Edward Lyon

Background

About Edward Lyon

Ed Lyon is Director of the Reiman Gardens in Ames, Iowa. His first degree is from Cornell University in Agricultural Economics and Animal Science. In 1997 he returned to school and worked toward a MS in Horticulture at UW-Madison under the direction of Dr. Dennis Stimart, who was in charge of the Allen Centennial Gardens. He worked in the Gardens while pursuing the graduate degree and decided to focus his studies on public garden administration. Since then, Ed has served as Symposia & Special Programs Coordinator for Chicago Botanic Garden, Director of Education for Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Executive Director for the Rotary Botanical Gardens and most recently, Director, Allen Centennial Gardens. He wrote a book published by Timber Press in 2015 called Growing the Midwest Garden. He has written for magazines including Fine Gardening, Wisconsin Gardening, Iowa Gardener, Chicagoland Gardening, Nursery Management Pro, and American Nurseryman. He wrote the "Ask the Expert"​ column for Wisconsin Gardening and a regular regional report on southern Wisconsin for Chicagoland Gardening as well as feature articles for both magazines before moving to Iowa. He teaches and lectures and has served as featured/keynote speaker for a number of conferences. He is emphatic about fousing on gardening with regionality as a primary focus. He loves photography and takes all of the images used in his presentations. For almost 10 years Ed assisted in a specialty nursery and has past experience as a greenhouse manager. Most importantly, he is an avid gardener with dirt under his fingernails. Specialties: Public garden administration, education and horticulture. Ornamental horticulture, garden design, perennials, trees & shrubs, ornamental edibles, color in the garden, garden trends, conifers, shade plants.