The Southern California Horticultural Society's first speaker of the new year will be Richard Hayden, the Senior Director of Horticulture at the High Line gardens in New York City. He will join us online January 8 to present a talk highlighting the plants, techniques and planning of this inspiring and world-famous public space. His program will include recent input and new garden designs from High Line garden designer, Piet Oudolf – that will allow the gardens to evolve, succeed and continually inspire naturalistic gardens everywhere.

Hayden is a passionate horticulturist dedicated to an ecological and naturalistic approach to garden care and design. Prior to 2022, when Hayden began work at the High Line, he served as the Assistant Deputy Director at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHMLA) where he was the primary project manager for the reimagining of the La Brea Tar Pits Museum and 11-acre park site. He also oversaw the Nature Gardens at NHMLA, a wildlife habitat garden, where he collaborated with scientists, educators and interpreters to promote the garden as a leading site for the study of urban nature.

At the High Line, Hayden leads a team of horticulturists in the stewardship and public programming of this historic site. The once-abandoned elevated rail line on the west side of Manhattan was reclaimed and opened as a biodiverse garden in 2009 with naturalistic plantings designed by Piet Oudolf. Since then, the High Line gardens have become known for their unique ability to evoke a natural beauty and four-season interest in a very challenging urban environment.

We are excited to host Hayden to share a program about the evolution of this garden space and the plans for its future – which in turn could inspire our own garden plans as we head into the new year.

Online registration is now open for this special presentation. (Click here.)

For more information, go to our main webpage: www.socalhort.org