diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/r-cowplot/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/r-cowplot/package.py
index a9a577076e..16fb5234cf 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/r-cowplot/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/r-cowplot/package.py
@@ -7,18 +7,21 @@
 
 
 class RCowplot(RPackage):
-    """Some helpful extensions and modifications to the 'ggplot2'
-    package. In particular, this package makes it easy to combine
-    multiple 'ggplot2' plots into one and label them with letters,
-    e.g. A, B, C, etc., as is often required for scientific
-    publications. The package also provides a streamlined and clean
-    theme that is used in the Wilke lab, hence the package name,
-    which stands for Claus O. Wilke's plot package."""
+    """Streamlined Plot Theme and Plot Annotations for 'ggplot2'
+
+    Provides various features that help with creating publication-quality
+    figures with 'ggplot2', such as a set of themes, functions to align plots
+    and arrange them into complex compound figures, and functions that make it
+    easy to annotate plots and or mix plots with images. The package was
+    originally written for internal use in the Wilke lab, hence the name (Claus
+    O. Wilke's plot package). It has also been used extensively in the book
+    Fundamentals of Data Visualization."""
 
     homepage = "https://cloud.r-project.org/package=cowplot"
     url      = "https://cloud.r-project.org/src/contrib/cowplot_0.8.0.tar.gz"
     list_url = "https://cloud.r-project.org/src/contrib/Archive/cowplot"
 
+    version('1.1.1', sha256='c7dce625b456dffc59ba100c816e16226048d12fdd29a7335dc1f6f6e12eed48')
     version('1.0.0', sha256='70f9a7c46d10f409d1599f1afc9fd3c947051cf2b430f01d903c64ef1e6c98a5')
     version('0.9.3', sha256='3e10475fd7506ea9297ed72eb1a3acf858c6fa99d26e46fc39654eba000c3dcb')
     version('0.9.2', sha256='8b92ce7f92937fde06b0cfb86c7634a39b3b2101e362cc55c4bec6b3fde1d28f')
@@ -28,8 +31,9 @@ class RCowplot(RPackage):
 
     depends_on('r@3.3.0:', when='@:0.9.4', type=('build', 'run'))
     depends_on('r@3.5.0:', when='@1.0.0:', type=('build', 'run'))
-    depends_on('r-ggplot2@2.1.1:', type=('build', 'run'))
+    depends_on('r-ggplot2@2.1.1:', when='@:1.0.0', type=('build', 'run'))
+    depends_on('r-ggplot2@2.2.1:', when='@1.1.1:', type=('build', 'run'))
     depends_on('r-gtable', type=('build', 'run'))
-    depends_on('r-plyr@1.8.2:', when='@:0.9.9', type=('build', 'run'))
-    depends_on('r-scales', type=('build', 'run'))
     depends_on('r-rlang', when='@1.0.0:', type=('build', 'run'))
+    depends_on('r-scales', type=('build', 'run'))
+    depends_on('r-plyr@1.8.2:', when='@:0.9.9', type=('build', 'run'))