We’ve now all watched PBS’s Benjamin Franklin biography, and apologies to the Arnold Arboretum, but the Philadelphia region is home to more significant private and public gardens than anywhere in the country and enjoys a tradition of horticulture that goes back to the city’s inception in the late 17th century.
On June 30, the Smithsonian Associates and Nicole Juday Rhoads draw on two decades of study in historic horticulture to explore the cultural, political, economic, and even religious factors that influenced the surprising evolution of gardening and the establishment of world-class horticultural institutions in the region.
Rhoads introduces some of the historical figures who left their mark on Philadelphia’s landscape, from William Penn and his vision of a “greene countrie towne” to a sect of nature-worshipping, cave-dwelling Rosicrucians to the wealthiest plant collector in pre-Revolutionary America. $25 for Smithsonian Associates members, $30 for nonmembers. Register at www.smithsonianassociates.org
