Celebrating 25 Years of Saving and Sharing Gardens

We launched our 25th Anniversary year with a festive celebration at the Metropolitan Club in New York City on December 3, 2014, together with more than 260 guests from 19 states. Co-chairs Susan Burke, Suzanne Rheinstein, and Deborah Royce led the effort to plan the Garden Conservancy’s first black-tie event. It was a huge success, raising more than $670,000 for our garden preservation, Open Days, and education programs.

The Metropolitan Club was transformed into a glittering forest of silver ginkgo trees, while Colin Cabot, son of Garden Conservancy founder Frank Cabot, served as our host for the evening. His mother, Anne Perkins Cabot, and Dame Angela Lansbury were honorary chairs of the event. Chairman of the Board Benjamin F. Lenhardt, Jr. and Vice-Chairman Courtnay S. Daniels presented awards to five individuals who were honored for their role in helping shape and support the Garden Conservancy’s preservation, education, and Open Days programs over the past 25 years:  Jane Forbes Clark, John Kaul Greene, Dorrance Hill Hamilton, Richard William Lighty, and Marco Polo Stufano. Read more about each of the honorees’ longstanding support and dedication to our organization.

At the end of the evening, Garden Conservancy president Jenny Young du Pont announced that we have received a $500,000 matching grant challenge from the California-based Kayne Foundation. Jenny thanked board member Suzanne Kayne, who was in attendance and instrumental in securing the challenge.

The evening was a celebration of our organization’s tremendous accomplishments over the first 25 years of our work. Looking ahead to the next 25 years, we will continue to expand our preservation work, support local efforts to create public gardens, develop more opportunities to open gardens, and teach people, while inspiring passion for gardens and gardening. With the success of this party, and a challenge grant to propel us forward, the next quarter century will be every bit as successful as the first—and more!

Evening Hours, Seen & Heard, People & Places, and other media coverage

Anniversary Celebration Media
Summerhouse walk ken druse
A Timeline of Our First Quarter Century

See a few of the many milestones in our first quarter century since our founding in 1989.

Greenwood Gardens. Photo by Ken Druse.