News

Recent news about the Garden Conservancy, our programs, and our preservation and education partners around the country.

The Gardener, a documentary film on Garden Conservancy founder Frank Cabot and his extraordinary garden at Les Quatre Vents in Quebec, will be screened in Middlebury, VA, and Hopewell, NJ, in April 2019. Read more about upcoming screenings.

Jewelry designer and avid gardener Elizabeth Locke was the subject of our Society of Fellows Focus in our February 2019 Fellows e-Newsletter. Find out what inspires her.

The latest developments in Open Days: new pricing, the launch of a new Garden Masters Series, and additional projects. 

LongHouse Reserve's creator, Jack Lenor Larsen, was one of five "influencers and artists" profiled in Craft in America's PBS series, "Visionaries," on December 21.

On December 18, 2018, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Preservation magazine featured the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden as one of “40 Places Under 40 Years: Landscapes.”

Garden Conservancy director emerita and past vice president Barbara Paul Robinson talks about her new book and her passion for gardening in our Society of Fellows December e-Newsletter. Read the excerpt.

Congratulations to Lynden Miller, who was honored by the New York Landmarks Conservancy at their 25th anniversary Living Landmarks Celebration on November 1.

Great news for Stoneleigh Garden in the Philadelphia area! The Lower Merion School District will not build athletic fields on the Stoneleigh property, as reported by Phildadelphia CBS Local on November 20, 2018. 

Steepletop, the home of esteemed poet Edna St. Vincent Millay in Austerlitz, NY, has closed indefinitely, reports the Hudson Valley 360. 

The Mary F. Rounsavall Pavilion at Yew Dell Botanical Gardens in Crestwood, KY, was recognized with the Kentucky Society of Architects Honor Award in October.

Garden at Risk:  The fall issue of Garden Citings, the newsletter of the Cherokee Garden Library, published an article in support of preserving Clermont Lee's garden at the Girl Scouts headquarters in Savannah, GA. A proposed renovation of the Juliette Gordon Low House in Savannah, GA, threatens to destroy the garden. Earlier, the Garden Conservancy issued a letter in support of exploring alternatives that can preserve the garden. Photo by Amy Henschen, 2011

Videos of our panel discussion on the challenges of preserving "The Architectural Garden" are now available to watch online! If you missed the discussion at Bard College on September 22, 2018, you can listen to it online here. Photo, left to right: Sarah Vance, the Blue Garden, Newport, RI; Stephen Byrns, Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, Yonkers, NY; and Judith Tankyard, author and garden historian 

We recently chatted with Lucy and Nat Day about their love of topiaries, sharing their garden for the last time, and what being a part of the Garden Conservancy Open Days program has meant to them. Read the excerpt from our September Society of Fellows e-newsletter

Gravitas Ventures, the distributor of The Gardener film in the USA, is releasing it on DVD and video on demand on September 18, 2018. More details are available on the film's website. The Gardener is a documentary about Frank Cabot, the founder of the Garden Conservancy, and his garden at Les Quatre Vents in Quebec. 

Garden Conservancy board member Jorge Sánchez was featured in the July issue of our Society of Fellows e-newsletter. Jorge will be presenting three talks this fall for our speaker series, Saving American Gardens.

Charity Navigator has awarded the Garden Conservancy a four-star rating—its highest possible rating—for demonstrating strong financial health and a commitment to accountability and transparency. Read Charity Navigator's July 1, 2018, letter.

Our Fall Speaker Series kicks off on September 12 in New York City, when John Danzer of Munder-Skiles presents "A Place of Repose: Preserving America's Garden Furniture History." Save these dates! Photo: Beatrix Farrand chairs and tea table at Dumbarton Oaks. Courtesy of Munder-Skiles

On August 11, 2018, the Lord & Schryver Conservancy announced the hiring of Pam Wasson as its first executive director. Based in Salem, OR, the Lord & Schryver Conservancy stewards the legacy of pioneering landscape architects Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schyver, including their home garden at Gaiety Hollow.

The Garden Conservancy received a major gift in support of the Blithewood Garden rehabilitation project.

Garden at Risk: Stoneleigh Garden, designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm and a historically and culturally significant new public garden in the Philadelphia area, is threatened by possible expansion of a local school district. The Garden Conservancy supports the preservation of the garden as a public resource. Read more.

Garden at Risk:  Progress! The Frick Collection's new renovation plans promise to recreate its Russell Page garden according to the original design. Read more.

Garden at Risk: The proposed expansion of Valley Oaks Steak Company into a factory farm would be damaging to Powell Gardens (photo, above), a significant cultural asset in the Kansas City region. Read our letter of support for the garden and a Daily Star-Journal article on June 19, 2018, including a quote from James Hall.

Garden at Risk: Steepletop, the home of esteemed poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, is at risk of closing its doors at the end of the 2018 season. Read more.  

Five Seasons—The Gardens of Piet Oudolf, a new film by Thomas Piper, premiered in New York City on June 13. Find out more about the film

Lotusland is celebrating its silver anniversary this year, including a series of Gardens of Paradise tours. Read more. 

Get to know architect Douglas Wright, subject of our Focus profile in our Society of Fellows May enewsletter. 

In Jacksonville on Saturday, April 14, 2018, James Brayton Hall announced that the Garden Conservancy will donate $20,000 to the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens to help the Cummer restore its gardens. The three gardens, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, suffered significant damage when Hurricane Irma hit Jacksonville last September 11. The announcement was made the evening of our Jacksonville Open Day, which was presented in partnership with the Cummer Museum.

Nord Eriksson's drought-tolerant garden was featured in a Los Angeles Times article on our April 22 Open Day in Pasadena. Photo by EPT Design, Inc.

The Foundation for Landscape Studies awarded the J. B. Jackson Book Prize to, among others, James Rose (University of Georgia Press, 2017), written by Dean Cardasis and the second volume of the Foundation’s Masters of Modern Landscape Design series. In the early 1990s, the Garden Conservancy collaborated in saving James Rose’s garden and home and transforming them into the James Rose Center, a nonprofit landscape research and study center in Ridgewood, NJ. Photo: James C. Rose (1913-1991)

Peckerwood Garden, our preservation partner in Hempstead, TX, announced the opening of a nursery for rare and unusual plants.

We are thrilled to announce the US release of The Gardener, a full-length documentary about Garden Conservancy founder Frank Cabot, on March 28, 2018.

As of March 21, 2018, the Chase Garden has new owners, local gardeners who are passionate about the garden and committed to preserving the legacy of Ione and Emmott Chase. The Garden Conservancy has worked to preserve the Orting, WA, garden since 1995 and continues to hold and monitor a conservation easement on the property, protecting the garden in perpetuity.

Litchfield County Times, Litchfield, CT, announced a series of new educational lectures and workshops, "Barn Talks," at Hollister House Garden, as well as the creation of a new education planner position at the garden.

Louise Agee Wrinkle, a Garden Conservancy director emerita and author of Listen to the Land, was featured in the Fellows Focus of the February edition of our Society of Fellows enewsletter. 

The Garden Conservancy was deeply saddened to hear of the death of our board member Antonia Hunter Breck on February 21, 2018. We have all lost a wonderful friend. 

East Bay Times, Walnut Creek, CA, reported on the daylong celebration of Ruth Bancroft’s life at the Ruth Bancroft Garden on February 17, 2018. Photo by Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group

Kick off the garden season with our Open Days Digging Deeper spring lecture series in Millbrook, NY! Read more.

 
Montrose Garden in Hillsborough, NC, launched its very first website in February 2018.

In January, our preservation department visited Peckerwood Garden in Hempstead, TX, for the annual conservation easement monitoring. Read highlights from their visit.

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