The Women’s Council of the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden hosted A Writer’s Garden Valentine Tea at the Dallas Arboretum’s Rosine Hall on February 9. “Gardens I Love and Why” was presented by New York author Page Dickey.

The event was chaired by Venise Stuart with Sandra Estess serving as Honorary Chair. Renee Querbes Farren is the Women’s Council President.

Funds raised from A Writer’s Garden Valentine Tea will assist with the development of The Boxwood Niche, the newest expansion within A Woman’s Garden.

Page Dickey has been gardening passionately since her early twenties. She writes about gardening, garden design, and American’s gardens for House and Garden, House Beautiful, Horticulture, Elle Décor, Fine Gardening, Garden Design, and other publications. Page is the author of several books, including Gardens in the Spirit of Place, Breaking Ground, and Inside Out. Her first book, Duck Hill Journal, and her most recent book, Embroidered Ground, are about Duck Hill in New York, where she lived and gardened for thirty years. In 1995, Page co-founded the Open Days Program, the unique, nationwide, garden visiting program of the Garden Conservancy and has served on its board since 2004. She is the Editor of Outstanding American Gardens: A Celebration – 25 Years of the Garden Conservancy.

Outstanding American Gardens is a celebration of the Garden Conservancy’s achievement in the 25 years since it was founded to preserve and share exceptional American gardens for the enjoyment and education of the public. In the future, as in the past, the Garden Conservancy’s mission will continue to be based on the belief that “gardeners are artists and great gardens, like painting and sculpture, must be preserved. Our cultural heritage must include, forever, gardens.”

Since 1986, the major goal of the Women’s Council has been the design, construction, funding and endowment of A Woman’s Garden, 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 make possible the continued expansion and improvement of A Woman’s Garden.

Photos by Barbara Gary