Picturesque Brown Deer Garden Part of Garden Club of Greater Milwaukee’s Open Days

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Forty-three years ago, Dorothy Danforth began transforming her half-acre property in Brown Deer into an outdoor paradise, and she hasn’t stopped since. 

Danforth’s garden features an artistic mix of annuals and perennials including hostas, sedums, phlox, clematis, hydrangeas and conifers, along with art and sculptures. The public will have the opportunity to see this natural masterpiece during the Garden Club of Greater Milwaukee’s Open Days Garden Tours, Aug. 19 and 20 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Danforth, an Arkansas native, is no stranger to publicity. Her garden has been featured in multiple publications, and school groups and master gardeners have visited and toured her property. A former Benedictine nun, Danforth left the convent in 1970 to move to Milwaukee, where she had frequently visited to study music at Alverno College. She taught piano at Milwaukee Public Schools and later taught private lessons.

When Danforth and her partner, Gerald “Gerry” Friedenfeld (who died in 2015) purchased their Brown Deer home in 1978, there was nothing on the property but six trees and an overgrown strawberry patch. She had the trees removed and immediately went to work.

“I’m English descent, so I decided to grow flowers,” says Danforth in her soft Southern lilt. “I started with a shrub, and from there, it grew one foot at a time.”

A self-taught gardener, she sources plants and trees from various garden centers and nurseries throughout the Milwaukee area. She enjoys experimenting with the latest in plant hybridization.

“The garden culture is constantly growing and changing,” she explains. “When I started with sedums, there was nothing but Autumn Joy, which would just drop dead if it got too much water. Now, the hybridized Autumn Fire (with larger flower heads and a longer blooming season) can handle more water.”

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Many gardeners are planting native perennials such as Echinacea Pallida, or coneflower, commonly seen in light purple or yellow. Danforth has those, along with hybridized orange and pink coneflower. Sculptures of birds, peacocks and butterflies share the gardens with the plants.

‘Rhapsody In Blue’ Among Garden Highlights

Danforth, who jokes that she has a “conifer addiction,” has myriad conifers such as Blue Cloak. They typically grow smaller, less than 10 feet, and have light blue to blue-green needles. The unique, low maintenance Weeping Birch, which Danforth likes because “it doesn’t cause any trouble,” replaced some high maintenance crab apple trees that required spraying.

As one who’s partial to hostas, Danforth has a wide mix in hues of green, cream and even yellow, along with two-toned varieties, that thrive in shady spots in the front and back yards. Her favorite is the big, bold Sun Power, with striking golden leaves. Beginning in 1996, Danforth started planting honorees of the American Hosta Growers Association’s hosta of the year.

Bold colored hydrangeas and red wax begonias add pops of color to Danforth’s front yard. Smoke bushes, tall pink and purple phlox, yellow daylilies, alliums and more fill out the south and back gardens.

Stunning beauty is everywhere in Danforth’s backyard, but the section she calls “Rhapsody in Blue” showcases blue and blue-toned evergreens, hostas, sedums, shade perennials and sculptures. “I’m partial to blue,” she says. “I looked for anything blue, from plants to artwork, to add in here.” 

Danforth makes her own mulch and compost. “I don’t buy any fertilizer,” she says proudly. Purple clematis climb the fence that blocks off the compost and garden supply storage area from the rest of the yard. She has rarely met a plant she doesn’t like, but she shies away from roses. “I used to work with roses, but my roses were a disaster. They they want all kinds of attention.”

Danforth has a small team of landscapers that help with more strenuous gardening tasks. She does all the designing and plant selection.” Experimenting is what keeps me going. I always think, ‘what can I do better?’ It’s blooming and changing constantly.”

In addition to Danforth’s garden, featured gardens on Garden Club of Greater Milwaukee’s Open Days Garden Tours include the Glasshouse Garden, a European inspired garden with immaculately trimmed hedges and colorful plants; and the Playhouse Garden, which overlooks Lake Michigan and features an English style garden with a sweeping vista of maple trees.

Tickets are available separately for each garden; cost $10 per person. Advance purchase required. Children age 12 and under are free with a paid adult admission. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit gardenclubgreatermilwaukee.org.