My Cousin Wayne:

"This is the third book we have written together, though separately we have written others... But to say ‘written separately’ makes no sense, for when two lives have been bent for so many years on one central enterprise -- in this case, gardening -- there really is no such thing as separately.”
With these words, renowned garden designers, my cousin Wayne Winterrowd (on the left pictured above) and his life partner Joe Eck, begin their fascinating, new book, Our Life In Gardens. It is a deeply moving book about the life and garden they share, North Hill. It contains much sound information about the cultivation of plants and their value in the landscape, and invaluable advice about their area of expertise: garden design. There are chapters about the various parts of their garden, and sections about particular plants -- roses and lilacs, snowdrops and cyclamen -- and vegetables. They also discuss the development of their garden over time, and the dark issue that weighs more and more on their minds: its eventual decline and demise. Our Life in Gardens is a deeply satisfying perspective on gardening, and on life.