Speaker Profiles

Gordon Hayward

Gordon Hayward is a nationally recognized garden designer, writer, and lecturer. Gordon has been designing gardens for the last 26 years from his home and 1½ acre garden in southern Vermont. He and his wife, Mary, also have a cottage and tiny garden near where Mary grew up in Gloucestershire, England. The couple has led 14 tours for American garden clubs to see gardens in southern England.

Gordon wrote for Fine Gardening magazine for eight years and for Horticulture magazine for 25 years, for which he also embarked on numerous multi-city lecture tours across North America. He was recently named a contributing editor for the newly revamped Organic Gardening magazine. Gordon has written 10 books on garden design, two of which have won national awards.

His website is haywardgardens.com

Jane Godshalk

Jane Godshalk, AIFD, stumbled into floral design after being encouraged to enter a golf club’s flower show. Living in the Philadelphia area and becoming a member of GCA’s Flower Arranging Study Group, Jane began taking classes and exhibiting in the Philadelphia Flower Show, the largest in the United States. Finding her pursuit to be expensive, she began a small floral design and wedding business from home.

Today, Jane is on the faculty of Longwood Gardens, one of the nation’s finest botanical gardens, teaching floral design, and she demonstrates and gives workshops across the country. She writes a column for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Green Scene magazine, has studied extensively in Europe and the United States, and is a member of the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD).

Among her numerous awards are the Garden Club of America’s national medal for “consistently innovative floral design” and the American Horticultural Society’s Great American Gardener Award for “significant contributions to floral design in publications, on the platform, and to the public.”

Her website is janegodshalk.com

René van Rems

René van Rems is a world-renowned ambassador of the floral industry. Originally from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, René has called San Diego home for over 20 years. He is a member of the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD), the National Speakers Association, and the Professional Floral Commentators International (PFCI).

René was formally educated in the entire spectrum of floriculture/horticulture through his studies at the Rijksmiddelbare Tuinbouwschool at Aalsmeer (Floral Institute). He has led design shows, workshops, and seminars throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia on the styling of fresh-cut flowers.

A frequent speaker at leading art museums, René has also been featured in numerous national publications like California Florists, Sunset, Flowers &, Floral Management, Florist, and Flower News. René’s design work has appeared in Better Homes & Gardens as well as the Florists’ Review publication, 101 Wedding Bouquets.

René and his work have been covered on television (HGTV), particularly for his European influence on trends in American floral design. In 1995, the American Horticultural Society awarded him the Francis Jones Poetker Award, and in 2001, he received the Los Angeles Flower Market’s first annual René van Rems Award for excellence in design education.

His website is renevanrems.com