PENELOPE O’SULLIVAN – BIOGRAPHY

Penny O'Sullivan

Penny O’Sullivan is an author, designer, and woody plant lover, who turned her suburban New Hampshire property into a mini-arboretum. Her gardening experiences inspired her to write The Homeowner’s Complete Tree & Shrub Handbook: The Essential Guide to Choosing, Planting, and Maintaining Perfect Landscape Plants (Storey Publishing, 2007) and The Pruning Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You’ll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You’ll Ever Ask (Storey, March 2011). She has also written 11 more books on trees, shrubs, hedges, flowers, herbs, and garden design. Penny is the editor of Coastal Home, a regional home, garden, and lifestyle magazine based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and writes for national magazines, including Country Gardens, The American Gardener, Organic Gardening, and Better Homes & Gardens. She belongs to the Garden Writers Association and Toastmasters International. Penny trained as a master gardener in Delaware, earned a certificate in Ornamental Horticulture at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, and holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Delaware.

Penny’s Current Lecture List

Designing Gardens with Trees & Shrubs: Tips on Choosing, Planting, and Maintaining Perfect Landscape Plants. How do you use trees and shrubs effectively in garden design? What’s the biggest mistake both homeowners and landscapers make when planting a tree? Based on my book, “The Homeowner’s Complete Tree & Shrub Handbook,” this talk answers these questions and more.

Fabulous Foliage: Year-Round Color with Trees & Shrubs. New varieties of evergreen and deciduous woodies appear all the time, increasing the possibilities for striking plant combinations in the garden. But color and texture are potent design tools, and it takes some thought to use them well. In this talk, we’ll explore strategies for adding trees and shrubs of many hues for interest throughout the year.

Four-Season Landscapes: Choosing Trees & Shrubs for Year-Round Appeal. First impressions count. Enhance your home’s curb appeal, and let your landscape shine with trees and shrubs that stand out for their form, fruit, foliage, flowers, and bark. We’ll look at plants with extended interest to enhance your garden year round.

Painless Pruning: Simple Solutions for Healthy Plants. Pruning trees and shrubs is easy when you understand the basics. Discover how pruning affects growth, and learn when to prune for different effects such as maximum bloom, revealing bark, or turning overgrown shrubs into small trees. Stop chopping your woodies, and get answers from my newest book: “The Pruning Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You’ll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You’ll Ever Ask.”

Spatial Design: Form and Function. Successful landscapes create positive physical and emotional connections between designed spaces and the people using them. This talk explores how landscapes can respect peoples’ needs, stimulate their senses, and show conscious understanding of how mass and space relate.

Penny’s Writing

The Pruning Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You’ll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You’ll Ever Ask, by Lewis Hill & Penelope O’Sullivan, Storey Publishing, North Adams, MA, 2011

The Homeowner’s Complete Tree & Shrub Handbook:
The Essential Guide to Choosing, Planting, and Maintaining Perfect Landscape Plants
By Penelope O’Sullivan, Storey Publishing, North Adams, MA, 2007

Miracle-Gro Beautiful Perennials
Simple techniques to make your garden sensational
By Penelope O’Sullivan, Meredith Books/Meredith Corp., Des Moines, IA, 2006

All About Bonsai
Basic methods for raising miniature trees, and a guide to plant selection and care
By Penelope O’Sullivan, Ortho Books/Meredith Corp., Des Moines IA, 2004

Tips, Tasks & Timetables for a Beautiful Garden
A friendly, month-by-month guide with advice and ideas for gardens in Zones 3-7
By Penelope O’Sullivan, Country Living Gardener/Hearst Books, New York, 2003

All About the Easiest Flowers to Grow
 A concise guide to growing 100 easy flowers, including 16 garden plans for varying conditions
By Penelope O’Sullivan, Ortho Books/Meredith Corp., Des Moines, IA, 2001

Garden Almanac: A Month-by-Month Guide
 A friendly, month-by-month guide with advice and ideas for gardens in Zones 3-6
By Penelope O’Sullivan, Country Living Gardener/Hearst Books, New York, 2000

Color and Texture: Decorative expressions for today’s home
By Ann Rooney Hever, Jessica Elin Hirschman, Penelope O’Sullivan, Ellen Plante
Michael Friedman Publishing Group, New York 2000

All About Shrubs and Hedges
 Growing techniques, ideas, and easy landscape projects for 125 shrubs
By Penelope O’Sullivan, Ortho Books/Meredith Corp., Des Moines, IA, 1999

Taylor’s 50 Best Herbs and Edible Flowers
Favorite and uncommon herbs and edible flowers in an easy-to-use format
By Penelope O’Sullivan, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1999

Taylor’s 50 Best Roses
A tempting glimpse of time-tested roses
By Penelope O’Sullivan, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1999

For Your Home: Stone and Marble
An inspiring look at stone in houses and gardens
By Penelope O’Sullivan, Michael Friedman/Barnes and Noble, New York, 1999

For Your Garden: Garden Sheds and Potting Areas
Turn your shed, garage, or potting area into a garden asset
By Penelope O’Sullivan, Michael Friedman/Barnes and Noble, New York, 1998

Penny contributed to the following magazines:

  • The American Gardener
  • Better Homes and Gardens
  • Country Gardens
  • Organic Gardening
  • Deck, Patio & Pool
  • Traditional Home
  • Country Home
  • Perennials
  • Flower Gardening
  • Garden, Deck & Landscape
  • Garden Ideas & Outdoor Living
  • Garden Products & Planning Guide
  • Simply Perfect Garden magazine series
  • Window & Wall Ideas
  • The Designer: Journal for the Association of Professional Landscape Designers
  • FTD in Bloom

Penny O’Sullivan contributed to the following books:

•All About the Easiest Roses to Grow
(Ortho Books, Des Moines, IA, 2002)
•Sunset Northeastern Garden Book
(Sunset Books, Menlo Park, CA, 2001)
•Garden Favorites: Designing with Herbs, Climbers, Roses, and Grasses
(Michael Friedman, 1999)

Penny’s Speaking Venues (partial list)

  • Saco Bay Gardening Club, Saco Maine (April 5, 2011)
  • Boston Flower & Garden Show, Boston, MA (March 17, 2011)
  • Billerica Garden Club, Billerica, MA (March 6, 2011)
  • Federated Garden Clubs of New York State Seventh District Annual Meeting, Pittsford, NY, keynote (April 6, 2011)
  • Boston Flower & Garden Show, Boston, MA (March 18, 2011)
  • Sea Spray Garden Club, Salisbury, MA (March 14, 2011)
  • Great Island Garden Club, New Castle, New Hampshire (March 1, 2011)
  • Rhode Island Flower Show, Providence, RI (February 24 & 25, 2011)
  • Rochester Civic Garden Center, Rochester, NY, two lectures  (January 15, 2011)
  • Wiggin Memorial Library, Stratham, NH (November 2007, January 2009, April 2010)
  • Seaspray Garden Club, Salisbury, MA (Nov. 9, 2009)
  • Portsmouth Garden Club, NH (July 24, 2009)
  • University of Vermont, Burlington, VT (April 24, 2009)
  • Ohio State Nursery Short Course, Columbus, OH (January 28, 2009)
  • Delaware Horticulture Industry Expo and Annual Pesticide Conference, Dover, DE (January 2009)
  • Cox Arboretum, Keynote, Dayton, OH (October 5, 2008)
  • Garden Writers Association, Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (September 21, 2008)
  • Exeter Garden Club, NH (May 15, 2008)
  • Scott’s Landscaping & Nursery, New Milford, CT (May 3, 2008)
  • Portland (ME) Flower Show, Portland, ME (March 8, 2008)
  • Philadelphia Flower Show, Philadelphia, PA (March 2 & 3, 2008)
  • Connecticut Flower Show, Hartford, CT (February 23, 2008)
  • Rhode Island Flower Show, Providence, RI (February 2008, February 2009)
  • Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Assn., Annual Meeting, State College, PA (February 12-14, 2008)
  • Tuftonboro Library, Tuftonboro, NH (January 3, 2008)
  • Mary E. Bartlett Memorial Library, Brentwood, NH (April 25, 2007)
  • Currey Ingram Academy, Brentwood, TN (February 23, 2006)
  • New Hampshire Master Gardeners Annual Meeting, Keynote, Manchester, NH (April 2005)

Book signings (partial list)

  • Kennebooks, Kennebunk, ME, April 30, 2011
  • Riverrun Books, Portsmouth, NH, April 11, 2011
  • Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh, NC, July 14, 2010
  • Village Books, Bellingham, WA, August 20, 2009
  • Powell’s Books, Beaverton, OR, August 18, 2009
  • Chaucer’s Bookstore, Santa Barbara, CA, June 11, 2009
  • Copperfield’s, Sebastopol, CA, June 9, 2009
  • Northshire Books, Manchester, VT, June 4, 2009
  • Blithewold Mansion and Gardens, Bristol, RI, April 2009