Join Mount Vernon for a unique opportunity to go behind the scenes and learn more about historic gardens and landscapes! The Triennial Garden Symposium, May 30 through June 1, features renowned speakers specializing in historic landscape exploration, preservation, and public interpretation. The symposium includes a private reception on the piazza, tours of the Mansion and newly opened Library, an elegant dinner in the Ford Orientation Center, and more behind the scenes experiences.

This conference offers a broad scope of historic garden and landscape topics. Experts will examine, discuss and evaluate a wide variety of topics including, but not limited to: 18th-century bulbs, the search for lost gardens, maintaining plants throughout the winter, and the gardens of 18th-century Virginia. Tickets to this symposium are $250. The ticket includes meals and a private reception on the Mansion piazza.

Featured experts include:

Nicholas Luccketti is the Principal Archaeologist with the James River Institute for Archaeology in Williamsburg.

Kent Brinkley is a Virginia native and an award-winning landscape architect, lecturer and author of The Gardens of Colonial Williamsburg, whose professional career spans over thirty years.

William D. Rieley serves as the Landscape Architect for The Garden Club of Virginia, a position he has held since 1998.

Scott Kunst is the owner of Old House Gardens, the country’s premier source for heirloom flower bulbs.

Fiona McAnally examines issues of food policy, supporting groups such as the Tennessee Fruit and Vegetable Association and the Tennessee Food Policy Council, while pursuing her interests in southern garden history, food history, and agriculture.

Wesley Greene founded the Colonial Garden and Garden Shop where costumed employees interpret 18th-century plants, tools and cultural technique and sell heritage plants, seeds, bulbs and garden related items.

Jack Gary is the Director of Archaeology and Landscapes at Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest, where he leads an interdisciplinary team of archaeologists and scholars in order to discover the site’s hidden landscapes.

Peter J. Hatch is a professional gardener and historian with 38 years of experience in the restoration and interpretation of historic landscapes.

Dean Norton has researched 18th-century landscape design and gardening practices at Mount Vernon for more than 35 years.

For more information on registration and lodging options contact Melissa Wood at 703-799-5203 or email mwood@mountvernon.org.  Image from www.uncc.edu.