Showing posts with label stephen orr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stephen orr. Show all posts

Friday, August 24, 2012

GLAMOROUS GARDEN WEEK-END RETREAT at HOLLISTER HOUSE



The stars are aligned.  
Hollister House and the Garden Conservancy have seen to it that some of the garden constellations’ celebrated experts, heart-stopping garden tours, rare and regal plant swag – er sales – and of course, food and drink, are  center stage this weekend.

There couldn’t be a better weekend to celebrate all things garden.

August 24, 25 and 26 at Hollister House, located in bucolic Washington, Connecticut  is THE place to be.  For the entire weekend. Or for select programs.  There is a sublime lineup of lectures, and garden parties to select from.

If "study" sounds too head-crunching, cerebral for you?  
How about garden indulgence? 
Or immersion?  
Or the luxury of enjoying a garden lifestyle that befits passionate garden enthusiasts?

The Third Biennial Hollister House Garden Study Weekend
Gardening Anew: Fresh Perspectives on the Garden: explore sustainable practice and creative inspiration in our environment and aesthetic.
The weekend begins with a cocktail reception and rare plant sale on Friday evening, August 24, continues on Saturday, August 25 with the symposium and round table discussion , concluding on Sunday, August 26 with a Garden Conservancy Open Day.
The weekend is presented by Hollister House Garden, Washington, Connecticut, and the Garden Conservancy.

Friday evening, August 24 6 p.m.
Gala cocktail reception and plant sale at the Washington Montessori School: 
an opportunity to mingle informally with seminar speakers and other garden enthusiasts, and to take advantage of early buying at rare plant sale.

Saturday, August 25 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Seminar: Gardening Anew: Fresh Perspectives on the Garden
Saturday’s symposium takes place at the Washington Montessori School in comfortable, air-conditioned spaces with up-to-date lecture facilities. The day’s agenda includes a buffet luncheon, a sale of beautifully written and illustrated garden books, a plant sale featuring a select group of New England’s finest specialty plant growers, and a ‘show & tell’ plant talk.

Featured speakers:
Edwina von Gal, the seminar’s keynote speaker. von Gal is principal of her own celebrated international landscape design firm.
She will be joined by several outstanding professional horticulturists. All will address new ways to garden encompassing the knowledgeable use of native plants with attention to their form and function, sophisticated solutions found in the soil, and examples of fresh perspectives in the spirit of innovation and experimentation.
William Cullina, executive director, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay, Maine
Eric T. Fleisher, director of horticulture, Battery Park City Parks Conservancy, New York City
Bill Thomas, executive director, Chanticleer, Wayne, Pennsylvania
Stephen Orr, editorial director of gardening, Martha Stewart Living, and moderator of the seminar


If you haven't already secured your multiple copies of Orr's book, "Tomorrow's Garden: Design and Inspiration for a New Age of Sustainable Gardening," you can load up this weekend and get Stephen to autograph it at the Hickory Stick Book Shop!  
Tomorrow's Garden makes a perfect hostess gift and a holiday adventure for the garden lover on your list. 

Rare Plant Sale
A select group of specialty plant growers will sell rare plants throughout the day.
After 1 p.m., the rare plant sale opens to the general public. Before 1 p.m., only seminar participants will have access.
Buffet Luncheon

Garden Books Sale and Authors’ Signing
Garden books, many authored by symposium speakers and available for signing.

My book, “The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook” will be featured for sale.  Because I was committed to attend the Harvest East End event: http://harvesteastend.com/ scheduled for Saturday and benefitting East End Hospice, The Peconic Land Ttrust and Group for the East End, Hollister House was kind enough to allow me to provide buyers my personally autographed publisher’s inscription card as the next best thing to being there. 
I hate to miss this very special weekend.  Drats to conflicting schedules. Why does everything good have to happen at the same time?  But on the plus side, I will be supporting a wonderful cause, will be showcasing my book and enjoying all the wonderful world from “my” local, incredible, Homegrown chefs and the growers who inspire them.

Show & Tell’ Round Table

Favorite plants for the late-season garden, with commentary by garden writer Page Dickey, horticulturist Marco Polo Stufano, and nurseryman Adam Wheeler.
Location for Friday reception and Saturday seminar: Washington Montessori School

Sunday, August 26
Early birds can choose to start the day with a champagne breakfast, 8 – 10 a.m., on the beautiful rear lawn at the romantic country garden at Hollister House in Washington, Connecticut.
The grand finale to the gardening weekend is Sunday, when the Garden Conservancy opens several exceptional private gardens, including Hollister House Garden and others in nearby Litchfield and Roxbury, as part of its national Open Days program.
Read more about these gardens – including descriptions, directions, and the hours each will be open – on the Open Days schedule for the Litchfield County Open Day. http://www.gardenconservancy.org/opendays/open-days-schedule/openday/580-litchfield-county-open-day


TICKETS AND REGISTRATION
Friday evening: cocktail reception with early buying at the rare plant sale
Includes free ticket for door prize $75; members of Hollister House Garden and Garden Conservancy, $65
Saturday: all-day symposium $160, members $150
Includes breakfast and buffet lunch and rare plant sale 
Rare plant sale is open to the general public, free of charge, after 1 p.m.
Sunday: champagne breakfast at Hollister House Garden $25, members $20
A combination package is $245 per person, general admission ($230 for members of the Garden Conservancy or Hollister House Garden).
The combination package includes the festive Friday evening cocktail party, the entire Saturday program (with continental breakfast and buffet lunch) and Sunday morning champagne breakfast. Open Days gardens on Sunday are priced separately; read below.|
To register see below or mail payment to Hollister House Garden, P.O.Box  1454,  Washington, CT  06793
For further information call 860.868.2200.

 

The Open Days garden tours on Sunday are priced separately at $5 per person per garden.
Open Days tickets are available online (please allow time for shipping) or in person at the gardens on the tour.
Pre-registration is not required for Sunday’s Open Day tours.
Maps will be provided for all participants in the Hollister House Garden Study Weekend seminar.


Garden Conservancy Open Days
In addition to our normal schedule: open every Saturday from April 28 through September.
Garden tours are priced at $5 per garden - at the Garden Conservancy website, or may be purchased at the individual gardens on the day of the tour.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

GARDEN STUDY WEEKEND EXPLORES WAYS SUSTAINABLE PRACTICE AND CREATIVE INSPIRATION ENRICH ENVIRONMENT & AESTHETIC






GARDENING ANEW: FRESH PERSPECTIVES ON THE GARDEN

August 24 -26, 2012

Featured Speaker: Internationally Renowned Landscape Designer Edwina von Gal

Co-sponsored by Hollister House Garden and the Garden Conservancy


The French may have their Riviera but everyone in the garden world knows Hollister House is the place to be in August.
A compelling three-day garden cornucopia features an all-star horticultural speaker lineup – including my garden friends Stephen Orr, Bill Thomas and Paige Dickey –in addition to a swanky cocktail party, champagne breakfast, garden tours, a rare plant sale, book singings and lectures.

With concern for the environment ascendant and the desire to continually refine our own backyard artistry ever present, Hollister House Garden’s third biennial Garden Study Weekend is dedicated to exploring innovative and sustainable ideas about gardening from both the imaginative and practical point of view. The three day, late summer program includes a stylish cocktail party, an all-day seminar, plant and book sales, champagne breakfast and garden tours. The Garden Study Weekend launched in 2008 and has grown to one of the leading summer gardening events in New England.

This year’s program of thought-provoking lectures will examine the topic of Gardening Anew: Fresh Perspectives on the Garden. The featured speaker is Edwina von Gal, principal of her own celebrated international landscape design firm, who will be joined by several outstanding professional horticulturists. They will address a wide spectrum of ideas on new ways to garden encompassing the knowledgeable use of native plants with attention to their form and function, sophisticated solutions found in the soil, and examples of thinking outside the box in the spirit of experimentation and innovation.  The Garden Conservancy, a national organization dedicated to preserving exceptional American gardens, is co-sponsoring the event with Hollister House Garden.

Slated for August 24, 25 and 26, 2012 in Washington, Connecticut, Garden Study Weekend III gets underway at a gala Friday evening cocktail party at the Washington Montessori School where participants may informally mingle with speakers and fellow garden enthusiasts. There will also be the opportunity for early buying at the rare plant sale.

Saturday symposium features wonderful speakers, books and plants  

Saturday’s symposium takes place at the Washington Montessori School in comfortable, air-conditioned spaces with up-to-date lecture facilities. A delicious buffet luncheon, a sale of beautifully written and illustrated garden books, a plant sale featuring a select group of New England’s finest specialty plant growers and a ‘show & tell’ plant talk are included in the all-day agenda.

Stephen Orr, Editorial Director of Gardening at Martha Stewart Living, popular blogger and author of Tomorrow’s Garden: Designs and Inspiration for a New Age of Sustainable Gardening, published in 2011, will moderate the conversation and welcome each lecturer.

Featured speaker Edwina von Gal, known for her elegant, harmonious landscapes that emphasize design blending effortlessly with nature, will speak from personal experience on Altered Perspectives: An Unexpected Life in the Garden. Her approach embraces native plants in spare arrangements that allow the landscape to speak for itself.  Her many high profile projects include work s for minimalists Calvin Klein and Richard Serra as well as creation of the whimsical topiary animals gracing the Channel Gardens in New York City’s Rockefeller Center. She is known for creating “intimate expanses” and her garden designs have been published in the New York Times, House Beautiful, House & Garden, Garden Design and Vogue as well as in many books. She is presently involved in restoring large tracts of her own land in Panama where cattle ranching has seriously compromised the terrain, and is directing the Azuero Earth Project, a Panama-based organization focused on intelligent land stewardship and nature conservation in that country’s endangered dry forest.

Other thought-provoking speakers on Saturday’s seminar roster include:

William Cullina is Executive Director of the 250-acre, organic Coastal Maine Botanical Garden in Boothbay, ME. His topic is What Do You Mean I’m Not a Perennial: Flowering Shrubs for Perennial Companionship, sharing knowledge of his favorite native flowering shrubs and how they bring form, texture, color and wildlife to the garden.

Eric T. Fleisher is Director of Horticulture, Battery Park City Parks Conservancy, New York, NY. He will speak on Managing the Environment: An Adaptive Challenge. Over 25 years, he has brought this 37-acre oasis of parkland on the Hudson River to the forefront as the only public garden space in New York to be maintained completely organically. The solution he has found is in the soil and he will discuss balanced soil ecology, composting, water conservation and nontoxic pest and disease control.

Bill Thomas is Executive Director of Chanticleer Foundation, Wayne, PA. Chanticleer is one of the most exquisite and exciting public gardens in the northeast.  He is a plantsman, designer and a manager of the highest standards and will speak on Chanticleer: An Insider’s View, illuminating the visual, textural, auditory and olfactory dimensions of the 48-acre estate on Philadelphia’s Main Line.


In the early morning and at coffee and lunch breaks there will be opportunities to purchase choice plants for the late season garden from Broken Arrow Nursery (Hamden, CT), Falls Village Flower Farm, (Falls Village, CT), O’Brien Nurserymen (Granby, CT), Opus (Little Compton, RI), Rocky Dale Gardens (Bristol, VT), Sunny Border Nurseries (wholesale, Kensington, CT), Umbrella Factory Gardens (Charlestown, RI) and Avant Gardens (Dartmouth, MA).



Three leading horticulturists -- Page Dickey, prolific garden writer and popular lecturer; Marco Polo Stufano, founding director of horticulture at Wave Hill in the Bronx and co-chair of the Garden Conservancy Screening Committee, and Adam Wheeler, plantsman extraordinaire at Broken Arrow Nursery – will be on hand to offer practical expertise during a Show & Tell demonstration at the plant sale. Garden books selected by Washington Depot’s treasured independent bookseller, The Hickory Stick, will also be for sale, many authored by symposium speakers and available for signing.


 Sunday Open Days Tours Unlatch the Gates to Private Gardens

The weekend also offers participants the opportunities to experience and explore in person several outstanding gardens. Early birds can choose to start the day with a champagne breakfast on the beautiful rear lawn at the romantic country garden at Hollister House in Washington, CT. The grand finale on Sunday is when the Garden Conservancy opens four exceptional private gardens in nearby Litchfield and Roxbury as part of its national Open Days program. Three of them – The Garden of Bruce Schnitzer & Alexandra Champalimaud, the Leva Garden and Opal House gardens – are on the Open Days circuit for the first time. Hollister House Garden is also featured on the Sunday tour.


 Tickets and Registration

Pre-registration is required for the Garden Study Weekend. A combination package including the festive Friday evening cocktail party, the entire Saturday program (with continental breakfast and buffet lunch) and Sunday morning Champagne Breakfast is $245 ($230 for Garden Conservancy or Hollister House Garden members.)

Separately, the Friday evening cocktail party is $75 for nonmembers ($65 for GC and HHG members).

The allday Saturday ticket costs $160 for nonmembers ($150 for GC and HHG members). The rare plant sale is open to the general public after 1 p.m., free of charge.

The Sunday morning Champagne Breakfast is $25 ($20 for GC and HHG members).

Please note that due to parking and seating limitations, tickets for both Friday and Saturday events are strictly limited.

To register, or for more information, go to www.hollisterhousegarden.org or call 860.868.2200.

The Open Days garden tours on Sunday are priced separately at $5 per person per garden. Advance tickets are available online at www.gardenconservancy.org (please allow time for shipping) or in person at the gardens on the tour.

Registration is not required for Sunday’s Open Day tours. Maps will be provided for all participants at Hollister House Garden Study seminar.

Hollister House Garden, created by George Schoellkopf, is a classic garden in the English manner. It has a loosely formal structure informally planted in generous abundance with both common and exotic plants in subtle and sometimes surprising color combinations. Situated on a sloping hill behind an 18thcentury rambling farmhouse, high walls and hedges divide three separate garden rooms and open to create appealing vistas of the landscape.


 The Garden Conservancy is a national nonprofit organization founded in 1989 to preserve America’s exceptional gardens for the education and enjoyment of the public. It partners with garden owners and public and private organizations to harness legal, horticultural, and financial resources to secure a garden's future. The Conservancy also encourages greater appreciation of the important role gardens play in America’s cultural and natural heritage through educational programs and through its Open Days garden visiting program.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Stephen Orr's First Book: "Tomorrow's Garden" Book Launch in New York City


“Tomorrow’s Garden” Book Launch in New York City
February 17, 2011

I can’t think of another, more anticipated garden book than Stephen Orr’s first tome, “Tomorrow’s Garden.”  

Hailed as a design and inspiration for a new age of sustainable gardening, the book is a spot-on, sensual, inspirational tour of what Stephen’s visionary eye sees as “…the gardens of the future.” 

He describes his idea of pleasure gardens as an aesthetic that cannot deny the urbanization of our world and the “green movement.”

The book joyfully and respectfully illuminates amateur gardeners and their work.
That alone is a refreshing nod to his at-the-gate-position in the e-volution of home gardens. How Stephen is that?! 

He says, “These gardens not only concern themselves with reaching their own best level of sustainability in water usage, plant choices, local ecology, and preservation of resources, but they are also aesthetically delightful.” 

I’ll say. And then some…

First scheduled to premiere in the fall of 2010, garden enthusiasts packed the Wave Hill-sponsored lecture in the spring of last year to hear Stephen tell the story of the making of his first book.  
His funny, self-effacing, and very intimate, personal introduction to the motivation and making of book was equal parts garden tour, horticultural tutorial, how-to guide and pure magic.
Not unlike the man himself. 

If you don’t already know Stephen, you must get the book.  Trust me. 
If you know Stephen, you will be like me, buying multiple copies for family and friends.

Whether new garden friend or me-gusto admirer, when reading the book you will have the sense of taking garden tours with your dearest friend; talking garden design and sharing homegrown tips over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, while discussing that day’s garden exploration. 

He is the kind of gardening guru you want to spend time with.  

You find yourself smiling or nodding your head as he describes a garden narrative.  
He can be provocative, but he won’t go all fancy pants on you.  

The book is rather a pure, unadulterated ode to the emerging garden of tomorrow (that is today!) as a cultivated space that is beauty, utility, and creativity that also respects a sustainable, local aesthetic. 
Don’t be surprised when every other garden lecturer references “Tomorrow’s Garden” and Stephen’s seemingly prescient garden spaces. 
He is a pioneer.  
A reluctant one I imagine but nevertheless...
Stephen has energetically and thoughtfully curated a collection of exciting, cutting-edge gardens for us to explore.

We shouldn’t all want an English country garden.  Or an Italian or Chinese garden --any more than our meal preparation should mimic some overzealous desire to import an ill-conceived attempt at recreating something that doesn’t celebrate the very essence of what makes each and every place unique and special…
His book seeks out gardens that teach us how to be sustainable and glamorous… 
Stephen captures this feeling and wraps it up in a garden opus that you won’t put down.
Likewise, you will use the book as a working reference: there are plant lists, hardscaping ideas and soil amendment tips.

I’ll review the book in more detail later.  I couldn’t help showcase a bit here to give a context for the book launch. 
Stephen is garden friend from um, I can’t remember J  I do know I was thrilled when he not only attended botanic garden events at the two amazing NYC Gardens when I worked there but also agreed to be a judge for the community gardening program when I was the director of communications.
It was a loooong day, visiting neighborhood gardens, judging streetscapes and container gardens and he was as enthusiastic and eager and encouraging to the citizens at 4 pm as he was at 10 am. 
He loves this garden stuff and it shows!
In Chapter 12's Gardening the Street, you can see some of the judging day's green-garden streetscape images and learn about the urban gardeners' successes and challenges.


From that time to now, Stephen has delightfully and deservedly explored the world of gardens on every level.  Recently he was named the Gardening Editorial Director at Martha Stewart Living magazine. http://www.marthastewart.com

The March issue – with the in-your-face, Crayola-colored basket of vegetables cover shot, features a review of his book.  
At the same time, this issue marks Stephen and his team’s first garden guide editorial. The premiere garden feature is not unlike the book’s classy, practical no-nonsense, inspirational style. 

It is a gob-smacked wonder.

You find yourself devouring the exciting segment and yet breathlessly asking, ”Why haven’t garden stories been like this before?”
He and Andrea Mason, Gardening Editor, The Martha Stewart Show (TV), who I worked with on more than a few gardening segments, along with Shaun Kass, Martha’s head gardener, Bedford are the garden experts who have contributed to the pulse-quickening “Vegetable Garden Primer.” 
Wowsy!

Tomorrow's Garden Book Party


It was a perfect evening for the book event. Nice, clear weather.  For a change. No snow. There were a lot of parties on the block, so there was an overall festive appeal and spark on the street.

Tomorrow’s Garden party was an overfilled, living room-styled party whose happy guests hailed from the worlds of horticulture, publishing, design, edible landscaping and garden design, TV and photography. 
All have touched Stephen in a supportive, dynamic way in all the star-filled points of his life.  
Take that Facebook! 

Martha attended the book launch event.  What a boss…
As did Andrea:
    














And Melissa Ozawa, a former colleague of Stephen’s at House & Garden, a noted manuscript reader who Stephen acknowledges in the book was a co-host of the event. 
I have to add that I have also worked with Melissa and she is a delight: an unassuming talent with a marked aesthetic. I admire her. 
Melissa wore happy Dorothy-like, Wizard of Oz shoes on the night of the book launch J
How transporting!

Here is Stephen and Melissa – what a dynamic duo.  













The books were for sale, ready for Stephen to autograph.  














No signing table; and I thought that was nice.  He was mingling with the swelling guest crowd.  




The party food hit just the right note.  

As I was tasting a treat or two, I was surprised to see my garden friend Tom Christopher at the food table. He joked he does take the hay seeds out sometimes to visit the big city.  
Tom  has just released his latest book, “The Artful Garden: Creative Inspiration for Landscape Design” co-authored with James van Sweden. I told him I Tweeted (@gardenglamour) news of his book after reading in Architectural Digest. http://www.architecturaldigest.com
















I also chatted it up with New York Botanic Garden's Marc Hachadourian, Manager of the Nolan Greenhouses for Living Collections who runs the much-idolized Orchid Collection.  He was deservedly a bit breathless, as he was busy preparing for the annual Orchid Show at NYBG, scheduled for March 5-April 25 http://tiny.cc/sy93k
http://www.nybg.org/tos11/the-orchid-show.php

I did ask an admiring guest to take a picture of Stephen and me. But sadly, she was no Annie Leibovitz.  In fact, there is no image at all of the two of us. L  sigh…


But look what Stephen wrote in my book! 

It’s so nice to have garden friends like you.”

How sweet.  Right back ‘atcha. 




Gardens are about beauty and sharing.  And every great garden tells a story. Stephen has curated the most fascinating and gorgeous garden stories to share...
"Tomorrow's Gardens" illuminates and celebrates the designed garden's sensual and spiritual elements in an exciting and refreshing way.

Cheers, darling.