| My mom is NOT an adventurous woman. She always | | | | booklet. A professional photographer was contacted. |
| wore sunscreen at the beach, avoided heavy traffic, | | | | But the photographer did not love the topic as my |
| and was glad to have Dad in charge on vacations, | | | | mother did. He also did not appreciate Mom's |
| because she couldn't imagine trying to find her way | | | | suggestions on what to include in the photos, or |
| around a strange city by herself. Better safe than | | | | what angle might be most striking. He came only a |
| sorry was a common adage around our house. | | | | few times. |
| So what possessed my mom to learn not one, but | | | | One February day, Mom saw plants beginning to |
| two new professions at the age of seventy-plus? | | | | bloom. Knowing how briefly blossoms are at their |
| She was so focused on doing something she loved | | | | peak, she worried that this first hint of spring might |
| that she was never daunted by the enormity of the | | | | be missed. So she borrowed Dad's digital camera and |
| challenge. | | | | took pictures, figuring it didn't matter how many tries |
| Mom was a stay-at-home mom while raising | | | | it took. Maybe her pictures wouldn't be quite the |
| Margaret, Arthur and me. Once we were grown and | | | | same level as the professional's, but at least the |
| gone, she looked for something new and useful to | | | | plants would be included in the book. She was |
| do. An avid gardener, she found a job at Winterthur | | | | pleasantly surprised that it was easy to get some |
| Museum, serving first as a garden tour guide, and | | | | fairly good photos. And so all through that year, she |
| then as a book researcher for Ruth Lord's, Henry F. | | | | continued taking pictures of the constantly unfolding |
| du Pont and Winterthur : A Daughter`s Portrait. | | | | beauty in the gardens. Her years as a garden guide |
| I think Mom found a kindred spirit in Henry F. duPont | | | | meant that she knew the gardens and where plants |
| who wanted Winterthur, his family estate, to be a | | | | would be blossoming. She wanted to share the |
| place of beauty. Mom worked on a much smaller | | | | beauty which she saw each day with others. |
| scale to make our home a place you would want to | | | | I don't know at what point it became clear to |
| come to. While growing up, I frequently teased her, | | | | everyone that ALL of the pictures in the book would |
| "Aren't you supposed to watch the road?" when she | | | | be taken by my mother. It didn't really sink in with |
| drove through our neighborhood. "I'm watching that | | | | me until I held the book in my hands. |
| too," she'd respond. But I get ideas as I see what | | | | "You took ALL these pictures?" I asked. "They're |
| other people have done with their houses. Henry | | | | stunning." |
| duPont dedicated many years to carefully making | | | | "Oh, I'm so glad to hear you say that," she |
| Winterthur, a place that people would want to visit, | | | | responded. "And remember, you all got me started in |
| before deciding that it should become a museum. | | | | digital photography." |
| And then Mom was asked to put together an | | | | "You mean when we bought Dad the camera?" |
| informational booklet on the plants and trees that | | | | "Yes, I was lucky. Things just fell into my lap with |
| grow in Winterthur's gardens. Plant specifics about | | | | this book. One of my favorite photos of the whole |
| each plant, its ideal growing environment, hardiness, | | | | book came because, as I drove into Winterthur one |
| maximum size, pruning needs, etc. Winterthur wanted | | | | fall day, I glanced out to the side and saw the sun |
| to help visitors, inspired by Henry duPont's dramatic, | | | | was causing a golden tree to be reflected in the |
| colorful plantings, to achieve some of the same | | | | water." My mom paused, "One of the thoughts I like |
| effects in their own gardens. | | | | best is that you never know what nice thing is going |
| It was the perfect job for Mom, who loved the | | | | to happen to you after you reach the age of 70!" |
| constantly changing beauty of Winterthur's landscape, | | | | It makes me smile. It's as though she forgets that |
| but has an inherently practical nature. "I believed the | | | | SHE made the book happen. No one tossed the |
| accumulated wisdom of one of America's most | | | | completed, useful, gorgeous garden book in her lap. |
| artistically talented and dedicated horticulturists should | | | | Mom followed her passion to places that surprised |
| be made available to the home gardener," she said. | | | | even her biggest fans. |
| And so she threw herself into collecting information | | | | My mom is Ruth N. Joyce, author and photographer |
| and describing the design patterns and work that | | | | of The Winterthur Guide to Color in Your Garden, |
| went into creating Winterthur. | | | | available on Amazon.com, and through Winterthur |
| Soon the boss decided this warranted a book, not a | | | | Museum. |