A Brief Context of Contemporary High Art Horticulture
Eric Evans takes us on a tour of different gardens throughout history to explain how horticulture came to be how it is, what it aims at, and what it can be for.
A Natural History Approach to Protecting Pollinators
This presentation will provide insight into the natural history of plant-pollinator interactions and how biologists, gardeners, and community scientists can help protect plants and their pollinators.
America’s Victory Gardens: Reflections and Renewal
Maggie Stuckey, bestselling garden author, tells a story on two levels in her new book, The Container Victory Garden. On one level is a detailed how-to guide to container vegetable gardens, written specifically for beginners and told with clarity and gentle wit.
An Engineer’s Approach to Houseplant Care
Darryl Cheng’s approach breaks down the barriers to true, long-lasting enjoyment of houseplants – when you understand how plants work, you can gain a deeper appreciation for their character and more acceptance of how they’ll grow.
Ask Us Your Garden Questions!
Join us for an hour of lively discussion on garden topics chosen by you.
Back to Basics
Horticulturist Sarah Dickert will take us through an overview of the most common gardening terms, techniques, tools, and more.
Basic Landscape Weed ID & Management
Learn how to identify the most common landscape weeds and how to manage them with Dr. Laurie Fox from Virginia Tech.
Beer in the Garden
Join us as we explore the history and horticulture of the hop plant, Humulus lupulus, and its role in defining American craft beer.
Bringing in Your Tropical Plants for the Winter
Learn how to keep your tropical treasures for more than a summer.
Brooklyn Bridge Park Lessons (so far) in Constructed Ecology
This talk will detail many of the strategies employed to design an ecological park, as well as the management techniques used to cultivate biodiverse parkland. If we can do it, so can you.
Carbon in the Capital Region
Learn more how the pandemic offered a rare opportunity for Rosenfield to observe how the environment reacts to drops in human activity.
Caring for Orchids at Home
Learn about the common challenges and best practices for watering, choice of nutrients, repotting methods, light requirements, air circulation, and the optimal supplies required for home orchid cultivation
Celebrating Two Centuries of Beatrix Farrand
Join Jonathan Kavalier, Director of Dumbarton Oaks’ gardens and grounds, as he shares insights into Farrand and the design of the gardens and explores the challenges and opportunities inherent in stewarding an iconic historic garden into its next century
Centering Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity in Design and Planning
Through research, planning, design, and construction, the Biohabitats team seeks to inspire ecological stewardship, restore ecosystems, conserve habitat, and support natural regeneration in the landscapes that surround us.
Changes in Perennial Gardening in the US Over the Past 50 Years
It is said that nothing remains the same except for change, and that is so true for the way we garden, the abundance of available information and even the purpose of a garden.
Choosing Plants with Design In Mind
Janet Draper, Horticulturist in the Mary Livingston Ripley Garden, highlights her favorite plants for creating a garden with year-round interest.
Cicadas Are Coming to a Garden Near You!
Love them or hate them, this year the east coast is going to encounter a phenomenon that only happens once every 17 years. Join Holly Walker, Plant Health Specialist to learn more about cicadas.
Creating Beautiful Landscapes for Pollinator and Wildlife Habitats: Smithsonian Gardens to Your Front Yard
Wildlife habitat is of particular focus at the National Museum of Natural History, where you will find the Pollinator Garden and Urban Bird Habitat. James will teach about native plants you can use in your own garden to support a healthy ecosystem for wildlife.
Creating Hypnotizing Horticultural Displays
Reducing the elements of planting design to the simplest and most basic of design principles can be a powerful approach to creating bold and powerful planting compositions.
Designing A Garden: Foliage First
Learn about basic design principles and learn how to put foliage first!
Designing with Hydrangeas and Their Relatives
Join Andrew Bunting as he explores the breadth of hydrangeas and their relatives and how they can be successfully used in the garden
Discovering the Wonder of Soil Through Science and Art
Together, we will explore how each soil is unique, and I will describe how soil scientists study how soils form, function, and change over time.
Draper’s Dozen: Top Perennial Performers in Smithsonian Gardens
Janet Draper, Smithsonian Gardens Horticulturist, will share her top dozen (or so) perennials she relies on to create a garden with year-round interest.
Early Garden Photography: Glass Lantern Slides
Learn about hand-tinted glass lantern slides and how they were used a century ago to document gardens.
Earth Friendly Rose Gardens
With thoughtful plant selection, garden design and cultural practices, your rose garden can be beautiful and earth friendly.
Garden Allies: An Introduction to Life in the Landscape
Frédérique Lavoipierre introduces program participants to the many phenomenal organisms that create a thriving, balanced community in a garden.
Garden Clubs – A Place for All
As agents of positive change, garden club leaders celebrated beauty, dedicated themselves to community improvement, and challenged Jim Crow in the process.
Garden Inspired Gifts for Mother’s Day
Learn how to fabricate a wreath made of succulents and a seeded greeting card.
Garden Photography Tips
Learn how to beautifully capture your backyard oasis or neighborhood park no matter what kind of camera you own.
Garden Room Ideas and Inspirations
In this one hour illustrated talk, garden designer and writer Gordon Hayward shares his ideas about garden rooms.
Garden Wonderlands: Creating Life Changing Outdoor Spaces for Beauty, Harvest, Meaning and Joy
In this informative webinar, we’ll hear from garden designer and writer, Leslie Bennett, about her approach toward designing life-changing home landscapes.
Gardening for Hummingbirds
Horticulturist Sarah Dickert will discuss some of the key plants and garden features to attract these fun little birds.
Gardening with Children
Introducing children to gardening is a great way to increase their awareness of where food comes from and the importance of the environment in everyday life.
Gardens as Sources of Resilience
Watch this webinar to learn more about exploring personal relationships with plants and celebrating garden communities during challenging times.
Gardens of Resilience
Gardens of Resilience explores the fascinating history and relevance of traditional African-American crops including fish peppers, watermelons, sweet potatoes, collards, peanuts, and other legacy vegetables that still endure today.
Getting the Most Out of Your Late-Season Display
Plant suggestions, design tips, and techniques for how to make your late season garden excel.
Getting the Most Out of Your Small Space/Urban Garden
Using examples from D.C.-area gardens, Kathy Jentz, editor and publisher of Washington Gardener magazine, will illustrate basic design principles for maximizing garden space.
Gifts from the Garden
Learn how to upcycle things to create beautiful (and shareable) garden tchotchkes.
Great Magnolias for the Mid-Atlantic
Join Andrew Bunting for an overview of great magnolias for the Mid-Atlantic region.
Groundbreaking Garden Club Activists of Virginia
Hear the stories of garden club members from the 1920s on who took on the highway department, environmental destruction, and even segregation.
Growing Native Edibles
Dr. Navarrete-Tindall will discuss how to identify, grow and harvest native fruits, perennial greens, and tubers.
Helping Communities Gain Access to Green Spaces
Find out how local public agencies making gardens and green spaces more accessible and equitable to local communities.
Holiday Centerpieces
Learn how to create harvest themed centerpieces and floral arrangements for all your holiday gatherings.
Holiday Wreaths and Evergreen Decorations
Learn design tips and tricks, recommended supplies, and a step-by-step tutorial for decorating a fresh-cut, evergreen wreath,.
Horticultural Therapy: Nurturing Plants Nurtures People
Have you ever heard of Horticultural Therapy or Therapeutic Horticulture? Learn more about the value and practice of Horticultural Therapy through the Horticulture Therapy program offered in the Lerner Garden of the Five Senses in Boothbay, Maine.
Houseplant Diversity and the Benefits of Taxonomy Knowledge
Join Virginia Thaxton to learn why plant taxonomy is a very important science and how fun and useful it can be getting to know them on a first name basis!
Immigrant Gardens and Their Impact on The American Terrain
Wambui Ippolito takes us through various immigrant garden landscapes and histories with the hopes of having a new understanding and approach to immigrant land management.
Jazz Up Your Landscape
Are you wondering what plants to add to your garden this year? Let Stephen Dubik show you how to create a dynamic garden using new and underutilized native and non-native plants that have all of the WOW! and none of the insect and disease problems common to home gardens
Learning in Nature: The Importance of Field Botany
Learn how plants adapt to harsh conditions and naturally cope with stress in the wild and leave with a better appreciation for their role in the landscape .
Let’s Talk Spiders: From Fear to Fascination
Join spider scientist Dr. Sebastian Echeverri as he introduces you to the incredible superpowers, dramatic lives–and even unexpected beauty–of the many amazing spiders in our gardens and across the world.
Made in the Shade: Creating Dynamic Shade Gardens
Learn to love the shade you’ve got. Sylvia Schmeichel, Smithsonian Gardens Horticulturist, will share tips and tricks for creating layered and dynamic plant combinations that result in an inviting space.
Making Homes for Native Bees – A Chat with Dr. Holly Walker
Who are our native bees and how do they interact and compare with the non-native honeybee.
Managing Trees and Public Spaces for Wildlife
The World Health Organization reports that green spaces in urban areas are essential resources necessary for healthy and sustainable living environments.
Native Grasses and Sedges: Smart Choices for Better Landscapes
Looking for strategies to boost your landscape’s ecological impact? Join us for a look at plant-based solutions to common landscape challenges.
Native Plant Alternatives to Replace Invasives in Your Garden
Alex Dencker will discuss some problematic plants, highlight the damage they’ve done and continue to do to our natural areas, and offer native plant alternatives to replace the invasives you may be surprised to learn you have in your garden.
Native Pollinators of the Mid-Atlantic
“Pollinator” is a term that has gained massive popularity over the past couple of decades as our knowledge and understanding of our ecosystems have grown.
Native Spring Ephemerals
Join Amy Mawby for an ecological exploration of the season with a focus on its harbingers, our native spring ephemerals.
Native U.S. Tree Diversity Under Threat
Understanding the current state of tree diversity within the United States is imperative to protect those species, their habitats, and the countless communities they support, as well as the ecosystem services they provide.
Our Mysterious Orchids: Hidden Connections Below-and Above-Ground
In this lecture, ecologist Melissa McCormick will talk about how current research is working to identify critical points in orchid life cycles to help safeguard orchid populations
Plant Inspired Photography: Developing Your Creative Eye
Get ready to flex your creative muscles whether you are stuck indoors or braving the elements. Open to shutterbugs of all levels and ages.
Planting Fall Vegetables
Learn more about vegetable planting schedules, cultivar selection, maintenance tips, and suggestions on how to make your vegetable garden productive and beautiful.
Plants, Passion and Perseverance: A Focus on Positive Solutions and Experience Gained
Join Horticulturist Janet Draper as she looks back on her 20-plus years of learning and sharing in the Mary Livingston Ripley Garden.
Poinsettias and Holiday Trees
Watch as Smithsonian Gardens’ extensive poinsettia crop makes its magical transition from small, green slips grown in our greenhouse facility to cheery, colorful holiday plants on display in the interiors of our museums.
Pruning with a Purpose: A Gardener’s Guide to Thinking Like an Arborist
Learn how to add another dimension to your tree and shrub pruning skillset.
Reconnect To Nature
“Reconnect to Nature” promises to be an enlightening exploration of Mignon Hemsley and Danuelle Doswell’s ancestral ties to houseplants…
Revolutionize Your Tree Pruning: Learn to Prune Better and Speak for the Trees
Smithsonian Gardens arborist, Jake Hendee will delve into what, why, and how of structural pruning at a beginner’s level. A gardener’s easy few cuts early in a tree’s life can set it up for a lifetime of success.
Saving Seeds: Saving Memories, Diversity or Funds?
Cindy Brown, Smithsonian Gardens’ Education and Collections Manager, will discuss the tedious, sometimes stinky, always mysterious, often frustrating art of seed saving.
Seeds and How to Find Them
Learn how to fold your own seed packet and the basics of seed collecting to get you out in the garden and saving seed for the future!
Selecting and Planting Fall Bulbs
Learn tips and tricks about planting fall bulbs such as daffodils, tulips and hyacinths.
Small Space: Big Impact
Are you inspired by the big showcase gardens, but don’t think you have space at home to make a showy impact? Learn more about how to create a small garden with big impact.
Soil Management Plan for the Future
The planting soils surrounding the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C uniquely reflect the planting soil trends at the time of each museum’s completion (or most recent renovation) over 175 years.
The Science of Christmas Trees
Learn more about the Whitehill Lab Christmas Tree Genetics program at NC State which is working to advance North Carolina and the US Christmas tree industry by addressing grower challenges and concerns.
The Secret to Tree & Shrub Health
Examine the epidemic of tree and shrub health problems caused by our most basic garden maintenance practices.
Top 20 Native Shrubs for Sun and Shade
Learn more about native shrubs to substitute for your non-native plants.
Top Twenty Perennials for Healthy Habitats
Suggestions on perennials that make excellent additions to gardens AND help support the habitat ecosystem.
Trees and Birds – Rooted Together
Georgia Audubon’s Habitat Conservation Program Manager, Gabe Andrle, will discuss the symbiotic relationship between birds and trees and how planting native trees can help attract a diverse range of birds to your yard.
Understanding Plant Stress Signals: Abiotic Factors
Learn about the basic visual signals that plants show when they are under stress
Virtual Tour of the Smithsonian Gardens’ Orchid Collection
This virtual tour, led by Justin Kondrat, Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection Lead Horticulturist, will give you a rare look into how large-scale collections are managed and persevered for generations of inspiration.
Washington National Cathedral Gardens: Divine Inspiration & Earthly Challenges
This lecture will discuss both the divine and the challenging aspects of the terraced medieval garden at the Washington National Cathedral Gardens.
Winning the War Against Weeds
Learn about organic methods of soil preparation like lasagna layering, how to be strategic with watering, and where to get information on preemergent and post emergent applications.
Winter Garden Maintenance for Wildlife Friendly Habitats
Learn our pro tips for supporting pollinators and other wildlife through the winter months.