The Madoo Conservancy Winter Lecture Series Focuses On Singular Gardens

The Madoo Conservancy, located in Sagaponack, and “dedicated to the study, preservation, and enhancement of Madoo, the ever-changing, horticulturally diverse garden with historic structures established in 1967 by artist, gardener, and writer Robert Dash,” has announced that its 2020 winter lecture series will focus on the theme of Singular Gardens.

In furtherance to Madoo’s mission to providing “a unique living tribute to the artistic imagination of its founder, by seeking to continually engage, educate, and inspire visitors within this entirely organic environment,” each esteemed guest speaker for the series “will be presenting one specific landscape and some of the most noteworthy gardens of the country located in New York State.”

Alejandro Saralegui, Director of Madoo, explained, “I have been with Madoo for about 10 years, and the lecture series has been going on for, I think, 15 to 20 years as the community supports and enjoys hearing about gardens around the world.”

“We tend to bring in leading lights of the horticultural world to speak, and after celebrating our 25th anniversary last year as a public garden, and in this case, we wanted to present people to speak about public gardens in our broader areas such as Kate Kerin, Landscape Curator at Innisfree Garden, discussing the Bronx; Luis Bauer, Senior Director of Horticulture, Wave Hill; and Toshi Yano, Director of Horticulture at Wethersfield, and the public garden in Amenia, New York,” continued Saralegui.

The series will launch on Sunday, March 1, at 12 p.m. in the summer studio at Madoo, and will conclude with a reception in the red living room. The first speaker on March 1 will be Kate Kerin, followed by Louis Bauer on March 8; and conclude with Toshi Yano on March 15.

Innisfree: Art, Science & Inspiration – March 1

Innisfree, located in Millbrook, New York, is a powerful icon of mid-twentieth century design. Established between 1930 and 1960 by Walter Beck and Marion Burt Beck, and designed by landscape architect Lester Collins, its sweeping landscapes merge the essence of Modernist and Romantic ideas with traditional Chinese and Japanese garden design principles. Kerin, a trained landscape architect, and also the Director of Recruitment of Open Days for the Garden Conservancy, has been at this post-war masterpiece since 2012.

Nature into Art: The Gardens of Wave Hill – March 8

Overlooking the Hudson River and the Palisades, Wave Hill explores human connections to the natural world and celebrates the artistry and legacy of its gardens and landscapes. Bauer will discuss Nature into Art, the new book about Wave Hill by Thomas Christopher with photographs by Ngoc Minh Ngo. In his previous position at Greenwood Gardens, Bauer oversaw the landscape aspects of the recent restoration, while revitalizing other garden features of that century-old garden.

A Renaissance Garden in the Hudson Valley – March 15

Situated in Amenia, New York, Wethersfield is a 10-acre public garden nested within a 1,000-acre estate, first established in 1937 by philanthropist Chauncey Devereaux Stillman. In 2019, following stints at Stonecrop Gardens and a private estate in Westchester County, Toshi Yano arrived at Wethersfield to update and maintain the Renaissance-style gardens.

Saralegui concluded, “We believe these are important gardens and we chose people who are good at speaking to our audience who are interested in what is going on in other pubic gardens that are different than ours but do parallel Madoo and the public gardening sphere.”

Tickets are priced at $20 for members and $25 for non-members, or $50 for all three (members) and $65 (non-members).

The Madoo Conservancy is located at 618 Sagg Main Street in Sapaponack. For more information and to purchase tickets go to www.madoo.org.