Now a popular garden author, lecturer, instructor and coach, Colleen is a member of Garden Writers Association, the Federated Garden Clubs of America, Tri-State Hosta Society, Mad Gardeners, The Nature Conservancy, The Garden Conservancy, Highstead Arboretum, the Connecticut Horticultural Society, the New York Botanical Garden, and many other groups. Her award-winning one-acre ornamental garden has been on numerous tours, and serves as a living classroom laboratory where she teaches composting, composition, color and many additional how-to’s of gardening. She runs a garden coaching business, and teaches gardening at the New York Botanical Garden. She lends her time and expertise to the local garden club as well as to other non-profit groups. A recent project was the planning, implementation and maintenance of the garden at the local Methodist Church in her quaint New England town.

Her essays, memoir pieces and feature articles have appeared in publications such as People, Places and Plants, Fine Gardening, GreenPrints, The Litchfield Review, Connecticut Gardener and Toastmaster. Her most recent book is a gardening memoir, Mentors in the Garden of Life.