The Pros at Home

by Nina Koziol

Park sits an iconic Midwestern four-square built in 1894. Poised on a 3/4-acre lot, the house and garden are set apart from others on the block by the selection of plants: pagoda dogwood, a columnar Regal Prince oak, a dawn redwood, hemlocks and viburnums as well as drifts of native perennials along the foundation. “He’s really good at picking more unusual shrubs,” Kristie Webber says of her husband, Tim Johnson. The couple married in 1991, and they both work at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Beginnings

Webber and Johnson have known each other since shortly after college. They met at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia. When the Garden hired Johnson in 1985, the couple had been writing letters and talking by phone. Johnson sent Webber a job posting for a then-new position at Chicago Botanic Garden — Coordinator of Continuing Education. She also worked at Chicago’s Field Museum as division head of adult and family programs, before re-joining the Garden’s staff in 2001. She has served as the Garden’s

Director of Interpretive Programs and has a lifelong passion for all things nature and gardening-related. Johnson is the Garden’s Senior Director of Horticulture. He’s a long-time contributor to The Chicago Tribune and the Daily Herald where his articles on plants and gardening enlighten both homeowners and landscapers.

Inspiration

Johnson’s interest in gardening began in grade school, when he had a large collection of indoor plants. He also planted flowers around the family home in Nebraska and helped his grandfather maintain two large vegetable gardens each summer.

“In sixth grade I got into houseplants and then I started mowing lawns,” he said. “I used my dad’s mower and that was before I could drive so I had to push the mower everywhere.” By junior high, he was into sports. “I was all into training and competing year-round. I mowed my parent’s lawn, weeded and edged the beds — I did it because I liked it.” While in college, Johnson pursued computer science but soon realized it wasn’t his thing. “I saw horticulture and that looked interesting so I shifted my major.”

Webber started gardening at a young age as well, growing beans and buying “penny packs” of mail-order seeds.“A neighbor had a huge vegetable garden and I hung out with Mr. Carlton [an avid gardener] all the time. I was really young when I tried growing beans.” Her parents and uncle encouraged her gardening efforts.

She has a BS in horticulture from Virginia Tech and a masters in education from the University of Illinois. Dr. Diane Relf, Professor Emeritus at Virginia Tech, is one of her many mentors. Relf had a distinguished career as a Professor and Extension Specialist and was a founding member of what is now the American Horticultural Therapy Association. “She was a pioneer and my advisor. I did an internship in horticulture therapy at a Cooperative Extension office, but I also liked the Extension part.”

Their Garden

While Johnson focuses on the ornamental part of the landscape, Webber is all about the vegetables — growing, harvesting, and serving fresh, as well as canning and freezing. (continued on page 40)

(continued from page 39) After living in a small house, she was thrilled when they moved to a bigger house and year in Highland Park. “I couldn’t do vegetables at the other house, and oh my gosh, now I had sun.”

Webber has three vegetable gardens and several pots of herbs on the deck. “When I think about my garden, it’s an outlet and a respite,” she said. During the growing season, she spends about 30 minutes a day tending edibles. The couple’s dachshunds — Archie and Pippa — often get to the raspberries before they do.

There’s never an herbicide used anywhere in the edible gardens. Webber amends the vegetable beds with compost and grows a cover crop to replenish soil fertility. “I still have Jim Crockett’s Victory Garden book [from the 1980s], more for sentimental reasons,” she says with a chuckle. “It mentions lots of chemicals. There’s so much we didn’t learn in school [about alternative methods]. I spray nothing.” She is an organic gardener, composting and hand weeding.

Many of the tomatoes she grows are heirlooms started from seed that she saves each year. “I love keeping a garden journal and I’m a proud card-carrying member of the Seed Saver’s Exchange. There’s a whole world of seeds that makes me crazy in a good way.” Pearly Pink, Riesentraube and Sunrise Bumble Bee are just a few of the unusual heirloom and open-pollinated tomato plants she raises. “I was inspired by Craig Lehoullier.” He’s a tomato guru, author of “Epic Tomatoes,” (www.craiglehoullier.com). She also grows garlic and heirloom fingering potatoes as well, saying, “It’s very gratifying.”

Low(er) Maintenance In the beginning, the couple removed some weedy maples and buckthorn. Now, the property is primarily low maintenance with mixed shrub and herbaceous borders. The over-riding theme is keeping things beautiful but simple. “I’m not a typical gardener and I’ll push the limit a little bit,” Johnson said. “If a plant keeps failing, I don’t have time to fuss with it.”

Instead of mulch, a mixed planting of hostas creates a colorful quilt under a large oak. “There are 10 to 12 types and it looks good all summer,” he said. “I let them be — they push up through the leaf litter in spring.” He’s particularly drawn to blue foliage. “I use Hadspen Blue hosta and Hakonechoa ‘All Gold’, which is more reliable than Hakonechloa aureola. It might be boring, but I don’t care — I like it. I just want to enjoy my own space. Some people do big fancy gardens but I’m not out to prove anything.” (continued on page 42)

(continued from page 10)

The previous owner installed an irrigation system for the lawn, but the couple never use it. “I’m not against it,” Johnson said, “but I don’t see any need to water.” He mows the grass,,, keeping it at about three inches tall or so. The lawn gets cut one last time in December to chop up the leaves. “The thought of blowing them, moving them onto a tarp — I just can’t do that.”

When he’s not working or training for a half-marathon, he does landscape design (Tim Johnson Landscaping, Inc.). “There’s been a tremendous boom in homeowners wanting garden improvements and plants,” he said. “I like more of a natural look. It’s possible to have a decent garden without spending a lot of time on it.”

Issues & Opportunities There have been challenges. One year, Johnson wanted more evergreens and planted Japanese yews (Taxus cuspidata). “They all burned but recovered. I knew I was asking for it —the rootballs were frozen. They got taller and they’re all fine now. It

seems much warmer than even 10 years ago.” Deer browsing put the brakes on tulips and the biggest challenge, Johnson said, is lesser celandine, a weed that has taken hold in the lawn.

“We have huge signature oak trees — two in the back and one giant tree in front is in a photo from 1906,” Webber said. “It was a dirt road at the time the photo was taken,” Johnson added.

As a result, the amount of shade has increased so Johnson built another bed in the middle of the lawn where sunlight hits. Ironically, Webber and Johnson have never shopped for plants together. “She may see a plant and send me a photo or a label of it. Usually, it’s when I’m out shopping that I pick them up,” he said.

The Great Outdoors During the summer, Johnson rides his bike 30 miles a week, building up to 60-mile rides. He’s ridden the Apple Cider Century ride (100 miles) in Michigan. “I ride some mornings and at the gym at night. You have to stay with it.” To say they are adventurous is an understatement. Webber has explored South America and enjoys travel, sometimes solo.

When it comes to dressing for outdoor work, especially in winter, Johnson says, “Anything designed to work well for the outdoor sports person should work well for the gardener.” He’s not kidding. He likes to hit the ski slopes via helicopter, which sounds rather terrifying to the novice skier. The helicopter drops him and others on a steep mountainside in British Columbia, and they are on their own for hours. “It’s super fun,” said Johnson, who has skied for 28 years. “You’re in the back country skiing all day long.” He dresses depending on the level of activity. “I’m big on layering so you can adjust. It’s much better to have multiple layers than one thick coat.”

The Future Johnson predicts that if the interest in gardening continues, “Gardens will be more elaborate with more plants and there will be more sensitivity to the environment — they’ll be more environmentally friendly. People are looking to bring the inside lifestyle outside. And color is still a big interest — I’ve been hearing about that for as long as I can remember.” His biggest take-away from decades in horticulture? “The foremost thing is to get the right plant for the site. Get that right and you’re good to go.”

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