Book Signing With Barbara Paul Robinson

The Hickory Stick Bookshop is delighted to host Barbara Paul Robinson who will be here to sign copies of her new book “Gardening, A Love Story: Creating Brush Hill” on Sunday December 17th at 2 pm. This event is free and open to the public. If you are unable to attend this event, you may reserve signed copies of “Gardening, A Love Story: Creating Brush Hill” by calling The Hickory Stick Bookshop at (860) 868 0525, or shop our website 24/7 at hickorystickbookshop.com.

ABOUT THE BOOK

This is the garden love story of Charlie and Barbara Robinson and of Brush Hill, the garden they created together over five decades. Narrated by Barbara, it is the story of how two people of very different temperaments and skills worked to create a place of great beauty. Brush Hill covers over 10 acres of gardens, with formal flower borders, a rose garden, vegetable garden, woodland walks, all created and tended by Barbara, and a number of garden features and structures all built by Charlie, including a large pond, bridges, arches and his Waterworks with 14 pools, rills and waterfalls.

Each year visitors and tour groups from near and far are welcome. Barbara makes clear that while they were busy creating this magical garden, the garden was working its magic on them. Full of wonders and frustrations of the garden, this delightful tale will appeal to serious gardeners, want-to-be-gardeners, and non-gardeners alike. Their ongoing love story offers inspiration, encouragement, honest and funny tales of garden mistakes and the seriously hard work that a garden entails, along with the garden’s many joys.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

During a sabbatical from the leading international law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton where she was the first woman partner, Barbara Paul Robinson worked as a gardener for Rosemary Verey at Barnsley House, then for Penelope Hobhouse at Tintinhull. She credits those life transforming experiences with returning to become President of the New York City Bar Association, the first woman in since its founding in 1870. A hands-in-the-dirt gardener herself, she and her husband have created their own gardens at Brush Hill in northwestern Connecticut, featured in articles, books and television. A frequent speaker around the country, in Canada and Europe, Barbara is an Honorary Director of Wave Hill and Director Emeritus of The Garden Conservancy. She has had two books published: “Rosemary Verey: The Life and Lessons of a Legendary Gardener” and “Heroes of Horticulture: Americans Who Transformed the Landscape”. Barbara has published book reviews in the Wall Street Journal, articles in the New York Times, Horticulture, Fine Gardening and Hortus. She has also written a chapter in Rosemary Verey’s “The Secret Garden”. Brush Hill is included in the Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

“A charming story of the ying and yang of husband and wife, working away using their respective strengths and weaknesses, which over decades of trial and error produce an irresistibly inventive and engaging garden. Plenty of amusing and informative photos provide a real sense of the evolution of the crude “before” and the triumphant “after”. – Stephen F. Byrns, President, Untermyer Gardens Conservancy

“Barbara Robinson beautifully demonstrates her fantastic 50 years of gardening at Brush Hill. She captures perfectly why creating a garden is the best journey of all”. – Andrew Bunting, Vice President, Horticulture, Pennsylvanie Horticultural Society

“People who participate in our beloved pastime know that a garden is never finished – it’s never done. I can think of no place that optimizes that more than Brush Hill. Barbara began and Charlie jumped in when he left banking to paint (and ultimately, to garden and build with water). I have seen the Robinson’s work of art through the years as it has grown and evolved. Theirs is a transcendent creation with no end in sight.” – Louis Bauer, Retired Head of Horticulture, Wave Hill