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In the month’s to come, I plan on featuring more of my garden gurus, including Rosalind Creasy, Susan Harris, Joe Lamp’l, Ann Lovejoy, Will Raap, Margaret Roach, David Salman, Renee Shepherd, and others.
MY GARDEN GURUS
Rich, Susan, and Margaret Eyre
Rich’s Foxwillow Pines
I’d always had a casual interest in conifers. In my early days, I used junipers as foundation plants and pines for privacy or as windbreaks. They served a useful purpose, but they were more functional than fascinating to me, at least at the time.
Then I visited Rich and Susan Eyre, proprietors of Rich’s Foxwillow Pines Nursery in Woodstock, Illinois, and my interest in conifers went from casual to crazy overnight. Literally. That was ten years ago.
Rich and Susan started their nursery in 1988 on property they’d acquired five years earlier. They realized the sandy-clay-loam soil was ideal for growing conifers, so they got busy planting. The result? The most stunningly beautiful, eye-popping treasure trove of conifers I’ve ever seen.
Rich got hooked on conifers as a kid, thanks to his mother Margaret, who also works at the nursery. Then in 1968, while serving in the Peace Corps in Bolivia, he discovered a book on dwarf conifers. And two years later, stateside again, he started his collection. Today, Rich’s Foxwillow Pines features over 100,000 trees, including over 2,500 cultivars of conifers, 1,000 or so woodies, and lots of perennials, especially hostas.
Rich is, to put it mildly, a nut. But he’s a fascinating, passionate, and extremely knowledgeable nut. Susan’s got a touch of the weird, too, but in a good way. (She has a frog
collection you’ve got to see to believe.) And then there’s Margaret. She’s perkier than most folks half her age, and shows no signs of slowing down. She tends to the nursery plants – especially the hostas – in a very motherly way.
The Eyre’s are very generous people. They donate their time and plants to non-profit organizations and charities. One of their favorite charities is Heifer International, which was founded on a simple belief: Ending hunger begins with giving people a way to feed themselves. For more information, go to www.heifer.org
I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with Rich, Susan, and Margaret on several occasions. We’ve shared good food and wine, at their house and mine, and I cherish the time we have together. Thanks to them, I now have over 120 conifers, nearly all of which they nurtured. That connection gives us a kinship beyond our friendship. And it’s one I truly treasure.
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