such as The American Gardener and Greenhouse Grower magazine. She is a professional speaker about numerous garden topics. She’s also a Garden Coach and Landscape Designer for homeowners in the Twin Cities metro area and out-of-state.