Connie’s fascination with plants and history has been a lifelong pursuit. As a child, her favorite books were those that were filled with tales of historical people and places. She shared this love with her three daughters, leading them on adventures to explore historic houses, museums, gardens, and graveyards. A serendipitous encounter with the president of the local rose society in 2001 sparked her interest in roses. Over the past two decades, cultivating roses and researching their past has been Connie’s way of life.

Connie is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Heritage Rose Foundation, manages the historic rose collection at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, and is the author of Heritage Roses: A Collection of Essays and Lessons. She was the chair of the Heritage and Preservation Committee of the American Rose Society, rose consultant for the Center for Historic Plants at Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia, and owned and operated Hartwood Roses, a nursery which specialized in rare, historic roses.

Connie has a passion for tools and construction. She and her husband, Steve, are actively restoring their historic residence, Hartwood Manor—a brick Gothic Revival farmhouse built in 1848—renovating its outbuildings and designing the gardens on their nine-acre property. Connie’s gardens are a haven for the preservation of rare antique roses in danger of extinction. Her extensive collection includes over 500 varieties of roses, many of which were propagated from cuttings obtained from historic sites as a part of her conservation efforts. Connie’s guiding principle is that ‘roses are not rocket science,’ and she is dedicated to demonstrating that anyone with a basic knowledge of gardening can select suitable roses and grow them successfully.