Lectures & Symposia
2026 Winter Lecture: Reflections on Japanese Gardens
Drew Schuyler, Assistant Head Gardener, grew up in Yonkers, and his career path was greatly influenced by his early exposure to Untermyer Park and Gardens. He received a B.S. from SUNY Binghamton and completed the Professional Gardeners Training Program at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. He conducted restoration work with the National Park Service in urban San Francisco parks and had internships at Vallarta Botanical Garden in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and at Great Dixter in England.
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Our 2026 Winter Lecture features Untermyer Gardens Conservancy Assistant Head Gardener Drew Schuyler, who will provide insights from his extended trip to Japan.
“Mind-blowing. Inspiring. I can’t pick one word, it was so... re-orienting.” In the autumn of 2025 our assistant head gardener, Drew Schuyler, received a prestigious Chanticleer Scholarship which allowed him to attend an intensive seminar at Kyoto University of the Arts and enjoy an immersive experience in the gardens of Japan.
Over the course of five weeks, he visited more than 50 temples, gardens, and historical sites across eight cities, gaining insights from countless gardeners along the way. In this talk, Drew will provide a historical review of Japanese gardens from ancient times to the modern era, with a focus on the places and people that have come to define and influence the idea of the traditional Japanese garden. He will share images from his travels as well as his observations as a professional American gardener seeking horticultural and design inspiration from abroad. The lecture will take place at the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, 921 Madison Avenue, NYC, with a reception following the lecture.
Tickets are $35 per person. A recording of the lecture will be available starting February 14. Tickets $25, sold separately. |
The Untermyer Gardens Conservancy hosts a Winter Lecture and a Symposium each year.
- 2025 Winter Lecture: The Alhambra--A Moorish Paradise: Explore a Magical and Ethereal World
- 2025 Symposium: Creating a Woodland Fantasy in the Real World
- 2024 Winter Lecture: Welles Bosworth: Architect of Untermyer Gardens, Kykuit, and More
- 2024 Symposium: Onward and Upward in the Vegetable Garden
- 2023 Winter Lecture: Forgotten No More: The Restoration of Untermyer Gardens
- 2022 Winter Lecture: Samuel Untermyer: Forgotten Hero
- 2022 Virtual Symposium: The Making of a Meadow: Considerations, Complications, Compositions
- 2021 Virtual Symposium: Garden Elements and Styles: A Conversation with Toby Musgrave and Timothy Tilghman
- 2021 Winter Lecture: The Islamic Garden as Sacred Art featuring Emma Clark
- 2020 Winter Lecture: Paradise on the Hudson featuring Caroline Seebohm
- 2019 Winter Lecture: Paradise Found: The Gardens of Mughal India featuring Stephen F. Byrns
- 2019 Symposium: Restoring Gardens: Contrasting Approaches to Restoring Historic Gardens featuring the Jay Heritage Center, Lyndhurst and Untermyer Gardens
- 2018 Winter Lecture: Persian Gardens of Iran featuring Stephen F. Byrns
- 2018 Symposium: Great American Public Gardens: Successes and Challenges featuring Louis Bauer, Andy Pettis, and Timothy Tilghman
- 2017 Winter Lecture: Untermyer Gardens: Its Periods of Glory and Its Sack featuring Stephen F. Byrns
- 2016 Winter Lecture: Untermyer Gardens: From Pompeii to Paradise -- Uncovering a Great American Garden featuring Timothy Tilghman
- 2015 Winter Lecture: Untermyer Gardens: America's Greatest Forgotten Garden featuring Stephen F. Byrns