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Conquer The Soil

@conquerthesoil

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💚 An ode to Gardens, History, & People
💻 contact [email protected]

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For 30 years, Smithsonian Gardens and the U.S. Botanic Garden have collaborated on annual orchid exhibitions. Both institutions have significant orchid collections and share the common goal of biodiversity conservation, which involves protecting different species for future generations.

Beyond their captivating beauty, orchids have the powerful ability to connect people with nature and to each other. Whether thriving in greenhouses, celebrated in garden clubs, or shared online, orchids help cultivate relationships and build communities.

Guiding us through this year’s exhibit is Abra Lee (@conquerthesoil), Garden Historian and Director of Horticulture at Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. Abra’s research and storytelling help illuminate how orchids link people to nature and to one another, across generations and communities.

Video description: a woman in a pink outfit in an orchid greenhouse introducing the orchid exhibit. Video includes additional footage of a variety of orchids and greenhouses.

#SmithsonianGardens #UnitedStatesBotanicGarden #PublicGarden #Orchids by @conquerthesoil

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9 months ago

Gotta tell ya ‘Black Flora’ by the iconic Teri Speight is giving best seller 📚
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Pre-order now and in stores on Tuesday the 1st of October
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Book by: @cottageincourt (Teri Speight)
Cover star: @postalpetals (Talia Boone)
Forward by moi: @conquerthesoil (Abra Lee)
Published by: @timberpress by @conquerthesoil

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2 years ago

Because I just love being extra—what is better then a great Black garden history story during Black history month?? Four great stories!
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Recently I had the joy of speaking with Eva Tesfaye producer at NPR’s daily science podcast Short Wave. We got to talk about some of my favorite people including: Harlem Renaissance writer and Eco-poet Effie Lee Newsome, Entomological Artist Extraordinaire Charles Costello, Head Gardener at Monticello Wormley Hughes, and the real OGs of horticulture the self taught plantsfolks that taught me the game down in my beloved Barnesville, Georgia.
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Shoutout (literally—listen to the end of the podcast) to the young legends in the making the graduate landscape architecture students at Auburn University College of Architecture, Design, and Construction ~and~ the man who dared to dream and brought me on this semester my boss Professor David Hill. Thank y’all for having the patience to listen to me keep it real and also fan girl over these folks weekly in my Black Garden History class ‘Working With The Hands.’
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Swipe 👉🏾 to get a glimpse of the iconic Newsome, Costello, Hughes, and my Mama in a vintage photo down on the family farm in late 1950s Barnesville. Link in bio to hear the full episode. Thank you Eva!!
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@NPR @hillworksdesign @landarch_at_au @auburnu #ConquerTheSoil #BarnesvilleGeorgia #NPRShortWave #AuburnUniversity #WarEagle taken in NPR by @conquerthesoil

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5 years ago

On last week’s episode of Cultivating Place, Jennifer Jewell joined Abra Lee to explore the life and legacy of horticulturist, educator, and garden club leader Asa Sims.

In this clip, Abra and Jennifer reflect on four principles Sims shared with his students, from reverence for the earth and making use of what is around us to appreciating beauty and the role of cultural values in creating a richer life. Together, they consider how these ideas still resonate with the ways we think about gardening, sustainability, community, and Cultivating Place today.

Listen in to learn more about Asa Sims, his decades of teaching, and the history of Black Garden Clubs in Virginia. His story offers a reminder that looking back can help us better understand where gardening has been and where it can go next. Link in bio to hear the full conversation.

#CultivatingPlace #GardeningIntelligence #ThePowerGardeners #GrowingTheWorld #DialoguesToGrowBy by @conquerthesoil

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19 days ago

Happy Autumn! Cultivating Place is proud to launch an occasional series from Host Abra Lee delving into our Garden past in order to more fully understand and illuminate our Garden present and future. Sometimes we have to look back to grow forward!

This week, Abra shares with Jennifer Jewell her passion and admiration for, as well as research into, an intrepid and unflagging cultivator of place from our past in Virginia’s Tidewater Region: Asa Sims. A businessman, educator, floral grower, and designer, Asa was also a cofounder, in 1932, of the Historic Black Garden Clubs of Virginia, at the time known as the Negro Garden Clubs of Virginia.

Listen in!

Photo of Abra Lee taken by Myriam Nicodemus; All other images sourced from historic, open-source archives.

Cultivating Place is made possible in part by generous support from the Catto Shaw Foundation, funding endeavors supporting women, creativity, and the planet.

We are also made possible through support from Heirloom, growers of roses and more in St. Paul, Oregon, helping you grow the garden of your dreams.

Cultivating Place is also a LISTENERSUPPORTED publicradioprogram and podcast, created from a physical base on unceded, traditional and present lands of the Mechoopda Maidu Indian Tribe of the Chico Rancheria. cultivatingplace #decolonizethegarden #dialoguestogrowby #gardenlife by @conquerthesoil

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25 days ago

Happy Autumnal Equinox! Abra Lee has spent her career proving that horticulture belongs everywhere — including on of the world’s busiest airports.

The Power of Gardeners Symposium is excited to announce our final speaker, Abra Lee, one of Cultivating Place’s three regular hosts since 2024 and founder of Conquer the Soil.

Gardening as a calling or a career are never just about putting pretty plants in place: it is about human history and impact in all arenas: aesthetics, environment, culture, society, and economy. If you are called to such human stories of impact, Garden Historian Abra Lee’s path is one you want to learn from!

Join us in South Bend, Indiana, this week, September 25–26, 2026, to hear from Abra and our other fantastic speakers, for our first Cultivating Place: The Power of Gardeners Symposium.

Purchase tickets FOR JUST TWO MORE DAYS via the link in bio!

#CultivatingPlace #PowerOfGardeners #Symposium2026 #AbraLee #conquerthesoil by @conquerthesoil

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a month ago

🚨🧑🏾‍🌾🚨NEXT STOP: ATL! 🚜📚🚜

On Wednesday, October 7 @ 7pm, I’ll be in Atlanta at the @atlantahistorycenter for the Aiken Lecture featuring me in conversation with Horticulturalist-Historian and author, Abra Lee (@conquerthesoil)!

We will spend the evening talking all things BLACK FARM BOYS, followed by a Q&A and book signing.

Ironically, what makes this lecture so special is that Atlanta was the site of the FINAL NFA National Convention at the Municipal Auditorium, October 5–8, 1965, and this event coincides with that moment—exactly 61 years to the date of the week of the final convening.

I am honored to be talking about the NFA in the last place it existed as a national organization of Black farm boys, and I hope you’ll join me.

If you’re in the Atlanta area, pull up on me! For tickets and more information - link in bio!

More soon! 👀 taken in Atlanta History Center by @conquerthesoil

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a month ago

This week, Cultivating Place host Abra Lee explores diplomacy and gardens. She’s in conversation with John Sonnier, Head Gardener at the British Ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C. There since 2009, John focuses on organic and sustainable methods of care AND he has created one of the United State’s most significant historic orchid collections.

Orchids are known for their extraordinary forms, relationships, and resilience and John, a distinguished horticulturalist, artist, and self-taught orchidist, brings us into that world – sharing what it means to grow them, care for them, and stay curious about them over time. We consider how the environment we cultivate – from gardens to shared community spaces – shape our thoughts and our lives.

Listen in!

All photos courtesy of John Sonnier, with various images via the American Horticultural Society’s American Gardener magazine, all rights reserved.

CP is made possible in part by generous support from the Catto Shaw Foundation, funding endeavors supporting women, creativity, and the planet.

CP is also a LISTENERSUPPORTED publicradioprogram and podcast, created from a physical base on unceded, traditional and present lands of the Mechoopda Maidu Indian Tribe of the Chico Rancheria. cultivatingplace #decolonizethegarden #dialoguestogrowby #gardenlife by @conquerthesoil

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6 months ago

From last week’s episode on Cultivating Place, a quote from Garden Historian and CP Host Abra Lee on lessons brought to life from re-visiting garden stories that might be buried in the past.

Last week, Abra Lee was in conversation with the great nieces of Mrs. Annie Mae Vann Reid, a pioneering South Carolina floriculturist whose vision and determination built a thriving floral enterprise in the Jim Crow South.

In this clip, Abra reflects on Mrs. Reid’s courage and reminds us that she did not wait for perfect conditions. She worked the soil she had, trusted her gifts, and kept expanding what was possible.

Listen in to hear more about Mrs. Annie Mae Vann Reid’s extraordinary legacy. Link in bio to hear the full conversation.

#CultivatingPlace #GardeningIntelligence #ThePowerGardeners #GrowingTheWorld #DialoguesToGrowBy by @conquerthesoil

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7 months ago

Part II. Because the list is never complete, we’re continuing to name the Black visionaries shaping how we live outside: the historians preserving lineage, the educators building pipelines, the growers feeding communities, and the designers expanding who belongs.

Who would you add next? Tag them below. #wearetill #blackvisionaries #blackhistorymonth #gardenculture by @conquerthesoil

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8 months ago

🌱 History in Bloom Spotlight: Abra Lee 🌱
Garden Historian | Conquer the Soil

“I tell love stories for a living.”

That’s how Abra Lee describes her work—and it’s exactly what she does through horticulture, history, and community. As a Garden Historian and the Director of Horticulture at Historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Abra brings nearly 26 years of experience to preserving stories, landscapes, and legacies.

Her journey began with her Mama introducing her to garden history in 2008. Years later, discovering the work of trailblazers before her helped her see what was possible—and inspired her to live that story herself.

Abra believes representation is about affirmation. About being seen. About knowing, deeply, that you belong. When people are affirmed, confidence grows—and so does possibility.

“When you find your lane, go deeper. Stay a perpetual student.”

Her advice reminds students that mastery is built through curiosity, dedication, and lifelong learning.

One surprising moment in her career? Being described as working in the “death industry”—a powerful reminder that even spaces of remembrance are also places of beauty, growth, and care (and a part of the horticulture industry!)

Abra is inspired by how today’s students can connect globally from the start—building community, knowledge, and impact across borders.

Her story is proof: when love, history, and horticulture meet, something extraordinary grows.

@conquerthesoil

#HistoryInBloom #BlackHistoryMonth #GardenHistory #RepresentationMatters #GreenCareers #SeedYourFuture #PlantStories #GrowingLegacy #HorticultureLeaders by @conquerthesoil

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8 months ago

“Yes, we can overbalance the ugliness with beauty. Let us begin where we are, but with more determination, more enthusiasm, and with a greater will than ever before.

It is true that the horrors of war are all around us, but we can look beyond the dark clouds of war to our gardens, indoors and outdoors, see the beauty in our plants, grass and trees, in ourselves, and there find success.”

—Mrs. Lillian Hughes Savage, President
The Negro Garden Club of Virginia
(from The President’s Address to the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Negro Garden Club of Virginia, Hampton Institute, June 18, 1942) by @conquerthesoil

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9 months ago