Saturday, October 10, 2026
9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
(Doors Open 9:00 a.m.)
Three Speakers. Three Presentations. Lunch.
Get Your Plant Geek On!
Registration
Plant Geek Saturday 2026
Saturday, October 10, 2026
9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Doors Open at 9:00 a.m.
Tickets: $99
Rockhurst University Campus
Science Center 115
54th and Troost Entrance
Kansas City, Missouri 64110
See Building #25 on map.
St Ignatius Science Center is a short walk from the parking lot, North to the second building on left. It is possible to reach the lecture hall with no stairs.
Plants are where it’s at with gardening. That’s what a lot of us think. Yes, design is interesting, but wide paths and areas to entertain don’t invigorate the same way as the cool plants.
For those who love to collect interesting, beautiful plants, Gardeners Connect has created Plant Geek Saturday.
Think something like the Kansas City Garden Symposium but entirely focused on the plants for avid gardeners and collectors.
We continue of Plant Geek Saturday, we will focus on some of the newest plant recommendations from Chicago Botanic Garden, Fall planted Spring bulbs, and spuria iris. Three plant geek enablers have been invited to entice us with an array of interesting plants. Plants that thrive in climates like ours.
Three Speakers
Three Presentations
Lunch.
Register online above or send check made out to Gardeners Connect to:
Gardeners Connect
PO 8454
Kansas City, Missouri 64114
Please include email address with check if available for quickest notification of registration.
Speakers.
Justin Lombardoni
Best Perennials from CBG Trials
The spring bulb discussion will be led by Claire Krofft. She is a senior horticulturist at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Claire is the horticulturist for the Samuel and Heckman Bulb Gardens and Sachs Museum Landscape and an avid bulb enthusiast.
She is also responsible for maintaining the outdoor aquatic displays in the garden.
She has worked in public horticulture since graduating with her masters of science degree in horticulture from Auburn University in 2020.
Claire Krofft
Spring Bulbs for Your Midwest Garden
Set to talk about the best from Chicago Botanic Garden’s plant trials is Justin Lombardoni.
He is the ornamental plant breeder at the Chicago Botanic Garden. His program focuses on introducing herbaceous perennial cultivars, primarily through inter-specific hybridization. He also works closely with the Chicago Botanic Garden’s plant evaluation program, utilizing its expertise and germplasm to further breeding efforts.
He earned his bachelor of science degree in plant sciences at Cornell University and his doctorate in plant breeding and genomics at Rutgers University.
He has written for Greenhouse Grower magazine and other publications.
Jim Hedgecock
Spuria, the Iris You Need in Your Garden
Spuria irises are what Jim Hedgecock of Comanche Acres Iris Gardens near Gower, Missouri, will be talking about. For many years, he has spearheaded the effort to get gardeners to grow more spurias.
The most common irises in our gardens are perhaps tall bearded irises, but spurias are a type of beardless iris.
Spuria flowers are made up of generally more slender parts. Spurias generally get 3 feet tall. Also unlike tall bearded irises, which need to be dug and divided every three to five years to maintain the vigor of the clump, spurias generally resent being disturbed. An established clump of spurias can go 10 to 15 years before a gardener needs to think about rejuvenating the clump.
Hedgecock has hybridized irises for more 46 years. He has hybridized and introduced well over 600 iris varieties. That includes more than 50 spuria irises and dozens of tall-bearded irises. Hedgecock's 'Wichita Lineman' spuria iris won the America Iris Society's Eric Nies Medal in 2025 for best spuria iris. Nearly two dozen other of the spuria irises he has created have been awarded the American Iris Society’s Award of Merit or Honorable Mention. His 8-acre operation is home to about 100,000 iris plants.
Plant Geek Saturday Schedule 2026
Saturday, October 10, 2026
9:00-9:30 Check-In, Mingle, coffee
9:30-9:40 Welcome
9:40-11:00 Speaker: Claire Krofft - Spring bulbs for Your Midwest Garden
11:00-12:10 Lunch in Cafeteria
12:10-1:30 Speaker: Justin Lombardoni - Best Perennials from Chicago Botanic Garden Trials
1:30-2:00 Break with coffee, water and snacks
2:00-3:20 Speaker: Jim Hedgecock - Spuria, the Iris You Need in Your Garden
3:20-3:30 Closing Remarks
Venue.
Rockhurst University
Science Center 115
54th and Troost Avenue Entrance to Rockhurst University
Building #25 on map located to the right. Building is a short walk from the parking lot, North to the second building on left. St Ignatius Science Center. It is possible to reach the lecture hall with no stairs.
A 165 seat auditorium with table space for every attendee to take notes with a great view of the presentations for the day.
Onsite free parking.
Master Gardeners & Master Naturalist Continuing Education
Many Master Gardener and Master Naturalist organizations throughout the region offer continuing education hours for attending Gardeners Connect Events like Plant Geek Saturday.
Please consult your local organization for details and specifics to their continuing education requirements.
The following organizations have offered continuing education credits for prior Gardeners Connect Programing.
Want your organization to be listed here? Contact Brian Chadwick-Robinson, executive director of Gardeners Connect at info@gardenersconnect.org for details of offering continuing education hours for your organization.
