"Listen to the Land" book signing with Louise Wrinkle
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Birmingham Botanical Gardens 2612 Lane Park Road , Mountain Brook, Alabama
Listen to the Land is an engaging, informative, and poignant memoir of a life spent tending one particular property, a woodland garden in Alabama. Louise Agee Wrinkle grew up on this land, returned to it in mid-life, and has tended it with care and creativity for the past 30 years according to her philosophy of letting the land speak for itself. Louise lives in her families house that was passed down.
The book details Louise's time here, on the same plot of land in Mountain Brook, Alabama, since 1938. She has cultivated a natural woodland for the last thirty years by the maxim "let the land speak" rather than impose an artificial design upon it. Her garden is unique in the sense that she let's it take its own course and shape it as the land dictates. Alongside her gardening experiences, she recounts stories of her childhood spent as an early settler in the Mountain Brook area.
Louise was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, in an environment of unspoiled woods and streams. Other than her years at college and graduate school, she has lived her entire life in Birmingham––most of it on the property that she has cultivated for the last 30 years. For more than 35 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, NY, and she has dedicated numerous years of service as a board member of both The Birmingham Botanical Gardens and the Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama.
Louise wants this book to serve as a reference and field guide to gardeners of all abilities and as such includes her personal experience—successes and failures—of working with specific plants. The section "Plant Profiles" is a valuable resource and catalogues several hundred plants that she has managed over the years. Even unskilled gardeners will benefit from her knowledge. Louise Wrinkle has been active in the south east regional and national gardening scenes. She is a a previous chairman of the Horticulture Committee and on the Executive Committee of the Garden Club of America.
There is another book signing at Little Professor in Homewood on December 3 (see attached flyer for details). Books may also be purchased online at www.louisewrinkle.com and various other places in the Over the Mountain area. Be sure to see the flyer attached.