Garden-Lou Spotlights the Garden of Valerie and George Danish

It’s a garden that, at first glance, makes you smile.

Valerie Danish and her husband, George, had just finished renovating their home in O’Fallon, Illinois when they decided to take a Sunday drive among the rural country roads surrounding town. When they spotted an “Open House” sign, they detoured to check it out for fun and found a wooded lot that reminded Valerie of her home in North Carolina. “We put an offer on the house the next day,” says Valerie.

George is a retired Army Colonel assigned to Scott Air Force Base in 1993 for three years, but the couple decided to stay in the O’Fallon area after retiring. “We have been here for 17 years, and I started the garden before we moved in! I brought three truckloads of plants with me that I dug out of our garden in town.”

The vast garden is comprised of many small gardens that flow from one to the other, surrounding the house. The entire property sits on top of a wooded hillside, and despite having other neighbors nearby on the same road, the mature woods give the feeling of a secluded sanctuary hidden deep in a whimsical, enchanted forest. This is a 360-degree garden, layered in color and texture from the mature trees and lush underplantings down to the water features, hardscapes, and bountiful containers. Every direction holds a framed composition, starting with an overall view from a window or patio. Within that view sit a dozen smaller vignettes full of texture, color, and, occasionally, whimsy.

The unique wire sculptures of Josh Brooke Cote‘ compliment the garden’s wooded atmosphere and look equally at home in containers, plantings, or mounted high, commanding attention. The rabbits are an unexpected focal point that is simultaneously both comical and yet elegant-A combination not easy to pull off, but yet expresses precisely the personality behind the garden.

“Everything about gardening here is challenging, especially Illinois weather. We live on a hill, so even when it rains it leaves the ground quickly.” Along with all the mature trees creating dry shade, deer, moles, voles, raccoons, and squirrels are big problems, and Valerie is constantly replanting things. “One year, I lost 16 mature hostas to vole damage.”

Maintaining such a large, intensive garden is time-consuming, and garden chores are divided up. George takes care of the pond and fountain, trims the boxwood hedges, mows and maintains the grass, and helps spray weeds in the patios and driveway. Valerie does all the designing, planting, weeding, mulching, watering, and plant maintenance. “I work about 8-10 hours a day every day. In summer, after the really hard work is done, I spend anywhere from 2-6 hours watering, deadheading, and doing general maintenance.”

Her favorite time of day is early morning. “it’s so quiet and lovely then. There’s something about morning light that makes it special.”

The Danish Garden was recently featured on the University of Southern Illinois/St. Clair Gardens in Bloom Tour and received an “Honorable Mention” in the St. Louis Post Dispatch Garden Contest.

Friends, family, and cats are Val’s other passions. “My friends really do enjoy the garden and have been extremely supportive of my crazy addiction to gardening, which is truly what it is.” “My mom and dad were both gardeners, and Mom loved coming here to be in the garden. My sister doesn’t garden but is very proud of what I have done.” Two concrete statues from her mom’s garden are sentimental touches in the garden, along with a retired wheelbarrow filled with plants that was a gift from her father when they bought their first house in 1985. “That would be a hard one to let go.”

Cross-stitching is another passion of Val’s. “I have been a cross-stitch designer for 22 years, and that is what has paid for my gardening. That’s what I do when I’m not gardening!”

There is always ‘tweaking’ to be done in a garden with dividing and moving plants and pots, etc… Future plans for the garden include replacing the wooden arbors. “That’s a few years off yet, so we have time to think about it. I’m very content right now with the direction the garden is heading. I feel incredibly blessed to live where I do and to be able to garden as aggressively as I do. I just turned 69, and I’m hoping for 20 more years of hard work! It’s the most rewarding and frustrating thing I have ever done.

Quick Facts;

-Size of Garden-5+ acres

-Year garden started-2006

-Is there any other garden or gardener that inspires you? All gardens inspire me because you learn something from every one you visit. I am amazed that so many people continue to garden into their 90s, so every gardener who has a deep love of gardening is an inspiration to me.

–If stranded on a deserted island and you could only have ONE plant to keep you company, what would it be? (It doesn’t have to be a food-bearing plant since this island has a free buffet!) I am in love with native Indian Pinks. I think the bloom is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!

-Favorite tool? Pruners.

-Looking back, if you could do something different, what would it be? “Well, you always make mistakes about planting things where they don’t do well. I guess I would have tried to be less impulsive about buying plants without having definite plans for them. I think many gardeners tend to do that simply because we want them all!