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Each year’s Annual Meeting and EXPO of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) provides important opportunities for ���ұ��� to interact with members of the profession, vendors, and others to build a greater base of support for the foundation’s initiatives—and to raise money for the foundation’s programs.  The 2018 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia generated more than $320,000 from a daylong excursion to Longwood Gardens, a private reception honoring Harriet Pattison, and a silent auction – proceeds that will benefit the Pioneers Oral History program and many other initiatives offered freely to the public. It was the single-most successful revenue-generating Annual Meeting in ���ұ���’s twenty-year history.

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The aptly named Longwood Gardens: Experience a World Apart excursion was true to its title. More than 100 guests traveled by motor coach to Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and were welcomed to Longwood Gardens in the Music Room by its president and CEO, Paul B. Redman, along with various Board Trustees and staff—and mimosas. Brief remarks were offered by select Longwood design consultants, including Adriaan Geuze of West 8, Jim Garland of Fluidity Design Consultants, Kim Wilkie of Kim Wilkie Landscape Architecture, Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi of Weiss / Manfredi Architecture / Landscape / Urbanism, and Doug Reed of Reed Hilderbrand. They were joined by the site’s earliest landscape-architecture consultant, Isabelle Greene, who designed Longwood’s Silver Garden in 1987–1989.

Guests then strolled about the five-acre Conservatory (which was closed to the public for only the second time in Longwood’s history) to linger and explore the various spaces, including the Waterlily Display with massive water-platters in brilliant hues of burgundy and green, Chrysanthemums in an variety of vivid colors and sizes, flowing fountains, a Palm House, the Orchid House, and a 300-foot-long Green Wall designed to resemble a lush green jungle. Ms. Greene and other experts were present at each of these locations to provide commentary and answer questions. The party then made its way outside for a spectacular twelve-minute performance at the Main Fountain Garden, with its spinning and dancing jets—and some spinning and dancing guests, too—set to the music of Edith Piaf, Judy Garland, and Celia Cruz.