Garden designers Scott Ogden and Lauren Springer Ogden lecture internationally, emphasizing plant diversity and ecological attunement. Their rich plant palette draws its inspiration from their studies of plants in the wild in the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Europe, and South Africa. They have spoken at most major botanic gardens, public gardens, and arboreta in the United States.
This husband-and-wife team's horticultural experience spans USDA zones 4-10. They have designed gardens and/or gardened professionally in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming as well as England, Ireland, and Austria. Public projects include gardens at Naples Botanical Garden, Denver Botanic Gardens, Callaway Gardens, and San Antonio Botanical Gardens.
Scott and Lauren have written several books in which they pioneer new plants and garden aesthetics. Their latest book,
Plant-Driven Design, takes a bold look at garden design from a plant perspective, marrying site, region, plants, and people while both embracing and transcending regionality. Other books include
Garden Bulbs for the South (Timber Press 2007),
Passionate Gardening (Fulcrum Publishing 2000),
The Moonlit Garden (Taylor Publishing 1998),
The Undaunted Garden (Fulcrum Publishing 1994),
Waterwise Gardening (PrenticeHall 1994), and
Gardening Success With Difficult Soils (Taylor Publishing 1992.)
The Ogdens and their work have been featured on several television shows and in numerous publications, including the
New York Times, the
Wall Street Journal, Nature, Martha Stewart Living, Sunset, and
Horticulture. Awards include two American Horticultural Society book awards and a landscape design award from the Association of Professional Landscape Designers.
Before making horticulture and garden design their life's work, Scott studied geology and paleontology at Yale, and Lauren studied Spanish and Latin American literature at the University of Pennsylvania. She also received a master's degree in horticulture from Penn State. Passionate gardeners, propagators, plant hunters, fossil hounds, and photographers, Scott and Lauren split their time between a small, jam-packed urban garden in Austin and an expansive naturalistic garden in Fort Collins. They have 5 children, and grow well over 3,000 species and selections of plants.
Scott Ogden has prospected for new, garden-adaptable bulbs as well as proven, heirloom varieties in Texas (his home state), the South, Mexico, and beyond. As a horticulturist and designer he consults for and creates public and private gardens across the country. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.
