Virtual Talk 11-2-23: Du Pont Gardens of the Brandywine Valley

Virtual Talk 11-2-23: Du Pont Gardens of the Brandywine Valley

Thu, Nov 2, 2023
2:00 PM- 3:00 PM

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.

DATE AND TIME
Thursday, November 2, 2023
2:00 p.m. Eastern

LOCATION
Live on Zoom

REGISTRATION
$5 for Members of The Garden Conservancy
$10 for General Admission
$50 for the webinar PLUS a copy of Du Pont Gardens of the Brandywine Valley
Registration for this event has ended.

A recording of this webinar will be sent to all registrants a few days after the event. We encourage you to register, even if you cannot attend the live webinar. 

Members of the Frank & Anne Cabot Society for planned giving have complimentary access to Garden Conservancy webinars. All Cabot Society members will automatically be sent the link to participate on the morning of the webinar. For more information about the Cabot Society, please contact Bridget Connors at bconnors@gardenconservancy.org or 845.424.6500, ext. 228.

About the Speakers:

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.


The Fall 2023 Literary Series is presented in partnership with Phaidon and Monacelli.