Merrilee Holzhouser considers herself a "garden walker."
"I love strolling through my yard, looking at the gardens, pulling weeds if I need to and just watching everything grow," she said.
Accompanied by her canine companion, an American Eskimo Corky, or simply out for a morning watering, Holzhouser can enjoy her garden walks along her multiple paths that weave through her front, back and side lawns, passing by ample flower beds filled with colorful annuals, perennials and plants that are also adorned with adorable yard art.
The care to detail and design, and plentiful varieties of flowers, plants and decoration have earned Holzhouser a spot on the 2016 Bittersweet Garden Club tour, and was recently recognized as the May 2019 Garden of the Month.
"It was only fitting that Merrilee Holzhouser be awarded the Garden of the Month for May. Hers is the best dressed yard in Jefferson City! From the time one steps out of their car, they don't know where to start," said Linda Block, Garden of the Month committee chairman for the Bittersweet Garden Club. "The front greets you with a shady area, full of hostas and various shade loving plants and shrubs. Going to the back of her home, it's one area onto another area, all equally maintained and manicured. You can tell that this is her love!"
Gardening is in Holzhouser's genes. Her grandmother and 93-year-old aunt were avid gardeners, as were her parents. Her father even developed a sunken garden and an inside garden area in their house while growing up in Florida.
"My mother used to carry scissors around with her wherever she went," she added with a laugh. "They were always interested in plants."
Holzhouser and her late husband, Don, who had a military career in the U.S. Air Force, lived in southern California for most of her adult life and career in education - she taught and ended up serving as a school principal.
"When I was working, I did a little bit of gardening, but when I retired, I decided that was something I wanted to do. It has been interesting here because I have lived my whole life in more tropical climates," she said.
The couple were snowbirds for a period of time, living half time between a home they had in Florida and the summer seasons at a little farmhouse her Missouri native husband inherited in Tebbetts. But as they got older, they decided it was time to go back to the city. They sold both houses and, after a long search, found their current home.
After she and Don purchased their home on Jefferson City's west side in 2012, she had a blank canvas to grow from. The house had sat vacant for four years and was in trust with the bank, and after a bad drought that year, the yard was mainly dirt with a few trees and three large boulders in the front, in the lawn's corner and in the back.
Holzhouser started in the front yard, developing some beautiful garden spaces around a large tree and the boulder, as well as installing a paved walkway from the lower level driveway up to the front door. Near the corner of her front yard by the driveway, she has included lots of plants, shrubs and flowers that attract pollinators and monarchs, including milkweed. The beauty of this space has also inspired her neighbors to begin landscaping their yard's corner utilizing the same color mulch.
Having a second lot to the left of their house, Holzhouser was able to create more flower beds around some large trees and landscaped areas along the wooded line of her property, including a shaded seating space beneath the trees' canopy.
"We also sodded the front, but in the back, we have all seeded. Lots of shade can be a problem growing the grass, and we have had to cut back some branches, too," she said. "At first, the grass back here was very lush and beautiful. Last fall, it was getting in bad shape over in the backyard's corner and I seeded it again. But this year, it is doing better."
Holzhouser also had a company come in to add in large rock walkways that lead guests along the side of the house to her back decks, as well as down to the backyard and lower covered deck below her upstairs sunroom. What was once a large dirt-filled yard with a few trees and a boulder enclosed by a chain link fence is now a developed lavish oasis filled with flowers, plants, yard art and plush green grass surrounded by a black iron fence that adds a touch of elegance.
"Merrilee's garden is even more spectacular than it was in 2016 when she was on our Bittersweet Garden Tour. When opening the gate to her backyard, it looks like a picture that should be on the cover of the Fine Gardening magazine," said Gail Cummins, Garden of the Month committee member. "There is of color already with the perennials and the annuals, and her garden is just right - not too much but just enough."
Holzhouser, who has been a Master Gardener since 2013 and Bittersweet Garden Club member since 2014, said she loves hostas, hydrangeas and day lilies. However, a visitor to her yard will find the variety of flowers, plants, shrubs and trees is put together like a rich, unique and tasteful tapestry. Her process for designing her garden begins with her preference of color.
"I buy the things I like and put them together in a way that pleases me. I think about color and design and think about texture. I don't like just flowers, but I like a lot of leaves that have a lot of texture and when I find things, I think, 'I have got to have that plant.' I also plant things so they something is always blooming throughout the spring, summer and even early fall.
"Every year, I do a little bit more, but I'm pretty much done now, though," she said with a smile.
Holzhouser said she does often change her annuals and loves creating her own pots of colorful flowers and plants that she is able to purchase in advance of the Central Missouri Master Gardener's annual plant sale since she is a member.
However, she also loves adorning her garden with new yard art or things to encourage friendly and wanted animal visitors to her garden. A frog water feature heads up a small fountain near her lower porch, while ladybug stones and adjoining "Ladybug Crossing" sign and decoration are seen along one of the yard's walkways. A honeybee house and matching bluebird houses are placed in the backyard, and any visitor to Holzhouser's garden will find a variety of rabbit statues and decor cleverly placed along the flower beds and paths.
"Merrilee also has a knack for tucking a touch of whimsy here and there," said Janet Lepper, Garden of the Month committee member. "It makes her yard beautiful, fun and exciting all put together. Her yard is a real treat!"
Being able to garden in her retirement has also been a treat for Holzhouser. She has learned a lot in dealing with Missouri weather, but she has had so much fun in the process.
"The winter gets so dreary because of the yard, but then in a few months, everything comes out of the ground and it is amazing. Every day you go out, something else is coming up and that is a joy in gardening. I think that is why I garden. I like the experience of what happens, seeing the flowers blooming and the gardens taking shape."