AHS LIVE: Designing with Fragrant Flowers and Aromatic Foliage
with Christopher Sheridan, Flower Sommelier
Friday, February 6, 2026 from 2-3 p.m. ET
Virtual
$15 AHS members/$20 non-members
This program is approved for 1 CEU with the Association of Professional Landscape Designers
Ralph Waldo Emerson memorably said, “The earth laughs in flowers,” which captures the joy people find in cottage gardens and cheerful urban flower plantings. Unlike color, fragrance is ephemeral, invisible, and hard to describe, but just as powerful! It summons memories, provides comfort, and often takes gardeners and garden visitors to exotic parts of the world. In this session, Christopher Sheridan will explore the language of fragrance, share design strategies for scented plants, review a classic classification system, and journey through the scented bloom cycle. Get in the spirit and bring a new level of creativity and enjoyment to gardening, flower arranging, and garden touring.
Christopher Barrett Sheridan, The Flower Sommelier, is a horticulturalist, floral design instructor, and aspiring historian, specializing in scented plants, heirloom flowers, romantic garden design, and Victorian floral traditions. Chris regularly offers immersive design workshops at Longwood Gardens and lectures at national events, including the Philadelphia Flower Show and the International Master Gardener Conference. A Harrison Fellow of the Historic Landscape Institute, he is developing Founding Era Garden programming to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.