Mary Hockenberry Meyer

Mary Hockenberry Meyer Presents the 2019 ARS Benjamin Y. Morrison Memorial Lecture

By Kim Kaplan
July 24, 2019

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, July 24—"What's on Your Bucket List for Horticulture" is the title of Mary Hockenberry Meyer's 2019 Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Benjamin Y. Morrison Memorial Lecture, being presented at the American Society for Horticultural Science's annual meeting on Wednesday, July 24 in Las Vegas.

Meyer has devoted her career to the selection, evaluation, and propagation of ornamental grasses and works tirelessly to promote their attributes and ecosystem benefits in managed and natural landscapes.

She was one of the first researchers to evaluate the cold-hardiness of native grasses and sedges. Her work demonstrated that most ornamental grasses and sedges can overwinter in Minnesota and similar climates, reversing the prevailing thinking.

In her lecture, Meyer proposes a "bucket list" for the field of horticulture—"a list of the things we could do to advance our love of and life work with plants to help our world and everyone in it to eat well and thrive from being near plants. It's time we thought about these goals and individually or collectively we work toward them purposefully."

Currently a professor, extension horticulture program leader, and director of the master of professional studies in horticulture program at the University of Minnesota, Meyer is the author of Ornamental Grasses for Cold Climates, one of the most popular publications distributed by University of Minnesota Extension.

Meyer also has served as a founding member of the National Consumer Horticulture Committee, which is developing a national strategic plan for consumer horticulture. She continues to serve on the advisory committee for Seed Your Future.

The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in agricultural research results in $20 of economic impact.