Gardening for all seasons

Q When did you first get the gardening bug?

A Uh-oh, I'm going to date myself. Back in the late '60s, we were living on 5 acres in the [New York] countryside. I loved flowers, but I couldn't afford them, so I started digging up wildflowers in our woods and moving them closer to the house.

Q What got you hooked?

A Being in the garden has always given me a certain peace and serenity. There's something about going back to nature. It's my drug of choice.

Q You've written for Newsday, Family Circle, the New York Times and Better Homes and Gardens. You've been a frequent guest on ABC, NBC and "Good Morning America" and "The Garden in Winter" is your 13th book. But you kind of stumbled into garden writing. How did that happen?

A It's the story of following your passion and your heart and doing what you believe in. It was my hobby and it ended up being a career.

When my kids were little, I volunteered at New York Botanic Gardens. Later, I worked for a landscape architect and then found myself on the board of Burpee. I wasn't the expert -- I learned from the experts -- I was the "everygardener." I was lucky.

Q Why do you think you've struck a chord with gardeners?

A I break it down. I make gardening human, because I do it. There's a passion that comes through.

Q Why did you decide to tackle the most overlooked season in the garden?

A In winter, we spend so much time indoors, if your view out of the window is of a perky variegated conifer or a red twig dogwood, it brings sunshine down to earth.

Q Unlike lots of so-called winter garden books, you focus on gardens that actually get snow. Why?

A That's my winter. Many of the pictures were taken in my garden on Long Island.

Q Your book features a chapter on Christmas from the garden. Do you really harvest from your winter garden?

A Oh, yes. I just go out in the garden and use what I have. I clip cedars, pines, dried flowers, whatever I have to add to a store-bought wreath.

If you don't cut your garden down in fall, there's lots of interesting things out there -- seedheads, branches, rosehips, anything green. I brush away the snow and cut pachy- sandra because it's green.

Q Though you make plenty of plant recommendations in your book, you don't include zone information. Why not?

A I think a lot of the zone information is bad. And I say right away that I don't want people to get too attached to the plants I'm talking about. If you like a gold conifer or a shrub with berries, go to your local garden center and see what they have.

Q What's one piece of advice you'd give to northern gardeners who are ready to throw in the trowel in late September?

A Just plant one thing outside of your window -- the window where you wash dishes, the window by your desk, the window you look out of first thing in the morning. It'll bring a smile to your face.

Connie Nelson • 612-673-7087