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Barbara W. Ellis - Peter T. Evans

A freelance writer, editor, and passionate lifelong gardener, Barbara is the author of a number of garden books, including Covering Ground (Storey Publishing, 2007), The Veggie Gardener's Answer Book (Storey Publishing, 2008), and Taylor's Guide to Perennials (Houghton Mifflin, 2000). She writes widely about all manner of gardening topics, from plants she grows to gardening techniques.

Barbara was Managing Editor of Garden Books for Rodale Press in Emmaus, Pennsylvania and is a former Publications Director for the American Horticultural Society and editor of their magazine American Horticulturist, now The American Gardener. Barbara holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Horticulture from The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, and a Bachelor of Arts from Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio.

Barbara has owned dogs for many years. She currently shares space with two pure-bred Border Collies, a Border Collie mix, and a Papillion. She is an active volunteer for Mid-Atlantic Border Collie Rescue and teaches dog manners classes at their headquarters.

She currently, lives in Maryland on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, and with her husband has rehabbed a 1970s-era house to create a "green" home. Her garden there is organic, wildlife friendly, and features a bit of everything, including flower beds, shrub borders, vegetables, test plots, ground covers, native plants, a seed-grown meadow, and more. There is plenty of room for throwing tennis balls and Frisbees in the garden, however. In addition to four rescued dogs, she and her husband share space with rescued cats as well as companion parrots.