In 2024, during spring, a mesmerizing time to be in Sicily, Gregg had the privilege of writing and gardening in residence at the magnificent Villa San Giuliano. He worked alongside the garden team of this 15th century palazzo, draped in bougainvillea, lush with palms, cacti, Australian grass trees, banyans, and ancient olives. Within the walled Arab garden, a cornucopia of citrus littered Persian carpet-patterned marble pathways, lined by irrigation channels, cardoon, roses and lily of the Incas. Gregg learned about estate horticulture and subtropicals of all sorts, and brought to the team 25 years of exuberant New England fine gardening. When the workday was done, he could be found writing in the wildflower meadows of the orange groves or on the Bellini benches of the giardino Arabo, under the gaze of snow-capped and smoke-ringed Mt. Etna. 

In this print collaboration with artist-in-residence David Brewster, they celebrate the art of gardening—and how it and painting and poetry stem from the same immersive experience of seeing and reflecting, interpreting and celebrating.