Our Life in Gardens

by Joe Eck, Wayne Winterrowd

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, the renowned garden designers Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd begin their entertaining, fascinating, and unexpectedly moving book about the life and garden they share. The book contains much sound information about the cultivation of plants and their value in the landscape, and invaluable advice about Eck and Winterrowd's 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. The authors 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.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Essays, Nature, Memoir

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Dorothy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a gift and I really, really wanted to like it a lot, but in the end, I just couldn't. The book is written by two men who garden in Vermont, and, although there are principles that translate from one garden to another no matter where it is located, I found much of the information in this book so foreign to my experience of gardening in subtropical Southeast Texas that it was really difficult to maintain interest. Many of the plants that they utilize such as lilacs and wisteria are either impossible to grow here (lilac) or it would be unethical to grow here (wisteria) because they are so invasive.

And speaking of invasives, their chapter on "Rampant plants" really seemed rather self-justifying and inadequate to address the serious consequences of planting many of the invasive, non-native species. Perhaps in the colder climate of Vermont, invasives are not so - er, invasive - but here in the warm and humid climate along the Gulf Coast, they are a major concern. Since the book was presumably written for an audience wider than Vermont gardeners, it seems that the problem should have been given more serious attention.

Eck and Winterrowd are good writers and, apparently, after so many years together, their thoughts and their writing styles have merged. They each wrote different chapters in the book, but I really couldn't discern where one writer left off and another one started.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a series of beautifully written essays about various garden flowers/plants/trees. I enjoyed the style and the subject matter and I learned quite a few things along the way.

[Karen Floyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining memoir, written by Joe Eck and the late Wayne Winterrowd, of their lives together as gardeners, beginning with houseplants and chicks in their Boston apartment and ending some thirty years later at North Hill, their farm and garden in Vermont. They write in a single voice as "we," and discourage readers from attempting to figure out which man wrote what, because it's not really important, and besides, they usually forget and can't tell themselves. I find the idea of raising chickens in a city apartment both hilarious and awe-inspiring. When they got to 35 chickens they thought perhaps they should find a place in the country. The book is divided into usually short chapters, about a particular plant or garden element for example, arranged, after the first chapter, in alphabetical order.
Evocatively written and full of inspiration and information. They did almost lose me at one point, when they said that Margery Fish "quaveringly suggested" a particular thing in one of her books. I was incensed. I have read Margery Fish and she was NOT a quaverer. They made her sound like some very proper and doddering old lady. Humph! It took me several chapters to forgive them and return to my original charmed state.

[Sue]

Garden designers Eck and Winterrowd, co-authors of The Year at North Hill: four seasons in a Vermont garden (Little Brown and Co., 1995) and Living Seasonally: the kitchen and the table at North Hill (Henry Holt and Co., 1999), take us back to their garden, North Hill, in a collection of essays to be savored on cold, snowy winter nights while eagerly waiting for spring. Short essays cover everything from boxwood to primroses to vegetable gardens and allow the authors to share their favorite plants, their successes and failures, the trials and rewards of gardening in a cold climate, and the evolution of their garden, both indoors and out, over several decades. Packed with useful information, advice, and myriad plants, lovingly described, for gardeners to try in their own gardens, they also share the importance of plants and gardening in their lives. Lyrically written, this book is a true pleasure that is recommended for public and horticultural libraries.

[Bookmarks Magazine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The admiration and genial frustration from critics-cum-amateur gardeners is palpable in the positive reviews of Our Life in Gardens. They take heart from the knowledge that these master gardeners face the same hurdles as most casual horticulturists, but a hint of jealousy creeps through in comments like this from the San Francisco Chronicle: "Eck and Winterrowd don't say how much outside help they have -- a frustrating omission for gardeners who exhaust themselves trying to keep up much smaller plots." Nongardeners, furthermore, may need a reference book at hand. Neither a how-to book nor an autobiography, Our Life in Gardens captures the best of both while maintaining focus on the authors' deep connection with their land.

This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.

[Jose Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book was a great joy! When we finish, it's like having new friends and knowing a garden and its plants even if you have never been to Vermont and the North Hill Gardens. Great gardening book from two gardeners passionate by its garden.

A leitura deste livro deu-me um grande prazer e, quando terminei, foi como se tivesse novos amigos e conhecesse o jardim de North Hill, situado no frio estado de Vermont, nos Estados Unidos. Os autores são definitivamente apaixonados por plantas e jardinagem e assim, não é difícil cativar quem tenha a mesma paixão. E escrevem muito bem, numa linguagem acessível, informativa e por vezes cheia de humor.
Será, com certeza, um jardim a visitar se voltar aos Estados Unidos. Para já, quero 'regressar' ao jardim lendo mais algumas obras destes autores. (Infelizmente Wayne Winterrowd faleceu em 2010).

[Cerealflakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book of gardening essays. The authors have FAR more knowledge than I do, so I didn't know some of the plants they were writing about, but I still enjoyed the book. They are very opinionated and make it very clear whether or not they find a plant worthy of garden space. I found much of the book interesting, but it would certainly not be interesting to someone not fascinated by gardening.

[Kathleen Gilroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

These guys are totally full of themselves but highly amusing and magnificent gardeners. Our Life in Gardens runs alphabetically and covers different types of plants and the history of the North Hill garden through these plants. I recommend this as a follow up to A Year at North Hill -- one of my favorite books about gardens.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book just irritated me. Try as I might, I couldn't get into it. It felt so staged. I flipped around from one short chapter to the next hoping for some redeeming quality. Alas, I gave up.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this book in the middle of winter when I longed for the smells of spring in the garden. Also a good reference for the plant species covered in each chapter.

[Francine Apollo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read. It read easily, it informed and educated and had humor. The authors did a great job with this; the transition from one writer to the other is seamless!

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book! Eck & Winterrowd have lived in the same Zone 4 Vermont garden for 30 years. They are more industrious than I, but they give me hope and ideas for my Zone 4, 10-year garden!

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a certain type of garden writing that is specific to Gardening Gentlemen of a Certain Age. I happen to enjoy it, especially as it crosses over with the old-style garden writing of people like Gladys Taber. This book is actually more a series of short essays, or vignettes, on specific species and a few other garden topics (such as the trowel and the planted garden wall), by a well known garden designer couple.
It is somewhat of a relief to realize that garden designers, too, can fall prey to the collecting urge, the desire to have All the Varieties of a beloved type of plant. Eck and Winterrowd are very open about their collecting manias, allowing them to discuss both general group categories and their favorite cultivars, interspersed with reminiscences of where they have found specific varieties and where they do or don't flourish in their garden. This, being a zone 4 in Vermont, where, the authors tell us, many people said very few intriguing species would grow, is a tough climate, which they supplement with a sheltered "winter garden," diverse winter storage for tenderer plants in pots, and a greenhouse. It becomes apparent that not only do these two have far, far more land to work with than the average gardener, but also that they have lots of garden workers to help. (If only we had these resources... but it's interesting to read what once can do with them.)
There are is a lot of information in each essay. These would have made an excellent magazine series, given that they have pretty much the same general structure. But taken together, the text-- devoid of illustrations-- can be a bit overwhelming, leaving the brain a-whirl with suggested plants.
Overall, though, what matters is the tone. It is the equivalent of stopping by a garden and having the owners offer a cold drink and a genial little tour, most of which is spent drinking our iced tea in little nooks and hearing our hosts expand on their favorite plants, combined with the anecdotes of a long-married couple of their life in gardens.

[Sarai · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I'd loved this book. This is a rounded up 2.5. It was so slow, so hard to get through. Some of the anecdotes were sweet and fun to read, and the gardening information was helpful and interesting. But each essay felt cut from the same mold, and each was so short that upon reading five essays I'd barely read twenty pages in. Twenty pages of repeated structures. For a gardening buff/literary nerd, this might work well. But for someone like me, with only a beginning interest in gardens, and a high expectation for essays, this didn't work. The illustrations were lovely, however.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I took this book out from the library on a whim, on what turned out to be the last day the library was open in March. I’m not sure I would have renewed it to finish it when the end of the loan came up. But the town library’s still closed, so I finished it.
The book is charming, and haphazardly full of gardening experiences. I often needed to keep my phone handy to look up the plants mentioned, since I’m not at all familiar with Latin plant names.

[Lanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this one up at a library sale and read it in one sitting today while I sat in front of the fire boiling down maple sap. It was the perfect book to make me look forward to spring and getting my hands dirty, even while I was surrounded by snow.

[Oggie Ramos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written book even if I don't share the authors' obsession with floral specimens and order in the garden.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The North Hill Landscape design group is well-known and respected here in New England. Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd's latest book, "Our Life in Gardens" tells their personal story of discovering their shared passion for gardening and how they came to live in Vermont where they have created one of the most beautiful private gardens in the United States. Beautifully illustrated each chapter describes a different plant and the history of its inclusion into the North Hill 7 acre garden. This isn't a book to sit and read from cover-to-cover. Rather, one reads a chapter at a time, looks up the plant discussed, and reflects. This is a gardening book for the garden-lover, not a how-to-garden book, although there is a lot of practical and useful information.
Although both authors write in a somewhat serious self-important style there is humor in the recounting of events and experiences that show their humility and reinforce all gardeners realization that, at -the-end-of-the-day, nature is truly in charge.
For New England and Northern gardeners....

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jesus, you guys. Finally finished this book after like a month. It's a collection of essays on various flora topics written by this couple who have what sounds like a fabulous landscape design firm in Vermont. The descriptions of their own garden are absolutely absurd and jealous-inducing.

"There is a stately single specimen of 'Elegantissima' that provides a full stop to the rose path before the stones turn and become the back woodland walk."

They talk a lot about rare hybrids and plants they like to keep overwinter in their greenhouse and all these other things that I can't even imagine being able to relate to but their enthusiasm is wonderful. Got this from the library but would love to have a copy to dip into from time to time. If only so I can dream about what it'd be like to have a rose alley and daffodil meadow and stream cutting through my property and chickens and an herb terrace.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the beautifully written and entertaining tale of the many years of experiences, decisions, and mysteries that two talented people have enjoyed while planning gardens, gardening, and seeing the results of their efforts. So far I am loving it.

I am still reading this one off and on between other books. I wish I could see the incredilbe gardens described! Which reminds me, the botanical drawings at the beginning of each chapter are lovely, worthy of the care and detail put into the book.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The two gardeners write in detail about some of the plants they’ve collected and grown throughout their 30 years at North Hill Garden in Vermont. Sometimes minute detail. I really like the format – chapters about one kind of plant or a concept (tools, hardiness, etc) – but had a hard time absorbing all the descriptions of the various kinds of snowdrops or magnolias. The chapters are in alphabetical order, but you still get a sense of how things have developed over time in their garden.

[Suburbangardener · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very good book and one worth reading. The caveat here is that the authors fail to deal adequately with the issue of invasive plants, which spoiled the book for me. This is less a gardening book, than a book about gardens, divided into short topical essays, liberally sprinkled with useful garden information.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an account, flower by flower and plant by plant, of these two men's gardening experiences in Vermont. I didn't like the set up, separated by plants instead of seasons, or a beginning to end story. It was sometimes hard to stay interested, such as a several page chapter on gardening tools. I can see they are witty, so I will try them again. Hopefully with a different format.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you enjoy reading gardening books I think you'd like this. Each small chapter covers one plant, or group of plants, & the author's personal experience with them. They make a point of letting the reader know when they have been able to raise a plant which is out of their "zone" but they loved the plant, tried anyway, & it worked. This will go in the small group of classic gardening books.

[Denise Rolon · Rating 3 out of 5]

If only this book included color photographs, I think I might have loved it. As it is though, I am sorry to say it was just downright boring for me. I think the stories are lovingly crafted and with some considerable skill, but in the end it boiled down to a list of plants and their features that just didn't have enough action to hold me.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this, I really did, so why I'm hesitating at giving it four stars I don't know. It's definitely not three, but not quite four either...?
It was nice, comfortable, garden-y... like sitting in a hammock in the shade and quietly swinging back and forth. Also some interesting insight into some plants I didn't know much about.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book by a couple of school teachers who move from an apartment in Boston to Vermont where they found the garden design firm North Hill.

Chapters are by topic (e.g., Hellebores) in alphabetical order.

Worth reading more than once.

I read the library copy, but worth buying.

[Carlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book and it is very well written, but it was too daunting for the occasional, lackadaisical gardener (me). I gave up about half way along in the book as I felt I couldn't live up to their high standards.

[David Ward · Rating 1 out of 5]

Our Life in Gardens by Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2009)(635) is a weak attempt to write gardening essays in the format of Henry Mitchell or Allan Lacy. These guys, who live in Vermont, fail. My rating: 1.5/10, finished 4/15/11.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, so, It's only for gardening geeks like me, but I really liked this one!