Margaret (Peggy) Sheffield Connors, a landscape designer and 45-year resident of Duxbury, died at home on May 3 surrounded by family. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, she lived to the fullest in the years after her diagnosis, impressing all with her zest for life. A lover of the outdoors, Peggy was a familiar sight biking along Duxbury streets and walking Duxbury beach. Anyone with her could count on a botany lesson, as she rattled off the Latin names of plants, exclaimed over seasonal colors and pointed out the shapes of trees. Margaret Sheffield Connors was born on April 28, 1937, in Boston, to Raymond A. and Margaret O'Brien Sheffield, the second of five children. The family moved to Milton when Peggy was seven. She attended St. Gregory's School in Dorchester, downwind from the Baker Chocolate factory; this, she said, explained her lifelong weakness for chocolate. In 1955 she graduated from St. Gregory's High School. By then she had fallen in love with Donald (Don) Connors of Milton, who as the "egg boy" had delivered four dozen extra-large eggs weekly to Peggy's mother. Peggy graduated from Cardinal Cushing College in 1957 with an associate degree. On June 15, 1957, she and Don were married at St. Mary of the Hills Church in Milton. They lived in Kentucky, Texas and Germany where Don was posted with the United States Army, and children Joan and Brian were born in 1958 and 1960. They returned to the Boston area, where sons Thomas and Christopher were born in 1962 and 1965, and Peggy was active in the League of Women Voters. In 1969 the family moved to Duxbury where she and Don were leaders in the conservation movement and Peggy was an early subscriber to Ms. Magazine. At age 33, when her youngest started kindergarten, and with Don's encouragement and support, Peggy returned to college part time, commuting to and from Boston. She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Simmons College in 1975. While working at the Women's Resource Center at Massasoit Community College counseling other women continuing their education, Peggy learned about the field of landscape design. Inspired at the prospect of a career combining nature, artistic design and close contact with people, she completed the Landscape Design Program at the Radcliffe Institute in 1980, and started Connors Landscape Design. Over the years, she and Don combined their professional interests in gardens and land use with extensive travel on five continents. For more than 10 years she led small-group tours with a naturalist in Costa Rica through her company Costa Rica Naturally! Peggy designed the Japanese garden on the grounds of the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, and many residential gardens in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. A specialist in gardening by the sea, in 1996 Peggy won the grand prize in the professional category from Garden Design for her graceful updating of the period garden surrounding an 18th century home on Nantucket Island. In 1987 Peggy co-founded the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD), with the mission to advance the profession of landscape design and to promote the recognition of landscape designers through adoption of professional standards of practice. Today APLD operates internationally with many thousands of members. She was elected a Fellow of the APLD in 2008. Peggy is survived by her husband of 57 years, Don; daughter Joan (and Mary Thompson) of Geneva, Switzerland; sons Brian (and Ann Michelle) of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, son Thomas (and Beth Weinberg) of Jamaica Plain, son Christopher (and Liz) of Duxbury; nine grandchildren; siblings Sr. Margaret Sheffield, O.P., Raymond Sheffield, Robert Sheffield, and Catherine Durham; numerous nieces and nephews; and many devoted friends. A celebration of Peggy's life will be held on July 2, 2014, at First Parish Church, 842 Tremont Street, Duxbury, at 10:30 a.m. Contributions can be made in Peggy's memory to Hope In Bloom, www.hopeinbloom.org, a non-profit organization that provides indoor or outdoor gardens free of charge to anyone in Massachusetts undergoing treatment for breast cancer.