Garden Symposium

Annie Novak

Annie Novak is founder and director of Growing Chefs: Food Education from Field to Fork, the Manager of the Edible Academy at the New York Botanical Garden; co-founder and farmer of the nation’s first green roof vegetable farm, the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; and author of The Rooftop Growing Guide: How to Transform Your Roof into a Garden or Farm. She has served on the board of the American Bird Conservancy since 2018. Her words and work are widely featured in the New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, NPR, and the September issue of Vogue, among other publications. To learn more, please visit annienovak.com

Frances Palmer

Frances Palmer is a potter and gardener, working for over 34 years from her home and studio in Her handmade, functional ceramics have been exhibited and sold internationally, including at Fotografiska, March, Moda Operandi, Neue Galerie, the Philip Johnson Glass House, Object & Thing, and Wave Hill. Her work is represented in leading private craft and contemporary art collections around the world. She is often featured in publications including British House & Garden, Elle Decor, House & Garden, T: The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, and The World of Interiors.

Frances is also a self-taught photographer, documenting her own floral arrangements in the vessels she makes. A book on her work, Life in the Studio: Inspiration and Lessons on Creativity, was published by Artisan Books in 2020. It comprises essays describing her ceramic and garden processes as well as her philosophical ideas about making a creative life.

Xa Tollemache

Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medalist and author of A Garden Well Placed, Xa began her career working in the gardens of her home, Helmingham Hall, as a young wife and mother. She spent twenty years learning and consequently developing and improving the gardens there. She trained as a garden designer and embarked on a professional career designing gardens in The UK, Europe, and The United States. Her designs aim to “absorb all the qualities of classical design in a contemporary fashion with great emphasis on plants…creating gardens that are in sympathy with their surroundings.” Her design projects have included the Cloister Garden at Wilton House in Wiltshire, the Global Growth Vegetable Garden at RHS Hyde Hall in Essex, and the Millenium Garden at Castle Hill in Devon. She has also recently designed a range of garden furniture, The Helmingham Collection.