The weekend at LongHouse Reserve will begin Friday with “Grounded Conversations: An Evening of Hope,” and conclude on Sunday with a competition involving “Planters On + Off the Ground.” To keep things earthbound, a bonsai workshop will happen on Saturday.
“Grounded Conversations” will bring together Krista Tippett, a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, author, and host of the podcast and former Public Radio program “On Being,” and Biddle Duke, a journalist and climate advocate. Ms. Tippett, who often draws wisdom from the natural world, has noted that cycles of decay and renewal in nature mirror humanity’s own capacity for growth and healing.
The program, set for tomorrow at 5:30 p.m., is the first of a series in collaboration with Edwina von Gal and the Perfect Earth Project. The doors will open at 5:30. The conversation and reception will take place from 6 to 7, and be followed by a seated dinner for 40 guests. Each table will explore one of Ms. Tippett’s questions, with a host to guide the conversation.
Tickets for the talk and reception are $150, $125 for members. With the dinner, the price is $400.
Bonsai as Art, a workshop with Benjamin Keating, a sculptor, poet, and bonsai artist, and Giacomo Mule, a bonsai professional, will take place on Saturday from 11 to 1. Together with Mr. Mule, Mr. Keating will guide participants through styling and repotting their own tropical starter trees into a thoughtful composition. All materials, including the bonsai and a container to take home, will be provided; no experience is necessary.
Mr. Keating is known for combining molten bronze with living trees to create “living sculpture.” His bonsai sculptures have been featured in The New Yorker and shown at the Tripoli Gallery in Wainscott, and are in LongHouse’s collection as well.
Tickets are $175, $150 for LongHouse members.
The opening reception for “Planters On + Off the Ground” is set for Sunday from 4 to 6 p.m., when the artists, horticulturalists, designers, gardeners, and landscapers behind the planters on display will be on hand. Their challenge was to create original garden container installations that soar far beyond the clay pot. The only restriction was that entries be no larger than 25 square feet.
The exhibitors include Scott Bluedorn and Zach Bliss, Elizabeth A. Lear, Landscape Associates, Jasmine Chamberlain/Floral Feeling, Hampton Rustic Landscapes, Brianna Hernandez, Marybeth LaPenna Lee and Ted Tyler/LaPenna Lee Gardens, MAGO, ReWild Long Island, Salt Heir x Fenelon Landscapes, Hope Sandrow, SHINE Studio, Aurelio Torres and Robin Gianis, and Whisker and Brush.
Guests can vote for their favorite pieces for the People’s Choice Award, which will be announced by Georgette Grier-Key, the executive director and curator of Sag Harbor’s Eastville Community Historical Society.
The event is free, and light refreshments will be served. The planters will remain on view through Labor Day weekend.
