Photo by Mark Weaner
Breaking the Grass Ceiling (Part Two):
A Historic Cemetery Reckons with its Lawn Legacy
Sara Evans and Jenna Webster
Rural cemeteries were among the first public landscapes in America to adopt expansive formal lawns, a legacy with far-reaching ecological, social, and financial consequences. Today, in the face of the climate crisis, The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn is working to adopt compelling alternatives, from less resource-intensive grass species to testing strategies for low native meadows. Learn the benefits and challenges of these approaches, understand what it takes to steward these dynamic plantings in a cultural landscape, and see how they could have applications beyond cemeteries.
Tuesday, April 29th, 2025 | 3:00 - 4:30 PM ET
Category: Professional
Fee: $42
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Registration open & recording viewable for 3 months after live date.
Instructor Bios:
Sara Evans is the Director of the Living Collections and Curator at The Green-Wood Cemetery. Born and raised in Maryland, she developed a deep sense of environmental stewardship and community responsibility through her involvement in Chesapeake Bay, Patuxent River, and Potomac River conservation projects with her church and school volunteer groups. She completed her undergrad degree at Brooklyn College where she earned a BA in Urban Sustainability with concentrations in environmental science and sociology. At Green-Wood, Sara’s passion for understanding intricate connections between nature, people, and their interactions comes to life. She manages the plant records of Green-Wood’s arboretum, supervises environmental research initiatives, curates the living collections, and oversees the day-to-day operations of the horticulture department.
Jenna Webster is a Senior Associate at LWLA (Larry Weaner Landscape Associates) where she works on residential projects as well as meadow and habitat plans for parks, college campuses, and historic cemeteries. Her recent public work can be seen at The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, Mount Auburn Cemetery outside Boston, and the Croton Point Park Grassland along the Hudson River. She has presented on these and other projects at conferences and for graduate and undergraduate design programs. She is a trustee of the Conway School in Northampton, MA and the Crow’s Nest Research Center in Stafford, VA and a former instructor at the Mt. Cuba Center. She holds a M.A. from the Conway School (a graduate program in sustainable landscape planning and design) and a B.A. and M.Ed. from Harvard University.