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May 18, 2013
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Gardenstory: Inspiring Spaces, Healing Places

GardenStory: Inspiring Spaces, Healing Places profiles innovative and exemplary gardens while focusing on the power of gardens to create positive social change. It also explores the need for stewardship of our natural world. In ten half-hour episodes, filmed across the country from Massachusetts to Missouri, GardenStory presents a series of compelling and informative stories about gardens and their creators. Leading garden designers, horticulturists and environmentalists, such as Dr. Peter Raven of the Missouri Botanical Garden, New York-based landscape architect David Kamp, and Trust For Public Land founder Marty Rosen, join host Rebecca Frischkorn in teaching us why we garden and why gardens are important.

Distributed by: American Public Television (APT)

Rebecca Frischkorn

Ms. Frischkorn, host of GardenStory, has designed gardens for 30 years in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Maine and lectures frequently on landscape design. She is a board member of the Cultural Landscape Foundation and the Shenandoah National Park Trust.

The Garden as Muse: The Garden of Harlem Renaissance Poet Anne Spencer, Lynchburg, Virginia
#101
This program depicts how Anne Spencer, a distinguished poet of the Harlem Renaissance, designed her garden as a sanctuary for the creation of her poetry as well as a gathering place for family, friends, and fellow artists of the Harlem Renaissance. This episode also explores the relationship between the themes of her poetry and her garden.

The Garden as Environmental Stewardship: The Upper Shavers Fork Nature Conservancy Preserve, Monongahela National Forest
#102
Conversations with plant biologists and volunteers reveal how the protection of this 34-acre preserve is an important effort to restore degraded ecosystems, preserve endangered plant and animal species, and record the fascinating social and industrial history of the area from the 18th through the 20th century.

The Garden as Exploration in Creativity: Ashintullu, Garden of Composer John Stewart McClennan, Tyringham, Massachusetts
#103
Katharine McLennan, widow of composer John Stewart McLennan, relates how her late husband over a 30-year period designed an elegant and serene garden as a parallel effort to his creative work as a composer. The program explores relationships between the arts of music and garden design.

The Garden as Classroom: Thomas Jefferson Academical Village, Charlottesville, VA
#104
The mid-20th century gardens of the University of Virginia, which were interpretations of Thomas Jefferson's original garden plans, are explored as important spaces which enhance the academic life of the university by providing outdoor areas for classes, solitude, quiet study, and social events.

The Garden as Teacher: The Prudential Outdoor Learning Center, The Greater Newark Concervancy, Newark, New Jersey
#105
This episode is an examination of the role of the garden in the lives of inner-city children, as a place of discovery that awakens interest and imparts important environmental values to future generations. The new Prudential Outdoor Learning Center of the Greater Newark Conservancy is one of the most creative and effective instruments of environmental education in the country.

The Garden as Catalyst for Community: Community Gardens of the East Village, New York, New York
#106
The series begins with the engaging story of the power of community gardens to renew inner city neighborhoods. Dedicated volunteers discuss the important role of gardens in the life of their community.

The Garden as Healer: The Healing Gardens of David Kamp, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania
#107
This program introduces yet another role of the garden as a healing environment by focusing on an award-winning garden for AIDS patients, incorporating a highly successful program of horticultural therapy with a garden design which relieves stress for patients and caregivers alike. Also presented are a garden for Alzheimer's patients, a children's hospital garden, and a memorial to the tragedy of September 11, 2001.

The Garden as Public Park: Battery Park, Teardrop Park, Gantry Plaza State Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York, New
#108
This episode depicts how New York City's park designers and citizen advocates are creating innovative parks to meet the needs of a highly diverse 21st century urban population. It features four of the city's newest park designs: Battery Park, Teardrop Park, Gantry Plaza State Park, and Brooklyn Bridge Park.

The Garden as Autobiography: Ladew Topiary Garden, Monktin, Maryland
#109
This episode explores the capacity of gardens to embody the personalities of their creators. Sportsman and art connoisseur Harvey Ladew's self-designed garden of the mid-20th century is depicted as a highly original expression of his wry sense of humor and love of elegant design, derived from European precedent.

The Garden as Protector of the Planet: This Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Missouri
#110
The central role of botanical gardens in preserving biodiversity and educating the public in environmental issues through researching, preserving, and propagating endangered plant species is depicted through a fascinating presentation of the innovative and effective educational programs and global research agendas of the largest center for the study of plants in the world.