Lectures & Symposia
2025 Symposium
Creating a Woodland Fantasy in the Real World
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Online symposium on Sunday, March 9 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. By purchasing a ticket, you will be able to view live or on demand. Video will be available for registrants to view for one month.
Join us as we consider how to approach our newest project at Untermyer, the Stumpery. We will examine this 2.5 acre woodland from the canopy, through the understory, and down to the groundcover, incorporating a detailed look at native plants and ecological habitat creation, with an emphasis on our local and migrating avian community. Head gardener Timothy Tilghman will moderate the panel of distinguished experts during the two-hour symposium. The panel will cover topics including trees, shrubs, perennials, ecology, and our bird population’s needs and contributions. Thom Almendinger, conservation ecologist, Director of Stewardship at Teatown Lake Reservation, and former Director of Natural Resources & Agroecology at Duke Farms will guide us through ecological considerations, including a close look at the requirements and impacts of local bird populations. Basil Camu, author, co-founder of Leaf & Limb Tree Service and the nonprofit Project Pando will share his innovative and holistic approach to trees and their care, emphasizing their significance in our gardens. Uli Lorimer, author and Director of Horticulture at Garden in the Woods/Native Plant Trust will help us look at selections and benefits of native shrubs, perennials and groundcovers. Don’t miss this opportunity to enhance your understanding of the delicate balance between our garden creations and their ecological impact. |
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2025 Winter Lecture
The Alhambra—A Moorish Paradise:
Explore a Magical and Ethereal World
Did you miss the Winter Lecture? A recording of the lecture is available: $25 per ticket.
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Our 2025 Winter Lecture featured Untermyer Gardens Conservancy President, Stephen F. Byrns, who delved into the magical architecture and ethereal gardens of the Alhambra.
The Alhambra in Spain is the most significant preserved Moorish palace in Europe—older than the surviving paradise gardens of Iran, India, and Pakistan, dating to the 14th century. Built on a fortified hill overlooking Granada, which was then an Islamic kingdom, its architecture is richly ornamented like a faceted jewel, while water flows throughout its intricately linked courtyard gardens. The nearby Generalife was the sultans’ summer palace with extensive gardens which seem a world away from the towering Alhambra.
Did you miss the Winter Lecture?
A recording of the lecture is available: $25 per ticket. |
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
- 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