Boston Flora

Tag: Eric Groft

  • Thursday, October 15, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Eastern – Horticulture & History in the Public Realm, Online

    Join the American Horticultural Society, Eric Groft, and Lili Herrera as they discuss some of their firm’s most notable public landscapes, including The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, The National World War II Memorial, The Virginia Avenue Gardens of the Federal Reserve, The Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, and the White House Rose Garden in Washington, DC. Together, Eric and Lili will show how OEHME, VAN SWEDEN applies the New American Garden style to public, civic, and memorial landscapes internationally. Acknowledging the inevitable changes that time brings—trees grow, climates change, Administrations cut down trees, and scientific understanding evolves—they will discuss how enduring relationships with clients and collaborators have allowed OvS to steward public landscapes towards resilience through time and transition. The program will take place online on October 15 at 2 pm Eastern, and is $15 for AHS members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at https://ahsgardening.org/ahs-live-horticulture-and-history-in-the-public-realm/

    Based in Washington, DC since 1977, OEHME, VAN SWEDEN | OvS is a diverse group of landscape architects, horticulturalists, designers, creative thinkers, and collaborators. OvS’ pioneering design solutions balance bold horticultural diversity and architectural artistry. The firm explores ecology, culture, and history in every project to distill the land’s form and function. The result is a contextually appropriate, high-performance composition that connects people to place. The firm’s portfolio of work ranges from expansive civic spaces and commercial redevelopments to botanic gardens and sculpture parks to urban residences and estates.

  • Tuesday, October 30, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Eastern – The White House Rose Garden: Renovation of an Iconic Space

    In 2018, OvS embarked on one of its most ambitious projects in the firm’s history: the renovation of the White House Rose Garden. In this Garden Conservancy online presentation on October 30 at 2 pm Eastern, Eric Groft, Principal-in-Charge of the project, will illustrate the research, planning, and design that helped guide the Garden’s renewal and curate an outdoor experience transcendent of each administration. The presentation will address OvS’ White House Rose Garden Landscape Report, and how it informed the design updates that allow for universal accessibility, modernized systems of irrigation and drainage, improved media technology and other electrical infrastructure, as well as a renewed palette of roses and other blight-resistant species that are better suited for this hallowed space. The talk should be enlightening in view of the recent destruction of the garden and transformation into a paved space for parties.

    ERIC GROFT CEO and Director of OEHME, VAN SWEDEN | OvS, is renowned for his diversity in residential, commercial, and institutional work. He prides himself on a sense of regionalism, attention to the vernacular, and his work with cultural landscapes. Eric’s commissions include landscape master planning and design efforts for residential gardens throughout the east end of Long Island and the northeastern region of the United States. His commercial body of work features the American Museum and Gardens in Bath, UK, the Federal Reserve Campus in Washington, DC, as well as the 2020 renovation of the White House Rose Garden. Eric has a passion for horticulture and is dedicated to shepherding the evolution of OvS’ New American Garden Style. He is widely recognized as an industry leader in ecological sensitivity, environmental/wetland restoration, and shoreline stabilization/revetment. He frequently lectures on these topics and the work of OvS.

    Note: You will receive the webinar link directly from Zoom. A recording of this webinar will be sent to all registrants a few days after the event. We encourage you to register, even if you cannot attend the live webinar. $5 for Garden Conservancy members, $15 for nonmembers. Register at https://www.gardenconservancy.org/events/web25-white-house-rose-garden-10-30-2025

  • Sunday, March 19 – Monday, April 3, 2017 – Japan’s Cultural Landscapes

    Following on the success of its annual excursions and Garden Dialogues, The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is venturing overseas to offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the gardens, architecture, and museums of Japan with TCLF president + CEO Charles Birnbaum, along with the TCLF Board of Directors and Stewardship Council. Loosely based on the extensive travels of well-known landscape architect James van Sweden (who is the subject of one of TCLF’s Pioneers oral histories), the trip will include visits to traditional Japanese gardens, but will also focus on contemporary Japanese landscape architectural design.

    Travelers will learn the secrets of ancient design theory and see Japan through the eyes of landscape architects, architects, and historians. And this two-week immersion in Japanese design, culture, and history will be liberally supplemented with FUN—with TCLF Board Member Eric Groft leading the way, there’s bound to be plenty of sashimi, sake, and shopping as well.

    The full itinerary of the excursion can be found at http://tclf.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/TCLF%20Japan%202017%20Itinerary.pdf. For inquiries and registration, please contact Susan Gullia, Managing Director at Protravel International, LLC, at Susan.Gullia@protravelinc.com or 800.227.1059 (ext. 9556).