"The View from Federal Twist: A New Way of Thinking About Gardens, Nature and Ourselves"

Speaker: James Golden

James' stunning New Jersey garden inspires others to work with, not against, nature and the existing ecology.

The garden is on a challenging site: the soil is heavy clay, poorly drained and therefore quick death for any plants not naturally suited to it. Undaunted, fifteen years ago the intrepid James Golden, nearing retirement from his job as a writer in the corporate world, made a decision to follow a long-buried urge toward the natural world and chose this place to make his first serious garden. Part experimental horticulturist and part philosopher, he describes how he listened to the site, made a conscious decision not to improve the land, planted large, competitive plants into rough grass, and watched and waited as sustainable plant communities evolved. - republished with kind permission from the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon

About our Speaker:
James Golden, born in Mississippi though resident in New York City for most of his life, was a writer in the corporate world. Nearing retirement, and embarking on what he happily calls la vita nuova, he moved to a property in western New Jersey to make a garden. When he began the garden, he also began a now well-known blog, The View from Federal Twist. Fifteen years on, James is a celebrated garden maker and thinker whose garden, Federal Twist, has featured in numerous publications including The New York Times, Gardens Illustrated, the Financial Times, Horticulture, Elle Décor, Better Homes and Gardens, other magazines, and in several books. After visiting Federal Twist for his American Gardens film series, Monty Don, the British TV gardening celebrity, said “after over 50 years of gardening and visiting gardens, it made me rethink what a garden can be and do.” James recently published a new book on his garden—The View from Federal Twist: A New Way of Thinking about Gardens, Nature and Ourselves. 

This is a free event for members and non-members. This event will be recorded and available to watch for just 2 weeks following the lecture.

Registration is closed.

Important Info regarding registration: Please make sure you hit the "finish" button after registering on-line. If you do not receive a confirmation e-mail, then the registration process was not completed.

Please make sure you have Zoom installed on your computer. Plan to join 5 minutes before; the talk will be followed by a 15 minute Q&A. Questions can be submitted via chat box and will be read to speaker by the HPS/MAG moderator. Please note that all participants will be muted for the duration of the event.