Cornell Botanic Gardens opens its annual Fall Lecture Series with author George Hutchinson, the Newton C. Farr Professor of American History and Culture in the College of Arts and Sciences, delivering the 2018 William and Jane Torrence Harder Lecture Wednesday, Aug. 29, at 5:30 p.m. in Call Auditorium. The lecture will be followed at 7 p.m. with a garden party at Cornell Botanic Gardens. Both are free and open to the public. The Harder Lecture celebrates the connection between the literary and natural worlds.

Hutchinson’s insights dovetail with the purpose of the Harder Lecture and the mission of Cornell Botanic Gardens, said Christopher Dunn, the Elizabeth Newman Wild Director of Cornell Botanic Gardens. “His work shows the depth of connection between people and nature,” Dunn said. “Through re-evaluation of the past, he makes us fully aware of the essential interdependence of human culture and biodiversity.”