2023 Summer | Fall Catalog

THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY

The Catalog 2023 SUMMER I FALL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT AND CEO I hope you will enjoy the rich and broad selection of offerings in this, our second “Catalog.” I am very proud of the growth of our educational programs, in both number and variety. Gardens are in every way a conversation— with the natural world, with our neighbors, and thankfully across real and imagined boundaries… national, intellectual, and cultural.

Of course, sometimes the best and most rewarding conversations are just across the next-door fence! Please join this conversation, both in person and online. As we continue to explore the “why” of gardens and gardening, I want to encourage you to make every effort to attend our Garden Futures Summit this September and engage with some of the people who are enriching and expanding the way we think about gardens. You can read about this exciting event on page 5 of the catalog.

Like gardens, program offerings cannot grow and improve without care and feeding. I want to thank the following visionary donors who generously support our educational programming, and without whose leadership none of this would be possible: The Coleman and Susan Burke Distinguished Lecture Fund Courtnay and Terrence Daniels The Lenhardt Education Fund Susan and William McKinley The Celia Hegyi Matching Challenge Grant Ritchie Battle The Antonia Breck Fund Camille Butrus Michelle and Perry Griffith Rise S. Johnson Sleepy Cat Farm Foundation John S. Troy, FASLA

James Brayton Hall President and CEO

OUR MISSION The mission of the Garden Conservancy is to preserve, share, and celebrate America’s gardens and diverse gardening traditions for the education and inspiration of the public.

OUR VISION The Garden Conservancy will be the champion and steward of the vital role gardens play in America’s history, culture, and quality of life.

Dear Friends, History has many uses. At best, it can inform the present and direct the future in positive ways. The Garden Conservancy has long been a thought leader in garden history and preservation. Now, with our inaugural Garden Futures Summit, we’re excited to bring our expertise to bear on the future of gardens (page 5).

History is a bit of guiding theme for this late summer/fall programs offering. Online, Troy Scott Smith continues his enormously popular mix of history and contemporary practice in Sissinghurst Through the Seasons (page 10).

In-person, we present a Digging Deeper about Blithewood Garden (page 23), our newest preservation garden, and not one but two Garden Master Series exploring extraordinary historical archives in Berkeley, California and New York City (pages 26 and 28).

Meanwhile Open Days continues in full force. Not to be missed is a new Ambassador Insight, a personal take on the sweat and magic that goes into creating Open Days (page 17).

Looking forward to seeing you online and in the garden —

H. Horatio Joyce, PhD Director of Public Programs & Education

Cover: Design for the Temple of Apollo in the Gardens of the Chateau d’Enghien, Belgium, 1780, by Charles de Wailly (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Part of the November 17 Garden Masters Series program, Garden Designs from the Long Eighteenth Century.

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REGISTRATION INFORMATION Advance registration is required for these programs. Space is limited; sign up today!

Visit gardenconservancy.org for more detailed event descriptions and to register online. Additional programs will be added during the year.

You may also register by calling The Garden Conservancy at 845.424.6500 (Monday–Friday, 9–5 Eastern)

Scan code to view gardenconservancy.org/education

Explore Our Offerings Be sure to check gardenconservancy.org for the most current information and latest additions to our educational offerings, including Open Days, our signature garden-visiting program.

GARDEN FUTURES SUMMIT I PAGE 5 This new in-person event offers a selection of the most exciting ideas shaping the future of gardens and society at large.

FALL NATIONAL SPEAKING TOUR I PAGE 9 Author and rewilding pioneer Lady Isabella Tree tours three cities in September and October.

SISSINGHURST THROUGH THE SEASONS I PAGE 10 Troy Scott Smith’s popular virtual series continues with episodes exploring fall and winter at Sissinghurst Garden.

FALL LITERARY SERIES I PAGE 11 Webinars with the authors of beautiful new books presented in partnership with Phaidon and Monacelli.

AMBASSADOR INSIGHT I PAGE 17 Ever wondered what goes into making Open Days? Read the firsthand account of Allyson Levy of Ulster County, New York.

DIGGING DEEPERS I PAGE 19 Digging Deepers bring together intimate groups for unique and, in most cases, site-specific garden experiences from our Open Days program.

GARDEN MASTERS SERIES I PAGE 25 The Garden Masters Series offers in-depth study programs that bring garden enthusiasts together in exclusive and significant landscapes with experts in horticulture and design and innovative thought-leaders.

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2023 GARDEN FUTURES SUMMIT

How Gardens are Changing the Future Environment I Community I Culture

Photo: Oliver Hess

The inaugural Garden Futures Summit is a two-day, in-person event that looks to sustain the remarkable passion and interest in gardening today by presenting a selection of the most exciting ideas shaping the future of gardens and society at large. The Summit will focus on three essential topics within contemporary gardening: environment, community, and culture.

On the first day of the Summit, The keynote address will be given to be held at The New York Botanical

by Lady Isabella Tree on The Book of Garden, more than a dozen influential Wilding — A Practical Guide to Rewilding speakers from across the gardening Big and Small. world will participate in sessions organized around the Summit topics.

They will discuss the extraordinary potential of gardens and gardening to improve our physical, cultural, and emotional health and well-being.

On the second day of the Summit, attendees will be treated to exclusive tours at both public and private gardens throughout New York City and the greater metropolitan area that embody the forward-thinking and transformative potential in gardens today.

Friday, September 29, 2023 Speaker sessions at The New York Botanical Garden.

Saturday, September 30, 2023 New York City garden tours to be announced later this summer. $30 Students I $170 Members I $200 General Registration price includes lunch and coffees, as well as parking and admission to NYBG on September 29th; tours on September 30th will be priced separately.

Left: The Garden at Federal Twist in Stockton, NJ. Photo by James Golden

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Garden Futures Summit I Speaker Sessions September 29, 2023

Speaker Highlight How do you foster community and well-being in one of the most transient places on earth? Adam Greenspan of PWP Landscape Architects (Berkeley, CA) tackled this challenge at Jewel Changi Airport in Singapore by creating an eight-acre garden at the center of the building. Under a glass dome, the gardens rise nearly 30 meters around a central gathering space with informal amphitheater seating.

Adam is a speaker in the session on community, chaired by Jennifer Jewell.

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GARDEN FUTURES SUMMIT

PWP Landscape Architecture Photo Darren Soh

Photo: John Whittlesey

September 29, 2023 Speaker Sessions I Garden Futures Summit

Edwina von Gal

Jennifer Jewell

Melissa Chiu

ENVIRONMENT

COMMUNITY

CULTURE

Why garden? One common answer is to help tackle the biodiversity crisis and climate change. In this session, landscape designers, educators, and architects discuss inventive projects aimed at transforming personal gardens into catalysts for planetary change.

Community and the places that foster them are urgently needed. This session brings together a variety of professionals behind the revolution in community green spaces: from those who create and study them to those who are dedicated to finding new ways to support and manage them.

Horticulture and culture are on a collision course—and that’s a good thing. Forgotten garden histories, the challenges of preserving midcentury landscapes, and the growing engagement of the visual arts with the natural environment are the animating topics in this session.

Session Chair Edwina von Gal is a leading voice in sustainable gardening and landscape design. She founded the Perfect Earth Project in 2013 to promote nature-based, toxic-free land care for the health of people, their pets, and the planet. As principal of her eponymous landscape design firm since 1984, Edwina creates landscapes with a focus on simplicity and sustainability for private and public clients around the world.

Session Chair Jennifer Jewell is creator and host of the award-winning, weekly, public radio program & podcast “Cultivating Place, Conversations on Natural History and the Human Impulse to Garden.” This year, Jewell was awarded the American Horticultural Society’s Great Gardener Morrison award for outstanding horticultural communication. Her third book, What We Sow, On the Personal, Ecological, and Cultural Significance of Seeds, will be published in September.

Session Chair Melissa Chiu is director of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the national museum of modern and contemporary art.

Dr. Chiu’s current organizational focus is transforming the Hirshhorn into a 21st-century institution through the revitalization of the museum’s campus, including a new design for the Hirshhorn’s Sculpture Garden by artist and architect Hiroshi Sugimoto.

SESSION SPEAKERS

SESSION SPEAKERS

SESSION SPEAKERS

Horatio Joyce The Garden Conservancy

Ivi Diamantopoulou, Jaffer Kolb, Sam Stewart-Halevy New Affiliates

Vanessa Keith StudioTEKA Design

Adam Greenspan PWP Landscape Architects

Jeff Lorenz Refugia Design Rebecca McMackin horticulturist and garden designer

Peter Lefkovits Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Nicole Thomas Urban Health Lab

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Cindy Brockway The Trustees of Reservations David Godshall Terremoto of LA Abra Lee horticulturist and historian Brent Leggs African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund

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2023 Fall National Speaking Tour Lady Isabella Tree The Book of Wilding—A Practical Guide to Rewilding Big and Small $45 Members I $55 General Friday, September 29 New York Botanical Garden Bronx, NY I 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Keynote at Garden Futures Summit: Summit ticket must be purchased, see page 5 Monday, October 2 Middleburg Community Center, in partnership with the Piedmont Environmental Council Upperville, VA I 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Wednesday, October 4 Missouri Botanical Garden St. Louis, MO I 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

About the Lecture The enormity of climate change and biodiversity loss can leave us feeling overwhelmed. How can an individual ever make a difference? Isabella Tree knows firsthand how spectacularly nature can bounce back if you give it the chance. And what comes is not just wildlife in super-abundance, but also solutions to the other environmental crises we face.

This is the subject of Isabella Tree’s lecture and newest publication, The Book of Wilding, a handbook that guides how we can all help restore nature.

It is ambitious, visionary, and pragmatic. The book has grown out of Isabella’s mission to help rewild Britain, Europe, and the rest of the world by sharing knowledge from her pioneering project in Sussex.

Rewilding is a spectrum. Whether we have a garden, a pond, or a window-box, there is no space too small. It is learning how to contribute to a living landscape, the life-support system that will save our planet from calamity and deliver us a prosperous and sustainable future. Deeply researched and beautifully illustrated, Isabella’s lecture explains how every one of us can play a part in rewilding our world. It is both a practical guide and a call to action. Above all, it is a manifesto of hope.

2023 FALL NATIONAL SPEAKING TOUR

About the Speaker Isabella Tree is an award-winning journalist and author of five books. Her first best-selling book, Wilding tells the story of the daring wildlife experiment she began in 2000: rewilding her and her husband Sir Charlie Burrell’s 3,500 acres of unprofitable farmland at Knepp Estate in West Sussex, UK. In less than twenty years their degraded land has become a functioning ecosystem again, wildlife has rocketed, and numerous endangered species have made Knepp their home. What has happened at Knepp challenges conventional ideas about nature, wildlife, and how we manage and envisage our land. It reveals the potential for the landscapes of the future. Isabella also writes for the Guardian, National Geographic Magazine, and Granta.

Lady Isabella Tree at Knepp Castle Estate Photo: Anthony Cullen I

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Sissinghurst Through the Seasons: Four-Part Virtual Program Sissinghurst Through the Seasons: Fall & Winter Episodes Troy Scott Smith, Head Gardener at Sissinghurst Castle Garden, England

Fall Episode I Thursday, September 21 2 p.m. Eastern $5 Members I $15 General Autumn is a time for doing, for action and productivity. The beauty of your garden next year relies on the things you do now. In this episode I will be looking at lifting and dividing and how to make those edits for inspiring and flower- filled borders.

Turf care, hedge cutting, propagation and pruning are also essential tasks of autumn, and we will look at these too. I shall also not forget to enjoy and share with you, the beauty of the season.

Winter Episode I Thursday, December 7 2 p.m. Eastern $5 Members I $15 General The bare blanket of earth that for many is the “winter garden,” need not be. If harnessed, the potency of the season can be as exhilarating as the heady explosion of summer. Pockets of evergreen planting, almost unnoticed in summer, are now an essential ingredient, exuding a presence and injecting solidity into the sparseness of the scene. Coatings of hoarfrost re-order the prominence of their outlines. Spring plants eager to steal a march on their competitors race to flower. There is nothing that disappoints me about the winter garden, and in this final episode I’d love to share with you some of the possibilities to make winter in the garden a season to look forward to and enjoy.

About Sissinghurst and Troy Scott Smith Sissinghurst was created nearly a century ago by the writers Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson as a private home and as a refuge dedicated to natural beauty. Today it is owned by the National Trust and visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.

Photo: Rachel Warne

Troy’s career has been devoted to the beauty and romance of gardening. Since joining the National Trust of England, Wales & Northern Ireland in 1990, Troy has led some of the world’s most beautiful gardens, among them the Courts (Wiltshire), Bodnant (Wales), and two stints at Sissinghurst (Kent), where he has led a remarkable transformation and restoration of the Vita SackvilleWest gardens.

You can still register for the “Annual Pass” and receive recordings of the Spring and Summer episodes. Plus, Annual Pass holders receive bonus video diaries by Troy!

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VIRTUAL PROGRAM

Mt. Cuba Center, from the November 2nd webinar, Du Pont Gardens of the Brandywine Valley

Sissinghurst Through the Seasons is a four-part Virtual Program that explores a year of gardening at Sissinghurst, one of the world’s most romantic gardens. Hosted by Head Gardener Troy Scott Smith, this series of online talks offers an experience of the changing seasons at Sissinghurst and explains how this extraordinary place, created by Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicholson in the 1930s, is maintained and interpreted today.

The Spring and Summer Episodes aired earlier this year.

Fall Literary Series ONLINE CONVERSATIONS WITH PHAIDON AND MONACELLI PRESS AUTHORS

Garden: Exploring the Horticultural World Matthew Biggs, Abra Lee, and Kristine Paulus Thursday, October 19 I 2 p.m. Eastern $5 Members | $15 General $60 Webinar + Book Garden takes readers on a journey across continents and cultures to discover the endless ways artists and image-makers have found inspiration in gardens and horticulture throughout history. With more than 300 entries, this comprehensive and stunning visual survey showcases the diversity of the garden from all over the world—from the Garden of Eden and the grandeur of the English landscape garden to Japanese Zen gardens and the humble vegetable plot. Spanning a wide range of styles and media—from art, illustrations, and sculptures to photography, film stills, and textiles—Garden follows a visually arresting sequence, with works, regardless of period, thoughtfully paired to allow interesting and revealing juxtapositions between them.

MATTHEW BIGGS, a graduate of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is a wellknown British gardener, broadcaster, and author of fifteen gardening and plant-related books. He is a panel member on BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time and author of the children’s book A Home for Every Plant, also published by Phaidon.

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ABRA LEE is a storyteller and author of the forthcoming book Conquer the Soil: Black America and the Untold Stories of Our Country’s Gardeners, Farmers, and Growers.

She has spent a whole lotta time in the dirt as a municipal arborist and airport landscape manager.

Her work has been featured in publications that include the New York Times, Fine Gardening, and Veranda magazine. Lee is a graduate of Auburn University College of Agriculture and an alumna of the Longwood Gardens Society of Fellows, a global network of public horticulture professionals. In January 2023 she joined Oakland Cemetery, a revered garden cemetery and vibrant park located in downtown Atlanta, as Director of Horticulture.

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KRISTINE PAULUS is a writer, photographer, gardener, and librarian based in the Bronx. When she isn’t writing, photographing, growing, or reading about plants and gardens, she can frequently be found at The New York Botanical Garden, where she is the collection development librarian.

Biking, birding, and botanizing are some of her favorite pastimes—she sometimes engages in all of them at the same time.

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Du Pont Gardens of the Brandywine Valley Larry Lederman and Jeff Downing Thursday, November 2 2 p.m. Eastern $5 Members | $15 General $50 Webinar + Book Renowned as “the first family of American horticulture,” the du Ponts created magnificent landscapes and gardens that complement the verdant, rolling lands of the Brandywine Valley. Five of their estates—Hagley Museum and Library, Nemours Estate, Mt. Cuba Center, Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, and Longwood Gardens—are open to the public, each a showplace of formal plantings juxtaposed with carefully nurtured natural woodland.

Collected in one beautiful new book, Du Pont Gardens of the Brandywine Valley offers an in-depth tour of the exuberant fountains and horticultural displays at Longwood, the naturalized woodland at Winterthur, the Beaux-Arts elegance of Nemours, the tantalizing fragments of the Crowninshield Garden at Hagley, and the native plant gardens and research center at Mt. Cuba. Throughout the book, Larry Lederman’s vivid photographs exquisitely capture the beauty and spirit of each place, moving through the seasons and the day from dawn to dusk. An impressive celebration of the du Pont contributions to American horticulture and landscape design, Du Pont Gardens of the Brandywine Valley is an important record that will be a must-have for garden lovers, landscape designers, and horticulturists everywhere.

Following a successful career in corporate law, LARRY LEDERMAN turned to photography as an avocation. From an initial focus on the forms and foliage of trees, Lederman now captures the beauty of gardens and landscapes through the seasons. He is the author of many books, including Magnificent Trees of the New York Botanical Garden, The Rockefeller Family Gardens: An American Legacy, and Garden Portraits: Experiencing Natural Beauty, all published by Monacelli, and he was the principal photographer for the 125th anniversary edition of The New York Botanical Garden (Abrams).

JEFF DOWNING is Executive Director of Mt. Cuba Center, a botanic garden in Hockessin, Delaware, that inspires an appreciation of the beauty and value of native plants, and a commitment to conserve the habitats that sustain them. Previously, he worked at The New York Botanical Garden leading education programs; he is also a member of the Delaware Native Species Commission and chaired a land preservation task force in 2019–20 for New Castle County, Delaware. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and a master’s in Religion at Yale Divinity School.

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The English Gardener’s Garden Tom Stuart-Smith, Tania Compton, and Dr. Toby Musgrave Thursday, November 16 2 p.m. Eastern $5 Members I $15 General $45 Webinar + Book The English Gardener’s Garden spans seven centuries to spotlight more than 60 of England’s finest gardens.

Adapted from Phaidon’s bestselling The Gardener’s Garden and organized geographically by country, the selection ranges from formal Renaissance gardens, herbaceous Arts and Crafts gardens of the 20th century, to artistic creations and healing gardens by contemporary designers. Each entry is illustrated with sumptuous photographs and features a concise text detailing the garden’s historical and stylistic importance and that of its designer, patron, or maker. A beautiful and easy-to-use introduction for garden designers and enthusiasts alike.

Photo: James Runcie

His projects include gardens at Chatsworth, a new public garden at the Hepworth Wakefield, and the masterplan for RHS Garden Bridgewater, one of the largest new garden projects in Europe. International projects include Le Jardin Secret in the heart of the medina in Marrakech, a garden located on the waterways near Kottayam in Kerala and show gardens for the international horticulture exhibition at IGA Berlin 2017, and the international garden expo Beijing 2019.

Tom is a Vice President of the Royal Horticultural Society, a Trustee of the Garden Museum, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, a Fellow of the Landscape Institute, and a Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers. Portrait

by James Runcie.

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TANIA COMPTON spent twelve years (1993–2005) as Gardens Editor for British House & Garden before resuming work as a garden designer. In 2007, her book Dream Gardens, a collaboration with photographer Andrew Lawson, was published by Merrell. The Private Gardens of England (Constable, 2015) is in its 4th edition. Tania is Contributing Gardens Editor for The World of Interiors, and she gardens six acres of wild meadow in Wiltshire.

Portrait by Sabine Rüber.

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Photo: Sabina Ruber

TOM STUART-SMITH is a landscape architect and garden designer whose work combines naturalism with modernity and built forms with romantic planting. He read Zoology at the University of Cambridge before completing a postgraduate degree in Landscape Design.

DR. TOBY MUSGRAVE is an authority on gardens and plant history, a subject in which he has been widely published. He has presented on ITV and Channel 4 and is faculty lecturer at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad.

He has authored Phaidon’s The Garden: Elements & Styles and Green Escapes and has contributed to several additional Phaidon Press titles, including The Garden Book and The Gardener’s Garden.

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Photo: Stephen Kent

Art in Flower: Finding Inspiration in Art and Nature Lindsey Taylor Thursday, November 30 2 p.m. Eastern $5 Members I $15 General $50 Webinar + Book Based on Lindsey Taylor’s popular Wall Street Journal column “Flower School,” on its surface Art in Flower: Finding Inspiration in Art and Nature demonstrates how Taylor creates stunning but achievable floral arrangements inspired by works of art.

Riffing on works by a diversity of artists across mediums, periods, and styles, including Alice Neel, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julie Mehretu, Sheila Hicks, Willem de Kooning, Georgia O’Keeffe, Frank Stella, Salman Toor, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Kerry James Marshall, among others, Taylor inspires readers to interpret the palettes, compositions, brushstrokes, and mood of the art in flowers, and shares florists’ trade secrets for building beautiful arrangements. Through this meditative practice of looking intently at art and nature, readers learn, in the words of David Hockney, “to really look,” and to really see the world.

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LINDSEY TAYLOR is a garden designer and floral stylist based in upstate New York.

Prior to founding her design studio, Taylor was for more than a decade a floral expert, writer, and editor for several publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Martha Stewart Living, Domino, Garden Design, T Magazine, and Architectural Digest.

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Ambassador Insight with Allyson Levy Ambassador Insight is a series in which Regional Ambassadors for Open Days explain why they became ambassadors and how they put together Open Day programs. Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano of Hortus Arboretum in Stone Ridge, New York, have been Garden Hosts and Regional Ambassadors since 2018. Here, Allyson reflects on her journey as a gardener and Ambassador to Ulster County.

It is an honor to be the Regional Ambassador for Ulster County, New York, and I love that I can help passionate plant enthusiasts share their gardens with a larger community.

When my husband Scott and I moved to the Hudson Valley from San Francisco with our 4-year-old daughter in 1999, we came as novices to gardening. Transitioning from apartment living to suddenly owning three acres of land was quite the learning curve. We were suddenly responsible for a lawn, two mature butternut trees ( Juglans cinerea), four “grandmother” red maples (Acer rubrum), and a prerequisite patch of forsythia (Forsythia spp.). Scott and I are both visual artists, and now that we had an outdoor space of our own to cultivate, we expanded the palette of the landscape by planting a variety of flowering plants, with Scott selecting species that would attract all sorts of insects (at the time, that was his subject matter), and me choosing seeds, petals, and leaves to incorporate into my encaustic artwork. We would often find ourselves cultivating the same plant in different areas, which is poor planning when you’re on a tight budget and have a child to feed!

This realization began our journey into researching, collecting, documenting, transplanting, killing, replanting, and designing a garden that made sense, both botanically and aesthetically. Hortus Arboretum was born.

The garden grew into a series of organized collections, and our woody taxa inventory expanded enough for the Morton Register of Arboreta to recognize Hortus Arboretum as a level 2 arboretum. Soon we were ordering plants from all over the country and experimenting with zonal hardiness. We wanted to grow plants that no one else was growing in our area, and this fueled our passion to develop the most diverse garden in the Hudson Valley.

In 2009, we purchased eight acres across the road from us, now called the South Garden, and in 2021 we purchased a ten-acre plot of land adjacent to the Arboretum to stop development there. With the help of a partial reimbursement grant from New York State, the perimeter of the land is currently being cleared for deer fencing which will allow the forest flora to regenerate.

In 2018, we opened the gardens to the public every weekend. Since then, we have seen firsthand how gardens provide something for everyone, be it inspiration, education, meditation, or for their art practice. This is one of the most fulfilling aspects of being part of a larger horticultural community.

We have partnered with The Garden Conservancy for years and have used their Open Days program as a model for engaging the Hudson Valley gardening community. Gardening has helped me to grow, and as the Regional Ambassador to Ulster County, I am excited to help the Open Days Program continue to grow here!

Ally son Levy Photo: Randazzo & Blau Photography

Allyson Levy

Allyson has curated an exceptional lineup for Open Days programming in Ulster County, New York, this season, with programs planned for June 3, August 12, and September 9. She and Scott will share their experiences growing underutilized decorative trees in their Digging Deeper: Beautiful Uncommon Trees and Shrubs for the Home and Garden on September 9 (see page 22 for details).

In addition to these Open Days, Hortus Arboretum can be visited on weekends from mid-May through October. Be sure to check out their 2021 book Cold Hardy Fruits and Nuts: 50 Easy-to-Grow Plants for the Organic Home Garden or Landscape (Chelsea Green Press), and be on the lookout for their next book coming soon!

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Want to share your garden?

We’re recruiting for 2024 (and beyond!)

We are always on the lookout for gardens throughout the United States that highlight exceptional design and smart ways to garden.

Gardens take many forms—from beautiful estates to small farms combining form and function, to tiny backyard jewel-box gardens—all are welcome!

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Contact our office at opendays@gardenconservancy.org to begin your journey as a Garden Host.

Changing Seasons at Sleepy Cat Farm, September 9th Digging Deeper

We celebrate the diversity of America’s gardens and gardening traditions through the Open Days program and invite you to share your garden as a Garden Host.

Digging Deeper BUILDING ON THE STRENGTHS OF OUR OPEN DAYS PROGRAM, DIGGING DEEPERS FEATURE INFORMATIVE TALKS AND WORKSHOPS FROM EVERY FACET OF OUR GARDENING WORLD

Habitat Gardens in the Catskills Marc Wolf, Executive Director Saturday, August 12 I 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Mountain Top Arboretum I Tannersville, NY $30 TGC Members and Mountain Top Arboretum Members I $40 General Mountain Top Arboretum is a public garden in the Catskill Mountains dedicated to displaying and managing native plant communities of the northeastern United States, in addition to curating its collection of cold-hardy native and exotic trees. Its mountaintop elevation of 2,400 feet at the top of the New York City watershed creates a unique environment for education, research, and pure enjoyment of the spectacular and historic Catskills landscape. This Digging Deeper will discuss how gardeners can create and maintain similar habitats at home.

The Garden and the Wilderness Roxana Robinson Saturday, August 19 I 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Roxana Robinson—Treetop I West Cornwall, CT $30 Members I $40 General Robinson will talk about the process of creating a garden amid a close, dense forest—a wilderness—and how the garden must be in conversation with the background in many ways. How the use of materials like stone should reflect the local terrain, how the plants at the edge should converse with the plants and trees behind them, how the atmosphere of the garden should be consonant with the surrounding landscape.

How to Not Treat Your Soil Like Dirt Randy and Renee Ruchotzke Saturday, August 19 I 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Permaculture Food Forest I Kent, OH $30 Members I $40 General Learn how we turned a yard that was covered in concrete into a fertile oasis by using permaculture methods and low-cost soil-building techniques. Randy will also delve into the research regarding soil health and soil biology and present methods for improving soil fertility, health, and tilth that anyone can use.

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DIGGING DEEPER

Discover the Magic of Greenfire Woods Hattie Purtell Saturday, August 19 I Two sessions: 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Greenfire Woods I River Hills, WI $30 Members I $40 General Greenfire Woods has both wild native areas and the charm of a cottage garden. The owner refers to the wooded areas that run along the Milwaukee River as “God’s Garden” because she lets nature rule undisturbed, except for a deer fence she installed around the entire property to protect the rich variety of the spring ephemerals she loves. The woods have maple, oak, and beech trees—some more than 100 years old—in an area that has never been developed or farmed. There is also a native meadow and other wooded areas. On the other hand, the property is graced by many features built by artisans out of wood, including a chicken coop with a sod roof, an arbor, rustic furniture, and fences and supports for the vegetable garden and other climbers. Sprinkled throughout the property (including in the vegetable garden) are tall and graceful self-seeding annuals like Nicotiana sylvestris (flowering tobacco), Verbena bonariensis (tall verbena), and Persicaria orientalis (kissme-over-the-garden-gate). In the evening, as the sun goes down and filters through the green of the woods, it becomes evident why the garden is called Greenfire Woods. Join the owner as she shares her deep knowledge of plants, her exploration of biodynamic methods to grow the healthiest and tastiest food for her family, and the wisdom of a lifetime in the garden.

Mushroom Discovery Adventure A Certified Mycologist

NOTE NEW DATE!

Saturday, August 26 I Two sessions: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

A Secret Garden I Sag Harbor, NY $30 Members I $40 General Mushrooms are wondrous. Join a certified mycologist for a special mushroom tour. The large East Hampton garden we will be visiting is known for its impressive horticultural collection and acres and acres of moss. It is also host to an abundance of interesting mushrooms. Learn how to find and identify a wide variety of naturally occurring mushrooms. Learn how to determine their uses, medicinal properties, history, and which resources to consult to confidently identify mushrooms on your own. Our mycologist guide will also cover current scientific trends and new innovations. Enjoy an emerald green magical garden and its hidden mushroom treasures.

Please note: this tour does not include foraging, just walking and observation.

Seeds and Sow On Julia Cencebaugh Kloth Saturday, August 26 I 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Old Barlow’s Carriage House and Garden I Ridgefield, CT $30 Members I $40 General Gardening starts with seeds, so let’s discuss the age-old tradition of seed saving and join the movement which encourages the growing of heirloom and open-pollinated seed.

Learn the basic knowledge of harvesting, processing, and preserving seeds from the garden. Discover the process of breeding new dahlias from the initial stages of crosspollination through trialing and successful selection. Take home seed for use in your own garden next season. If you have enough of your own, bring some seeds to share.

Why not start a seed saving community?

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Beautiful Uncommon Trees and Shrubs for the Home and Garden Scott Serrano and Allyson Levy Saturday, September 9 I 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Hortus Arboretum & Botanical Gardens I Stone Ridge, NY $30 Members I $40 General Why is it that each year, commercial nurseries tend to sell the same most popular plants when there are literally hundreds of choices for northern gardens? Hortus Arboretum & Botanical Gardens will host a walking tour focusing on the magnificent underutilized decorative trees that are lesser known by the gardening public. Hortus features one of the most diverse collections of plants in the upper Hudson Valley, and this tour will highlight some of their favorite trees such as the stewartias, seven sons flower, and the fragrant epaulette tree. The tour will highlight the best growing conditions for these lovely trees and cover underutilized shrubs like Disanthus, witch alders, and bush clovers. The arboretum is located in a beautiful rural setting and is listed as a certified Level 2 arboretum, encompassing a total of 21 acres, 9 of which are extensively cultivated. Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano are the co-directors of the arboretum and will host the tour; last year they published Cold Hardy Fruits and Nuts: 50 Easy-to-Grow Plants for the Organic Home Garden or Landscape, through Chelsea Green Press.

A High Plains Prairie Garden Bryan Fischer, Curator Saturday, September 9 I 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

The Gardens on Spring Creek I Fort Collins, CO $30 Members of TGC and Gardens on Spring Creek I $40 General Take a deep dive into design, installation, and upkeep of increasingly popular meadow gardens. Spend time with Bryan Fischer, the designer and lead horticulturist for the half-acre Prairie Garden at the Gardens on Spring Creek.

Bryan will speak about regionally appropriate meadow gardens using The Gardens’ own Prairie Garden as a living example to teach about these garden systems.

Expect to hear about meadow garden design, installation, and regionally recommended plants during a one-hour talk and walking tour. The presentation will be followed by an opportunity for conversational Q&A with Bryan and exclusive access to explore our stunning botanic gardens at twilight.

Changing Seasons at Sleepy Cat Farm Alan Gorkin, Head Gardener at Sleepy Cat Farm Saturday, September 9 I 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Sleepy Cat Farm I Greenwich, CT $60 Members I $75 General Join Alan Gorkin, head gardener at Sleepy Cat Farm, for a walking tour of the Farm’s two vegetable gardens and orchard during the height of late summer abundance, as we celebrate the season while preparing for the next. Topics discussed will be extending the gardening season, planning for fall planting, and composting. A choice selection of seedlings, propagated by Alan, will be available for sale at the garden.

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Land Trusts: Preserving and Managing Open Spaces Pam Pooley Saturday, September 9 I 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Baxter Preserve I North Salem, NY $30 Members I $40 General Join Pam Pooley, horticulturist and chair of the North Salem Open Land Foundation, on a tour of this bucolic landscape and learn about its history and efforts to preserve its beauty and conservation values, taking cues from the land. Pam will describe stewardship practices that take advantage of the meadow life cycle and promote desirable species such as pollinator-friendly plants, which are a food source for the abundance of birds, butterflies, bees, and other beneficial insects and wildlife.

Mowing regimens and plantings of native trees and shrubs with deer protection by tributaries that discourage aggressive invasive plants will be discussed. These sustainable management techniques can be adopted to benefit your own wild or cultivated gardens.

Discovering Blithewood: Guided Garden and Arboretum Tours Blithewood Garden & Arboretum and Garden Conservancy staff Saturday, September 23 I Two sessions: 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Blithewood Garden I Annandale-on-Hudson, NY I $20 Members I $30 General Join us for a delightful afternoon exploring the grounds of the Blithewood estate on the Bard College campus. Guided outdoor tours provide an immersive experience into the history of Blithewood Garden and Arboretum as well as the horticultural and cultural significance of the site. Learn about the historic plantings, architecture, and what’s in bloom. Enjoy the natural splendor of the grand landscape overlooking the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains. Tours will be provided by Blithewood Garden and Arboretum and Garden Conservancy staff. Registration includes one gift of a starter plant for each registrant.

Bard College and the Garden Conservancy have partnered to preserve Blithewood as a cultural resource. At more than 100 years old, Blithewood has been greatly diminished by the passage of time. Together, we are working to return this iconic garden to its grandeur. All Proceeds from this event will support the rehabilitation of Blithewood Garden.

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Growing Flowers for the Home and Photography Frances Palmer Saturday, September 30 I 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Frances Palmer’s Garden I Weston, CT $30 Members I $40 General Please join Frances Palmer for a Digging Deeper event in her two cutting gardens, an informal talk about heirloom dahlias and the rest of the flowers she grows for cutting and arranging. Over cake and coffee, participants will engage in a lively conversation about how Frances’ ceramics and flowers intertwine. Participants will also be allowed entrance to Frances’ pottery studio, which is generally closed to the public.

The Story of a Catchy Garden Marilee Kuhlmann and Tom Rau of Urban Water Group, Inc. Saturday, December 2 I Two sessions: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Resilient in Brentwood I Los Angeles, CA $50 Members I $60 General

In 2023, the Garden Conservancy premiered three short films on the importance of garden preservation featuring more than 25 experts in various fields. View them at: gardenconservancy.org/preservation/documentation

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Historical and Future Gardens, October 20th Garden Master Series

Photo: Saxon Holt

This Brentwood garden nestled in the foothills of the Santa Monica mountains uses rain as a vital resource to sustain its biodiverse ecology of plants and wildlife. Beauty and water-efficiency are equally important in maintaining this drought-resilient garden which features California native, California climate-appropriate, succulent, and edible plant communities. We will dig deeper into how the rich plant palette is supported by an automated rainwater and efficient irrigation system, and how these technologies can help our landscapes adapt to a changing climate.

Garden Masters Series OPPORTUNITIES TO MEET NEW FRIENDS WHILE EXPLORING THE PHILOSOPHY OF GARDEN CREATION, DESIGN THEORY, AND DIVERSE GARDENING TRADITIONS

Dewey Donnell Garden by Thomas D. Church

Gardens in the Archive

Delve into the rich archival holdings of American and English landscape architecture in the collections of the Environmental Design Archives (EDA), hosted by curators and professors from the University of California, Berkeley. The EDA is a research facility within the College of Environmental Design at Berkeley committed to raising awareness of the architectural, landscape, and design and heritage of Northern California and beyond, through collecting, preserving, and providing access to original drawings, plans, specifications, photographs, personal papers, business records, art, models, and artifacts. After a morning exploring highlights from the collection, guests will join the staff for lunch at the Faculty Club.

Betsy Frederick-Rothwell Waverly Lowell Marc Treib Tuesday, October 17 10:00 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Environmental Design Archives University of California, Berkeley

The landscape architecture element of the collection originated from the donation of Beatrix Jones Farrand‘s Reef Point Library in the 1950s. The donation included Farrand’s own project records, the garden plans of English landscape architect Gertrude Jekyll, and the records of ‘Garden Architect’ Mary Rutherfurd Jay. The Archives also contain the records of the founders and practitioners of the modern California landscape such as Thomas D. Church, Garrett Eckbo, and Geraldine Knight Scott. Works and records of the “next generation” of landscape designers such as Richard Vignolo, Casey Kawamoto, Jack Stafford, Theodore Osmundson, and Walter Guthrie are also held by the Archives.

$170 Members $190 General This program is a fundraiser for the Environmental Design Archives

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Landscaping at Manolo Court, the apartment complex designed by Rudolph Schindler

Historical & Future Gardens David Godshall and Jenny Jones Friday, October 20 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Los Angeles, CA $100 Members $110 General

Join AD100 landscape architects David Godshall and Jenny Jones of Terremoto for a morning exploring the complex intersections between native ecologies and globalized horticultures in two Los Angeles gardens designed by their firm. The crux of this Garden Master Series is the juxtaposition of two sites—an apartment complex in Silverlake designed by the celebrated modernist architect Rudolph Schindler, and Test Plot, a restoration garden in Elysian Park. Despite being seemingly quite different, these two places share something in common, that of experimental garden-making. The Test Plot sits on public land and foregrounds ecological stewardship, but nonetheless informs the more aesthetically driven private garden at the Schindler apartments.

Terremoto approaches landscape and garden-making with an experimental, hands-on approach, with projects spanning residential, institutional, commercial, private, and public. Terremoto has also engaged with community work through Test Plot, an ongoing collaborative experiment in shared land stewardship.

Through Test Plot, as well as Terremoto’s Land and Labor internal working group, the firm seeks to strengthen the ethics of Land Care in the landscape industry and in our culture more broadly.

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Preparatory drawing for garden furniture by Thomas Chippendale, 1761

Garden Designs from the Long Eighteenth Century Femke Speelberg Friday, November 17 10:15 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Department of Drawings and Prints The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City $200 Members $225 General

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The eighteenth century was an extraordinary period for the artistry of garden design. Perhaps no collection tells this story better than the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In this Garden Master Series, guests will join The Met’s Curator of Historic Ornament, Design and Architecture, Femke Speelberg, for a private appointment in the Department’s study room exploring a wide range of garden designs, followed by lunch and further conversation.

The Department of Drawings and Print’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. It is especially strong in English, French, German, and Italian garden art, illustrating great public and private estates across Europe by, among others, William Chambers, Charles de Wailly, and Thomas Chippendale.

The garden design collection was greatly augmented by a recent bequest from Mrs. Jayne Wrightsman.

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Your Program Participation Supports Our...

Preservation Work Since 1989, The Garden Conservancy has worked with more than 100 gardens to advance our mission to preserve, share, and celebrate America’s gardens and diverse gardening traditions for the education and inspiration of the public.

The Garden Conservancy’s preservation department assists garden owners, managers, and community organizations across the country to address a wide range of challenges—from historic rehabilitation and organizational development to collections management and documentation.

The gardens we partner with, from the smallest to the largest, express the artistic spirits of their creators and showcase the broad diversity of garden history and styles found in North America.

To learn more about our preservation work, visit gardenconservancy.org/preservation.

The Garden Conservancy interviews Brent Leggs, Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and Senior Vice President of the National Trust, about the profound significance of the Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum.

Photo: Christine Ashburn Photography

Garden Futures Grants In 2021 The Garden Conservancy launched a new initiative—since named the Garden Futures Grants—to award grants between $5,000 and $10,000 to small public gardens and organizations who are making a significant impact in their communities. In 2022, we awarded $155,000 to nineteen organizations nationwide.

For more information about The Garden Conservancy’s grant opportunities, visit gardenconservancy.org/news/gardens-futuresgrants or email gardenfutures@gardenconservancy.org.

Not a Member? Join us!

Become a Garden Conservancy member and be part of a growing national community passionate about gardens and the essential role they play in our lives.

Join us as we explore some of the most stunning and unique gardens across the United States through Open Days, learn from experts through our in-person and virtual educational programs, and celebrate the horticultural, historic, and cultural value of American gardens through our preservation work.

Your membership will not only help fund our programs; it connects you to all we do through exclusive member benefits. As a member, you will receive several complimentary credits redeemable for Open Days or Virtual Talks, member pricing on all events, the Conservancy’s publications, and more!

Visit gardenconservancy.org/membership or call 845.424.6500 to join today!

THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY PO Box 608 Garrison, NY 10524 gardenconservancy.org

The Catalog 2023 Summer I Fall Educational Programs

Casa Nancina, LA Open Day. Photo by Matt Harbicht

NON-PROFIT US Postage PAID Newburgh, NY Permit No. 44