Ordering, Shipping, and Advance Orders     Fax/Mail Order Form     Weights, Measures   Plant Guarantee  Culture & Growing   Contact us   

Seeds    Berries  Perennials   Groundcovers   Vines  Ornamental Grasses  Herbs  Shrubs  Trees   Bittersweet   Decor    Supplies    Catalog Request

    Moonshine Designs Nursery 

Located in Milan, Illinois           309-756-1967           Fax:  309-756-1058

 Search our site 

The History of Moonshine Designs Nursery

Roger's Ramblings

Some (especially Wanda), say that I am obsessed with gardening and just growing plants in general.  Where did this come from?  Was I born with it?  Could be.  Was it inherited from my family; some who were commercial growers?  Probably not, since I am adopted.  Did I acquire this penchant from relatives?  That might be the answer!

As a small child, the commercial vegetable farm was literally in my backyard.  My grandmother lived next door and the farm was run by my uncle Hank and aunt Harriet.  I must have been fascinated from the start by evidence of photos from that era:

             Early tractor driving lessons.                                         My aunt trying to convince me I like this!

Already out in the fields 1958

That was a hint of what was to come.  The year I turned three, my uncle took me out behind my grandmother's house to a small plot that he had prepared and had me plant some pumpkin seeds.  I still remember this like it was yesterday.  He explained to me that by caring for these all summer, I would have pumpkins to decorate for Halloween that fall.  I'm not sure that I fully understood this concept, but I went out and checked my little plot when ever someone would take me and sure enough, in the fall I had pumpkins.  Of course, I did none of the weeding, watering, etc., but THAT is what got me hooked.  From then on, I  had a garden of some type every year.

In 1963, my grandmother sold the farmland to a developer who built an office building.  My aunt & uncle moved the operation about 9 blocks away.  I never missed an opportunity to go over there and frequently rode to the Chicago market with my father to deliver  tomatoes and peppers.  By this time I had my own plot in the back yard at home and was a "dedicated" gardener............Although NOT a dedicated weeder!

The late 60's brought more progress and an expressway was being built where my aunt and uncles farm now stood.  They moved to a place south of Milan and built a house there.  Whenever my parents would mention that we might be going out there for a visit, I always jumped at the chance; especially if it was in late winter so I could see what was growing in the greenhouse!  As I reached my teen years, I had several chances each summer to go out to the farm and actually help.  My uncle would drive into town early in the morning and pick me up, take me out to the farm and I would help harvest cabbage, tomatoes, sweet corn, and green beans.  I really hated picking beans.  I got $1 per bushel for picking them which was actually pretty good money for a teen and I got to where I could do two bushels per hour..................But I still hated it!  Seemed to tedious.  Actually, it still is!  Tomatoes were fun and so was cabbage, but it was heavy work.  I carried the empty bags on my belt and held one for my uncle as he cut the heads until it was full.  Once full, he took an empty bag and cut ahead of me until I had the previous one tied.  And so the process repeated until the quota was cut for the day.  He then drove along the end of the field and I carried the bags (50 lbs) to the end and loaded them on the truck.  Sweet corn wasn't too bad of a job, but I couldn't talk because my uncle had to count as he put the ears into the bags and I tended to rattle on constantly with questions and other kid-type conversation.  We would then take the load into town to the market and the $$ signs always lit up in my head as I saw what each load was worth.  I figured I could do this too!  Of course I knew nothing really about overhead, equipment costs, taxes, etc.............I just wanted to do this on my own!

That summer I built a greenhouse behind my parent's garage using all the construction skills any 14 year old boy has (at least it didn't fall down) using salvaged lumber and nails.  My father bought some plastic for me to cover it with and I put a small electric heater in it.  I made arrangements with some people down the street to rent a garden plot in exchange for mowing grass.  The following winter on one of the trips to my aunt and uncle's farm, my uncle gave me some young cabbage, tomato, pepper, and lettuce plants to grow on in my own greenhouse.  This, amazingly, was successful.  I planted them out in the spring along with some seeded crops like radishes and carrots.  a couple of weeks later, I found out about the real world of weeds!  My uncle did not let weeds grow in his fields.  "This year's seeds is seven years weeds!"  I can still hear him say that!  He also told me that having hair on your chest will make you go bald.  That is true as well!  Anyway, the plot that I had rented had been just a vacant lot overgrown with weeds for many years, so there were plenty of weed seeds to keep me busy..............All by hand.  The crops did grow well and I sold them door to door to the customers on my paper route.  I think I made a profit (?).  At least I had money for new comic books, baseball cards, and pop when I needed it.  (Wish I still had those comic books and baseball cards!).

The following year I branched out into flowers as well; selling those plants to the same people that purchased my vegetables.  The greenhouse got bigger (with improved construction skills) and so did the garden plot.  My aunt and uncle retired from the farming business and moved to Florida in the mid 70's, but I kept at it getting a little bigger every year when in 1979, I built a real commercial (to me, anyway) greenhouse behind my house and went full-bore into the house plant boom that was sweeping the country at the time.  I still had a vegetable garden, but no longer on such a large scale.  I grew every hot-selling plant at the time and made a very good profit at it!

1979

Although I always dabbled with the greenhouse and nursery through the 80's and 90's, it was never the intent to go big-time commercial.  Then the Internet became an everyday staple for many people.  What started as a small e-commerce experiment in 1999, turned into something much bigger and we have expanded every year since.  The small greenhouse of 1999 is gone, having been replaced by four much larger commercial units.

1999

From the few hundred containerized shrubs and trees in 1999, we now grow over 120,000 perennials, shrubs, and trees per season, shipping all over the USA.  If we try to get any larger, we will have to move to new "digs"!

We are family owned and oriented.  Personal attention is given to every plant and order.  While we do have employees, Wanda & I try to take care of as much of the personal contact as possible.  Our success has been based on offering unique and quality trees, shrubs, and plants that are true to name.

We appreciate your business!