The Gardener

Celebrity gardener Bunny Williams, who has transformed her Falls Village estate into a horticultural wonderland, will introduce Gregory Long, CEO and president of The New York Botanical Garden, following Saturday’s 7PM screening of The Gardener at the Moviehouse.

Long was a colleague and friend of Frank Cabot, the subject of the film, and will share his experiences with the late horticulturist and gardener. Williams and Long will also conduct a question-and-answer session with the audience.

Written and directed by Sébastien Chabot, The Gardener is a reflection on the meaning of gardening. In the film, Cabot, founder of the nonprofit, The Garden Conservancy, recounts his personal quest for perfection at his 20-acre English-style garden, Les Quatre Vents (The Four Winds), aka Cabot Garden, located in the Charlevoix region near Quebec City.

Cabot, who died in 2011 was an army veteran and graduate of Harvard who described himself as a “horticultural enthusiast.” Gardens Illustrated described him as: “…part eccentric, part scholar; a thinker, a gatherer of ideas, a plantsman, and a patron... above all, as is essential to all great gardeners, he is a visionary.”

The move to establish The Garden Conservancy came in 1989 a year after a visit to Ruth Bancroft's dry garden in Walnut Creek, California. He and his wife, Anne, visited Bancroft’s garden and Bancroft expressed concern about the future of her garden. Frank later reported, “...much to my great surprise, I remember actually shivering at the beauty of it. As we drove away, I said to my wife, ‘We have to find some way to help this woman.’ And she said, ‘Why don’t you start a garden conservancy?”

Among Cabot's many awards and recognitions, he received the Garden Club of America’s 2006 Achievement Award for “the greatest horticultural accomplishment in America in the last half-century.”

Tickets are general admission, $14, member $12 and can be purchased online in advance or at The Moviehouse box office in Millerton NY.