Wayne Winterrowd
Encyclopedia
Wayne Rudolf Winterrowd was an American gardening expert and designer who wrote extensively on the subject. The garden covering 7 acres (2.8 ha) at his Vermont
home became a tourist attraction to visitors from around the world.
, started gardening when he was three years old and read widely on the subject while he was growing up. Visits to an aunt who lived near Lake Pontchartrain
helped him learn about gardening and he developed an interest in tropical plants on family trips to Florida
and Cuba
. He attended Louisiana State University
, where he completed his bachelor's and master's degrees, and had completed all but the dissertation needed for a doctorate in Jacobean literature. While teaching Jacobean literature at Tufts University
in 1969, he first met Joe Eck, and they lived together in Denmark
where Winterrowd had earned a Fulbright scholarship
.
Together with Eck, Winterrowd learned as much as they could about gardening and earned a living by teaching English, French and Latin at area elementary and high schools. They spent the 1960s and 1970s as part of the homegrown food movement. During the 1980s, Winterrowd wrote lengthy articles for Horticulture, reaching to as many as 3,000 words, in which he intertwined his experiences in gardening with Classic literature and Southern folklore. Moving from a farmhouse in Pepperell, Massachusetts
to Readsboro, Vermont
, Winterrowd and Eck devoted themselves to create a garden called North Hill, in which they grew Himalayan blue poppies
, Japanese dogwoods, locust trees, magnolia, and stewartias. They cleared the hilly wooded land they had acquired, planting a diverse variety of plants, including as many as 100,000 daffodil bulbs. The garden drew visitors from around the world to their home in Southern Vermont near the Massachusetts border. They also grew fresh vegetables and raised dairy cows, pigs and poultry. Roger Swain, host of the Public Broadcasting Service
television series The Victory Garden
said "Their garden is of such quality and diversity that it rivals any in Europe. But there is nothing derivative about North Hill; it is American gardening at its best", with Fergus Garrett crediting Winterrowd and Eck with being "one of the driving forces in North American horticulture".
Across the United States and Canada, Winterrowd and Eck traveled to design customized gardens for their customers. Their books include A Year at North Hill: Four Seasons in a Vermont Garden in 1995, their 1999 work Living Seasonally: The Kitchen Garden and the Table at North Hill and the 2009 book Our Life in Gardens. They were working on the book To Eat at the time of Winterrowd's death. Winterrowd himself wrote books, including the encyclopedic Annuals and Tender Plants for North American Gardens in 2004.
Winterrowd and Eck were joined in a civil union
in 2000 and were married in 2009 after Vermont legalized same-sex marriage. Winterrowd died at age 68 on September 17, 2010, at his home in Readsboro, Vermont
due to heart failure. He was survived by Eck and by a son they adopted.
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
home became a tourist attraction to visitors from around the world.
Biography
Winterrowd, who was born on October 29, 1941, in Shreveport, LouisianaShreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
, started gardening when he was three years old and read widely on the subject while he was growing up. Visits to an aunt who lived near Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain is a brackish estuary located in southeastern Louisiana. It is the second-largest inland saltwater body of water in the United States, after the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and the largest lake in Louisiana. As an estuary, Pontchartrain is not a true lake.It covers an area of with...
helped him learn about gardening and he developed an interest in tropical plants on family trips to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. He attended Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
, where he completed his bachelor's and master's degrees, and had completed all but the dissertation needed for a doctorate in Jacobean literature. While teaching Jacobean literature at Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
in 1969, he first met Joe Eck, and they lived together in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
where Winterrowd had earned a Fulbright scholarship
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
.
Together with Eck, Winterrowd learned as much as they could about gardening and earned a living by teaching English, French and Latin at area elementary and high schools. They spent the 1960s and 1970s as part of the homegrown food movement. During the 1980s, Winterrowd wrote lengthy articles for Horticulture, reaching to as many as 3,000 words, in which he intertwined his experiences in gardening with Classic literature and Southern folklore. Moving from a farmhouse in Pepperell, Massachusetts
Pepperell, Massachusetts
Pepperell is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,497 at the 2010 census. It includes the village of East Pepperell.-History:...
to Readsboro, Vermont
Readsboro, Vermont
Readsboro is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. The town was named for John Reade, a landholder. The population was 809 at the 2000 census...
, Winterrowd and Eck devoted themselves to create a garden called North Hill, in which they grew Himalayan blue poppies
Meconopsis betonicifolia
Meconopsis betonicifolia, also known as Meconopsis baileyi and the Himalayan blue poppy, was first discovered in 1912, by Lt. Col. Frederick Marshman Bailey.M...
, Japanese dogwoods, locust trees, magnolia, and stewartias. They cleared the hilly wooded land they had acquired, planting a diverse variety of plants, including as many as 100,000 daffodil bulbs. The garden drew visitors from around the world to their home in Southern Vermont near the Massachusetts border. They also grew fresh vegetables and raised dairy cows, pigs and poultry. Roger Swain, host of the Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
television series The Victory Garden
The Victory Garden (TV series)
The Victory Garden is an American public television program about gardening and other outdoor activities, produced by station WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts, and distributed by PBS...
said "Their garden is of such quality and diversity that it rivals any in Europe. But there is nothing derivative about North Hill; it is American gardening at its best", with Fergus Garrett crediting Winterrowd and Eck with being "one of the driving forces in North American horticulture".
Across the United States and Canada, Winterrowd and Eck traveled to design customized gardens for their customers. Their books include A Year at North Hill: Four Seasons in a Vermont Garden in 1995, their 1999 work Living Seasonally: The Kitchen Garden and the Table at North Hill and the 2009 book Our Life in Gardens. They were working on the book To Eat at the time of Winterrowd's death. Winterrowd himself wrote books, including the encyclopedic Annuals and Tender Plants for North American Gardens in 2004.
Winterrowd and Eck were joined in a civil union
Civil union
A civil union, also referred to as a civil partnership, is a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage. Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in many developed countries in order to provide same-sex couples rights,...
in 2000 and were married in 2009 after Vermont legalized same-sex marriage. Winterrowd died at age 68 on September 17, 2010, at his home in Readsboro, Vermont
Readsboro, Vermont
Readsboro is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. The town was named for John Reade, a landholder. The population was 809 at the 2000 census...
due to heart failure. He was survived by Eck and by a son they adopted.