Easy Gardener • Pat Howell
	Goings and Comings

A wonderful plant nursery has gone from our lives.     Windy Hill Plant Farm, Aldie, Virginia, closed its doors at the end of July.

The owner, Karen Rexrode, and her husband Rick, put in long days, every day, for nine months of the year, since 1982!   Always upbeat, energetic, a gentle teacher full of good information, helpful, willing to answer a thousand questions with good humor (we kid you not, Easy Gardener was there the day someone called and asked if Windy Hill sold poison ivy!).

Windy Hill has been known as the source of the very best, the unique, the newest, the healthiest plants to be found around here. More roots per pot than all the other guys. All the native plants were grown from seed, cuttings, or divisions and were never dug from the wild.

Her catalogs were/are treasures.   Each one has a theme: 1997: Butterflies and their nectar plants.   In 1998 it was the twilight garden; in 1999, some of the early plant explorers, botanists, naturalists and taxonomists. In 2000, Karen honored women's accomplishments.   The 2003 catalog was dedicated to "Grandmothers' gardens."  The final one, in 2004, was about putting plants together; the riotous joy to be had in plant combinations.

Windy Hill will be missed by many gardeners.   But Karen's plants live on, having been divided and shared in gardens all around us.

The website is still up: www.windyhill.net. Karen says she will continue to write 'Visit the Plant Lady', and as a professional photographer, she also owns a plant photo stock business www.plantlady.net.

Pat Howell is a Takoma Park gardener and landscape designer/contractor. She is available for hand-holding and answering questions through Deephaven Landscapers.