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In the late nineteenth century, a woman of exceptional achievement was sometimes called a “master smart woman.” This description aptly describes Penelope O’Sullivan, an expert in woody plants, garden designer, and author of 13 books, as well as numerous articles on gardening and the arts. Penny, with her husband, Bob, has also created a backyard arboretum filled with rare and specimen plants at her home in Stratham, New Hampshire.
To walk with Penny through her garden is to experience wonder. Her excitement, expertise and enthusiasm spill over as she points out small and large miracles in her landscape—no matter which season you visit.
How did you become interested in gardening and landscape architecture?
I grew up in St. Louis, and my father traveled a lot. When he came home on weekends, he would either take me to the St. Louis Art Museum or to the Jewel Box, a conservatory in Forest Park. I loved those times so much that I’ve let those feelings permeate everything I’ve done in my life.
Penny O’Sullivan's front gardens provide texture and color all four seasons of the year. Stewartia pseudocamellia, a small flowering tree, forms a colorful backbone in autumn, while blousy Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’ and sterile, feathery Fine Line buckthorn (Frangula alnus ‘Ron Williams’) weave the garden together. At 15 inches high, dark purple Midnight Wine wiegela, (W. florida ‘Elvera’) adds contrast to the front of the bed.
You hold degrees in fine arts and art history and a certificate in ornamental horticulture from Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. How did you become a writer?
Writing has been my passion since childhood. After grad school, I wanted to write art criticism something fierce. I started sending reviews to the features editor at my local newspaper in Wilmington, Delaware—actually I bombarded him. When the art reviewer died suddenly, the editor asked me to come on in and talk. I ended up writing for the News Journal for ten years.
At first I covered mostly the arts, but later I took on other topics including interior design, gardens and some stories on fashion. I even wrote humor pieces!
How did life change when you moved to New Hampshire?
When my husband, Bob, was transferred from Delaware to New Hampshire, I realized that it was an opportunity for me to change how I was living my life.
At the newspaper, I’d work all day, go to an opera in the evening, then return to the newsroom and write a review for the next day’s paper. I’d get out of there around midnight and then go right back to work in the morning.
After my second child, Molly, was born, I was exhausted. I really longed to get to know her. I had missed her first steps and found that I really wanted all that corny stuff! I knew I had to work, but I was longing to nurture my baby and myself.
When you moved here were you familiar with the area?
Not at all. I had never even been to New Hampshire, but I was beyond thrilled to move here. When we first moved, I signed up for a class at the community college to learn a computer program for landscape design (which of course, I never use, because I still do it by hand). Everyone in there, except for one person, was left-handed like me! I thought, I’ve been living in a right-handed world, and suddenly I move to New Hampshire and everyone is left-handed. I loved it! I knew I was home.
What was the inspiration for creating a backyard arboretum?
One of my sweetest memories is walking through Forest Park with my father. It fed my dream of having a park-like garden with shade trees, lawn, flowerbeds, and places to sit. I also knew that I wanted lots of textures and areas of sun and shade—everything you experience when you walk through a park. My garden is dynamic. I’m always adding and subtracting, and it changes over time.
Do you have a favorite tree?
That is really an unfair question! It’s hard to say. I have a lot of favorite trees that fulfill different purposes. I love my Japanese umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata). I love its texture in the landscape. I love how it looks in winter with frost, and how it looks in summer when it shines. I also love Little King river birch (Betula nigra ‘Little King’). Love it! Oh, my goodness. It has a beautiful form—a big rounded mass of branches, sized perfectly for my small tree and shrub bed—and when the foliage is off, there’s that fabulous exfoliating bark!
I love the reliability of some trees. They’re good old friends. My cut-leaf full moon maple (Acer japonicum ‘Aconitifolium’)—that little baby turns an amazing orange to red every year. No matter how dull a year it is for fall color, that one comes through.
Maybe my super-favorite tree is the sourwood (Oxydendron arboreum). I just love that tree. And I’m crazy about the ginkgo. I could go on and on!
You used to write about opera:
Is there a place where opera and landscape intersect?
For me, they’re all about beauty and form and emotions and the balance among these different attributes. They are all linked.
So really, whether you’re talking about gardening or writing or designing or opera, the object is to meld these influences and create something that brings joy and rings true.
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