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List of program schedule during our 2023-2024 season:
September 18, 2023
James golden – a view from federal twist
James Golden, born in Mississippi though resident in New York City for most of his adult life, was a writer in the corporate world. Nearing retirement and embarking on what he happily calls la vita nuova, he moved to a property near the Delaware in western New Jersey to make a garden. When he began the garden, he also began a now well-known blog, The View from Federal Twist. Over 20 years on, James is a celebrated garden maker and thinker whose garden, Federal Twist, has been featured in numerous publications including The New York Times, Gardens Illustrated, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Horticulture, Elle Décor, Better Homes and Gardens, and in several garden books. On visiting Federal Twist for the American Gardens BBC TV series, Monty Don, the British gardening celebrity, said “after over 50 years of gardening and visiting gardens, it made me rethink what a garden can be and do.” James recently published a new book on his garden—The View from Federal Twist: a New Way of Thinking about Gardens, Nature and Ourselves.
He fell in love with the house, a modernist 1960’s structure—long, low, the color of bark, with floor-to-ceiling windows all around. But the land outside the house was appalling—a waste of derelict woods, shade, and heavy, wet clay. As Golden thought his way through his site’s constraints, he learned the harsh ecology and wildness of the place could reveal astonishing ideas of what plants and landscape can do. The emerging garden led him to a new way of thinking about gardens, nature and himself. Golden will tell us about this new way of thinking, and how it changed his life.
Learn more at https://federaltwistdesign.org/
October 16, 2023
Paul Westervelt / Saunders Nursery – New Introductions: Are They Better or Just New?
With so many new perennials released every year, it can be difficult to distinguish legitimately better cultivars from those that are simply marketable. Through production trials, garden visits, vendor visits, and conversations with other growers, Paul works to select the true winners for our region (and throws some of the losers squarely in front of oncoming traffic).
Learn more at https://www.finegardening.com/author/paul-westervelt
November 13, 2023
David Culp / Garden designer – Six Seasons of Beauty from Brandywine Cottage
Based on his most recent book of the same name, this talk digs deeper into David Culp’s celebrated garden Brandywine Cottage, featuring a focus for each month, including recipes, a garden to-do list, flower arrangements and practical information. Favorite mail-order sources, gardening for biodiversity and wildlife habitat, the creation of the meadow at Brandywine Cottage, recommended plants for dry places, and even favorite weeds will also be discussed. This lecture and book are about lifestyle, and blurring the lines of indoor and outdoor living.
Learn more at https://www.davidlculp.com/
December 11, 2023
Linda Thorne / Orchids Are Not Difficult, Just Misunderstood
Linda Thorne is an American Orchid Society judge, past national assistant trainer for the American Orchid Society, and past AOS trustee. After years of holding the position of treasurer for The Slipper Orchid Alliance, she passed on the position to someone else. Linda loves orchids and helping others learn about their care and explaining just how special they truly are.
Seagrove Orchids was established in 2000 after a move from the Washington DC area. Dear friends and mentors from Maryland provided encouragement for this new career move. Linda grew over two hundred individual orchid plants in her Maryland home and had an orchid propagation laboratory. By the time she decided to move to NC she had accumulated over 500 potted orchids and over three hundred bottles of baby orchids. All made the trip with her. After the initial culture shock of city life to country life, Linda was pleased with her decision to pursue Seagrove Orchids. I can say that leaving an amazing job in Washington DC in hazardous materials was hard. A bonus included in her move to Seagrove Nc is that her parents live only an hour North in Greensboro, NC.
Learn more at http://www.seagroveorchids.com/
January 22, 2024
Sara Gagné – Where is the best place to connect with nature? At your door!
I bet you won’t believe me when I tell you that you share your home and yard with thousands, yes thousands, of other species. From coyotes to luna moths, you are surrounded by a constellation of wildlife in the ecological galaxy that is your town or city. Join me as I show you how you influence the species around you, and in turn, how they influence you in your yard, along your street, in your neighborhood, and citywide. In each place, I’ll share easy ways to build on your budding relationship with urban nature.
Learn more at https://www.saragagne.com/
February 12, 2024
Jared Barnes / PhD from TX – ‘Thrivable’ perennials for the South
In the south horticulturists want perennials that are not only sustainable, but also thrive in a variety of environments. In this engaging talk, Jared shares stellar perennials he has grown and seen in his travels across the southern states.
Learn more at https://meristemhorticulture.com/
March 18, 2024
Keith G. Robinson – Collecting and Designing with Bulbs
Keith G. Robinson discovered his love of Spring bulbs as a child growing up in the mountains of North Carolina. Springtime meant the search for old homesites where blooming heirloom bulbs were captivating.
This obsession has continued all of his life and career as his gardens at his home in Chattahoochee Hills Georgia are abundant with over 50 varieties of daffodils and narcissus, many of them foraged heirlooms from the area.
Join Keith in his excitement for all of the beautiful harbingers of Springtime, collecting, curating, and designing with bulbs.
Learn more at https://flowermag.com/keith-robinson-home-and-garden/
April 15, 2024
Jeff Epping – Gravel Gardens – Gardens that Rock!
If you want a garden that truly rocks, look no further than a gravel garden. Earth-friendly and climate resilient gravel gardens require less of just about everything – water, energy, chemicals, mulch and most importantly labor – but give back so much more. Jeff Epping of Epping Design & Consulting’ LLC and former Director of Horticulture at Olbrich Botanical Gardens for over 28 years, has created numerous gravel gardens, including one in his own home garden that you can easily incorporate into your home landscape as well. Don’t confuse these gardens with traditional rock or alpine gardens that can look more rocky than green and require a great deal of time to maintain. These tough gardens are as colorful as any perennial planting around, provide food and habit for pollinators and other insects and require up to 80% less maintenance than a traditional perennial planting. Jeff will show you how to replace conventional lawns, expensive annual plantings, and labor-intensive perennial beds with these easy-to-maintain gravel gardens, just as he’s done at Olbrich and elsewhere.
Learn more at https://awaytogarden.com/gravel-gardens-with-jeff-epping-of-olbrich-botanical-gardens/
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