photo credit: courtesy of Jennifer Jewell, Robert Thayer, and Village Homes. All Rights reserved

 

This week, we continue plumbing the potential of gardens and gardeners for growing a future we want to cultivate- for the benefit of all. In order to look forward, we look back to the radical plan of a 50-year-old intentionally-designed community-and sustainability-oriented housing development, Village Homes, in Davis, California. Central to the intelligent design? You got it, Gardens and Greenspaces at every turn, and accessible to all. With the community now celebrating its 50th year, Cultivating Place is joined by Carol Hillhouse, UC Davis Student Farm Associate Director Emeritus, and Robert Thayer, Landscape Architect, both Gardeners by nature and longtime residents of Village Homes.

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Recorded Shows

Reeves-Reed Arboretum

A Path For All, Reeves-Reed Arboretum Summit, NJ

Reeves-Reed Arboretum in Summit NJ, an historic estate and garden, has been considering these questions intensely. How to increase accessibility for visitors and yet maintain the equally important sense of being in and with nature. One result of their thoughtful deliberations is their Path For All, which opened in May of 2026. Three members of…
AFT.MPPD Summary

Slow Design, Thoughtful Places, Andrew Fisher Tomlin

Planting design is an essential skill in garden design writ large, for the health and beauty of a site– functionally, environmentally, and psychologically. Andrew Fisher Tomlin is widely acknowledged as leading the development of a distinct professional career path in planting design through his own work and as a Director of Environmental Design…

Sunchoke Farms, Next in the Cultivating South Bend Series

Cultivating Place well so often comes down to sharing the abundance of growing from a place of love, and a strong sense of community and home. Susan Greutman is the founder and owner of Sunchoke Farms, an urban homestead-turned-family farm in South Bend, Indiana, growing chemical-free produce on formerly vacant city lots.
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Following What Flourishes, with Amanda Hannah

Amanda Hannah is the Director of Botanical Garden Horticulture at Holden Forests & Gardens in Cleveland, Ohio. Amanda’s path into horticulture has taken her from the agricultural landscapes of Idaho and Utah to studying in Argentina, living in Seattle, and moving through the Longwood Fellows Program. This week, Amanda and Cultivating Place Host,…
Redwood Empire Food Bank

Flora Culture with Christin Geall of Cultivated by Christin

This week on Cultivating Place, we continue with our flower theme as we celebrate May, looking toward the most floral of celebrations, Mother’s Day in the US. We discuss not us as gardeners growing flowers, but rather, how flowers shape our world, our cultures, our economies, our thinking and outlooks. We're in conversation with Christin Geall,…

Mid-Atlantic Regional Seed Bank (MARSB) with Ed Toth and John Price

This week, when we think about Cultivating Place well, we get to the seed of the matter in conversation with the team at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Seed Bank, also known as MARSB. We’re in conversation with Ed Toth the Executive Director, and John Price, MARSB’s Associate Director and Native Seed Collection Coordinator.

Northern California
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