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• Program to feature Mandy Katz, lead gardener and land manager of Bartram’s Garden

Program to feature Mandy Katz, lead gardener and land manager for Bartram’s Garden

Join us on Monday, Feb. 19, at 6 p.m. at Pebble Hill for a talk by Mandy Katz on “Growing the Bartram’s 21^st-Century Garden.” Katz is the lead gardener and land manager of Bartram’s Garden. Refreshments will be available at 6 p.m. and the talk will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Bartram’s Garden is located on 50 acres on the Tidal Schuylkill River in Southwest Philadelphia and is North America’s oldest surviving botanic garden. Named for botanist John Bartram, who established his home and garden at the site in 1728, the 14-acre Botanic Garden is a collection of plant species collected, grown and studied by the Bartram family from 1728−1850. John’s son William, explored the American Southeast from 1773-77, including what would become the state of Alabama, and his book Travels is an essential text for understanding plants, animals and native peoples of the region.   

Katz will provide a brief overview of various horticulture projects at Bartram’s Garden over the past two decades. She has experimented with many of the rare native plants grown by the Bartram family in the 18^th century, especially aquatic plants. She has also championed the seed keeping program at Bartram’s, stewarding seeds of many culturally and historically important vegetable, flower and native perennial plants. She is currently working with Lenni Lenape partners to bring a Lenape Research Fellowship to Bartram’s Garden to guide the garden’s historic research into the culture and land management practices of the Lenape, the indigenous people who inhabited the land that became Philadelphia.

The Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities at Pebble Hill is located at 101 S. Debardeleben Street in Auburn. For more information, visit auburn.edu/cah.

Tags: Center for the Arts and Humanities Community and Outreach