Lawrence Miller is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University. Following commencement, he attended the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, where he headed two student organizations. Shifting his professional interest to preservation, he attended Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, where he studied American material and architectural history. He resides in Shockoe Bottom with his dog, Navy.
Aaron McFarland, an ISA-Certified Arborist with nearly a decade of experience working in horticulture, joined Verdant Richmond in the autumn of 2022 to help with the onboarding of community garden groups. Born and raised in southeastern Pennsylvania, Aaron’s parents fostered a love of nature, and cultivated a variety of plants on the family’s five acres, with his father operating a small wholesale nursery as a side business. Aaron pursued an education in horticulture, earning two Associate Degrees in Ornamental Horticulture from the Pennsylvania College of Technology; one degree focused on retail management, while the second degree emphasized plant propagation and production.
Following graduation and work at a local garden center, Aaron and his partner, Justine, moved to Vermont, where he worked at Walker Farm, an organic farm in the southeast of the state. At Walker Farm he managed the tree, shrub, and perennial sections of the garden center, and shortly after starting Aaron and Justine were jointly placed in charge of managing the Christmas Tree Farm, a recent addition to the business. In this role, Aaron managed close to 20 acres of Christmas trees – approximately 18,000-20,000 trees total – as well as continuing as manager of ornamentals and assisting with vegetable production and harvests.
In 2017 Aaron and Justine moved to Richmond, VA where he took on the role as manager of TreeLab, a subdivision of the non-profit Enrichmond that provided low-cost trees and plants to local community groups. Within several years, Aaron and Justine would purchase seven acres in rural Urbanna, VA, and found Tupelo Farm & Garden, a specialty cut flower farm that sells flowers at various locations in the region, including the Richmond Flower Exchange.