SEASON TICKETS - Includes four lectures as noted below.
Season ticket holders also enjoy preferred seating and
receive invitation to the 9am pre-event coffee and pastries with the presenter.

2023-24 MBG Members - $125.00*
Nonmembers - $150.00
* Members will receive a $25 refund to payment method at completion of registration

Announcing
The 2024 Marion Deane Drummond Lecture Series
sponsored by The Lilian Woolford Charitable Trust
Saturday, February 17, 2024 - Mary Palmer Dargan
Thursday, March 21, 2024 - Kathryn Aalto
Saturday, May 4, 2024 - Carol Reese
Saturday, June 8, 2024 - Marianne Willburn

Marion Deane Drummond served as Executive Director of MBG in the early 2000s and is remembered fondly by many. Marion didn’t just collect plants in her garden. She collected people. Her gardens were a collection of people from all around the country and the world, people who knew plants, people who loved plants. Sometimes they left plants, and so her garden was always a library of flowers that all of us envied -- something here from the famous Texas plant hunter Lynn Lowrey, something over there from North Carolina’s J.C. Raulston, and a huge collection of plants that explorers she knew brought back from expeditions to China. Marion’s genius as a gardener was discovering ways to lure and learn from the best minds in the business. That’s how she ran the show at Mobile Botanical Gardens. And it’s in that spirit that we’re bringing back the Marion Drummond Lecture Series, as a way to celebrate our 50th anniversary as a botanical garden -- and to once again lure the best minds in the business to Mobile, to help us all learn more about gardening.
- Bill Finch

On Saturday, February 17th, 2024, the series will launch in true Marion style! Sponsored by The Lilian Woolford Charitable Trust, this day will begin at 9am and feature Mary Palmer Dargan. She is a licensed landscape architect, author and entrepreneur. Mary Palmer's presentation will be Couture Garden Design - May Your Landscape Fit Your Lifestyle Like A Glove. Shape your landscape to fit your lifestyle like a tailor creates a custom design for your wardrobe. Learn how to maximize the use of your land by using five long landscape design techniques and the four part master plan. Explore about problem-solving with plant materials and creating outdoor spaces. Surely a must-have seminar for anyone with an outdoor environment. A Picnic Lunch will be provided, and a delightful afternoon design brainstorming session with Mary Palmer somewhere on the MBG grounds will surely make for a wonderful day. Click here to register for this event only

On Thursday, March 21st, 2024, we will enjoy Kathryn Aalto, New York Times Bestselling Author. Kathryn is an American landscape designer, historian, writer, and lecturer living in Exeter,England. In the morning she will present on her book, The Natural World of Winnie-The-Pooh: A Walk Through The Forest That Inspired The 100-Acre Wood and in the afternoon she will present Writing Wild: Women Poets, Ramblers, and Mavericks Who Shape How We See the Natural World. The schedule for the day is 9:00am - 3:00pm with lunch included.  Click here to register for this event only

Saturday, May 4th, 2024, Carol Reese will join us for her presentation, Native Plants: Facts, Fabrications and Foibles. Carol is a horticulturist and nationally known speaker. Her program celebrates the many native and non-native plants that provide great beauty, durability and excellent nutrition for our beloved wildlife. The day begins at 9am and includes the morning seminar, lunch, and an after-lunch interactive session: Why Did My Plant Die?? Click here to register for this event only

On Saturday, June 8th, 2024, Marianne Willburn will be the final speaker in the series. Marianne is an opinion columnist for the American Horticultural Society’s The American Gardener. Her presentation, Keep Calm and Garden On: Gardening in the Midst of Climate Change will guide us in how can we best adapt to what is, right now. She'll help us answer the question, 'How can we make our gardens more resilient throughout the seasons?' The day begins at 9am and includes seminar and lunch. Click here to register for this event only