Inspired by Nature: Internationally Acclaimed Garden Innovator Cassian Schmidt to Give Rare American Lecture in Millbrook
MILLBROOK, NY: On Saturday, February 25, Cassian Schmidt, Director of the public Hermannshof Gardens, near Heidelberg, Germany, will discuss how his visually rich and environmentally sustainable work is “Inspired by Nature,” offering insights and inspiration for home gardeners and professionals alike. Co-sponsored by the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Program and Innisfree Garden, this beautifully illustrated lecture will be held at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies Auditorium, 2801 Sharon Turnpike, Millbrook, at 2:30 p.m. Admission is $15 for general admission tickets, $10 for Garden Conservancy or Innisfree members. Visit https://www.gardenconservancy.org/events/all-events to register online, or call the Garden Conservancy toll-free weekdays at 888-842-2442 for more information.
Internationally, Hermannshof is at the forefront of the New Perennial Movement. Piet Oudolf’s work at the High Line in New York City and the Lurie Garden in Chicago have brought this style and ideology to life in the United States. All of these naturalistic landscapes use broad, painterly drifts of hardworking plants so well suited to their sites that they provide year-round interest yet require less maintenance than traditional mixed borders.
Over the past thirty years, Hermannshof has set international trends with its innovative blend of ecology, artistry, and imagination. The garden’s dynamic mix of unique perennials and naturalistic grasses arranged by habitat and origin – woods, prairie, steppe, pond edge, dry meadow – creates an all-season kaleidoscope that is inspired by nature, without replicating it. In his eighteen years as Director, Cassian Schmidt has developed signature design methods using natural plant communities as models for sustainable, low-maintenance plant combinations equally at home in private gardens and public landscapes. With a landscape architecture degree, a Master’s in horticulture, and more than twenty five years of experience as a professional plantsman, Cassian Schmidt is a designer, professor, author, and lecturer.
Founded by Francis H. Cabot in 1989, the nonprofit Garden Conservancy is dedicated to saving and sharing outstanding American gardens. Since 1995, Open Days, its award-winning nationwide garden education program, has welcomed more than one million visitors into thousands of inspired private landscapes – from urban rooftops to organic farms, historic estates to innovative suburban lots – in forty-one states. This incredible annual program is produced almost entirely by volunteers, hundreds of individuals who help us showcase regional horticultural and stylistic expressions in a national context – celebrating the rich diversity in American gardens. For information and a complete Open Days schedule, visit the Garden Conservancy online at www.opendaysprogram.org.
Recognized as one of the “world’s ten best gardens,” Innisfree Garden in Millbrook, New York, is a powerful icon of mid-twentieth century design. The work of landscape architect Lester Collins, Innisfree fosters an individual connection to nature for each visitor. It is the universal made personal. Inviting exploration and even contemplation, Collins’ sweeping landscape merges the essence of Modernist and Romantic ideas with traditional Chinese and Japanese garden design principles in a form that evolved through subtle handling of the site and slow manipulation of its ecology. The result is a distinctly American stroll garden — a sublime composition of rock, water, wood, and sky achieved with remarkable economy and grace. For more information, visit www.innisfreegarden.org.
