The Constant Gardener

GARDEN PARTY: Ever the hostess, Patti entertains (from left) Charles Wadsworth, Gian Carlo Menotti, Jim Kearney, Ted Stern, and Scott Nickrenz in the McGee family sunroom overlooking the garden, after a Spoleto Festival USA chamber music concert in 1979.

Patti McGee among the Mexican bush sage, butterfly weed, and Alpinia in her Ansonborough garden in 2003; photo by Virginia Weiler