Alice Marcus Krieg

Garden Designer, Alice Marcus Krieg works in New York City beautifying city rooftops & backyards for both public and private clients. As co-producer and co-host of We Dig Plants, she is a winner of 2014 Silver Medals for Best Podcast, Best Talent & Best Overall Series from the Garden Writers Association. Alice began gardening when she was 6 with her father, first in suburban, northern VA and then in CT, and developed a love of history, garden and art history books.  With a degree in printmaking and art history from Fairfield University and then moving to NYC, she quickly realized the necessity of making things and the importance of environment towards an excellent quality of life. After several classes at The New York Botanical Garden, Alice worked at the venerable Horticultural Society of New York as both Director of Exhibitions and GreenBranches Program Director. After 8 years, and managing a program budget of approx. $500,000, she left to start Groundworks Inc. in 2002.  Today, Alice celebrates a combined 21 years of garden design and project management experience in the most urban of cities; she has presented to the Art Commission of NYC, (winning awards for project management) planted native perennials, trees, edibles and beach style plantings on top of sky scrapers, she has closed off streets to manage cranes and the delivery of soil to rooftops, has managed a team of 5-7 gardeners on a daily basis, navigated the politics of Condo/ CoOp boards, greased the hands of building managers and partnered with some of the best plants people and design trend people in the industry; she is also privileged to have seen some of the best apartments the City has to offer. Alice and her business partner participated in HGTV’s Landscaper’s Challenge, 2004 and have grown a company from $700 to $650k annually.  Additionally, Alice authored a business plan, raising $350,000 in investment capital to open a garden store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to meet the demand of changing residential demographics in Brooklyn. Alice has curated botanical exhibitions and produced a botanical art catalogue to document the largest collection of Botanical Art in the US.  Currently, she is on the Board of Directors for The Old Stone House, an NYC Historic House Trust property and National Register of Historic Places and assists with raising money and awareness for the house and gardens.  Who Knew gardening in NYC could be so rewarding; just a few plants can be life changing.

Carmen DeVito

Carmen DeVito’s love of the outdoors sprang from a childhood spent on a farm in her native Italy. Her passion for horticulture developed later in life, when she traded in her heels for a pair of gardening boots. After completing her undergraduate degree at New York University, she continued her studies at The New York Botanical Garden. Since 1989, Carmen has held various positions in horticulture: Plant Buyer and Store Manager for Smith & Hawken, Interior Landscape Designer and Plant Hotline Manager for The Horticultural Society of New York. As a Principal of Ground Works, Inc., Carmen creates unique outdoor spaces that reflect the style, personality and needs of each of her clients. She has designed and built gardens for numerous residential and commercial clients throughout the New York City area and her work has been featured in Martha Stewart Living, French House & Garden, and HGTV Landscaper’s Challenge. Since 2011, she has produced, written, and co-hosted the award winning online radio show We Dig Plants on The Heritage Radio Network. The show is a sometimes serious, often irreverent look at people’s relationship with plants and the natural world. Her writing has been featured on the lifestyle blog, Front & Main. Carmen lectures to garden clubs and horticultural groups throughout the New York metropolitan area. You’ll find her promoting green initiatives all over the city, from fundraising for The Brooklyn Botanical Garden, to teaching New York City school children about botany.