On Saturday, September 21st, not-for-profit art museum, sculpture garden, and art education organization LongHouse Reserve honored the careful craft and selfless service of two prominent horticultural leaders at its biennial Landscape Awards Ceremony. Gardening buffs and enthusiasts alike flocked to the art preserve’s luscious sixteen acre East End property in East Hampton to celebrate the accomplishments and gentle generosity of gardening legends Fergus Garrett and Warren Price.

Known as the Great Dixter’s “Gentle Keeper,” Fergus Garrett has been Head Gardener at Great Dixter, the historic East Sussex manor house, since 1992. Horticultural activist and stalwart New York City civil servant Warrie Price is the Founder of the Battery Park Conservancy in lower Manhattan.

The LongHouse Reserve Landscape Awards were presented at a special afternoon luncheon on the Reserve’s sprawling grounds where guests mingled with: Martha Stewart, LongHouse Reserve’s Founder Jack Lenor Larsen, President Dianne B., Executive Director Matko Tomicic, and Peter Olsen, Antonia Adzio, Hamptons Cottages & Gardens’ Kendell Cronstrom and Alejandro Saralegui, Dennis Schrader, Tony Piazza, Marlene Hess and Jim Zirin, Guild Hall’s Ruth Appelhoff, Hilda Longinotti, Vincent Covello, Marshall Watson, Edwina von Gal, Alex Feleppa, and Cindy Willis.

Central Park Conservancy Director and public garden designer Lynden Miller presented Fergus Garrett with his award, and Chair of Scenic Hudson’s Board of Directors, Corporate Practice Co-Head at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, and active Hudson Valley preservationist Fred Rich presented Warrie Price with her award.

Saturday afternoon’s event was hosted by: Marge Sullivan, Charles Savage, and LongHouse’s Garden Committee Chair Elizabeth Lear. Honorary Chairs included Bill Thomas of Chanticleer Garden, Paul Redman of Longwood Gardens, William Noble of The Garden Conservancy, Paul Meyer of Morris Arboretum at the University Of Pennsylvania, Claire Sawyers of Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College, Claudia Bonn and Scott Canning of Wave Hill, Scot Medbury of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, and Todd Forest of the New York Botanical Garden.

The luncheon was preceded by a morning lecture at the elegant Hoie Hall at St. Luke’s Church. The talk entitled, “Great Dixter: Past, Present and Future with Fergus Garrett,” was presented by the honoree and provided a true insider’s perspective on what it was like to work closely with British horticultural celebrity the late Christopher Lloyd. Fergus Garrett offered his insights into the precision and care necessary to uphold the excellence and innovation of a national horticultural treasure like the garden at Great Dixter. In the garden, of the garden, and for the garden, the event was a blooming success.

**Guest photos in this feature by Adriel Reboh for Patrick McMullan / PatrickMcMullan.com  & Longhouse Reserve photos by Kelli Delaney Kot

More About LongHouse Reserve:
LongHouse Reserve is a not-for-profit organization with close-to-16 beautiful acres in East Hampton, New York. Through its art collections, arboretum, sculpture gardens, and educational programs, LongHouse Reserve brings together art and nature, aesthetics and spirit, with the strong conviction that living with art in all its forms is central to living fully and living creatively. It seeks to expand the imaginations of all its visitors, no matter what age or level of appreciation. Each year the LongHouse Reserve presents major exhibitions in the pavilion and the gardens. Currently, there are more than 60 sculptures for the gardens including works of glass by Dale Chihuly, ceramics by Toshiko Takaezu, and bronzes by Miquel Barcelò, Peter Voulkos, Lynda Benglis and Willem de Kooning. Works by Alfonso Ossorio, Claus Bury, Yoko Ono, Pavel Opocensky, and Takashi Soga are also on view, while the installation of a “Fly’s Eye Dome” designed by Buckminster Fuller and a site-specific Sol Lewitt piece add interesting scale and dimension.