Listen to the Land: Creating a Southern Woodland Garden

In Mountain Brook, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham, homes are often passed from one generation to the next. Such is the story of Louise Agee Wrinkle, who remembers her childhood at 2 Beechwood Road, when there was little more than woods, a bridle trail, and a brook. As a child, she called the property The Jungle because it was so overgrown. Today, that land features a well-cultivated woodland garden. Wrinkle shares memorable stories of her youth, her return to the property as an adult, and the sometimes funny, sometimes harrowing trials and successes of tending a natural woodland garden. Any gardener will appreciate her efforts and the wisdom she imparts.

Although this book concerns a specific garden in a specific place, the challenges and joys of grappling with unexpected weather disasters (who thinks of blizzards in Alabama?), insects, stubborn soil, weeds, drought, flood, sun, frost, microburst, tornado, and the ravages of time itself will be familiar to any gardener. With surprising wit and humility, Wrinkle shares with us her responses to all these challenges and the changes she has made over the last 35 years, giving credit to those people who collaborated and contributed to its development. The book includes the author's annotated list of plants she has encountered--both successfully and unsuccessfully--which stands alone as an invaluable resource for the field.

Louise Agee Wrinkle was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, in an environment of unspoiled woods and streams. Other than her years at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, Converse College in South Carolina, and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, she has lived her entire life in Birmingham--most of it on the property that she has cultivated for over the last 35 years.

For more than 40 years she has been an active and distinguished member of the Garden Club of America (GCA) serving as Chairman of its Horticulture Committee, on the Executive Committee, and as a recognized Horticulture Judge for GCA and other flower shows. She has received numerous honors and awards for her service, culminating in the GCA's National Achievement Medal in 2001 in recognition of outstanding achievement, in both creative vision and ability, and in the interpretation and furtherance of the mission of the GCA. She was a Founding Board Member of the Garden Conservancy, headquartered in Cold Spring, New York, whose mission is to preserve exceptional American Gardens and landscapes for the education and inspiration of the public. She has dedicated numerous years of service as a board member to both the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and the Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama.