Some say Arjan Boekel is like a young Piet Oudolf – and while such comparisons are bold, it is a fact that he is one of the leaders of the new generation in naturalistic design.

In Arjan’s work, plants are not merely decorations; they are the essential tools for creating an emotional connection with nature. His gardens masterfully balance structure and lush greenery, resulting in spaces where people feel truly comfortable and want to linger. His philosophy is rooted in the idea that plants are living elements that directly shape both the atmosphere of a garden and the visitor’s experience within it.

His portfolio:

Private gardens

Public areas

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At the “Garden Style” conference, Arjan Boekel will dive deep into the principles of designing in layers, combining trees, shrubs, and perennials into rich, visually captivating groups. A significant focus of his presentation will be on the gardens of the future – specifically those that are drought-resilient. You will see inspiring examples of how to move beyond traditional planting plans toward sustainable plant systems that ensure garden dynamism and biodiversity across all seasons.

All eyes this year are on the new museum, “The Lost Shtetl” in Šeduva. Just a few years ago, the surroundings looked radically different; today, the trees, shrubs, and meadows simply take the visitors’ breath away.

At the conference, Ingrida Vainauskienė will share how she and her team brought this project to life. She will also present other projects where plants make a significant impact: the “Sąvaržėlė” business center in Vilnius and the “Forestline” project for the “Sanitex” office environment in Kaunas which won the prestigious European Award for Ecological Gardening 2025.

You will be surprised to learn that this change can be measured: from how much cooler the environment has become to improvements in employee emotional well-being and productivity. Most interestingly, all these changes were achieved by planting familiar, reliable, and time-tested plants rather than exotic species. Come discover them and get inspired.

A graduate of the prestigious Oxford College of Garden Design, Merilen has been a member of the UK’s Society of Garden Designers since 2012, where she now even serves on the panel that selects new members. It is truly remarkable to see an Estonian designer achieve such heights, with her work gaining recognition across Europe.

Merilen’s professional palette is vast: her journey began with a passion for roses, leading her to manage her own nursery for two decades. However, her greatest passion and expertise lie in private garden design. As you will see, her gardens are more than just spaces—they are experiences. It is incredible how she manages to evoke such deep emotion through her landscapes.

Her presentation will focus on exactly that—the little “tricks of the trade” that turn a garden into a celebration. She will share her insights on how to create a garden that is not merely a collection of plants, but a true source of the most beautiful emotions.

In modern cities, we increasingly encounter “copy-paste” landscape designs—repetitive paving patterns, identical benches, and predictable vegetation. But how do we create a space with a soul? A space that inherently invites you to pause, sit down, and simply be “here and now”?

Agnė Dailidaitė, landscape architect and co-founder of the “Bauland” studio, invites you to an open conversation about architectural narrative and spatial scenography. She will reveal why the “Bauland” team, when designing public spaces, always takes the unique identity of a place as its starting point. Drawing on her experience as a co-author of such diverse projects as the “Mammoth Valley Park” (“Mamuto slėnio parkas”), “Molainiai Filtration Park” (“Molainių filtracijos parkas”), “Juozapas Strumila Garden” (“Juozapo Strumilos sodas”), and “Common Snipe Square” (“Perkūno oželio skveras”), Agnė will share how a visitor experience scenario comes to life.

Take a look at a few her projects here.

Conference participants will learn how to develop an authentic concept from an initial idea, allowing people not just to pass through, but to truly experience the history and character of a place.

Did you know that the roses you admire in the world’s most beautiful gardens often share one name – Meilland? Our speaker, Matthias Meilland, represents the 6th generation of a family that has been dedicated to rose breeding since 1850. Their legacy is woven into history, from the iconic ‘Peace’ rose, presented to the founders of the United Nations, to securing the first-ever plant patent in Europe.

Today, Matthias continues his ancestors’ work, evaluating up to 200,000 new hybrids annually. In creating future garden legends like ‘Papa Meilland’, ‘Bonica’, and ‘Pierre de Ronsard’, the focus goes beyond beauty and fragrance to ensure exceptional plant vitality.

The ultimate goal for Matthias and the Meilland family is to create roses that thrive in any environment – from the frost of Canada to the heat of Morocco – ensuring prolific blooms and disease resistance in every garden.

At the “Garden Style” conference, Matthias will showcase the very latest, cutting-edge rose varieties that are just beginning to define garden trends. He will reveal how modern breeding creates the plants of the future: those characterized not only by enchanting beauty but also by extraordinary resilience to diseases and a changing climate.

Kateřina Zahradníková holds a Master’s degree in Garden and Landscape Architecture from Mendel University in Brno. During her studies, she expanded her academic experience at Politecnico di Milano and later completed a Master’s program at the Faculty of Architecture at Sapienza University in Rome in field of Landscape Architecture.

She lived in Italy for nearly 18 years, where she developed her design approach within a culturally and historically rich landscape context.

Today, she works internationally, with projects primarily in the Czech Republic and Italy, as well as in other European countries. Her portfolio includes private gardens, parks, public spaces, green roofs, and commercial spaces. Across all scales, her work is guided by ecological sensitivity and a deep understanding of plant systems. She focuses on creating spaces that balance people and nature, integrating naturalistic planting strategies to strengthen biodiversity within contemporary landscapes.

Šarūnas Kasmauskas has walked an extraordinary path. With a medical degree and experience in military medicine, he now introduces himself as a Japanese garden visionary and gardener. As Šarūnas says, this is a gift of life, bestowed upon him by his masters from Japan and through years of dedicated work creating one of the largest Japanese gardens in Europe, located in the Kretinga district.

In his presentation, Šarūnas Kasmauskas will share practical insights into what truly defines the ideal picnic spot. The main focus here is the view—a scenery to feast one’s eyes upon during a moment of rest. Šarūnas will reveal how to create such a view yourself: when it is worth masterfully framing it, when to open it up completely, and which specific design principles to use so the surroundings evoke a sense of calm. Drawing on Japanese aesthetics and his years of practice, Šarūnas will demonstrate how to manage garden spaces so that the vistas unfolding from certain vantage points become the central axis of the garden, inviting one to stop and savor the moment here and now.

Tadas Eidukevičius is a culinary visionary whose restaurant, DEMO, earned both a prestigious Michelin star and the Green Star for sustainable gastronomy. In his kitchen, aesthetic plate design meets strict ecological responsibility. Tadas works closely with Lithuanian farmers to bring the diversity of gardens and the wild into the realm of haute cuisine.

At the conference, the chef will present on the culinary application of edible flowers and invasive plants. This will be more than just a theoretical lecture—Tadas will share practical methods and recipes that allow us to view unwanted garden plants as valuable resources. You will discover how solutions fostering biodiversity can transform into aesthetic and surprising flavors in your own kitchen.