W. C. (William Constantine) Egan

Born in 1841 and active for decades in Chicago, William Constantine Egan was an American landscape gardener, nurseryman, and garden writer. He is remembered for a long career in horticulture and landscape design, and for helping introduce and popularize perennial gardening for home gardeners.

Egan worked on both private and public landscapes and became especially associated with the development of ornamental gardening around Chicago. The Cultural Landscape Foundation notes his importance as a landscape designer, while library and archival records confirm his authorship of Making a Garden of Perennials (1912), the book for which many readers know him today.

That book reflects the strengths that made his work lasting: clear advice, practical experience, and a belief that beautiful gardens could be created with planning, patience, and the right plants. He died in 1930, leaving behind a useful record of early American gardening ideas at a time when perennial borders were becoming a serious art for everyday gardeners.