This was the introduction to my old gardening blog:
Do you yell at people to “stay on the paths!” when they go outside in your yard? Do know more plant names than you do people’s names? Do you know what climate zone you live in?
Yup? Here is the deal: If you think you are a gardener, you are a gardener. Lucky us. Gardeners are a fun, generous bunch of folks.
Welcome to the OBSESSED MIDWEST GARDENER.
I am Danniel, your host. I grew up playing in the Wisconsin dirt, but instead of studying horticulture, I got a degree in English. That did not stop me from starting a landscape gardening business in 1994. The business, begun with my husband and another business partner, Mark C. Olson, was called Mother Nature and Sons and introduced organic property maintenance to the shores of Lake Geneva. I few years later, my husband and I branched off and started Botanica Fine Gardens and Landscapes in 2001. When we started Botanica (this link goes to Wayback Machine screen capture of an early website and blog) I not only wanted to continue to innovate and practice environmental landscaping, I also wanted to have and to install the prettiest perennial gardens. I set to work learning everything about perennials.
The first thing I did was learn the Latin name for all 1200 or so perennials that bloom in Zone 5.
Then, I learned the cultural requirements for all 1200 perennials.
Then, I learned their bloom times.
About this point, I thought I knew something about gardening. Ha! If you are an experienced gardener, you might be laughing right now, because you know that until you know something about plant dynamics, you don’t know diddly-squat.
What are plant dynamics, do you say? Well, plants are not like furniture. Garden design is not like interior design, because, well, the darn things change! They change all the time, from spring to fall, and then again from year to year.
And that, Dear Reader, is what this blog is about.
Obsessed Midwest Gardener 