About Karen Bussolini

Photo of Karen BussoliniKaren Bussolini has been a gardener all her life. She trained as a painter and was an architectural photographer before specializing in garden photography, writing, speaking and eco-friendly garden coaching/design. She is a NOFA (Northeast Organic Farmers Association) Accredited Organic Land Care Professional. Her garden has been featured in many publications, including Anne Raver’s feature, “A Hillside of Feisty Beauties” in The New York Times.

Her GARDEN PHOTOGRAPHY has been published in Garden Design, Horticulture, House Beautiful, House and Garden, This Old House, Traditional Home, Better Homes and Gardens, The American Gardener, Perennials, Native Plants, Organic Gardening, Wildflower, Country Living Gardener, McCall’s, Home, Metropolitan Home, Yankee, The New York Times, Design New England and numerous other magazines throughout the world, for which she has won several Garden Writers Association awards. Work commissioned by landscape designers has been published in many books and magazines and played a role in those clients’ success in winning local, regional and national design competitions.

She was sole photographer for six GARDEN BOOKS: The Naturescaping Workbook: How to Create a Garden with Nature as Your Guide, by Beth Young, (Timber Press 2011), The Homeowner’s Complete Tree and Shrub Manual by Penelope O’Sullivan (Storey Publishing 2007), Elegant Silvers: Striking Plants for Every Garden (Timber Press 2005), which she co-authored with Jo Ann Gardner, The Unsung Season: Gardens and Gardeners in Winter (Houghton Mifflin, 1995), A Country Garden for Your Backyard (Rodale Press 1993) and Backyard Design: Making the Most of the Space Around Your House (Bulfinch Press, 1991, 1998).

Among hundreds of books to which she has contributed photos, Larry Weaner and Thomas Christopher’s Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can be a Source of Environmental Change, Gordon Hayward’s The Welcoming Garden and Art and the Gardener: Fine Painting as Inspiration for Garden Design occupy a special place in her heart and life’s work.

Karen Bussolini’s GARDEN WRITING has appeared in such magazines as Garden Design, House Beautiful, Better Homes and Gardens, This Old House, The American Gardener, Wildflower, Woman’s Day Specials, McCall’s, Native Plants, The Old Farmer’s Almanac Garden Guide, Threads, Connecticut Home and Garden, Green Scene and a number of guest blog spots. Newspaper columns in The Millbrook Independent and her “Garden Coach” column in The Lakeville Journal explored the connections between gardens, the environment and the local community. She writes from deep personal experience and observation,

She has presented GARDEN TALKS across the continent, to such groups as:

NATIONAL MEETINGS: The National Children & Youth Gardening Symposium, The Garden Writers Association, The Perennial Plant Association.

ANNUAL MEETINGS/SYMPOSIA/SHORT COURSES: The Master Gardeners of Connecticut, The University of Rhode Island Master Gardeners, Western Massachusetts Master Gardener Association (keynote speaker), Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners of Monroe County (NY), Master Gardener Society of Oakland County (Michigan), The Herb Society of America Connecticut and Long Island Units, The Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut, The Kansas City Gardening Symposium, The Rochester Civic Garden Center Annual Spring Symposium, Green Bay Botanical Garden Fall Symposium, UConn Garden Conference, New Directions in the American Landscape, The Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello, the S.A.L.T. (Smaller American Lawns Today) Conference at The Connecticut Arboretum, The Virginia Horticultural Foundation’s Home Gardener Day and additional short course for professionals, Ohio State University’s P.L.A.N.T. Seminars.

LECTURE SERIES: The New York Botanical Garden’s “American Gardening Lecture Series,” The Bonfils-Stanton Lecture Series and workshop at Denver Botanic Gardens, Santa Fe Gardens’ “Garden Gurus” seminars, The Huntington Library Art Collections & Botanical Gardens, The Freylinghuysen Arboretum and The Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden lecture series, The Indianapolis Museum of Art, The Florence Griswold Museum’s GardenFest, The Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, Brookside Gardens, Green Spring Gardens and “Gardens of the Mississippi” aboard the riverboat The American Queen.

HORTICULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS: The Horticultural Society of New York, The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, The San Diego Horticultural Society, The Southern California Horticulture Society, The Vancouver Hardy Plant Group, The Northwest Horticultural Society, The Whatcom Horticultural Society, The Willamette Valley Hardy Plant Group, The Connecticut Horticultural Society, The Horticultural Alliance of the Hamptons, The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, plus innumerable independent, Garden Club of America and Federated Garden Club meetings and various libraries and nature centers.

TRADE SHOWS: New England Grows, The Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association Annual (PLNA) Symposium, Ohio State University’s Nursery Short Course at the CENTS trade show, The Rhode Island Nursery & Landscape Assoc. Winter Meeting & Trade Show.

FLOWER SHOWS: The Chicago Flower and Garden Show, the New England Spring Flower Show, The Connecticut Flower & Garden Show, The Maymont Flower Show (Richmond, VA), The Rhode Island Spring Flower & Garden Show.

She has taught CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS at The New York Botanical Garden, Denver Botanic Gardens, The Berkshire Botanical Garden, The Gardens on Spring Creek in Fort Collins, CO, Tohoono Chul Park in Tucson, AZ and for the NOFA Organic Land Care Accreditation Program and Audubon At Home.

MEDIA APPEARANCES include PBS television programs “Cultivating Life,” KLRU’s “Central Texas Gardener” and “Oklahoma Gardening” and live radio shows in California, Colorado, Mississippi, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Connecticut, including “The Organic View” on the web.

Karen’s ECO-FRIENDLY GARDEN COACHING practice is devoted to teaching homeowners how to garden more sustainably, focusing on creating healthy yards that are resilient, full of life, diversity and delight.

When photographing, she sees the world through the eyes of a gardener and painter. Although she travels far and wide, her roots are sunk deeply into the soil of a deer-infested mountainside in South Kent, Connecticut. In her personal life she is a Reiki practitioner, river swimmer and member of The Kent Singers, a classical vocal ensemble.

Download Karen’s Bio