Today’s Horticulture Symposium

A close-up of bright yellow sunflowers and clusters of deep purple wildflowers in a sunlit field.

Friday, February 12, 2027

8:00 am–4:00 pm

The Fountain Room

In-Person Symposium Pricing

$149 In-Person Symposium Early Bird
if registered by January 8

$179 In-Person Symposium
if registered after January 8

Day-of registrations will not be accepted

Includes Gardens Admission, continental breakfast, break refreshments, and lunch.

Online-Only

Fee: $54

Online recording available two weeks post symposium to be viewed up to 60 days.

Cancellation Policy

Early reservations are recommended. Seating is limited and reservations will be accepted on a first-come basis. Registration fees will be refunded less $30 processing fee if requests are made by Friday, January 31, 2027.

The event will be held regardless of weather conditions. No refunds will be given if you are unable to attend due to weather.

The Today’s Horticulture Symposium brings together a diverse group of professionals who will engage the audience with timely, thought-provoking topics relevant to the broader world of contemporary horticulture. This event offers a full day of inspiration—featuring innovative design, analyzing current trends and industry insights, and discussing cultural and ecological impacts.

Organized by a dedicated volunteer committee of members from Longwood Gardens’ Alumni Association, the event highlights the work of alumni in the field and celebrates the legacy of the Longwood Education Programs.

We invite you to be part of this dynamic gathering on Friday, February 12, 2027, enjoying a day of exciting speakers and networking opportunities!

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect, learn, and grow with fellow horticulture enthusiasts and experts!

About Our Speakers

Anna Bower is the Associate Curator of Living Collections and Nursery Manager at Ganna Walska Lotusland in Santa Barbara, CA where she enjoys propagating a diverse range of plants. After completing an internship in nursery management at Longwood Gardens in 2013, she graduated from the University of Delaware with a Master of Science in Plant Science with an emphasis on botanical garden curation.

Nathan Lambstrom is an ecologist, horticulturist, and educator living in Rhode Island. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from the University of North Carolina and a Master of Science in Plant Biology and Conservation from Northwestern University. In addition to teaching professional horticulturists, home gardeners, and undergraduate students, he owns an ecological garden design and consulting firm, Lambstrom Garden Ecology.

Abra Lee is Director of Horticulture at Historic Oakland Cemetery, a vibrant burial park in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work as a garden historian has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, the Smithsonian NMAAHC, USA Today, Fine Gardening and Veranda magazine. Lee is a graduate of Auburn University and an alumna of the Longwood Gardens Society of Fellows.

Tracy McQue is a qualified horticulturist, designer and landscaper. Tracy has run her studio near Edinburgh, Scotland, for the past 18 years. Recently she has been experimenting with planting into a variety of on-site substrates and materials, working frequently with gravel, sand and crushed concrete. Spending time travelling and observing natural landscapes has become a passion and informs much of her work, both materially and plant wise.

Robert Raguso is a Professor of Biology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He grew up in New Jersey and earned his Bachelor of Science degree at Yale University, his PhD at University of Michigan, and completed a post-doctoral program at the University of Arizona. Prior to Cornell he taught biology at the University of South Carolina. His research explores the rich interface between floral chemistry and pollinator behavior in both laboratory and field settings. He has been a National Geographic Explorer and a US Fulbright Senior Fellow.

Chris Strand is the Charles F. Montgomery Director and CEO of Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library. In his former role as the Brown Harrington Director of Garden & Estate at Winterthur he was a steward for the garden and wider estate, including the buildings, roads, natural areas, and cultivated historic landscape. Chris’s work experience is in Public Horticulture, he grew up working in the wholesale nursery and floral industries and he has worked at the Denver Botanic Gardens, Callaway Gardens, the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, and Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria. Chris is also an alumnus of the Longwood Gardens Graduate Program.

Agenda

8:00 am
Registration, Visitor Center

8:00–8:45 am
Breakfast, Music Room

8:50 am
Welcome, The Fountain Room

9:00–9:40 am
Climate, Soil, and Plants: A Designer’s Approach to Creating Scottish Gardens, Tracy McQue
Looking at Tracy’s approach for creating a variety of Scottish landscapes and gardens in a wide assortment of locations, habitats and climates. We’ll explore everything from how she gets to know the space, the research she carries out, revealing the design process and by what means planting choices are made and how these schemes are executed.

9:45–10:15 am
Flowers as Habitats, Hidden Worlds Within Floral Spaces, Robert Raguso
Georgia O’Keefe’s oversized paintings challenged the viewer to imagine flowers at the sale of a building, or from a pollinator’s perspective. For many creatures, flowers are cafeterias, singles bars, shelters or living places. We will explore the hidden worlds within blossoms and bouquets.

10:20–11:00 am
Morning Break, The Fountain Room

11:00–11:45 am
Lessons from a Wild Garden, Chris Strand
The garden at Winterthur represents the creative vision of Henry Francis du Pont. Over his lifetime he studied, experimented, trialed, and innovated on this bucolic corner of northern Delaware. Already a beautiful place when he was born here, he made it his life’s work to celebrate the trees, springs, streams, meadows, and rolling hills of the Piedmont with complementary and original compositions of native and exotic plants grown together. It has been my privilege to spend more than 2 decades preserving this landscape and I will share what our horticulturists, arborists, and guides have learned about this beautiful garden.

11:45 am–1:00 pm
Lunch, The Music Room

1:00–1:10 pm
Welcome back, Scholarship and Award Announcements

1:10–1:55 pm
Looking for Lost love in the Cycad Garden, Anna Bower
Join Anna on a visual tour through Ganna Walska Lotusland, a botanical wonderland with a rich horticultural history. Special focus will be given to the world-renowned cycad collection and propagation efforts to preserve these rare and threatened species, several of which are considered extinct in the wild.

2:00–2:40 pm
What We Talk About When We Talk About Invasive Species, Nathan Lambstrom
Is it possible that the way we talk about invasive species has colored our perception of their effects? The language we use to describe them might lead us to unscientific conclusions and possibly even harmful actions. There are ways to talk about these newcomers that allow us to manage them based on their effects instead of their origins.

2:40–3:10 pm
Afternoon break, The Music Room

3:10–3:50 pm
Power of Place, Abra Lee
In the summer of 1947 Zora Neale Hurston penned a letter to W.E.B. Du Bois expressing her excitement to build a “place of ravishing beauty” featuring plants and the arts to celebrate Black achievement in America. This conversation will reflect upon the burial recipes of the past and how we can give meaning to the memory of our loved ones.

3:50–4:00 pm
Closing Remarks

Thank you to last year's sponsors:
Longwood Gardens, Chanticleer Foundation, The Perennial Plant Farm, Star Roses and Plants, Scott Arboretum and Gardens, and Pleasant Run Nursery.

For inquiries about the 2027 Today's Horticulture Symposium, please email: studentprograms@longwoodgardens.org