Jefferson City's Bittersweet Garden Club has chosen its final fall garden of the season: Linda Oligschlaeger's ever-blooming garden.
"Linda's gardens are established and evident of years of hard work," said Heather Brown, Bittersweet's garden of the season chair. "Her beautiful mums wrapping around the trees in her front corner represent fall perfectly."
Oligschlaeger's garden is stacked with charming fountains and statues, colorful flowers and lush greenery. Most recently, she had bright yellow mums blossoming.
"I try to have something in bloom all the time," Oligschlaeger said. "From early spring until now."
Oligschlaeger grew up on a farm but never considered herself much of a "farm girl." She began showing interest in gardening as she got older and started to take it more seriously when she retired about 10 years ago.
"I had a friend who kind of got me interested in plants and gardening, but for a lot of years, I didn't know what I was doing," Oligschlaeger said.
At first, she used gardening as a stress reliever. "After I retired, it became almost an obsession I guess," she joked.
Since then, she has joined gardening clubs and groups, taken master classes and connected with many gardener friends with whom she visits gardens and trades tips and tricks.
"I love to explore for new plants and visit gardens all over just to get ideas and bring them home," Oligschlaeger said. "You learn from others and put it to practice."
One of her favorite aspects of her outdoor space is the patio out back. She sits outside and listens to the fountains as she overlooks her bright flowers and enjoys the fresh air. She finds gardening and nurturing plants not only physically healthy but psychologically healthy, too.
Now that Oligschlaeger has gotten older, she plans to downsize her garden.
"I'm taking out a few beds now to where I can manage it a little bit better," she said.
In terms of her garden being highlighted as Bittersweet's garden of the season, "It's really quite an honor," Oligschlaeger said. "There're some absolutely beautiful gardens in this town."
Julie Smith/News Tribune photo: Linda Oligschlager's yard and her work in it were recently recognized with the Bittersweet Garden of the Season. The front side of her home is filled with colorful, flowering plants and butterfly attractors and the back side, which is the shady side, is populated with numerous large, leafy plants like elephant ear and hostas.
Julie Smith/News Tribune photo: Linda Oligschlager's yard and her work in it were recently recognized with the Bittersweet Garden of the Season. The front side of her home is filled with colorful, flowering plants and butterfly attractors and the back side, which is the shady side, is populated with numerous large, leafy plants like elephant ear and hostas.
Julie Smith/News Tribune photo: Linda Oligschlager's yard and her work in it were recently recognized with the Bittersweet Garden of the Season. The front side of her home is filled with colorful, flowering plants and butterfly attractors and the back side, which is the shady side, is populated with numerous large, leafy plants like elephant ear and hostas.
Julie Smith/News Tribune photo: Linda Oligschlager's yard and her work in it were recently recognized with the Bittersweet Garden of the Season. The front side of her home is filled with colorful, flowering plants and butterfly attractors and the back side, which is the shady side, is populated with numerous large, leafy plants like elephant ear and hostas.
Julie Smith/News Tribune photo: Linda Oligschlager is shown on her patio adjacent the side and back yard where she was recently recognized with the Bittersweet Garden of the Season. The front side of her home is filled with colorful, flowering plants and pollinator plants and the back side, which is the shady side, is populated with numerous large, leafy plants like elephant ear and hostas.
Julie Smith/News Tribune photo: Linda Oligschlager's yard was recently recognized with the Bittersweet Garden of the Season. The front side of her home is filled with colorful, flowering plants and pollinator plants and the back side, which is the shady side, is populated with numerous large, leafy plants like elephant ear and hostas.
Julie Smith/News Tribune photo: Linda Oligschlager's yard and her work in it were recently recognized with the Bittersweet Garden of the Season. The front side of her home is filled with colorful, flowering plants and butterfly attractors and the back side, which is the shady side, is populated with numerous large, leafy plants like elephant ear and hostas.
Julie Smith/News Tribune photo: A covered archway at the Oligschlager residence provides framework through which one can enjoy teh afternoon view. Linda Oligschlager's yard and her work in it were recently recognized with the Bittersweet Garden of the Season. The front side of her home is filled with colorful, flowering plants and butterfly attractors and the back side, which is the shady side, is populated with numerous large, leafy plants like elephant ear and hostas.
Julie Smith/News Tribune photo: Linda Oligschlager's yard and her work in it were recently recognized with the Bittersweet Garden of the Season. The front side of her home is filled with colorful, flowering plants and butterfly attractors and the back side, which is the shady side, is populated with numerous large, leafy plants like elephant ear and hostas.
Julie Smith/News Tribune photo: Linda Oligschlager's yard and her work in it were recently recognized with the Bittersweet Garden of the Season. The front side of her home is filled with colorful, flowering plants and butterfly attractors and the back side, which is the shady side, is populated with numerous large, leafy plants like elephant ear and hostas.
Julie Smith/News Tribune photo: Linda Oligschlager's yard and her work in it were recently recognized with the Bittersweet Garden of the Season. The front side of her home is filled with colorful, flowering pollinator plants and the back side, which is the shady side, is populated with numerous large, leafy plants like elephant ear and hostas.
Julie Smith/News Tribune photo: The addition of mums around the front yard tree added a colorful touch to Linda Oligschlager's yard which was recently recognized with the Bittersweet Garden of the Season.