The Women’s Council of the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden presented “Women in the Garden”, the Tenth Anniversary “A Writer’sGarden”Literary Symposium and Luncheon on November 8 at the Arboretum’s Rosine Hall.
The event was chaired by Alyce Heinrich and Dorothea Meltzer was the program chair. Melissa Lewis is the Women's Council President. The Honorary Chair was Phyllis McCasland, the 2013-14 Founders Award recipient with her husband, Tom.
Funds raised from “A Writer’s Garden” will benefit the ongoing maintenance and development of A Woman's Garden.
Stories about the growing interest in gardening from the beginning of the American Garden Movement at the end of the 19th century to today’s environmentally sensitive landscapes were presented in “Women in the Garden” by:
Virginia Grace Tuttle,retired Associate Curator of Old Master Prints at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC and garden history writer whose publications include Gardens on Paper, Prints and Drawings 1200 to 1900. The Once and Future Gardener and Garden Writings from the Golden Age of Magazines.
Susan Haltom, co-author of the award-winning book One Writer’s Garden: Eudora Welty’s Home Place, now in its second printing, and, since 1994, the director of the restoration of the 20th century garden of the Eudora Welty House and Garden, a National Historic Landmark property owned by the State of Mississippi.
Jan Johnsen, principal in the design/build firm, Johnsen Landscapes and Pools, Westchester County, NY, adjunct professor at Columbia University and award-winning instructor at the New York Botanical Garden, author of Heaven is a Garden and writer of the popular garden blog “Serenity in the Garden.”
Since 1986, the major goal of the Women’s Council has been the design, construction, funding and endowment of A Woman’s Garden, the centerpiece garden of the Dallas Arboretum. A Woman’s Garden is the only public garden in the nation conceived by women, funded by the efforts of women and dedicated to the spirit of women. The support of over 600 members of the Women’s Council makes possible the continued expansion and maintenance of A Woman’s Garden.
Photos by Chuck Clark