Conversation with Alicia Whitaker, horticulturist and Thackston Crandall, landscape architect on the film ”The Gardener” - 6/10/22

The Parrish Art Museum Podcast

The Gardener is a film that reflects upon the meaning of gardening and its impact on our lives. Co-presented with Hamptons Doc Fest and in conjunction with Landscape Pleasures, the documentary features the influential gardener and plantsman Frank Cabot shortly before his passing at the age of 86. Cabot recounts his personal quest for perfection at Les Quatre Vents, his 20-acre English style garden and summer estate, which he opened to a film crew for the first time in 2009.

Nestled amid the rolling hills of the Charlevoix County in Quebec, Les Quatre Vents has become one of the world’s foremost private gardens. Created over the course of 75 years and three generations, this horticultural masterpiece of the 21st century is an enchanted place of beauty and surprise. Through remarks by Cabot and his family, and with the participation of gardening experts and writers, the film looks back at this remarkable man’s personal story and the artistic philosophy that gave birth to one of the greatest gardens in the world.

About the Director

Sébastien Chabot (b. 1976, Sainte-Florence, Quebec) is a Canadian writer, cinematographer, and producer, who published his debut novel Ma mère est une marmotte in 2004. He was awarded the Prix Jovette-Bernier in 2006 for his sequel, L’Angoisse des poulets sans plumes, and was recently shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for French-language fiction for the novel Noir métal. Discussing The Gardener in a feature article in Point of View Magazine, Chabot said that working with Frank Cabot was about cultivating a film that would be as finely crafted as the garden it depicts. “Doing a personal movie about one’s personal garden might be the best way to reveal someone.” Chabot received his education at the Université du Québec à Rimouski and the Université du Québec à Montréal. He is a professor of literature at the Cégep de Rimouski.

About Alicia Whitaker

Alicia Whitaker is an executive leadership coach and consultant who has worked to support her gardening habit for decades. A home gardener and active participant in the East End gardening community, she is past president (2019-2021) and long-time board member of the Horticultural Alliance of the Hamptons, and recently joined the Board of Directors of the Westhampton Garden Club where she serves as Chair of Horticulture and member of the Pollinator Team responsible for a fledgling Pollinator Garden at the Quogue Library. She is co-author, with Betsy Pinover Schiff, of The Sidewalk Gardens of New York (Monacelli Press, 2016) which describes the many ways NYC has become a greener city in the past two decades. Whitaker became a Master Gardener in 2021 after completing a course offered by Cornell Cooperative Extension Service. She holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

About Thackston Crandall

Thackston Crandall is a licensed Landscape Architect and Senior Associate with LaGuardia Design Group, located in Watermill NY and NYC. As a member of the LDG team, Thackston enjoys collaborating with colleagues and clients on a range of projects including residential, commercial, and cultural landscapes. Thackston received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Clemson University and a Master of Landscape Architecture from Cornell University.

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Additional support provided by Weill Cornell Medicine – Southampton and The Corcoran Group