Walkovic & Schumacher Memorial Lecture 2026

Speaker: Warren Leach

“Celebrating Plants in the Winter Garden"

The Walkovic & Schumacher Memorial Lecture is co-sponsored by the Hardy Plant Society/Mid-Atlantic Group and the Scott Arboretum and Gardens of Swarthmore College. This in-person lecture is free and open to the public. A virtual option will also be available. 

The winter garden is truly a low maintenance affair and a time to enjoy - no weeding, no watering and no deadheading! The winter landscape may be quiescent, but the garden need not be bleak. Plants with brightly colored berries, twigs, stems, foliage and even winter-blooming flowers shrug off the snow and cold. They bring cheer, even as the sun enters Capricorn. Warren Leach, landscape horticulturist and author of the new book Plants for the Winter Garden from Timber Press, will showcase gardens he has designed that celebrate the winter season as well as planting design ideas for your own garden.

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Warren Leach is a passionate plant collector, nurseryman, horticulturist and landscape designer with a depth of knowledge of all garden plants—both perennial and woody plants, as well as tropical and temperate.

For more than thirty-five years, Warren has been creating beautiful landscapes throughout New England as well as making captivating and educational display gardens at Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. He is co-owner of this specialty nursery, a prominent grower of daylilies, iris and distinctive perennials and woody plants.

An award-winning landscape designer, Warren has twice received the National Landscape Association Regional Certificate of Merit for Residential Landscape Design. Images of his garden design at Brigham Hill Farm in North Grafton, Massachusetts are archived at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

In 2009, the Rhode Island Nursery and Landscape Association presented him with the 1st Place Award for Residential Design and Installation. In 2010, Roger Swain presented Warren and wife Debi Hogan with the Elisabeth and Roger Swain Award for Design and Execution at the Rhode Island Spring Flower and Garden Show. That same year the Massachusetts Horticultural Society honored Warren with a Gold Medal for his horticultural expertise and landscape design, as well as for years of forcing plants and creating exceptional displays in the New England Spring Flower Show. For six years between 1996 and 2013, Warren and his wife Debi Hogan chaired the Miniature Gardens Competition in the Flower Show and also created award-winning miniature gardens.

Warren has taught horticulture and landscape design at numerous horticultural institutions throughout the Northeast including: The University of Rhode Island, the Brown University Learning Community, Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Education, the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College, the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, Horticulture Magazine and Radcliffe. He has also offered programs for numerous garden clubs, botanical gardens and professional organizations.

Warren’s new book, published by Timber Press, Plants for the Winter Garden, was released on November 5, 2024. Articles written by Warren, have been published in Fine Gardening, Horticulture, Green Scene, American Nurseryman and Boston magazines.

For additional information: https://www.tranquil-lake.com/

Copies of Warren’s book will be available for purchase and signing. A variety of other gardening books (and puzzles) will be available for purchase from the Hardy Plant Society/Mid-Atlantic Group.

Registration will be on the Scott Arboretum & Gardens website. A link will be provided here when registration opens.

Contact: Nora Sirbaugh at [email protected]