A Feast of Edens: Nurturing the Bond Between People and Plants
2–3 p.m. Lecture
Wine Reception to follow
The Garden Conservancy and the Missouri Botanical Garden are partnering to bring leading American landscape architect Thomas L. Woltz to St. Louis this spring.
The design of botanic gardens and arboreta offers a rich experiential and educational platform for connecting people to the horticultural diversity of our planet. Thomas Woltz, Senior Principal of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, has spent 25 years with his team designing innovative examples of gardens that reveal specific cultural history while stewarding the ecology of place. In his lecture at the Garden, Woltz will present a selection of public gardens that explain the firm’s design philosophy: that every piece of land has a story to tell. Woltz will discuss the firm’s designs for Mt. Cuba Center in Hockessin, DE; Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, FL; the National Arboretum of New Zealand; and Citygarden in downtown St Louis. Each unique design is a portrait of place revealing specific history through horticulture. Woltz will also offer highlights of the firm’s new monograph, The Land is Full, that presents this same philosophy in twelve recent public gardens and parks.
$45 for Garden Conservancy and Missouri Botanical Garden members | $55 public
How to Purchase Tickets: Tickets for this program are available through The Garden Conservancy website or by calling the Missouri Botanical Garden Contact Center at (314) 577.5100. Garden Members receive a $10 discount with code MBGWOLTZ26 (proof of membership required).
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About the Speaker
Thomas L. Woltz, Senior Principal of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBW), leads his firm in the artful creation and revitalization of public landscapes. Working at the intersection of culture and ecology for the sustainability of the public realm, Thomas has led the expansion of NBW to include scientists and historians as integral contributors to the design of projects ranging from restoration ecology in large urban parks to post-industrial sites and educational campuses. Through this collaborative and cross-disciplinary approach, NBW’s designs reveal lost or erased histories in the landscape. The work of NBW now stretches across thirty states and twelve countries.
Thomas was educated at the University of Virginia and holds master’s degrees in landscape architecture and architecture as well as an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the State University of New York, Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. In 2011, Thomas was invested into the American Society of Landscape Architects Council of Fellows, among the highest honors achieved in the profession and was named the Design Innovator of the Year by the Wall Street Journal Magazine. He was also recognized as one of the most creative people in business by Fast Company and with the Land for People Award by the Trust for Public Land – and was a 2025 Frederic Church Award honoree. Thomas currently serves as the Board of Directors Co-Chair for The Cultural Landscape Foundation.
Photo credit: Dan Winters