AHS LIVE: Horticulture and History in the Public Realm
with Eric Groft, CEO and director and Lili Herrera, principal, OEHME, VAN SWEDEN
Thursday, October 15, 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
Join Eric Groft and Lili Herrera as they discuss some of their firm’s most notable public landscapes, including The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, The National World War II Memorial, The Virginia Avenue Gardens of the Federal Reserve, The Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, and the White House Rose Garden in Washington, DC. Together, Eric and Lili will show how OEHME, VAN SWEDEN applies the New American Garden style to public, civic, and memorial landscapes internationally. Acknowledging the inevitable changes that time brings—trees grow, climates change, and scientific understanding evolves—they will discuss how enduring relationships with clients and collaborators have allowed OvS to steward public landscapes towards resilience through time and transition.
Based in Washington, DC since 1977, OEHME, VAN SWEDEN | OvS is a diverse group of landscape architects, horticulturalists, designers, creative thinkers, and collaborators. OvS’ pioneering design solutions balance bold horticultural diversity and architectural artistry. The firm explores ecology, culture, and history in every project to distill the land’s form and function. The result is a contextually appropriate, high-performance composition that connects people to place. The firm’s portfolio of work ranges from expansive civic spaces and commercial redevelopments to botanic gardens and sculpture parks to urban residences and estates.