“New Perennials: A Love Story" with garden-maker Deborah Chud

Please join the Friends of the Robbins Library and the Arlington Garden Club, co-sponsors of this virtual event, for a presentation by Deborah Chud, a retired Massachusetts physician turned garden-maker, consultant, and educator. Entitled: “New Perennials: A Love Story”, Deborah’s talk is a personal introduction to the design principles of the New Perennialists who gave rise to the hottest gardening trend in the world today—naturalistic landscaping. In the US, their influence can be seen in New York’s High Line, Chicago’s Lurie Garden, the Oudolf Meadow at Delaware Botanic Gardens, and Oudolf Garden, Detroit.

Deborah’s six years of research on these gardens (among many others) led to her own, highly unusual New Perennial garden and the only known database of New Perennial plant combinations.  Part 1 of the talk traces her discovery of their work, her research on their plant combinations, and her use of that research to create a garden in the New Perennialist style. Part 2 explores the historical context in which the New Perennialists emerged, and Part 3 provides an introduction to their design principles—particularly a radical concept of structure and a special balance between coherence and contrast that approximates nature’s own. At the end of the talk Deborah will offer home gardeners (and pros as well) some practical “dos & don’ts” for solving the problem of excessive contrast.

This virtual event will take place on Wednesday, April 26 at 7 pm. Bring your questions and join the conversation. The event is free and open to all, but registration is required to receive the link.