"Something is blooming every day of the year in the renowned gardens at Montrose, Nancy Goodwin's nineteenth-century property in historic Hillsborough, North Carolina. Since moving to Montrose with her husband Craufurd in 1977, Goodwin has transformed more than twenty acres into an extraordinary complex of interlocking gardens that come in and out of focus as the seasons overlap and change." "Montrose: Life in a Garden is Goodwin's affectionate biography of her gardens, recounting how and why each section was developed, including the Dianthus Walk, Nandinaland, Hellebore Slope, Mother-in-Law Walk, Snowdrop Woods, and Jo's Bed. It is also a meticulous month-by-month chronicle of a specific year in these nationally known gardens - a year that saw a punishing drought that threatened Goodwin's no-irrigation policy, a damaging December ice storm, and the beginnings of a plan to preserve Montrose in the future." "Following Goodwin's activities throughout the year, we learn how to maintain a four-season garden in Zone 7 in the South. We also get to know the employees and volunteers who help Goodwin realize her brilliant vision, as well as the cats, mice, wrens, snakes, owls, and other creatures that populate Montrose. Those creatures, and the plants, shrubs, and trees of Montrose, appear throughout the book in more than 160 meticulously detailed color drawings by the accomplished garden illustrator Ippy Patterson."--BOOK JACKET.