by Larry Weaner, FAPLD, Affiliate ASLA, and Sara Weaner
New Directions in the American Landscape (NDAL) is offering both in-person and virtual educational sessions this summer. The accomplished group of presenters will include Darrel Morrison, Piet Oudolf, Veronica Tyson Strait, Gerould Wilhelm, Angela Kyle, and Larry Weaner. Some will present virtually on the artistic, social, and ecological considerations that can inform landscape design. Others will guide In the Field sessions to observe and analyze the real-world results of various ecology-based landscape approaches. All will explore avenues for expanding the practice of landscape design.
Sessions are geared toward landscape practitioners, home gardeners, students, and educators, with designations on NDAL’s site, ndal.org. CEUs are available for professional sessions.
NDAL’s In the Field regional on-site sessions include programs in Hillsborough, NJ; Garrison, NY; Shermans Dale, PA; Framingham, MA; Stafford, VA; Sparta, TN; Gray Summit, MO; and Madison, WI (the Madison, WI session with co-tour guide Darrel Morrison, FASLA). Registration is limited for these sessions.
In the virtual session Traditional Indigenous Knowledge and Ecological Science: A Restorative Pairing, Chelsey Geralda Armstrong and Alejandro Frid will illustrate tangible examples of how the pairing of these two knowledge systems have assisted ecological restoration efforts. It is far past time that professionals and lay people alike learn about, appreciate, and implement environmental practices governed by both scientific principles and cultural values.
In another virtual session, Inclusive Placemaking: Creating Urban Habitats and Sanctuary, Veronica Tyson Strait and Angela Kyle will present projects in which they transformed spaces in New York City, NY, New Orleans, LA, and Pensacola, FL, respectively, using native gardens and child-friendly play designs. They will then compare notes together, sharing how their work invites under-represented communities to the planning process.
Visit learning.ndal.org/collections for program details and to register.
Larry Weaner, FAPLD, Affiliate ASLA, founded Larry Weaner Landscape Associates in 1982 and established NDAL in 1990. He is nationally recognized for combining expertise in horticulture, landscape design, and ecological restoration. His design and restoration work spans more than twenty U.S. states and the U.K., and has been profiled in numerous national publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Landscape Architecture Magazine, Garden Design, American Gardener, Wildflower Magazine, and ASLA’s The Dirt and The Field blogs. His book Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change (2016) received an American Horticultural Society Book Award in 2017, and in 2021 he received American Horticultural Society’s Landscape Design Award.
Sara Weaner is NDAL’s Executive Director. She integrates the areas of culture, art, social and environmental justice, and ecoliteracy into NDAL’s ongoing ecological landscape focus.