Bedrock: The Making of a Public Garden

"An engaging look at the creation of an extensive garden by two highly motivated gardeners that will appeal to readers who enjoy whimsy, innovation, and following the construction of a garden." -- Library Journal

"Cultivation is just another word for commitment. You think you are just pulling weeds, but what you are really doing is writing a love letter to your patch of earth." - Thomas Rainer

This quote opens Bedrock: The Making of a Public Garden, a book that is a love letter from a woman to the garden she spent 40 years creating. Jill Nooney, a psychotherapist and graduate of the Radcliffe Seminars Program in Landscape Design, and her husband Bob Munger, a physician, developed their 30 acres in Lee, New Hampshire into an unforgettable garden.

Featuring more than 300 photographs of the garden and Jill's artful sculptures, water features, and built structures that provide places throughout Bedrock Garden from which to contemplate the complete landscape, the book takes us from the garden's origins as a private space to its present life as a public garden. The garden has slowly evolved through its creators' deep love for the land -- and an indominable urge to experiment.

Rich with entertaining anecdotes of realizing improbable, visionary concepts that involved moving boulders, carrying trees and rocks on planes, ferreting out rare plant material, operating all manner of equipment, and managing thousands of visitors, this is a story of love, loss and generosity. The book takes the reader into a landscape that is green and wild, but also filled with a deep sense of peace. Just like visitors to the garden, readers will fall in love with Bedrock.