Peter Olin to keynote Landscape Awards Banquet

The MNLA Landscape Awards Committee welcomes Peter Olin as the keynote speaker at the Landscape Awards Banquet, March 6, 2010.

Peter Olin received a bachelor’s degree in landscape design and ornamental horticulture from Cornell University in 1961 and, in 1971, received a master of landscape architecture degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. After working in private industry as a landscape architect, he became a professor of hort science and landscape architecture at the University of Minnesota in 1974.

In 1985, he became director of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Under his guidance, the Arboretum’s reputation for excellence in public education continued to grow. The Arboretum has experimented with labeling, interpretive signage, print, exhibits and models. Peter and the Arboretum made landscape learning fun and easy through a series of incredible summer exhibits with names like Secret Gardens, Totally Terrific Treehouses and Big Bugs. These unusual exhibits are just the latest in a series of innovations under Peter’s leadership. His list of accomplishments is 20 pages long! In rapid fire, here is just a taste of what Peter Olin has served up at the Arboretum to the delight of the public and the benefit of our industry:

• Spring Peeper Meadow model wetland restoration
• Pillsbury Tree Exhibit
• Reconstruction of the Dayton Wildflower Garden
• MacMillan Terrace Garden
• Irving Sensory Garden and Horticultural Therapy Center
• Staples Lilac Walk and Hueg Lilac Collection
• Bailey Shrub Walk
• Capen Prairie Garden
• Broadleaf Rhododendron Garden
• Parking Lot Rain Gardens
• Oswald Learning Center Addition
• Andersen Horticultural Library Addition
• Reconstruction of the Nelson Rose Garden

On top of all that, Peter has served as the president of both the Minnesota Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the National Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture. There is also a long list of church and community service activities, including many years as a judge of the MNLA Landscape Design Awards.