Throwback gardener signs off from Grand Avenue

In the 1990s, the green industry saw the biggest boom it had had in decades. The economy was roaring and lots of homeowners embraced gardening. Landscapers installed water features, tore out lawns and planted perennial gardens. Fire pits and outdoor living spaces were must-haves. Growers developed novel new plants and nurseries thrived.

Lots of those gardens are gone now. Gardeners aged and simplified, money dried up and the new generation loves social media, electronics and visiting gardens in exotic locales more than working in one at home. As a result, the green industry is contracting and landscapers today are more likely to be mowing and removing leaves than installing gardens and ponds.

This winter, instead of sending out a new spring catalog, Flower Factory, a nursery that’s been a mainstay of my perennial shopping, notified its customers that this is the last season for the business. Flower Factory has boasted for years that it had the largest selection of perennials in the Midwest. But like the rest of us, the owners are getting to retirement age and it’s difficult to find anyone who wants a labor-intensive business.

Last year, an even older business said good bye. Songsparrow Farm was the retail outlet of the Klehm family, nationally famous suppliers and breeders of daylilies and peonies. Years ago I’d heard the third-generation head of the business talk about plantsmen he’d met. Roy Klehm traveled the country with his grandfather visiting old-time backyard breeders. His stories covered more than a century. I took home the peony he had for everybody at his talk, his favorite. It’s still a star in our garden. What was Songsparrow’s greenhouse complex is now a farm field in Avalon, Wis.

Other local nurseries haven’t gone out of business, but several now close to the public by mid-July. It’s hard to compete with big box and hardware store plant prices. These businesses thrived while perennial gardens like ours were popular. Today, however, lots are smaller, gardeners are older and those who aren’t have less time and desire to do yard work. Annuals and house plants are favored over perennials that need dividing, fertilizing and constant attention.

I’ve been through the whole gardening cycle now. I started with house plants as a student. My weeping fig was a six-leafed cutting and cost $1.25 — a major investment at the time. Fifty years later, it barely fits in a room with a 10-foot ceiling.

Next I had an apartment where annuals festooned my tiny balcony. I still raise dozens of them for the window boxes, of course, but they’re a side show for me these days.

The truth is, I’m a perennial gardener at heart though it’s out-of-fashion these days. And since it’s harder to do the work with 70 in sight, this is the last report from our Grand Avenue garden. I’m putting all my energy from now on into actual gardening, not writing. I hope everyone who’s taken time to read this column continues to nurture a passion for plants wherever they find it, indoors or outside. I can testify it will provide life-long pleasure.