Gardening with Joe Ruggiero

Written by Mervyn Kaufman • Styled by Jay Spratt
Photographed by Michael Weschler

SEE suggested plants and ideas

■ WHO A career in advertising and marketing, followed by a stint as an editor and author, prepared him to host HGTV home design shows and also to design fabrics and practical, comfortable furniture.
■ WHAT How to use plants (both flowering and foliage) and furnishings to define and accent inviting outdoor settings.
■ WHERE The backyard of his home, an elegantly converted pool house on a former Encino, California, estate.

Recognized and trusted as a design authority, Joe Ruggiero spent 15 years as Ethan Allen’s advertising and creative director before moving on to textile manufacturer WestPoint Pepperell. He later became editor-in-chief of Home magazine before becoming a design spokesperson for such companies as Kohler and Glidden. His ability to pinpoint trends nudged him fully into the design world, where he ultimately developed textiles for Sunbrella, lighting for Orbit and lines for Norwalk Furniture, Caperton Furniture Works and Terra Furniture.

The author of Found Objects (Clarkson Potter, 1981), Ruggiero has become a familiar face as host of various homedesign specials that he produces for the HGTV cable network, including its Best of...Design series.

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