We’re Growing: Voices from the Field, Fall 2025 Edition

MHG Meetings

Sponsored By: Metro Hort Group

Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Mark this date on your calendar! Meet and hear our Panelists – a mix from the private and public sectors -- talk about plants they favor and appreciate; how they use them in their spaces and designs. Be inspired or intrigued as we fall into cooler, shorter days ahead.

The Central Park Arsenal
Fifth Avenue and 64th Street
Third floor: The Arsenal Gallery

Doors open for refreshments at 6:00 pm
Meeting begins promptly at 6:30 pm
General meetings are free to Metro Hort members. No reservations are necessary.
Guests are welcome to attend for a $20 contribution

We're Growing: Voices from the Field, Fall 2025 Edition
Panel Host, Shanti Nagel – Principal & Founding Partner, Design Wild

Panelists:
Conor Bush, Gardener, Brooklyn Bridge Park
Emma deCaires, Principal, Blue Dahlia Landscapes, LLC
Junko Fujimoto, Gardener, Brooklyn Bridge Park
Thomas Kain, Gardener & Volunteer Coordinator, Central Park Conservancy

Our panelists have been nominated by their peers and/or senior members of their companies or organizations. You may know them from their social media presence or, you may have appreciated their work in and around the city (and beyond).

Come meet and hear them this September at our kickoff monthly event—Tuesday, September 9!

MEET THE PANELISTS!

Panel Host, Shanti Nagel – Principal & Founding Partner, Design

Shanti Nagel

Shanti Nagel, is the founder of Design Wild and she believes that the relationship between humans and the natural world is essential for individual health - both physical and spiritual - and the strength of communities, cities, and ecosystems. Shanti comes from a long line of social activism and approaches all her work through a lens of equity and justice. First growing up gardening as a child in upstate NY, Shanti later, instead of attending collage, founded an organic vegetable farm at the age of 20. After years in operation, she moved from rural agriculture to urban agriculture, managing one of New York City’s largest urban farms. Shanti is a graduate of the School of Professional Horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden, a trained horticulturist and skilled landscape designer. For the last decade, she has been dedicated to designing naturally wild and incredibly durable gardens in the heart of Manhattan for public space, community parks, affordable house and private residences. She is passionate about connecting people to the plant kingdom and involving the end user in all her designs. Above all else, Shanti believes that building lasting connections and peace through the transformative power of plants is our only way forward on earth.

Conor Bush

Connor Bush is a gardener at Brooklyn Bridge Park where he takes care of the plantings on Pier 6. These plantings include several woodland gardens, a mixed border, a marsh, and a bamboo grove, among others. He received his horticultural training at Stonecrop Gardens and has been at Brooklyn Bridge Park ever since. He has particular interests in taxonomy and the propagation of less commonly grown native species.

Emma deCaires

Emma deCaires earned her Master Degree of Science in Landscape Design from Columbia University, a certificate in Horticulture from Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and a Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University.

Before creating Blue Dahlia, Emma served as Director of Grants for GreenThumb, the community garden division of New York City’s Parks Department; Gardener on the horticultural crew at Halstead Welles Associates and Staff Horticulturist for Future Green Studio.

At Blue Dahlia, Emma was lead designer for the master plan for the Spuyten Duyvil Pre-School in the Kingsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx. This $500,000 renovation project included a new play yard set in a grove of trees and an extension to the schoolhouse.

Junko Fujimoto

JunkoFujimoto is a Gardener at Brooklyn Bridge Park. She has nine years of experience in creating naturalistic landscapes, focusing on the value of incorporating native plants into New York City's urban environment. She holds three certificates from New York Botanical Garden, including Horticulture: Sustainable Garden Design, Therapeutic Horticulture, and Landscape Design. With her background in aromatherapy, music, art, and dance, Junko embraces her gardening work as a uniquely special art form to bring sensory and therapeutic experiences to the community. Hailing from Japan, Junko enjoys finding subtle beauties and poetic moments within the remarkable landscapes at Brooklyn Bridge Park, and she feels very lucky to be part of the diverse, talented, and inspirational horticultural team.

Thomas Kain

Hello everyone! My name is Thomas Kain - I've been a Gardener and Volunteer Coordinator with the Central Park Conservancy since 2013 - I've volunteered my time and experience with them and other public and private landscapes around NYC who are looking to bolster their ecological communities through use of native plants. I strive to expand the existing ecological systems through habitat creation while educating and inspiring the people around me to get them emotionally invested in the spaces they care for; not just for themselves, but for the other organisms that can and do use that space. I have a background in Forest Conservation from The University of Maine and I use the knowledge I learned there and my experience working in public and private spaces as a lens in which to view landscapes. Two favorite sayings of mine are "Step with intent" and "Minimize soil disturbance."