Stephanie Feeney, gardener, writer, delighted in people

Hundreds of garden enthusiasts will feel saddened every time they dial up their e-mail, for they will no longer be receiving frequent greetings from the sunny, foggy, or turbulent shores of Lake Whatcom.

Widely known gardening writer Stephanie Feeney died peacefully at her home in Bellingham on Tuesday evening (Dec. 5) after a vigorous two-year battle with breast cancer.

Her husband, Larry Feeney, Gordon setter Byron, and golden retriever Emma were with her.

Those who knew Ms. Feeney from her lectures and reference book, "The Northwest Gardeners' Resource Directory," might find it hard to believe she was even more tireless behind the scenes in the horticultural community.

She delighted in matching up people and information, introducing gardeners who really should know each other, and spreading the news about exciting plants and events.

And not unlike the many vines in which she specialized, Ms. Feeney spread her tendrils wide.

Plant explorer Dan Hinkley tells the story of lecturing in Geelong, Australia, and having a woman tell him that Ms. Feeney had said to be sure and let him know it was raining hard at home, and a few weeks later finding a group of Tasmanian gardeners at the south tip of their island absorbed in a Post-It-laden copy of her book as they planned a trip to the states.

For a girl born in 1948 in Billings, Mont., Stephanie Scowcroft traveled far.

Her first professional enthusiasm was low-income housing, which she became

interested in while working in Aleutian Island crab factories, and then during a year in Nairobi in 1969.

She studied design and communications at Western Washington University, graduated in 1972, and then worked for Alaska Legal Services, where she met her future husband, Larry Feeney.

Her architect father had counseled her that she could be anything she wanted, except, please, avoid architecture.

Stephanie enrolled in the Masters program in Architecture at University of Oregon in 1976. A quarter shy of graduation, she returned to Juneau, where Larry practiced law, and they were married.

They both wanted to return to the Northwest, and began a search for waterfront property that ended in their 1987 move to the shores of Lake Whatcom.

"It was a thing of the heart--this house," explains Larry of their move south. Both Feeneys retired at age 38, she to garden and he to woodwork and collect books, little knowing that, swept along by her great enthusiasm, the future held a whole new career for them both.

During these years, the couple traveled widely.

They spent autumn weeks in London, walked the 110-mile "Cotswold Way" through the British countryside, toured Scotland and the Lake District, and Ms. Feeney took off herself to ride horseback through Tuscany and Chile.

A founding member of the Whatcom Horticultural Society, Ms. Feeney published a directory of her own gardening resources and tips as a benefit for the group. In the mid-90's, she and her husband formed Cedarcroft Press, and the directory grew into a regional resource. Her popular day tours kept selling out, so Ms. Feeney wrote "Gardeners On The Go: Seattle."

She had completed the research and was working on a similar guide book to London at the time of her death. No services have been scheduled.

Larry Feeney asks that any gifts in his wife's memory be sent to Whatcom Hospice, 600 Birchwood Ave., Suite 200, Bellingham, Wa. 98225.