User’s guide
This mini-site is intended to record and share information among participants of Preservation Weekend 2012 as well as with other interested parties.

The column on the right contains a photo-essay serving as a summary of the conference, including:

(1.) The keynote program,

(2.) Conference presentations and panel discussions, and

(3.) Field trips to several gardens in the Chicago area.

In the left-hand column next to each section are links to videos, slideshows, audio recordings, and background documents providing more comprehensive information.

List of participating gardens and organizations

Conference highlights

Conference program and schedule

About Preservation Weekend, its history and goals

Preservation Weekend 2012
Offers Insight, Information, and Inspiration

The third Garden Conservancy professional development conference for garden preservation professionals, Sustaining the Garden: Preservation Weekend 2012, brought together more than fifty representatives from twenty-eight different gardens for four days of instructive workshops and field trips. Held during the last week in September at the Chicago Botanic Garden, the conference provided participants with practical information and creative ideas based on four major themes: the development of a board of directors and its importance in garden excellence; marketing and outreach to the community; managing garden change and maintaining horticultural standards; and dealing with the challenges encountered on the transition journey from a private to a public garden.

View from Regenstein Center, Chicago Botanic Garden

Preservation Weekend began with tours of the Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG) followed by a reception at CBG’s Regenstein Center and an opportunity to visit the Lenhardt Library and Rare Book Room. Seen below viewing one of the treasures of the collections are Courtnay Daniels, Garden Conservancy vice-chairman; Bill Noble, Garden Conservancy director of preservation; Joe Baker, executive director, Longue Vue House & Gardens, New Orleans, LA;  George Schoellkopf, founder, Hollister House Garden, Washington, CT; Deborah Royce, Garden Conservancy board member; and Ben Lenhardt, Garden Conservancy chairman.

Video recordings of keynote conversation,

Peckerwood Garden: Looking Back and Going Forward

Part 1: Welcoming remarks, Antonia Adezio

3:59 minutes

Part 2: Introduction to Peckerwood Garden, Claire Sawyers

8:59 minutes

Part 3: Conversation between John Fairey and Jonathan Wright

8:37 minutes

Part 4: Conversation between John Fairey and Jonathan Wright

9:44 minutes

Part 5: Conversation between John Fairey and Jonathan Wright

9:23 minutes

Part 6: Conservation between John Fairey and Jonathan Wright

9:23 minutes

Part 7: Concluding remarks

1:24 minutes

Part 1: Keynote Conversation

Marion Brenner  

The conference officially launched with a keynote conversation, Peckerwood Garden: Looking Back and Going Forward, with John Fairey, the founder and owner of Peckerwood Garden (shown above), Hempstead, Texas, and Jonathan Wright, a gardener at Chanticleer Garden, near Philadelphia. The conversational format provided an intimate glimpse into the artistic and horticultural vision that John Fairey brought to the development of his garden, which features rare plants native to a wide region of the southern United States and Mexico mingled with their Asian counterparts.

The keynote conversation was introduced by Claire Sawyers (shown on the right, touring Millennium Park during Preservation Weekend with John Fairey and other conference participants), director of the Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College and co-head of the Garden Conservancy’s Screening Committee. Her presentation described the history and development of Peckerwood Garden, illustrated with beautiful photographs.

Presentation and panel topics

SLIDESHOWS:

Sophia Siskel, president and CEO, Chicago Botanic Garden  
Why Gardens are Important, Especially Now

Rick King, president and CEO, Kittleman & Associates

The Nuts and Bolts of Successful Board Development

Harriet Resnick, Vice President, Visitor Experience and Business Development, Chicago Botanic Garden

Positioning the Garden to be a Valued Resource in the Community

Gloria Ciaccio, director of public relations, Chicago Botanic Garden

Using Traditional and Social Media for Successful Promotion

Steve Ball, Chicago Botanic Garden, Director of Corporate Relations

Attracting Corporate Sponsorship for Events and Programs

AUDIO RECORDINGS:

Sophia Siskel
 

Rick King
 

Gloria Ciaccio
 

Steve Ball
 

Part 2: Conference Presentations and Panel Discussions

Sophia Siskel, president of CBG, welcomed participants to the garden. Her talk, Why Gardens are Important, Especially Now, reinforced the significant role that public gardens play in our lives and our communities.

Highlighting a major theme of the conference, Rick King (right), president and CEO, Kittleman & Associates, gave an overview on The Nuts and Bolts of Successful Board Development, discussing identification and recruitment of prospects, board interaction with management, and board composition and structure.

Rick King's presentation on board development was followed by a discussion of two case studies, presented by Karla Drover (below), assistant director at Yew Dell Botanical Gardens, Crestwood, KY, and Judith Tankard, a board member of Garland Farm, the last home and garden of renowned landscape designer Beatrix Farrand in Bar Harbor, ME.

SLIDESHOWS:

Kris Jarantoski, executive vice president and director, Chicago Botanic Garden

Managing Garden Change, Setting Horticultural Standards,

and Maintaining Excellence

Charlotte Blome, Ruth Bancroft Garden

Renewing an Aging Garden

Amy Graham, Longue Vue House and Gardens

Recovering from Disaster

Greg Graves, Chase Garden

Creating a New Garden While Staying True to Mission

Paul Cady, Filoli

Renovation of Historic Plant Collections

Stephen Morrell, John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden

Restoration of the Tea House

AUDIO RECORDINGS:

Amy Graham
 

Greg Graves
 

Paul Cady
 

Stephen Morrell
 

Kris Jarantoski, CBG executive vice president and director, offered a dynamic and highly-appreciated presentation on Managing Garden Change, Setting Horticultural Standards, and Maintaining Excellence, highlighting the rigorous standards and best practices that are key to successful collections and personnel management.

SLIDESHOWS:

Panel on Marketing and Mission-Related Outreach

Shelagh Fritz, Gardens of Alcatraz; Amy Graham, Longue Vue; Alejandro Saralegui, Madoo Conservancy; Tanya DeMarsh Dodson, GCNN. Q&A with panelists and Chicago Botanic Garden presenters

Change and Transition: The Journey from Private to Public

Matko Tomicic and Nina Gillman, LongHouse Reserve; Dia Steiger, Winghaven's Elizabeth Lawrence Garden; "Open Mic" discussion

AUDIO RECORDING:

Change and Transition Panel: Matko Tomicic, Nina Gillman, Dia Steiger
 

Panel Discussions 

Participating in the panel presentations on Marketing and Mission-Related Outreach, Alejandro Saralegui, director of Madoo Conservancy, Sagaponack, NY, describes the importance of “brand development” and the creation of a new logo for Madoo.

Following a panel on Change and Transition: the Journey from Private to Public, several conference participants were invited to address key questions facing garden founders and garden staff. The lively discussion featured Charlotte Blome, consulting garden manager, the Ruth Bancroft Garden, Walnut Creek, CA; Jeannette Matthews, managing horticulturist, the Chase Garden, Orting, WA; George Schoellkopf, founder and owner, Hollister House Garden, Washington, CT; Jack Lenor Larsen, founder and owner, LongHouse Reserve, East Hampton, NY; and Alejandro Saralegui, director, Madoo Conservancy, Sagaponack, NY.

Participants included Colin Cabot (above) and other members of the Garden Conservancy's board of directors.

SLIDESHOW:

Garden Snapshot presentations

Garden Snapshots

In between longer presentations and panel discussions, conference sessions also featured a series of garden "snapshots,” three-minute overviews that gave everyone an opportunity to become acquainted with the geographical, horticultural, and historical range of the participating gardens.

Dia Steiger (left), executive director of Wing Haven Foundation in Charlotte, NC, presented a snapshot of the two Wing Haven gardens, Elizabeth Lawrence's and Elizabeth Clarkson's.

Description of field trips and

garden tours

Part 3: Going Further Afield

In addition to the formal sessions, participants enjoyed extraordinary behind-the-scenes visits to the home and garden of Craig Bergmann (photo below, welcoming the Preservation Weekend visitors) and Paul Klug in Lake Forest; Millennium Park in downtown Chicago; Crab Tree Farm, the private gardens of John and Neville Bryan on the bluffs above Lake Michigan; and Mettawa Manor, the home and garden of Bill Kurtis and Donna LaPietra in Lake Bluff. At each of these special locations, conference participants were privileged to hear presentations about the history and horticulture of the gardens presented by their directors or owners.

At the field trip to Millennium Park, Ed Uhlir, executive director, and Liz Edwards, director of special projects, shared the story of the development of the park and its important place today in the arts and culture scene of Chicago. Below, the group listens to Ed Uhlir in front of Millenium Park's signature "Bean" sculpture.

View into Lurie Garden (above). Director and head horticulturist Jennifer Davit (below) led the tour.

Preservation Weekend participants were also privileged to visit John and Neville Bryan’s Crab Tree Farm (below), a landscape of formal gardens and woodland walks with sightings of buildings that were designed in 1910 by Chicago architect Solon Spencer Beman.

Amy Graham

Crab Tree Farm includes a courtyard garden designed by Ellen Shipman. Below, John Bryan presents the orginal plans for the Shipman garden.

  Amy Graham

AUDIO RECORDING:

John Bryan on fundraising for nonprofit organizations
 

In the farm’s Summerhouse (below), John Brayn regaled the group with case histories of development challenges that he’s encountered and mastered in his years working with numerous nonprofit arts organizations.

At Mettawa Manor (below), the home of Bill Kurtis and Donna LaPietra, the Preservation Weekend participants explored the history of this house and grounds. Paths led from the terrace through extensive garden rooms, the rose garden, a vegetable garden, and the evocative ten-acre grassland prairie. Donna LaPietra narrated a video on the restoration of the house and gardens, and everyone enjoyed a buffet dinner with the full moon gleaming over the terrace as the conference drew to a close.

At the conclusion of the working sessions, Preservation Weekend participants gathered for a group picture on the steps of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Regenstein Center.

Thank you to our Preservation Weekend Partners and Sponsors!

The 2012 conference was hosted by the Chicago Botanic Garden, which in addition to providing state-of-the-art facilities at its Regenstein Center as a conference venue, also contributed generously to the event through the participation of several senior staff members.

Generous grants to support Preservation Weekend 2012 were received from three Chicago-area foundations: the Richard Driehaus Foundation, Lenhardt Foundation, and Negaunee Foundation.

Members of the board of directors of the Garden Conservancy, as well as former board members from the Chicago area, were also generous in their support, underwriting travel scholarships for conference participants.

And thank you to all the contributors to this website!

We thank each of the conference speakers, who shared their valuable insights and ideas, and everyone who helped us document and share information from the conference, including the Chicago Botanic Garden, who is hosting the slideshows on their own website; Jeff Wright, who captured and shared audiotapes of many of the programs; and the many participants who shared their photographs. We are able to share this information only with their help.