Over 114 million American households engage in gardening. From public green spaces to community gardens to private yards, gardening is a critical part of our country’s culture. A garden is a living ecosystem that impacts the health of people, plants, animals, and the environment. This online, self-paced course is designed to share ecologically sound gardening methods and practices that promote sustainability in your own gardens that will grow a greener future.
This American Horticultural Society course is constructed in seven modules, each with lessons that include AHS-produced text, videos, articles, activities, and resource recommendations. You are welcome to explore the materials at your own pace throughout the semester and to connect with other learners in the forum to discuss the course topics. The self paced course fee is $95 for AHS members, $120 for nonmembers. Register at www.ahsgardening.org. The modules and lesson topics are:
In this American Horticultural Society online talk on November 21 at 2 pm Eastern, we will explore why fallen leaves, sticks, and dead-head flowers are important to wildlife and soil fertility. Then, we will address practical concerns that arise when we keep autumn materials on home or community properties. How can careful plant selection, plant care, timing, and good landscape design help us to keep properties attractive at the same time as we practice good stewardship? This talk is accompanied by an extensive reference document. $15 for AHS members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at www.ahsgardening.org
Kathy Connolly is a landscape designer who specializes in naturalized designs, low-impact landscape techniques, and native plants. She works with homeowners, municipalities, and organizations through her business, Speaking of Landscapes. She has a master’s degree in ecological landscape planning and design from the Conway School and is an Accredited Organic Land Care Professional. Connolly has received award and recognition for her communications efforts on the topic of invasive plants.
Experience the breathtaking landscapes of South Africa on our immersive American Horticultural Society’s program designed to showcase the country’s rich biodiversity, cultural heritage, and natural wonders. Set against the backdrop of wildflower season, explore the vibrant city of Cape Town and the Cape Floral Region, a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its exceptional array of plant species and wildlife. Highlights include visits to the iconic Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, the lush oasis of Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, and a delightful visit with members of the Cape Horticultural Society at the enchanting Arderne Gardens. Discover the pristine landscapes of the Weylands Wildflower Reserve, Nieuwoudtville, and the majestic Kagga Kamma Reserve, where ancient rock formations and awe-inspiring vistas await. In the picturesque wine country surrounding Stellenbosch, enjoy the tranquility of its vineyards and gardens, including a guided tour of the renowned Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden, the oldest university botanic garden in South Africa. At the Dylan Lewis Sculpture Garden, delight in the harmonious interplay between art and the natural world. Extend your adventure with an optional program to Blyde River Canyon and Kruger National Park, or tailor your experience with personalized program extensions, ensuring your South African adventure is truly unforgettable.Your AHS hosts are David and Janice Ellis. For complete information visit https://ahsgardening.org/gardening-programs/travel-study/2024-travel-study-programs/south-africas-blooming-landscapes-wildflowers-nature-reserves-and-gardens/
Red Protea in Kirstenbosch, Cape Town against the backdrop of Table mountain, South Africa. Pincushion flower in Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa
Who doesn’t love butterflies? Habitat cultivation is a vital component of creating ecologically healthy landscapes, particularly in urban settings. But traditional landscaping practices rarely take biodiversity into consideration, and there aren’t yet guidelines to follow. For ecological horticulturist Rebecca McMackin, biodiversity is central to landscape management. In her 10 years as Director of Horticulture at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Rebecca oversaw 85 acres of diverse, organic landscapes, all managed to support birds, butterflies, and soil microorganisms. Join us to learn how to use ecological insight and experimentation to develop new management strategies – and why careful observation and documentation of the insects, birds, and other wildlife in your gardens is crucial to their success. Rebecca will speak online in an American Horticultural Society talk on November 7 at 7 pm Eastern. $15 for AHS members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at www.ahsgardening.org
Rebecca McMackin is an ecologically obsessed horticulturist and garden designer. She is Arboretum Curator for Woodlawn Cemetery, managing one of the best tree collections in New York. She spent a decade as Director of Horticulture of Brooklyn Bridge Park, where she managed 85 acres of diverse parkland organically. Their research into cultivating urban biodiversity and ethical management strategies has influenced thousands of people and entire urban parks systems to adopt similar approaches. McMackin writes, lectures, and teaches on ecological landscape management and pollination ecology, as well as designs the rare public garden. She has been published by and featured in the New York Times, the Landscape Institute, on NPR and PBS, and somehow gave a TED talk. She holds MScs from Columbia University and University of Victoria in landscape design and biology and recently completed the Loeb Fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Join Rochelle Greayer, the new editor of The American Gardener, for a conversation with AHS director of national programs Courtney Allen about the power of communications to create communities of plant lovers. As the author of a book, blog, magazine, and newspaper about horticulture, Greayer is at the forefront of gardening education. Hear her thoughts on gardening trends, how gardeners learn about them, and how gardeners create those movements together. This November 1 webinar at 2 pm Eastern is $15 for AHS members, $20 for nonmembers, and you may register at www.ashgardening.org
As a garden expert, landscape designer, and entrepreneur, Rochelle Greayer founded Pith + Vigor, a newspaper, online magazine, and education platform, and she created the acclaimed blog Studio ‘g’, (named one of the top ten gardening blogs by Better Homes & Gardens). She also co-founded Leaf Magazine and contributed to Apartment Therapy as the original creator of the weekly column “The Gardenist.” For the last five years, she has been seen, every spring, talking about plants on the Home Shopping Network. A graduate of the English Gardening School in London, England, Rochelle has designed gardens for private residences and hotels worldwide since 2002. She has contributed to several gardening books and published her first solo work, Cultivating Garden Style, in 2014.
Her diverse background also includes co-founding the Harvard Farmers Market and a previous career as a physicist and rocket scientist. Rochelle is excited to take on the editorship of America’s oldest gardening magazine, to continue AHS’s long tradition of publishing informative science-based garden and horticultural stories, and to bring a new face to the magazine—one that reflects the modern gardener.
If you missed Amy Stewart speak on her latest book with the Arnold Arboretum this August, you have another chance on October 30 at 7 pm Eastern to hear her, with the American Horticultural Society. When Amy Stewart discovered a community of tree collectors, she expected to meet horticultural fanatics driven to plant every species of oak or maple. But she also discovered that the urge to collect trees springs from something deeper and more profound: a longing for community, a vision for the future, or a path to healing and reconciliation. In this talk, Stewart introduces audiences to several of the remarkable people she met from around the world whose lives were transformed by their relationships to trees. Accompanied by her own hand-drawn illustrations of people and their trees, this talk inspires audiences to reconsider their own connections to trees–and maybe start a collection! $15 for AHS members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at www.ahsgardening.org
Amy Stewart is the New York Times best-selling author of The Tree Collectors, The Drunken Botanist, Wicked Plants, and several other popular nonfiction titles about the natural world. Her books have sold over a million copies worldwide and have been translated into 18 languages. She has been featured in NPR’s Morning Edition of Fresh Air, the New York Times, CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America, and the PBS documentary The Botany of Desire. Her book Wicked Plantswas adapted into a national traveling exhibit at science museums nationwide for over a decade. Stewart is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, the American Horticulture Society’s Book Award, and an International Association of Culinary Professionals Food Writing Award. Stewart is based in Portland, Oregon.
Studio Lily Kwong’s practice sits at the intersection between horticulture, urban design, contemporary art, and climate awareness with a mission to reconnect people to ecology through transformative landscape projects and site-specific art installations. This American Horticultural Society talk on October 16 at 7 pm will focus on the studio’s philosophy and its unique approach of using plant life as an artistic medium, using exhibitions The Orchid Show: Natural Heritage and an upcoming public art piece for Madison Square Park as examples of works that embody the inspirations and goals of SLK’s projects. $15 for AHS members, $20 for nonmembers.
We will also delve into process – Studio Lily Kwong’s commitment to ecological work starts with our commitment to materials and community. From initial concept development through build, use and end of life, the materials and practices used for our programs are ethically sourced, executed, reused and recycled. In addition to exploring the philosophical framework of our projects, we will also share the technical and logistical aspects of approach that make our pieces thrive and grow.
LA-based Artist Lily Kwong works at the intersection between horticulture, urban design, contemporary art, and climate awareness, reconnecting people to nature through transformative landscape projects and site-specific botanical art installations.
Kwong has been part of numerous public art initiatives since beginning her practice in 2017, including botanical installations at The Highline, NY; Faena Arts, Miami; Grand Central Station, NY; Salone del Mobile, Milan; EXPO CHICAGO, Chicago; and many more. Most recently, she made history as the first female & person of color to take on the role of guest designer for the New York Botanical Garden’s 20th anniversary orchid show – The Orchid Show: Natural Heritage focused on Lily’s Chinese roots & broke attendance records with 265,000 visitors throughout the show’s 3-month run in 2023. She has received numerous accolades for her work: ARCHMARATHON & Dezeen Awards in 2020 for Glossier Seattle, and the World Spa Awards for Shou Sugi Ban House in East Hampton, NY. Kwong has also featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 under the Art & Style Category in 2018 and ELLE Decor’s A-List. She has been selected to speak at MOCA, The Aspen Ideas Festival, The World Youth Forum, Design Miami and NeueHouse.
Kwong graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University’s Urban Studies program in 2012 and participated in the certificate program at the New York Botanical Gardens in 2017. She was a fellow at the Academy of Global Humanities & Critical Theory in Bologna, Italy (2019) and part of the New Museum’s incubator program NEW INC from 2018-2020.
Recognizing her efforts, Kwong was named one of ‘9 Young New Yorkers Poised for Creative Greatness’ by The New York Times and her work has been featured in the New Yorker, Vogue, Architectural Digest, Domino, Forbes, Fast Company and more. She previously served as Landscape Editor for Cultured magazine, where she profiled legends in her field from Agnes Denes to Fernando Caruncho.
A rock garden is an age-old institution in gardening, maybe even a crusty old one, but Crevice Gardens are the ultimate expression of the spirit of gardening with nature’s rocky places in mind. More and more of them are recently part of the exhibits of botanic and public gardens around the world- as well as home gardener’s back yards. Why is that? In this American Horticultural Society webinar on October 3 at 2 pm Eastern, we’ll learn what a crevice garden is, a bit of its history, how all it can be used to create something special, grow challenging plants, or solve a problem. Finally, we’ll learn how to make an approachable one in the home garden, in any climate. $15 for AHS members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at www.ahsgardening.org
Kenton Seth is the owner of Colorado-based garden design business Paintbrush Gardens, co-author of the New York Times-acclaimed book The Crevice Garden, and former Head of Horticulture for Western Colorado Botanic Gardens. He is an international speaker, a nursery owner/operator, an accomplished propagator of novel plants, and a designer and plantsman of crevice gardens, meadow gardens, and native plant landscapes.
In his freelance garden design work, Kenton Seth consults for, designs, and installs rock, native plant, and xeric gardens. His landscapes span from Colorado to the Pacific Northwest, North Carolina, and New Zealand. He tests and implements cutting-edge planting systems, making them practical for use in both the private and public sector. While primarily an educator, consultant, and designer, he also installs public demonstration exhibits and residential landscapes to test, perfect, and demonstrate new techniques and plants. Seth operates a small nursery to supplement plant material for his designs as well as to supply plants to growers to support xeric plant availability. His mission is to demonstrate and facilitate examples of dry or unirrigated landscapes that are also ecologically beneficial, to raise the demand for such landscapes. Seth’s landscape worked is informed by his BFA in Studio Art from Colorado Mesa University and his Master Gardener certification from Colorado State University.
Travel with the American Horticultural Society about the Exploris One with AHS Hosts Holly and Osamu Shimizu in May and June, 2025. Embark on an in-depth exploration of the magnificent landscapes, remote islands, blooming gardens, ancient settlements, and idyllic villages of Scotland and Norway. Discover the charm of Inverness, the heart of the Scottish Highlands, where you can wander through its picturesque Old Town and peruse the Victorian market filled with local specialties and crafts. Experience a variety of gardens, from the historic grounds of Cawdor Castle to an award-winning coastal garden, a garden steeped in mythology, an herb garden, and a bio-dynamic farm, each offering unique and enriching visits. Explore the Orkney Islands, where you can uncover the enduring Viking influence that shaped centuries of strategic presence. Delight in exploring remarkable Stone Age landmarks such as the Ring of Brodgar and Skara Brae, an ancient village of stone slabs dating back 5,000 years, both honored as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Cruise along Norway’s iconic fjords, discovering UNESCO World Heritage sites and unique cultural experiences. For those seeking to extend their journey, enjoy enriching optional pre-trip and post-trip extensions to explore the captivating Scottish Highlands and the cultural and garden delights of Oslo. For complete details visit https://ahsgardening.org/gardening-programs/travel-study/highlands-islands-fjords-scotland-orkney-islands-norway/
Embark with the American Horticultural Society May 20 – 28, 2025 on an enchanting journey through the breathtaking landscapes of Naples, Sorrento, Capri, and the Amalfi Coast in May 2025, when the springtime sun casts its magic, transforming seaside gardens into a kaleidoscope of vibrant hues. This meticulously crafted itinerary promises awe-inspiring scenery, spectacular gardens, and exclusive access to special venues opened for our AHS group. Meet homeowners amidst their unique garden sanctuaries. Cruise across the Bay of Naples and explore hidden gems, including Ischia and Capri. Delve into Naples’ rich culture and history, exploring majestic landmarks such as the Reggia di Caserta, the Capodimonte Museum, and the National Archaeological Museum. Revel in the flower-laden streets of Sorrento and the dramatic vistas of the Amalfi Coast. Enjoy a delicious culinary journey throughout. For aficionados seeking deeper immersion, the optional pre-tour extension offers an in-depth exploration of iconic archaeological sites around the Bay of Naples, including Pompeii and Paestum, blending historical intrigue with botanical fascination. AHS host is Joan Barclay. Complete information is found at https://ahsgardening.org/gardening-programs/travel-study/garden-wonders-of-southern-italy-the-bay-of-naples-and-the-amalfi-coast/
