About Us

The Magazine

Connecticut Gardener is published four times a year: March/April, May/June, July/August and September/October. A subscription is $20 for 1 year (four issues) or $36 for 2 years (eight issues). The magazine was founded in 1995.

The Publishers

Anne and Will Rowlands of Fairfield purchased Connecticut Gardener from Pamela Weil of Green's Farms in February 2010. They all share a lifelong passion for gardening.

Weil will continue to contribute occasional stories to the magazine.

Will is a certified University of Connecticut Master Gardener and a volunteer member of the Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group. He grew up in Green's Farms and began gardening at an early age under the tutelage of his mother and grandfather.

His mother had a semi-formal style inspired by the experience of growing up on the Guggenheim Estate in Sands Point on the north shore of Long Island. Back in the day, the estate sported its own greenhouses and a large gardening staff. His grandfather, on the other hand, used to start seeds in his bedroom in Westport. Will has a degree in Geology from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Anne was also introduced to the field at an early age. Her parents had their Westport yard professionally landscaped in the mid-1950s. The design included a number of rare specimens including some of the first Metasequoia (Dawn Redwood). Her father worked with William Boyce Thompson, founder of the Boyce Thompson Arboretum and the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (now at Cornell University), and was active with the arboretum.

Anne, a former Chamber of Commerce executive director, is presently the director of development at the Wilton Library. She's a member of CT NOFA's Organic Land Care Homeowners Committee.

Will is an award-winning journalist. As editor of the Westport News, he won an award from the New England Press Association (NEPA) for editorial writing. Also during his tenure, the paper won awards for its coverage of First Amendment issues and local health reporting. He served on NEPA's Executive Committee and was chairman of its Legal/Legislative Committee before resigning to focus on the magazine.

He also designed and produced Stars in Our Eyes: Luminaries of Stage and Screen at Home in Westport and Weston, Connecticut for Tom DeLong and the Westport Historical Society. It was named "Book of the Year" by the Connecticut Press Club.

Will was a Zoning Board of Appeals alternate when he lived Westport.

The Founder

Pamela Weil is an intense and passionate gardener. For the past 20 years, her backyard in Westport has been her playground and her laboratory.

Pamela is a Master Gardener (certified by UConn's Cooperative Extension System) and served as the president of the Connecticut Master Gardener Association from 1996-98.

She is a past co-chair of the Westport Tree Board and was a member of the Westport Conservation Commission for 7 years.

Pamela served as president of the Board of Directors of the Experiment Station Associates, a group formed to promote the work of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. She is a member of the Westport Garden Club.

Pamela loves to write and talk about gardening and has been an instructor for state master gardener classes. She has lectured at numerous garden clubs and libraries throughout Connecticut, and has spoken at the Connecticut Flower & Garden Show in Hartford. Audiences have always been complimentary and enthusiastic.

Currently, she offers two lectures:

"Getting Ready for Spring" is a humorous and fact-filled presentation on what to do in the early spring garden. In addition to what-to-do and when-to-do-it for perennials and woody plants, she brings along pruning tools and demonstrates early spring pruning techniques.

"Reinventing Your Garden" is a collection of ideas that are guaranteed to make your garden more interesting. For example, defining borders or adding a key plant can give your garden a big boost. Weil also suggests innovative ways to use color in the border.

Weil's speaking fee is $250 plus expenses. The fee includes a PowerPoint presentation and detailed handouts. She brings her own projector.

You can contact her at pamelaweil44@gmail.com or call 203.259.5173

Tech Advisor

Graham Rowlands is a graduate student at UC Irvine pursuing a PhD in physics. He is presently preparing for his thesis defense relating to spintronics. He's a graduate of Staples High School in Westport and Boston University, cum laude with distinction. Graham bakes, bikes, blogs, brews, codes, cooks, designs and plays music in Southern California where the weather allows him to garden year round.