GROUNDWORK Ed.12
growing through practice
Looking Ahead to the Beth Chatto Symposium
Beth Chatto’s legacy lives in the hands of the practitioners who continue to learn from her ideas. Her philosophy of observing closely, understanding place and working with plants has shaped generations of horticulturists, gardeners and designers, and continues to influence how we think about planting today.
This August, Super Bloom Founder and plant practitioner Jac Semmler will travel to England to join fellow speakers for the Beth Chatto Symposium, gathering with an international community of people dedicated to the evolving practice of working with plants.
For Jac, the symposium represents something deeply important: a celebration of practitioners and the collective knowledge that emerges when people come together. “I feel like this is the ultimate celebration of practice,” Jac says. “It’s bringing together the whole spectrum of people who work with plants, from designers and ecologists to gardeners and researchers. It’s the intersection of people and plants.”
The symposium’s theme, Connections Through Time, reflects something fundamental about planting practice. Gardens and landscapes exist across many different time scales: the slow evolution of plant communities, the changing seasons, the history of a place and the future conditions we are designing for.
For Super Bloom, this is the essence of practice: a living conversation between plants, places, people and the knowledge that grows over time.
At Super Bloom, practice is both a process and a place of learning. The studio brings together planting design, horticultural knowledge and research to create landscapes that respond to their context. “We see ourselves as a plant practice,” Jac says. “Our work is always evolving because plants are always teaching us something new.” For Jac, expertise is not a destination and is instead an ongoing relationship with plants, places and people.
“We don’t see our knowledge or our methods as static. They are a point in time. We continue to shift, change and learn, and then apply those learnings to the landscapes we work with.”
This approach is central to how Super Bloom designs. Each project begins with understanding: the climate, the site, the plants, the people and the possibilities within a place. The practice grows through observation and response, continually refining its approach as new knowledge emerges.
Throughout horticultural history, knowledge has been shared through relationships: plants passed between gardeners, techniques exchanged between practitioners, observations carried across climates and generations. Bringing practitioners together to share knowledge, challenge ideas and learn from one another is one of the great gifts of the Beth Chatto Symposium.
“It’s so important to be part of a community of practice,” Jac says. “It allows us to learn from each other, support each other and think about how we can collectively have greater impact.”
For Super Bloom, being part of this international conversation is an opportunity to both share and learn. Working within Australia’s dry summer climate brings unique perspectives on adaptation, resilience and designing with limited resources.
“I feel very proud to represent Australian practice,” Jac says. “We are working within a very different context, and I think Australia has so much to offer.”
Ideas, like plants, are shaped by the places where they grow. The knowledge shared between practitioners becomes richer when it is considered through the lens of different climates, cultures and landscapes.
“What we learn needs to be thoughtfully applied to our own context, to our location, our climate and our landscapes. It’s about testing, trialling and adapting.”
As Super Bloom continues to grow, the vision remains clear: to deepen the practice while expanding its impact. Jac sees the studio continuing to work across major public landscapes, advocate for plants and plant people, and share knowledge more broadly so that the benefits of thoughtful planting can reach further.
“I want the impact of Super Bloom’ to grow. I want access to the plant world to grow. I want greater recognition of plant people and the role they play in shaping our landscapes.”
The Beth Chatto Symposium is an opportunity to reconnect with old friends, meet new collaborators and continue the conversations that help practice evolve.
Ultimately, planting is a practice built over time. It is shaped by the landscapes we care for, the communities we learn from and the plants that continue to surprise us and like any living thing, it is always growing.
Be part of the practice
The Beth Chatto Symposium 2026 will bring together an extraordinary community of plantspeople in Essex, England, from 27–29 August, exploring the connections between plants, people and landscapes through time. For those joining from further afield, livestream access opens the conversation to practitioners and plant lovers around the world.
