23rd Annual Winter Lecture Series: All 3 Lectures

Note, the first lecture of this series is IN PERSON. The second and third are ONLINE, respectively. Confirmation emails will contain specific logistics.

Three extraordinary speakers explore how immersive, responsive garden design can change how people interact with nature and foster a sense of individual responsibility to protect our shared natural world.

A Quest to Save the Planet Through Design

Kona Gray, In-person

How can we elevate design to save the planet? In this lushly illustrated talk, award-winning landscape architect Kona Gray,FASLA, PLA, discusses how his projects answer this question. He will share how his landscapes center ecological sensitivity and cultural inclusivity, from Etéreo, an ecolodge nestled in the pygmy mangroves of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula,to River Park Center, an urban green space in Miami-Dade County. Draw inspiration for how to reconnect ourselves and our communities more deeply to the outdoors, and how that connection will develop environmental empathy and foster a shared sense of responsibility for our planet.

An Ode to the Land

Estudio Ome, Online

Susana Rojas Saviñón and Hortense Blanchard share what makes their Mexico City practice unique, including their use of aromatic, edible, medicinal, and native Mexican plants, some of which they propagate from wild seeds they collect. The pair will discuss their award-winning Forest Garden,a residential landscape located within an ecological reserve that features a vegetable garden, natural pool, and fern garden. They will also provide a look at Lava Garden, which turned a lawn-covered suburban backyard into a lush oasis that realigns the garden with the land's original volcanic ecology and the house's mid-century modernist architecture.

Respecting the Spirit of Place

Harris Bugg Studio, Online

Dubbed "pioneering design talents of their generation" by the Royal Horticultural Society, Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg believe both the landscapes they design and the business they run must be respectful, inclusive,and ethically responsible. The duo will highlight their progressive ethos as they discuss Kitchen Garden at RHS Bridgewater, which includes an edible forest garden, a classic kitchen garden, and an apothecary/herbal garden, all situated amid the stunning historic walls of a previously derelict site. They will also provide a rare glimpse into the series of productive, traditional, and experimental garden rooms they designed for a private, rural estate in Oxfordshire, England.