Gardens of Love: Duncan Caldwell
After the 2023 Thanksgiving storm, Lucy Vincent Beach appeared transformed. Not only was there loss of sand, revealing more colored clay underfoot, it felt as though the surface of the cliffs had been shorn...
Gardens of Love: Connie Hyde
You may think I’m stretching it to include the garden at Chilmark’s Martha’s Vineyard Bank, but I’ve watched over the past seven years as the garden beds flourished into a showcase of color, beauty,...
Gardens of Love: James Langlois and Wendy Weldon
It is the first week of December, and James Langlois and Wendy Weldon will be moving off-Island soon, but in the meantime they are still eating shishitos and tomatoes. Yes, I have previously written...
Gardens of Love: Judith Fielder Leggett
Every year on August 6, Cleaveland House Poets join Dionis Coffin Riggs’ family members for a poetry reading at the West Tisbury library on her birthday. I asked her niece Dionis Montrowl if she...
Gardens of Love: Martha Halperin
I have been a member of Cleaveland House Poets for 16 years, and therefore head to Cleaveland House on the Edgartown–West Tisbury Road biweekly (except during the pandemic). I began wondering about the property...
Gardens of Love: Liz Ragone
Last week you may have read about Brad Tucker and Liz Ragone's new venture, Radio Farm. I was so excited when I visited, I wanted to do a separate “Gardens of Love” just on...
Gardens of Love: Jennifer Bettencourt and Jason O’Donnell
When Jennifer Bettencourt and Jason O'Donnell bought their home in 2015 (just before they married) at the end of a road that used to be a horse farm, there was nothing growing besides some...
Gardens of Love: Jannette Vanderhoop
A mutual friend, composer and author Dean Rosenthal, suggested I check out Jannette Vanderhoop's garden. Many people, myself included, have met Jannette through her booth, Island Naturals MV, a showcase of her contemporary Native...
Gardens of Love: Catherine Keller
I was trying to remember when and where Catherine Keller and I met, but am not wholly sure, except we've been friendly over many years. Catherine Keller has lovingly overseen the gardens at the...
Gardens of Love: Deborah Buress
Spring was in the air, and I was ready for flowers. Finally, on a chilly day in the car — without the dogs — I stopped at Vineyard Gardens, looking for deer-resistant flowers, and...
Gardens of Love: Roxanne Kapitan
Roxanne Kapitan is a regenerative backyard garden goddess in “that carpe diem phase of life.” She is landscape manager at Oakleaf Landscape, where she has worked with clients for the past 10 years to...
Gardens of Love: Rob Chaunce and Wendi Goldfarb
Rob Chaunce and Wendi Goldfarb eloped in February 2020. They had found one another at an art exhibit in 2015, becoming good friends. It's best you read their heartwarming story in their own words...
Gardens of Love: Steven Auerbach
I wanted to visit an Oak Bluffs garden and asked Shelley Christiansen if she might recommend someone, which is how I connected with Steven Auerbach who has been tending the corner of Nashawena and...
Gardens of Love: Lynn Weber
Most people are not so comfortable showing off their garden in late March, but it is a magic time, getting to see the bones, layout, and imagine all the bounty and beauty within a...
Gardens of Love: Wendy Weldon and James Langlois
It is the end of September when I visit Wendy Weldon and James Langlois, artists, life partners and mostly vegetarians who live on a picturesque property overlooking ponds and the ocean in Chilmark. James...
Gardens of Love: Marie Larsen
It's been four years since the Larsens, Dan of Edgartown Seafood and Marie, assistant to the director of the MV Charter School, moved to his family home at Beetlebung Corner in the center of...
Gardens of Love: Nina Lisa Marie
Nina Lisa Marie purchased a piece of property in Vineyard Haven in 2007, built a modular house there in 2008, and created her garden in 2009. Thankful that the topsoil removed for the building...
Gardens of Love: Carol Collins and Janet Woodcock
Carol Collins and Janet Woodcock live in Vineyard Haven. They have had a garden there since they moved to the Island full-time in 1995, albeit a primarily shade garden. When Island Grown Initiative (IGI)...
Gardens of Love: Nancy Kilson
“Love is all around” was the feeling I had when meeting Nancy Kilson for the first time in the garden of her West Tisbury home. Kilson grew up in Boston and summered in Edgartown....
Gardens of Love: Jaime Hamlin
Updated July 22
Jaime Hamlin is better known as the chef and caterer who has garnered annual Island recognition since 2008. She runs a successful catering and wedding business — now with her three sons...