NEW DIRECTOR NAMED FOR NATIVE PLANT CENTER

Darrin W. Duling of Greenwich, Connecticut has been chosen as the new director of The Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College in Valhalla. An internationally-known horticultural consultant, speaker, design planner and workshop presenter, Mr. Duling brings a wealth of experience to his new position.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Mr. Duling moved to England in 1991 to enhance his horticultural expertise. He subsequently received a Certificate of Horticultural Training from the Royal Horticultural Society, a Diploma of Horticulture from the Royal Botanic Gardens, and a Master of Science in Plant Taxonomy from the University of Reading in Whiteknights, England.

Mr. Duling’s passion for horticulture has taken him to such places as Peru, Thailand, Oman, Singapore, Borneo, and Crete. He has conducted field research and surveys on local flora and ecosystems, rain forests and aridlands, coastal dunes and monsoon forests, and consulted on plant rescue missions in natural habitats that were slated for development. He is the author of numerous articles in horticultural journals and newsletters and is affiliated with more than a dozen professional societies.

His career brought him back to the United States in 1998, and the following year he was named Director of Horticulture for the American Orchid Society in Del Ray Beach, Florida. He also served as Curator of Glasshouse Collections for The New York Botanical Garden until 2005, when he started his own garden consulting company, Duling Designs, in Greenwich.

As Director of The Native Plant Center, Mr. Duling is responsible for creating and planning educational programs, managing the demonstration gardens on campus, ensuring the organization’s financial stability, and to promote The Native Plant Center in many venues throughout the area. Since The Native Plant Center is a regional affiliate of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin Texas, he has the added responsibility of seeing to it that the Center in Valhalla functions in accord with the mission of the Johnson Wildflower Center, which is to educate the community on the value of native plants and promote the unique work of the Center.

In his new position he succeeds Mrs. Brooke Beebe of Briarcliff, who recently retired after serving as The Native Plant Center’s director since its establishment in 1998.

The Native Plant Center is a project of the Westchester Community College Foundation.