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From amplifying the transformative power of gardeners, to documenting the enduring lessons of ancient trees, to advocating for the rewilding of everyday landscapes, this year's Winter Lecture Series explores the many ways people can serve as stewards of the natural world. Through stories of cultivation, preservation, and ecological renewal, Jennifer Jewell, Beth Moon, and Benjamin Vogt invite us to rethink what it means to care for the places we inhabit and to recognize our shared role in fostering a more resilient, vibrant, and sustainable future.

Cultivating Place: The Power of Gardeners | Jennifer Jewell
January 21, 11 am-12 pm, Ross Hall
As creator of the national, award-winning public-radio program and international podcast, Cultivating Place, Jennifer Jewell's greatest passion is the empowerment of gardeners. She's built this platform based on the belief that gardens and gardeners are powerful agents and spaces for positive change in our world—helping to address challenges as wide-ranging as climate change, habitat loss, cultural polarization, and individual and communal health and being.

Jewell will share how this power of gardens and gardeners is exemplified in her past 28 years of interviewing people tending to plants in their places. She'll discuss the subjects of her books, guests on the podcast, and the featured gardeners in the Cultivating Place Foundation's upcoming documentary series The Power of Gardeners, airing on PBS affiliate stations across the country in April 2027. Explore how these impactful examples reshape how we define, practice, and value gardening, while revealing its capacity to improve our world environmentally, culturally, economically, and spiritually.

Ancient Trees: Portraits of Time | Beth Moon
February 18, 11 am-12 pm, Ross Hall
For almost three decades, Beth Moon has photographed some of the world's oldest and most extraordinary trees, creating a body of work that explores time, memory, mortality, and the enduring power of the natural world—earning international recognition for her large-scale, richly toned platinum prints.

Moon will share her extraordinary images and stories from expeditions to photograph the ancient baobabs of Madagascar, the dragon's blood trees of Socotra, the giant yews and oaks of Europe, sacred trees of Japan and the monumental trees of Africa and North America. Joined in conversation with NYBG's Arthur Ross Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections Todd Forrest—essay contributor to two of Moon's books, Ancient Trees: Portraits of Time and Oak: From Seed to Ancient Tree—she'll discuss some of the challenges and rewards faced while documenting these trees, the vital role that they in play within the ecosystem, and the importance of preserving them.

Unlawn America | Benjamin Vogt
March 11, 11 am-12 pm, Ross Hall
Across the country, we're finding our roots again in natural landscaping that revives local ecology and rebuilds communities. From humans to wildlife, and the diverse cultures of all, the tide is turning for healthy resilience. One of the advocates in this collective rewilding effort is Benjamin Vogt—garden designer, educator, author, activist, and owner of Prairie Up, a hub for sustainable and artful natural garden design, helping gardeners convert lawn to native plant communities.

Join Vogt as he traces the history of lawns in the United States, analyzing their basis in division and compliance—from HOAs and municipal codes to racism and classism in the way neighborhoods are planned. He'll share efforts on how to continue to remake greenspaces by using the growth patterns of plants as the leading guide in designing habitats in the 21st century. His forthcoming book, Unlawn America: A Grassroots Guide to Rewilding Your Yard, will be released in spring 2027.

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Schedule:	3 Thursdays: January 21, February 18 and March 11, 11am-12pm
Times:	11:00am-12:00pm EST
	View Full Schedule  |   View Full Schedule
Meeting Date Start Time End Time Thursday, January 21, 2027 11:00am 12:00pm Thursday, February 18, 2027 11:00am 12:00pm Thursday, March 11, 2027 11:00am 12:00pm Meeting Date Start Time End Time Thursday, January 21, 2027 11:00am 12:00pm Thursday, February 18, 2027 11:00am 12:00pm Thursday, March 11, 2027 11:00am 12:00pm
Speaker:	Jennifer Jewell Jennifer Jewell Jennifer Jewell Jennifer Jewell is the creator and host of the national award-winning weekly public radio program and podcast Cultivating Place: Conversations on Natural History and the Human Impulse to Garden (a co-production of North State Public Radio, which began airing in 2016), and Executive Director of the non-profit Cultivating Place Foundation (founded in 2024), whose purpose is to expand and elevate the way we as a culture think and talk about, as well as value, Gardeners and gardening. Jewell's greatest passion is the empowerment of gardeners, and the possibility inherent in the intersection between places, environments, cultures, individuals, and the gardens that bring them together beautifully - for the better of all the lives on this generous planet. The author of three books: The Earth in Her Hands (2020, Timber Press), Under Western Skies (2021, Timber Press), and What We Sow (2023, Timber Press), Jewell and the Cultivating Place Foundation are currently in post-production on a documentary film series synthesizing the lessons learned from more than 10 years of Gardener-supporting interviews: The Power of Gardeners, will air on PBS affiliate stations starting in April of 2027. Jewell cultivates her place with her partner, John Whittlesey, in Butte County, CA. Beth Moon Beth Moon Beth Moon For almost three decades, Beth Moon has photographed some of the world's oldest and most extraordinary trees, creating a body of work that explores time, memory, mortality, and the enduring power of the natural world. Moon has earned international recognition for her large-scale, richly toned platinum prints. Since 1999, her photographs have been exhibited in more than ninety solo and group exhibitions worldwide and have received critical acclaim in leading fine art publications internationally. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, the Louisiana Art & Science Museum, and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Bolzano, Italy. She is the author of six monographs with translated versions in French and German: including Ancient Trees: Portraits of Time, Ancient Trees: Ancient Skies, Baobab, and Oak: From Seed to Ancient Tree (Abbeville Press). Benjamin Vogt Benjamin Vogt Benjamin Vogt Benjamin Vogt is owner of Prairie Up, offering garden design, online classes, workshops, webinars, and guidebooks. He is the author of A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future, as well as Prairie Up: An Introduction to Natural Garden Design. His forthcoming book, Unlawn America: A Grassroots Guide to Rewilding Your Yard, will be released by Timber Press in 2027. Benjamin's work has been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, Dwell, Fine Gardening, Horticulture, Midwest Living, the New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He is based in Nebraska and works nationally.
Location:	NYBG, Ross Lecture Hall 2900 Southern Boulevard Bronx, NY 10458
Session Number:	273LEC809A

Winter Lecture Series ticket: All Sessions
3 Thursdays: January 21, February 18 and March 11, 11am-12pm
11:00am-12:00pm EST
	Non-Member : $102.00 Member : $92.00	Ticket Quantity

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