Daffodil Workshop at North Hill

The Daffodil Meadow with a hedge of Forsythia 'Vermont Sunrise' beyond

Yesterday, I played hooky and went to workshop on the Four Ways of Using Daffodils led by Joe Eck. It was North Hill Garden's inaugural class for their new series of gardening workshops. Twice a month throughout the summer, North Hill, the remarkable garden of Joe Eck and his partner, the late Wayne Winterrowd, will host a two hour workshop.

For the first hour of the informal talk, we sat in the kitchen with a cup of coffee and Joe went over the different classes of narcissus, their uses and his favorite sources for daffodils. According to Eck, the four uses of daffodils are 1) naturalizing in a meadow 2) planted in groups of 40-50 in the bays of shrubbery 3) planting beneath roses in particular 4) forced in pots, to be placed in the house in February or in the garden in April.

I personally have had mixed success with daffodils and was interested to learn that narcissus require full sun and are very intolerant of wet soil. I also learned that some varieties are good naturalizers while others should be treated as an annual or a short-loved perennial.

During the second hour, Joe lead us around the garden to see examples of narcissus used successfully and perhaps more importantly, the failures. The highlight of the day was visiting the Daffodil Meadow. Joe and Wayne have planted large groups (50-100 of a single cultivar) of mainly large trumpets over the years. Joe estimated they have multiplied to over 100,000 bulbs. If you limit yourself to mid-season cultivars, the show will last about 3 weeks. The talk was capped up with a light lunch and a glass of wine back.

The next class on May 20th is called How To Use Magnolias in a Garden. Joe will also be leading this talk and promised to illustrate the proper pruning of magnolias in order to best integrate them into the garden. He hopes to keep the classes limited to about a dozen participants. If you get the chance to attend one of the workshops you will not be disappointed.

Beginning on April the 29 and continuing until October 8, their extraordinary garden will be open to the public each Friday and Saturday afternoon from 1:00 until 4:00. It is a great opportunity to follow the progress of the garden throughout the season. They will also be selling their books and pots will be on sale. The gardeners will be on hand to answer questions about the garden or identify unusual plants. For more information, see the North Hill Garden's website.

Remembering Wayne Winterrowd

Entrance Path to the House at North Hill

Wayne Winterrowd died at the age of 68 on September 17 at his home, North Hill, in Readsboro, VT. I first heard of Wayne and his partner Joe Eck when I read Rosemary Verey's book The American Man's Garden. The year was 1993 and I was beginning to gardening seriously. I was intrigued by this garden in Vermont and all the unusual plants they were able to grow. In those days, North Hill was opened to the public on the last day of June, July and August each year as a fundraiser for the Brattleboro AIDS project. Unfortunately, I had to work In Manchester, NH that June afternoon so I called to ask if I might come an hour earlier so I could make it back to work (a two-and-half hour drive) in time. I had no idea then what a rude and crazy request that was at the time. Wayne answered the phone and said of course, come earlier if you like, so I did. When I arrived to the garden an hour early, I could hear the weed trimmer working overtime getting the garden ready for the visitors. I met Joe at the garden entrance to explain the circumstances, I could tell immediately he was not pleased (and rightly so!) with this early bird. I suspect he was less pleased with Wayne. But when Wayne arrived at the scene, he could not have been more welcoming.

So my first visit to North Hill I had the place to myself for an hour. I had never seen anything like it. It was jaw-droppingly gorgeous. The design was wonderful and the plants were better. I could recognize few if any plants and I knew at that moment I wanted to have a garden. A REAL garden. Something special like this magical place.

About five years later, I took a weekend-long garden design class at North Hill with about 15 other gardeners. Wayne and Joe had lectures on garden design and each of the students presented their gardens and got advice from the dynamic duo. At the end of the class, I asked Wayne if I might return to North Hill later in the winter and spring to learn from the garden in the other seasons. I was interested in the bones of the garden and I wanted see the changes during the long winter months when the garden was dormant. Not surprisingly, Wayne immediately gave his blessing and I had the luxury of being in the garden by myself during the winter. I studied the garden in their book A Year at North Hill: Four Seasons in a Vermont Garden. I returned in November after a light snow and again in April when the Cornus mas, early magnolias and the daffodils were blooming. I cross-referenced each visit with the corresponding chapter in the book and had one of the best possible learning experiences a neophyte gardener could imagine.

The last time I heard from Wayne was last May. I had signed up for their symposium with Fergus Garrett and some other wonderful speakers but it had been filled to capacity. I received a typewritten letter informing me that the symposium was closed. At the bottom of the letter was a note written in Wayne's beautiful and distinctive handwriting. He was apologizing for the situation and inviting me to "please come visit the garden." I wish I had. Wayne was a very generous and thoughtful man. He was among the finest of our American garden writers. He will be greatly missed.