Ruth Parnall, co-founder of Learning by the Yard, is a registered landscape architect and a credentialed botanist. She is a specialist in native landscape restoration and is a founding member of the MA Native Plants Committee. She has served her town since 1987 on conservation, open space, zoning, and master plan committees.
A studio teacher and mentor to students at the Conway School of Landscape Design, Ruth also writes, lectures, and leads workshops on native plants and ecological design. She is currently the consulting landscape curator at Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center, a National Historic Landmark in Garrison, NY.
Virginia Sullivan is an early childhood educator with advanced degrees in both curriculum development and ecological landscape design. She has taught young children, trained teachers, taught parent education, and run schools in both New England and California. She has served as an elected member of her local School Committee, and both founded and chaired a local education foundation. She is a trustee of the Conway School of Landscape Design.
Ginny has pursued graduate work in the design of children’s environments, and is particularly interested in the natural world as a context for children’s language and cognitive development. She is currently documenting children’s learning in the outdoors as it aligns with statewide early learning standards and developing an Early Learning Image Gallery with the support of the North Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children (NCaeyc).
