Longwood Reimagined with Horticultural Leader, Paul Redman

Cultivating Place: Conversations on Natural History and the Human Impulse to Garden

This week, when many in the US have time off with family and friends, we note our gratitude for Public Gardens and green spaces around our country and in our lives. Guest-Host Abra Lee is in conversation with one of North America’s public garden leaders, Paul Redman. As President and Chief Executive Officer of Longwood Gardens for the last 16 years, Paul has implemented institutional and strategic reforms that have positioned the Gardens as a premier horticultural, cultural, and educational institution of the 21st Century while respecting the values of its founder, Pierre S. du Pont. The result has been nothing short of astounding with overall attendance doubling to almost 1.54 million visitors per year; an incredible climb in membership support from 17,000 to 78,000 households; and earned income has almost tripled – all in the last decade. Longwood Gardens is now North America's most visited paid public garden and the most visited paid cultural attraction in Philadelphia. In their conversation, Abra and Paul explore ideas of leadership, envisioning public gardens for the future, and fearlessness. Enjoy! Cultivating Place now has a donate button! We thank you so much for listening over the years and we hope you'll support Cultivating Place. We can't thank you enough for making it possible for this young program to grow even more of these types of conversations. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes. To read more and for many more photos, please visit www.cultivatingplace.com.