78th Annual Garden Symposium: Celebrating the Influence of Great English Gardens

When John Custis IV created his celebrated Williamsburg Garden, it was an English garden. Join us for the 2025 Garden Symposium celebrating the influence of Great Britain Gardens with keynote lectures by British garden historian and designer Todd Longstaffe-Gowan and Troy Scott Smith, head gardener at Sissinghurst, one of England’s most romantic and iconic landscapes. Todd Longstaffe-Gowan also joins in conversation with Will Rieley (historic landscape architect on such projects as Monticello, Poplar Forest, Carter’s Grove), Colonial Williamsburg’s executive director of archaeology Jack Gary, and the Margaret Beck Pritchard Curator of Maps & Prints Katie McKinney, to discuss the influence of imported prints on Virginia’s early gardens. Marta McDowell (acclaimed garden author and avid gardener) explores New Ideas from English Gardens and English Authors & Their Gardens, and Brent Heath (naturalist, author, photographer, and award-winning horticulturalist) gives insight into Bulbs as Companion Plants for Spring Flowering Bulbs. From the Colonial Williamsburg Department of Landscape and Horticulture, senior manager Jon Lak expands upon Colonial Ecosystems and what we can learn from them, while horticulturalist Andrew Holland forays into how the Age of Exploration expanded science, gardening, and landscape design in England. Historic Trades master gardener Eve Otmar speaks to a fusion of three cultures that formed a new world.

In-person and virtual attendees have access to all lectures in the Hennage Auditorium, and in-person attendees can also choose from a variety of limited-capacity walking tours and workshops for a small additional fee.