The Catalog
2024 SPRING I SUMMER
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
A Note from the President and CEO
Earlier this spring, we announced the largest Open Days season in nearly a decade. Not to be outdone, our public programming this season is remarkable in both its scale and its commitment to the preservation mission of the Garden Conservancy, with the Frank Lloyd Wright Garden Symposium in Los Angeles and the premiere of the Preservation Department’s documentary film of Louise Wrinkle’s garden in Birmingham, AL, funded by The Suzanne and Frederic Rheinstein Fund for Garden Documentation.
The Garden Conservancy educational programs are made possible in part by:
The Coleman and Susan Burke Distinguished Lecture Fund
Courtnay and Terrence Daniels
The Lenhardt Education Fund
Susan and William McKinley
Additional support is provided by:
The Celia Hegyi Matching Challenge Grant Ritchie Battle
The Antonia Breck Fund
Camille Butrus
Michelle and Perry Griffith
Rise S. Johnson
The Krehbiel Family Foundation
Sleepy Cat Farm Foundation
John S. Troy, FASLA
I hope you will join us both in person and online and join the conversation!
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.
Welcome to Our Spring/Summer Season
Last fall, we hosted the Garden Futures Summit in New York City. This spring, we are thrilled to convene the Frank Lloyd Wright Garden Symposium in Los Angeles (page 4)! Like the Summit, the symposium will also combine talks and tours with history and culture to tackle urgent issues in gardening today. Later this season, we celebrate another remarkable gardener with the Garden Conservancy Film Premiere of A Garden in Conversation: Louise Agee Wrinkle’s Southern Woodland Sanctuary in Birmingham, AL (page 9).
The film premiere is the day after our Open Day in Jefferson County, AL, and is just one of many opportunities to enhance your Open Days experience through additional programming, including Digging Deeper and Garden Masters Series events happening throughout the country. Meanwhile, our virtual programming is more robust than ever. We have curated an eclectic mix of author webinars, from Bunny Williams (page 12) to a conversation between Open Days co-founder Page Dickey and the English cultural critic Olivia Laing about her new book, The Garden Against Time (page 17).
Looking forward to seeing you online and in the garden.
H. Horatio Joyce, PhD Director of Public Programs & Education
See
Cover: Isamu Noguchi, “California Scenario,” Costa Mesa, CA.
webinar on page 13.
Left: Life in the Garden. Photo: Annie Schlechter.
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 a.m.-5 p.m. 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.
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT GARDEN SYMPOSIUM I PAGE 5
A two-day event in Los Angeles exploring the twentieth century’s most famous architect and his surprising relevance for gardens today.
GARDEN CONSERVANCY FILM PREMIERE I PAGE 9
The Garden Conservancy’s documentary film of Louise Agee Wrinkle’s garden premieres in Birmingham, AL in May.
SPRING BOOKS I PAGE 11
Webinars with the authors of intellectually provocative and inspiringly beautiful new titles from across the gardening world.
DIGGING DEEPER I PAGE 22
Digging Deeper events bring together intimate groups for unique and, in most cases, site-specific garden experiences from our Open Days program.
GARDEN MASTERS SERIES I PAGE 29
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.
Wethersfield Estate & Garden, Amenia, NY. Part of the June 23 Digging Deeper event, “The History of Wethersfield Estate & Garden and How it is Responding to Beech Tree Blights.”
Frank Lloyd Wright Garden Symposium: His Southern California Work and Legacy
The Frank Lloyd Wright Garden Symposium is a two-day, in-person event in Los Angeles that was developed with the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The symposium will examine how Wright and other early twentieth-century architects responded to the Southern California landscape and their relevance to gardens today.
Perhaps no architect has been more written about than Frank Lloyd Wright, but his designs for gardens remain less studied and understood, despite how important landscape and nature were to his thinking. Los Angeles is home to one of Wright’s crowning achievements, Hollyhock House (1916–21), a residence originally designed as “half house and half garden.”
Wright embraced landscapes and plants of many types and climates, including native plants, an interest shared with his friend and landscape architect Jens Jensen. Wright’s appreciation of landscape was also enriched by his love of Japanese culture. Having designed Hollyhock House while in Japan, Wright relocated to Los Angeles in 1923 and began working with his son, Lloyd Wright, a gifted landscape designer who had worked for the Olmsted Brothers in California. Wright spent only a few years in Southern California, yet he created remarkable work in the Hollyhock, Ennis, Storer, and Freeman houses.
Completed over one hundred years ago, Wright’s houses in Southern California are being revitalized as the region changes beyond what he could have anticipated, impacted by drought, pollution, and climate change. The Frank Lloyd Wright Garden Symposium will examine how he and other architects of the period responded to the local landscape and climate, and how they invite us to think about contemporary issues of the twenty-first century.
The symposium will feature landscape architects, historians, curators, and stewards of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed houses. The event will be of interest to all gardeners, designers, architects, and students who are passionate about history and design, and what they can teach us about gardening today.
Saturday, April 13, 2024 I 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Symposium at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre, Los Angeles, CA Sunday, April 14, 2024 LA Garden Tours (open to Symposium attendees)
$50 Students I $150 Members I $175 General Admission includes continental breakfast and a boxed lunch. The LA Garden Tours on April 14 are $30 each.
CULTURAL SPONSORS PROGRAM PARTNER
Frank Lloyd Wright in 1926.
Frank Lloyd Wright, Millard House (La Miniatura), Pasadena, CA. Colored pencil and graphite on paper. Reproduced courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art I Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York).
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
The Past and Future of Ecological Gardening
Biodiversity is struggling, confronted with climate change, persistent pollution, habitat fragmentation, and other extraordinary challenges. Dr. Laura J. Martin, author of Wild by Design, will discuss how garden and landscape history can guide the future of biodiversity restoration, calling for restoration as a means of collaborating with other species.
Dr. Laura J. Martin is a historian and ecologist who studies solutions to the global biodiversity crisis. She is the author of Wild by Design: The Rise of Ecological Restoration. Her work has been featured in venues including The New York Times, The Atlantic, TIME, and The Washington Post. She is currently Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Faculty Affiliate in History at Williams College in Massachusetts.
Symposium Speakers
Abbey Chamberlain Brach Director and Curator
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House
Hollyhock House: A Garden House & Art Park
This richly illustrated talk will provide an overview of the original design and the park’s evolution, as well as insights into new interpretive approaches that engage the legacy of Hollyhock House as a harbinger of California Modernism.
Kenneth Breisch
Emeritus Associate Professor of Architecture University of Southern California
The Long Shadow of Frank Lloyd Wright in Southern California
Frank Lloyd Wright’s impact on the architecture of Los Angeles is immense. Of note is the work of his son and landscape designer Lloyd Wright and one-time protégé
Rudolf M. Schindler. The work of all three architects was strongly inflected by the climate and topography of the region, a concept that became central to the development of the unique design tradition that subsequently evolved in Southern California, an aesthetic that will form the focus of this presentation.
Jenny Jones
Landscape Architect
Terremoto
Rewilding the Modernist Garden and City
Jenny will share Terremoto’s work and ethos, which seeks to create beautiful gardens based on kindness, collectivity, humility, and wildness. Terremoto is currently working on a planting update at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House, and Jenny will share Terremoto’s approach to working on this iconic property, as well as other significant modernist homes and gardens.
Janet Parks
Architectural Historian
Frank Lloyd Wright: A Personal Discovery of His Landscape Designs
As the former Curator of Drawings and Archives at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Janet oversaw the transfer of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives to Avery. Wright’s original drawings and photographs, both historical and contemporary, can indicate new directions of understanding the role of landscape in his work.
Safina Uberoi Filmmaker
The Accidental Gardener
Seven years ago, Safina, a documentary filmmaker, found herself doubly privileged. She and her husband bought a 1954 Usonian designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Cincinnati, OH, while also owning a home in the Santa Monica mountains in Los Angeles. Both houses were set in neglected landscapes. A roller coaster journey began to understand Wright’s ideas about nature, discover native plants in two very different environments, and learn to drive a truck fully loaded with mulch across the country.
Joseph Marek
Los Angeles Regional Ambassador and Garden Conservancy Board Member
Discussion Moderator
Joseph Marek is a landscape architect and a board member of the Garden Conservancy and Ganna Walska Lotusland. As principal of Joseph Marek Landscape Architecture, he applies the same fundamental principle to every project: the creation of timeless spaces that combine the grace of classical design with a modern sensibility. In each of his designs, he draws on a lifelong interest in plants and a wealth of experience to convey the sensibility of a “garden.”
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT GARDEN SYMPOSIUM
I SUNDAY, APRIL 14
Tour of the Hollyhock House and Garden
10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
YOUR GUIDES
Abbey Chamberlain Brach
Director & Curator at Hollyhock House, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs
Heather Goers
Preservation Manager at Hollyhock House, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs
Amy Korn
Founding Partner and Design Principal, Korn Randolph
Hollyhock House is Frank Lloyd Wright’s first Los Angeles commission and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Built in 1921 for oil heiress and arts patron Aline Barnsdall, the house was designed as her personal residence and the centerpiece of a cultural arts complex. Wright was committed to making Hollyhock House sympathetic to the region, and the emphasis he placed on the landscape is remarkable. If one accounts for all the patios, garden courts, the exedra, and roof gardens as originally proposed by Wright, the amount of outdoor space at Hollyhock would have been five times the amount of usable indoor space. This tour will explore both the house and the site, sharing insights about Wright’s holistic design as well as restoration efforts today, including the Korn Randolph-led landscape plans and the Terremotodesigned native gardens.
Tour of the Schindler House and Garden
10 a.m. to 12 p.m.; 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
YOUR GUIDE
A docent from the MAK Center for Arts and Architecture
The Schindler House has the inevitability of a masterpiece. Incorporating both architectural and social theory, it unfolds formally, spatially, and intellectually with a coherence of indoor and outdoor space unparalleled in early modern architecture. It was the shared vision of architect Rudolph Schindler and his wife Pauline; he gave brilliant architectural form to her interest in a revisionist lifestyle. Schindler moved to Los Angeles to work for Frank Lloyd Wright. He supervised work on the Hollyhock House and was considered one of Wright’s most talented protégés for a period. Using a consistent four-foot module and standardized “Slab-Tilt” wall construction, Schindler created a building in which no two spaces are alike while at the same time seamlessly integrating indoors and out, creating, in his words, “A Real California Scheme.” Remarkably, since its origin, the Schindler House Garden has been under the care of the same gardener.
Schindler House. Credit: Tag Christof, 2021. Courtesy MAK Center.
Hollyhock House patio view from loggia. Credit: Paul Cozzi, 2021. Courtesy of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Garden Conservancy Film Premiere
A Garden in Conversation: Louise Agee Wrinkle’s Southern Woodland Sanctuary
Sunday, May 5, 2024, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Virginia Samford Theatre, Birmingham, AL
Free; advanced registration is required Visit gardenconservancy.org to register
The premiere of the Garden Conservancy’s latest documentary film, A Garden in Conversation: Louise Agee Wrinkle’s Southern Woodland Sanctuary, part of its Suzanne and Frederic Rheinstein Garden Documentation Program, will be followed by a panel discussion on southern gardens, native plants, and conservation.
Wrinkle has been a significant influence on gardening in the South and her own garden in Mountain Brook, Alabama presents a unique opportunity to delve into the intersection of preservation and conservation. As a founding board member and member of the Garden Conservancy, Wrinkle has a lasting legacy. Her contributions, including her renowned book, Listen to the Land: Creating a Southern Woodland Garden have fostered an appreciation for native plants across the country. This is the first time the Conservancy has interviewed a garden creator in its garden documentation program. The panel discussion following the premiere will be led by Garden Conservancy President and CEO James Brayton Hall, with panelists Steele Marcoux, Editor-in-Chief of Veranda; Steve Bender, author of the Grumpy Gardener column and Editor-at-Large at Southern Living; Staci Catron, Director at the Cherokee Garden Library, Atlanta History Center; filmmaker Michael Udris; and Pamela Governale, Director of Preservation at the Garden Conservancy.
A reception and book signing for Listen to the Land: Creating a Southern Woodland Garden, Louise Agee Wrinkle’s award-winning book, revised with a new preface by James Brayton Hall, President and CEO of the Garden Conservancy, will be available for sale.
Make a weekend of it and combine the film premiere with the Jefferson County, AL Open Day on Saturday, May 4!
LOUISE AGEE WRINKLE served as both a founding member and board member of the Garden Conservancy, and she held a distinguished membership with the Garden Club of America for more than four decades. Her unique approach to garden design, plant care, and her ability to connect with diverse audiences has contributed to an increase in appreciation of native landscaping practices across the country. Wrinkle’s book, Listen to the Land: Creating a Southern Woodland Garden, provides a detailed account of the evolution of her gardening practices and philosophy at her family home and garden.
Mick Hales
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 a.m.–5 p.m. Eastern)
Scan code to view gardenconservancy.org/education
Spring Books
CONVERSATIONS WITH THE AUTHORS OF NEW TITLES FROM ACROSS THE GARDENING WORLD
Life in the Garden Bunny Williams
Thursday, April 18 I 2 p.m. Eastern $5 Members | $15 General
Design legend Bunny Williams has made her name creating interiors with livable elegance, and nowhere is this more apparent than her own beloved country house in Connecticut where she lives throughout the year. Over the past 35 years, Bunny has brought her impeccable eye to a series of gardens that extend across the verdant and ever-evolving 22-acre property. Now, in her new book Bunny Williams: Life in the Garden, Bunny shares her passion and infectious enthusiasm for planting, entertaining, and living among nature year-round. Join her for a personal look at life in the garden as she shares awe-inspiring photos from all four seasons and the lessons she’s learned along the way.
Considered one of the most talented names in design, BUNNY WILLIAMS is an accomplished businesswoman and philanthropist known for balancing refined beauty, welcoming livable appeal, and attention to detail. One of Architectural Digest ’s “AD100 Hall of Fame” members, Bunny is consistently named on best-of lists and has been awarded many of the industry’s most prestigious accolades. She is the author of eight design books and is a sought-after speaker and mentor on decoration, gardening, and entertaining. Her business, Williams Lawrence, which she runs with her business partner Elizabeth Lawrence, includes Bunny Williams Home, the firm’s line of furnishings, lighting, art, and accessories, and licensed product lines with Ballard Designs, Lee Jofa, Dash & Albert, Currey & Company, and Mirror Home.
Noguchi’s Gardens: Landscape as Sculpture
Marc Treib
Thursday, May 2 I 2 p.m. Eastern $5 Members | $15 General
The artist and landscape architect Isamu Noguchi’s (1904–1988) interests and production spanned an exceptionally broad terrain from furniture and lamps to courtyards and gardens. Although his gardens include several of the twentieth century’s most iconic landscape designs, Noguchi nonetheless occupies a place removed from the normal practice of landscape architecture. As an artist, he relied more on intuition than on objective analysis, and he shaped his landscapes as sculpture, with space as their primary vehicle.
In his comprehensive and richly illustrated study of Noguchi’s gardens, noted landscape historian Marc Treib describes and critiques projects that date from Noguchi’s early, unrealized projects for playgrounds and monuments to a large park in Sapporo, Japan, whose construction was completed only posthumously. The story begins with the discussion of Noguchi sculpture that relate in some way to actual landscapes, then moves to the dance set designs for Martha Graham, finally entering the realm of actual landscapes with his gardens for the Reader’s Digest offices in Tokyo.
MARC TREIB, Professor of Architecture Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, is a historian and critic of architecture and landscape architecture who has published on a wide variety of modern and historical subjects in the United States, Japan, and Scandinavia. His most recent books include The Landscapes of Modern Architecture: Wright, Mies, Neutra, Aalto, Barragán; The Aesthetics of Contemporary Planting Design; Serious Fun: The Landscapes of Claude Cormier; The Shape of the Land: Topography and Landscape Architecture; and most recently, Poodling: On the Just Shaping of Shrubbery.
Isamu Noguchi and collaborators, Moerenuma Park, Sapporo, Japan, 2008. Photo: Marc Treib.
Moon Garden: A Guide to Creating an Evening Oasis Jarema
Osofsky
Thursday, May 16 I 2 p.m. Eastern $5 Members | $15 General
Moon Garden is a guide to creating a garden that comes alive at night, with night-blooming plants and night-fragrant flowers. The book is full of design and horticultural wisdom, planting tips for outdoor, indoor, and container gardens, and soothing rituals such as journaling and meditations. With beautiful botanical illustrations, Moon Garden encourages readers to approach gardening as a grounding, spiritual practice.
JAREMA OSOFSKY is a Brooklyn-based landscape designer with roots in Hong Kong. Jarema’s design studio, Dirt Queen NYC, works closely with clients to create verdant gardens that offer meaningful and ecologically sustainable connections to the natural world. Her debut book, Moon Garden: A Guide to Creating an Evening Oasis invites readers to dive into the enchanting world of night gardens. Jarema’s work has been featured in Architectural Digest, T Magazine, Elle Decor, Apartment Therapy, and others.
Illustration from the book Moon Garden to be featured in the May 16 webinar. Photo: Kate Jordan.
The Garden Politic in Nineteenth-Century America Mary Kuhn
Thursday, June 13 I 2 p.m. Eastern
$5 Members | $15 General
How did ordinary home gardeners in nineteenth-century America perceive their gardens as tied to the fates of the nation and the world? This talk shows how caring for plants brought nineteenth-century home gardeners face-to-face with the greatest political issues of the day: colonialism, conquest, slavery, and democracy. It focuses on a selection of gardeners who were also famous writers—including Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Frederick Douglass—and shows how their homes and gardens were important places for broader environmental thinking. This talk draws on research from Mary Kuhn’s new book, The Garden Politic: Global Plants and Botanical Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century America.
MARY KUHN is an assistant professor of English at the University of Virginia. She is the author of The Garden Politic and many articles on the relationship between people, plants, and politics. At UVA, she routinely teaches courses in nineteenth-century literary studies, environmental literature, and the environmental humanities.
Drawing from Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward’s “On the Growth of Plants in Closely-Glazed Cases,” 1852.
Image from J. Veitch & Sons’ seed catalog.
The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise
Olivia Laing with Page Dickey
Thursday, June 27 I 2 p.m. Eastern
$5 Members | $15 General
In 2020, Olivia Laing began to restore a walled garden in Suffolk, England. The work drew her into an exhilarating investigation of paradise and its long association with gardens. Moving between real and imagined gardens, from Milton’s Lost to John Clare’s enclosure elegies, from a wartime sanctuary in Italy to a grotesque aristocratic pleasure ground funded by slavery, Laing interrogates the sometimes shocking cost of making paradise on earth.
But the story of the garden doesn’t always enact larger patterns of privilege and exclusion. It’s also a place of rebel outposts and communal dreams. From the improbable queer utopia conjured by Derek Jarman on the beach at Dungeness to the fertile vision of a common Eden propagated by William Morris, new modes of living can, and have, been attempted amidst the flower beds—experiments that could prove vital in the coming era of climate change.
The result is a humming, glowing tapestry, a beautiful and exacting account of the abundant pleasures and possibilities of gardens; not as a place to hide from the world but as a site of encounter and discovery, bee-loud, and pollen-laden. This webinar will be convened by Open Days Co-founder Page Dickey.
OLIVIA LAING is an internationally acclaimed writer and critic. She’s the author of seven books, including The Lonely City, Crudo, Funny Weather, and Everybody. She’s a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and in 2018 was awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize for non fiction. Her work has been translated into 21 languages. Her latest book, The Garden Against Time, recounts the restoration of her walled garden in Suffolk, England.
PAGE DICKEY has been gardening passionately since her early twenties. She has been writing about gardening, as well as designing gardens for others, for the last three decades. She has written eight books and edited another. Her new book, Uprooted: A Gardener Reflects on Beginning Again, describes leaving a beloved garden of 34 years, finding a home in the northwest corner of Connecticut, and falling in love with its land.
Christine Ashburn
Sophie Davidson
Rob Cardillo
The Secret World of Philadelphia’s Private Gardens
Nicole Juday
Thursday, July 11 I 2 p.m. Eastern
$5 Members | $15 General
Join garden historian Nicole Juday, author of the new book Private Gardens of Philadelphia, as she discusses the character-driven gardens she discovered in writing her book. Using examples illustrated with images from the book’s lavish photography by Rob Cardillo, she will not only highlight how these stunning gardens reflect the personalities and interests of their owners but will also point to examples of how these contemporary landscapes say something about the social, economic, political, and religious influences that have contributed to the incredible richness of horticulture in the Philadelphia region.
NICOLE JUDAY had her first exposure to great horticulture when she came to Philadelphia in the 1990s. Soon thereafter, gardening became the catalyst for a career change and a source of lifelong fascination and learning. Her work includes serving as the rosarian for Wyck House and Garden, the oldest rose garden in the country. Later she managed the renowned program at Barnes Arboretum School in Merion, then directed programming at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. She has served on the boards of several horticultural nonprofits and speaks and writes frequently about gardens and garden history.
Shrouded In Light: Naturalistic Planting Inspired by Wild Shrublands
Kevin Philip Williams, Michael Guidi, and Lisa Negri
Thursday, July 25 I 2 p.m. Eastern $5 Members | $15 General
Shrublands exist all around us, thriving in almost any environmental condition, from the desiccating sunshine of the endless sagebrush steppe to the deep, private shade of moist forests. These diverse and inspiring ecosystems serve as perfect models for our gardens. Beyond their inherent beauty, they provide nurturing habitats and demonstrate resilience in the face of a changing climate.
Join the authors of Shrouded in Light as they invite you to work, live, and play with shrubs. Explore a glorious spectrum of wild shrublands and discover the philosophies and design strategies behind translating these magnificent plant communities into your home garden. This webinar will be convened by Open Days Garden Host Lisa Negri of Denver, CO.
KEVIN PHILIP WILLIAMS is a naturalistic gardener who collaborates with plants to create dynamic and challenging worlds. His unique style combines bioregional plant palettes, a hardcore punk ethos, and post-human aesthetics to craft wild and captivating spaces. Kevin’s extensive work with Denver Botanic Gardens has led to the creation of celebrated public gardens throughout the city. Kevin has worked as a gardener on The High Line in New York City and was a Horticulture Intern at Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
MICHAEL GUIDI is an ecologist and horticulture researcher who is passionate about naturalistic plantings that embody the flexibility and resiliency of wild systems. His work draws inspiration from liminal urban spaces and wild areas alike. Preferring common and weedy plants to the rare and precious, Michael is a proponent of dynamic, self-sustaining gardens and green infrastructure as alternatives to static high-maintenance landscaping. Michael worked as a field biologist before joining the Denver Botanic Gardens horticulture department.
LISA NEGRI is no stranger to math, science, and working with the earth. And as an engineer and CEO of an environmental engineering company for 27 years, she was also well known as a thought leader and has been a frequent catalyst for growth and change. These days, Lisa’s SummerHome Garden in Denver allows her to blend that engineer’s mind with a passion for education, commitment to community, and dedication to curbing climate change. She believes that changing even one small corner of the world makes a difference.
A Short History of Flowers: The Stories that Make Our Gardens
Advolly Richmond, FLS
Thursday, August 8 I 2 p.m. Eastern
$5 Members | $15 General
Advolly Richmond’s beautifully illustrated talk highlights some of the flowers featured in her upcoming book, A Short History of Flowers. Many of the plants we love and grow as ornamentals first appeared in early herbals for medicinal and culinary use. But how often do we stop to think about how these beautiful flowers ended up in our tiny corner of the world?
Flowers have played pivotal roles in societies for centuries, from the wild fuchsia hedgerows of Ireland, to the lily of the valley bringing luck and making a bold fashion statement in Paris. All of these blooms hold a treasure trove of stories. Have a giggle, shed a tear, but most of all, enjoy the tales of exploration in disguise, enduring love, cultural appropriation, and hybridization that Advolly will bring to life in this webinar. You will also get a glimpse of some of the gorgeous, specially commissioned botanical illustrations which appear in the book.
Hear Advolly Richmond in person on Tuesday, May 14 at Atlanta History Center in partnership with the Garden Conservancy. Tickets will be available at atlantahistorycenter.com.
ADVOLLY RICHMOND is a plants and garden historian, TV and radio presenter, and independent researcher in social history based in England. She lectures on garden history subjects from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries, contributes garden history features on BBC Gardeners’ World, presents plant history profiles for BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time, and produces The Garden History Podcast.
Sarah Jane Humphrey
We celebrate the diversity of America’s gardens and gardening traditions through the Open Days program. We invite you to share your garden as a Garden Host.
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!
• • •
Contact our office at opendays@gardenconservancy.org to begin your journey as a Garden Host.
Wethersfield Estate & Garden, part of the June 23
Deeper event.
Digging Deeper
BUILDING ON THE STRENGTHS OF OUR OPEN DAYS PROGRAM, DIGGING DEEPER EVENTS FEATURE INFORMATIVE TALKS AND WORKSHOPS FROM EVERY FACET OF OUR GARDENING WORLD
Unusual Annual Flowers and Foliage for Summer Pots
Alan Gorkin, Head Gardener and Kristi Stromberg Wright, Horticulturist
Sunday, April 28 I 4 p.m.
Sleepy Cat Farm I Greenwich, CT
$60 Members I $75 General
The grounds of Sleepy Cat Farm are punctuated with abundant container plantings across the seasons. Join Sleepy Cat Farm’s gardeners for a spring tour of the grounds with an in-depth look at the early spring plant combinations in the garden’s pots, then tour the greenhouse for a sneak preview of the plants raised for summer pots. Seedlings and rooted cuttings will be available for sale for your own planters!
Designing a Garden for Pollinators
Valerie Matzger and Keeyla Meadows
Sunday, May 5 I 2 p.m.
A Garden for Birds I Piedmont, CA
$30 Members I $40 General
Since 1970, bird numbers have plunged along with the insects that they depend upon. Habitat loss, climate change, pesticide use, window collisions, and outdoor cats are the primary culprits. Join Valerie Matzger and Keeyla Meadows, garden designers who both specialize in creating gardens with successful use of California native plants that put pollinators to the fore while also being visually attractive and inviting to people. Topics covered will include selection and appropriate placement of native plants, information on applying color design principles to a habitat garden, fountain construction, irrigation installation, and placement of garden features such as seating areas and water features to enhance pleasures and functionality of habitat gardens. Explore these principles at Valerie’s home garden, which has been visited by 47 species of birds, giving the garden peace and animation with their songs and movement.
Cultivating Edible Mushrooms: A Mushroom Inoculation Workshop
Steve Shapson and M.J. Jansen
Sunday, May 5 I 3 sessions: 9:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m.
The Shapson Garden I Mequon, WI
$50 Members I $55 General
This Digging Deeper event with wild mushroom foragers Steve Shapson and M.J. Jansen introduces you to the world of cultivating mushrooms. Besides learning about mushrooms, you will be participating in a workshop where you will inoculate specially harvested logs with shiitake, oyster, and chestnut mushroom spawn as part of an assembly-line process. The price of the workshop includes one of each type of log with the option to purchase additional logs. Your logs can be placed in a shady spot on your property or integrated into a shade border. Complete written instructions for taking care of your logs, along with other information about cultivated and wild mushrooms, will be provided as part of the workshop. This Digging Deeper is not appropriate for children under the age of 15. Please wear clothing that you won’t mind getting dirty.
Kathy Landman
Power of Place at Manitoga; Garden and Home of Russel Wright
Manitoga’s Landscape Collection and Conservation Staff and James Brayton Hall, CEO and President of the Garden Conservancy
Saturday, May 18 I Two sessions: 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Manitoga I The Russel Wright Design Center I Garrison, NY
$30 Members I $40 General
Landscape Collection and Conservation staff lead an exploration of the “power of place” at Manitoga, the woodland garden and Mid-century Modern home of pioneering industrial designer Russel Wright and his wife Mary Wright. Formerly a granite quarry and logging site, the name Manitoga means “Place of Great Spirit,” adapted by Wright from Algonquin language. He built his house and studio directly into the quarry walls and brought stone, wood, and plants from the property inside. Wright’s integrated vision blended the built elements and the natural landscape together so that each was enriched, enhanced, and transformed by the other. Just as the house is interwoven with the site, the hillside is connected by views to its larger context of the Hudson River Valley, and the visitors themselves are involved in an intimate and unfolding relationship to place. With a background in theater set design, Wright had an expert hand in slowly revealing the drama of the landscape. He observed how the light shifted through the trees, the spectacle of the changing of the seasons, how plant communities acted in concert, and the way the forest opened up here or there, to a clearing or to a narrow path where you felt leaves brush against your arms. In its concept, design, and management, Manitoga unites science, culture, and nature with an ecology that is both human and spiritual. By employing the language of the forest to rehabilitate disturbed land, Wright demonstrated a sense of social responsibility and environmental sensitivity that continues to be relevant for both at-home and professional garden designers.
Planting
with Pollinators in Mind: A Guided Walk through Olana’s Legacy Landscape
Nordica Holochuck, MA, Environmental Studies, and Chris Layman
Saturday, May 25 I 3 p.m.
Olana State Historic Site I Hudson, NY
$30 Members I $40 General
Over the course of 40 years, the artist Frederic Church worked to create, build, and design Olana’s 250-acre landscape. With more than 5 miles of carriage roads, scenic views, a man-made lake, and native plantings, the site is both a living landscape painting and a vibrant and diverse ecosystem for native pollinators. Join The Olana Partnership, master gardener and environmental educator Nordica Holochuck, and beekeeper Chris Layman from Fox Farm Apiary for a special walk and workshop to learn more about how to create pathways for pollinators in your own garden inspired by the legacy of Church’s garden design at Olana. During the program, participants will learn more about pollinator pathways, how Church’s landscape and garden design intersected with environmental thinking, the way Olana serves as a haven for pollinator habitat, and how the Olana Partnership works closely with Fox Farm Apiary to manage beehives onsite. The program will consist of a guided walk along 1.75 miles of historic carriage road, participatory conversation with program guides, and culminate with wine and cheese reception in a special location outside Olana’s main house. Special tastings of Olana’s own honey will be provided.
Native
Plants in the Garden
Carolyn Summers, Executive Director, Flying Trillium Gardens and Preserve, Inc.
Saturday, June 1 I 2 p.m.
Flying Trillium Gardens and Preserve I Liberty, NY
$30 Members I $40 General
Despite the recent buzz about the importance of native plants for pollinators and other wildlife, many gardeners remain unfamiliar with their wide variety. FTGP showcases a diversity of native plants in semiformal beds and borders, rain gardens, ponds, and meadows, including some deer-resistant plantings. We hope to inspire you with new ideas for adding more native plants to your own garden.
Peter Aaron
The Underlying Principles in Building a Japanese Garden
Bob Levine
Sunday, June 2 I 10 a.m.
Japanese Gardens at Cedar Hill I Roxbury, CT
$30 Members I $40 General
In this Digging Deeper, we will explore the underlying principles which are applied in the creation and development of Japanese gardens. Stone selection and placement are critical elements in providing a foundation, enhanced by the addition of trees and shrubs chosen for their color, texture, and form, with the overall goal being balance and harmony. Learn how the Japanese Gardens at Cedar Hill have evolved over 25 years.
Erasing the Lines Leads to Good Design
Cindy Shumate
Saturday, June 8 I 10 a.m.
Prospect Gardens Westport I Westport, CT
$30 Members I $40 General
A well-designed garden of any size has a flow to it—pathways to invite people into it, features that integrate and complement—all while being horticulturally appropriate for the collection of plants. In this session, we will target some of the major projects on the property where we have created a new feature or collection, moved mature plant pieces into new places, or started a new area with a vision of what it will be in several years. Our focus areas will include the new grassy amphitheater, a 1-acre perennial meadow, privacy hedging without straight lines, and more. We will also examine the critical function of pathways, how to make a property into an integrated garden, and how to ensure both functionality and beauty at the same time.
Meadow Installation and Maintenance
Nora Sadler
Saturday, June 15 I 4 p.m.
Nature’s Flow I Chadds Ford, PA
$30 Members I $40 General
Three native plant meadows were installed on the property in 2011, 2014, and 2017. The largest meadow is a little under an acre, and the other two are much smaller. Site preparation, installation, and maintenance will be discussed. Knowing the wildlife value for bees, butterflies, and insects, plus other ecological benefits makes this gardening journey so rewarding.
The History of Wethersfield Estate & Garden and How it is Responding to Beech Tree Blights
Alaina Mancini, Head of Horticulture and Hillary Henderson
Sunday, June 23
Wethersfield Estate & Garden I Amenia, NY
$30 Members I $40 General
In 1937, Chauncey Devereaux Stillman purchased two contiguous abandoned farms comprising several hundred acres for use as a summer estate. He built a Georgian-style house designed by Bancel LaFarge at the highest point on the property, overlooking the Taconic Range, the Berkshires, and the Catskills. Adjacent to the house, he installed a series of garden rooms designed by landscape architect Brian Lynch that include terraces, lawns, mixed borders, a pleached bower, a tea house, a pergola, and a rill. Between 1947 and 1989, landscape architect Evelyn Poehler expanded the gardens to 3 acres, creating a strong axial arrangement with various follies and statuary. A 190-foot-long arborvitae allée runs south to north connecting a fountain with motifs from Greek mythology to an oval reflecting pool. A second axis, also originating in the inner garden from the dining room, runs westward, moving through a formal garden room with rows of topiary. Overlooking the garden to the north is a balustraded terrace set on a shale wall. Scattered architectural features include a belvedere and a Palladian arch. Poehler also designed a 7-acre woodland garden, employing a plant palette comprising mostly native species, in the style of an Italian Renaissance bosco. Sculptures of mythological figures by artists Peter Watts and Josef Stachura are placed along trails and carriage roads. Maintained by the Wethersfield Foundation since 2017, the house and gardens, along with bordering agricultural fields and forests, make up the 1,000-acre estate. The agricultural landscape includes windbreak plantings, field diversions, open drains, retention ponds, and wildlife borders—all part of an extensive reforestation effort led by the New York State Conservation Department (now Department of Environmental Conservation) beginning in the 1940s. We invite you to come, dig deeper into the history of Wethersfield Estate & Garden and learn how Wethersfield is responding to the various Beech Tree blights impacting historical features in the formal garden.
Collaboration
Carolyn Clark-Tenney and Betsy Mitchell of Avant Gardens
Sunday, June 30 I 4 p.m.
Viewpoint Garden I Bedford, NY
$30 Members I $40 General
Take in the breathtaking panoramic views at one of Westchester’s highest points and discover how the client and designer collaborated to embrace their talents and sensibilities, resulting in a beautiful and ecologically minded hilltop retreat. As you move through the garden, learn how they overcame obstacles and took clues from the land to develop the landscape. Wander through a newly acquired adjacent property that includes areas of undisturbed rock outcroppings, native plants, and a fire tower.
Garden Rooms
Gordon and Mary Hayward
Sunday, June 30 I 3 p.m.
Gordon and Mary Hayward’s Garden I Westminster West, VT
$30 Members I $40 General
Welcoming places in a garden for sitting, gathering, being alone or with others have taken on new meaning after Covid. Join Gordon and Mary Hayward as they discuss the universal design principles that informed the creation of their garden rooms of six different sizes, designs, and moods, each separate from one another, over their acre-and-a-half garden. The goal of this two-hour walkabout is to enable participants to confidently design a garden room in their own gardens that gently fits into the overall garden. Many design principles will inevitably surface during this design stroll.
The Joys and Challenges of a Meadow
Sheila Perrin and Pam Pooley
Sunday, June 30 I 10 a.m.
Perrin Garden I North Salem, NY
$30 Members I $40 General
The meadow at the Perrin Garden was first planted twenty years ago. Join us to discuss how the meadow was started, how it has grown, and how the meadow continues to evolve.
Vision and Revision: The Evolution of a Personal Garden
Mel and Peg Bellar
Saturday, July 6 I 4 p.m.
Mel and Peg’s Rustic Cabin Cottage Garden I Andes, NY
$30 Members I $40 General
Mel and Peggy Bellar started this garden in front of their rustic log home on the side of a rock and clay hill in the Catskills in 2003. Not knowing all that much, they started with a vision and a lot of enthusiasm. Since then, Mel has become a successful landscape designer, working in the Catskills, and the garden is now quite mature. Mel definitively states that their garden is not at all an example of “his work” but is an excellent example of how a garden can evolve over time, making adjustments to mistakes, bad choices, good choices, and changing as one grows and learns. He and Peggy will share their story and in the telling, there will be a lot to be learned about plant choices, hardscaping materials, dealing with grade changes, climate change, and not taking yourself too seriously. This garden is all about the feeling it creates and providing an experience of discovery. Designing a garden from the top down with big picture architecture is ideal, but starting with a vision and working in that direction over time can be practical and rewarding. After all, each time you choose and place a plant, adjust to something dying, put in a new path, or get rid of something “that is not bringing you joy,” you are making a design decision.
Topiary: Art of the Clipped Form
Kerry Ann McLean, Horticulturist and Educator
Saturday, July 13 I 10 a.m.
The Landcraft Garden Foundation I Mattituck, NY
Pricing to be announced
Topiary is the practice of training a plant into a shape through careful repeat clipping or other manipulations. At Landcraft Garden Foundation, we often assemble assorted classic topiaries (balls and cones) when building a tablescape for events. Singularly or in a group, nothing elevates a display as quickly as the topiary. Get the inside scoop on how to train a young houseplant cutting into a photo-ready tabletop topiary. One ball, two balls or three, cones, pillars, spirals and pompoms — learn to clip and shear the perfect form, then make your own. All attendees will go home with a clay-potted topiary plant and the know-how to grow it strong.
SummerHome’s Path to a Wilder Denver
Lisa Negri and Kevin Williams
Saturday, July 13 I 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
SummerHome Garden I Denver, CO
$30 Members I $40 General
The creation of SummerHome Garden transformed a dilapidated residential lot in the heart of Denver into an immersive, naturalistic garden, championing the use of drought-dynamic, locally suited flora, and offering an inspirational community space for all to enjoy. At the heart of the garden is the spirit of accessibility and defiance. In addition to its aesthetic appeal, SummerHome serves as a vital sanctuary in the midst of the urban jungle and stands as a symbol against the excessive development that looms in the surrounding neighborhood. Join the founder of SummerHome Garden, Lisa Negri, and garden designer Kevin Philip Williams, of Denver Botanic Gardens, to discuss the concepts, plants, planting strategies, and legal battles that went into creating this cherished and challenging public pocket park. The presentation and tour will be followed by an opportunity for conversational Q&A with Lisa and Kevin, both in SummerHome and in Lisa’s private residential garden. Copies of Kevin’s book, Shrouded in Light: Naturalistic Planting Inspired by Wild Shrublands (Filbert Press, 2024), will be available for purchase. Kevin and Lisa will also be co-hosting a Garden Conservancy webinar on July 25. See page 16 for more information.
Photo Robin Hill.
Garden Masters Series
OPPORTUNITIES TO MEET NEW FRIENDS WHILE EXPLORING THE PHILOSOPHY OF GARDEN CREATION, DESIGN THEORY, AND DIVERSE GARDENING TRADITIONS
A Visit to PWP
Landscape Architecture
Adam Greenspan
Wednesday, April 17
5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
PWP Landscape Architecture Berkeley, CA
$120 Members
$140 General
Come by the office for a behind-the-scenes tour and discussion with Adam Greenspan, Design Director, and other members of the PWP team, followed by drinks and snacks. Adam and the team will present a selection of projects on the boards such as Constitution Gardens, the New Central Harborfront in Hong Kong and the UC Berkeley botanical gardens (plural and lower case) as well as built work including Glenstone Museum, Salesforce Transit Center Park, and Jewel Changi Airport.
PWP’s work has won numerous awards from the ASLA, AIA, Architizer, ULI, and SCUP among others. PWP works closely with several nonprofits including the Landscape Architecture Foundation, Gardens of Golden Gate Park, and the American Society of Landscape Architects. Through our designs for public gardens and landscapes, the PWP summer internship program and our participation in public lectures and critiques at universities, PWP seeks to expand access to and knowledge of the discipline of landscape architecture.
The landscape of the Glenstone Museum in Maryland, designed by PWP Landscape Architecture. Photo: Iwan Baan.
A Visit to Field Operations
Tatiana Choulika
James Corner
Lisa Switkin
Thursday, May 16
5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Field Operations
New York, NY
$120 Members
$140 General
The Garden Conservancy invites you to join Field Operations at their office for drinks and light hors d’oeuvres, paired with conversation and a behind-thescenes look at ongoing work with Field Operations’ leadership and design teams.
Founded in 1999 by James Corner, Field Operations is a leading-edge landscape architecture and urban design practice based in New York City. Field Operations is renowned for strong contemporary design across a variety of project types and scales, from large urban districts, master plans and complex planning sites, to small well-crafted, detailed design projects. Regardless of scale, there is a special commitment to the design of a vibrant and dynamic public realm, informed by the ecology of both people and nature, rooted in place and context.
Field Operations’ projects include New York’s High Line, Brooklyn’s Domino Park, Waterfront Seattle, San Francisco’s Presidio Tunnel Tops, and Freshkills Park on Staten Island.
The Freshkills Park in New York, designed by Field Operations. Photo: Mona Miri/Sustainable Photography & Production.
The Central Park Archives
Kenneth R. Cobb
Cynthia Brenwall
Thursday, June 6
10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Municipal Archives
New York, NY
$135 Members
$160 General
Visit the unparalleled collection of original designs for Central Park in the New York City Municipal Archives with the Assistant Commissioner of NYC Department of Records and Information Services, Kenneth R. Cobb, and conservator Cynthia S. Brenwall, followed by lunch and conversation at a nearby restaurant. These remarkable drawings tell the story of the creation of New York’s great public park by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, from its conception to its completion. This treasure trove of material ranges from the original winning competition entry, to meticulously detailed maps, to plans and elevations of buildings—some built, some unbuilt—to elegant designs for all kinds of fixtures needed in a world of gaslight and horses, to intricate engineering drawings of infrastructure elements. Many of these materials have never been published and are rarely seen.
Presentation board by Jervis McEntee for Olmsted and Vaux’s Central Park proposal, 1858. Department of Parks Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
The Camp Rosemary Experience
Sunday, July 28
2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Lake Forest, IL
$135 Members
$160 General
Spend an extraordinary Sunday afternoon at Camp Rosemary, one of America’s most spectacular private gardens. This expansive Lake Forest estate, designed in part by Rose Standish Nichols in the 1920s and later enhanced by other prominent landscape architects and designers, includes an array of captivating English-style garden rooms, a lush, wooded ravine garden, and an exquisite pool house.
Head gardener Marya Padour will lead guests through the intensely and imaginatively cultivated property and discuss the expert horticultural techniques used to make this garden shine. Camp Rosemary was featured in Gardens of the North Shore of Chicago, by author Ben Lenhardt.
In addition to visual riches, guests will be lavished with attention, from valet parking and music to cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, while exploring the garden.
Camp Rosemary in Lake Forest, IL.
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.
Garden Futures Grants
The Garden Conservancy awards Garden Futures Grants for small public gardens and other nonprofit organizations, making a significant impact in their communities through garden-based programming or by contributing to the study and preservation of garden history. We also welcome applications from organizations contributing to the study and preservation of garden history. In 2023, we awarded $102,000 to 15 organizations nationwide.
For more information about the Garden Conservancy’s grant opportunities, email gardenfutures@gardenconservancy.org.
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.
Christine Ashburn Photography
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!
2023 Open Day at Urban Wildlife Habitat, Los Angeles, CA. Photo: Matt Harbicht.
Domino Park in Brooklyn, NY, designed by Field Operations. See event on page 31. Photo: Barrett Doherty.
PO Box 608 Garrison, NY 10524
gardenconservancy.org
Newburgh, NY
Permit No. 44
The Catalog
2024 Spring I Summer Educational Programs
Mural design by George Niedecken for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Dana House, Springfield, IL, 1902-04. Ink, watercolor, and tempera on paper. See symposium on page 5. Reproduced courtesy of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art I Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York).
