A Year in Our Gardens

March 12, 2001
On this day Nancy Goodwin of the landmark Montrose Gardens and Allen Lacy American garden writer and columnist launched their garden book called A Year in Our Gardens.

This is one of my favorite books and it's a collection of the letters that Alan and Nancy exchanged during a single year.
Now, what I love about Alan in Nancy's letters is that these two people are truly real gardeners in every sense of the word - despite their fame and popularity.
And so their letters share their horticultural wins and their failures. They talk about plants, of course, but they also share their dreams for their gardens and they even delve into other areas of their life - like their favorite music and what's going on with their family and friends.

And as for these two gardeners, Alan and Nancy's gardens and their garden philosophies could not be more different.

Alan's garden was on a 100- by 155-foot plot of farmland in Southern New Jersey. And while Alan gardened on sandy soil, that required constant watering,
Nancy took a different approach and she never irrigated her garden. Instead, she planted only native plants that would thrive naturally in her garden without any intervention on her part.

Anyway, I cannot believe that this is the 20th anniversary of this book coming out, this landmark garden book. And if you don't have it, I encourage you to head on over to Amazon and buy the book because it's truly one of the great garden books.
You can get A Year in Our Gardens on Amazon and support the show in today's show notes for around $2